I almost collapsed.
My knee buckled, and for a terrible moment, I thought I would fall. My body screamed for relief, for surrender, for anything but another second of this agony. Moonworth’s magic still clung to me like rot, eating into my ribs where his last attack had struck. Every breath tasted of decay, every heartbeat a drum of exhaustion. My limbs felt like lead. My magic flickered, nearly spent.
Thunder pulsed weakly inside me, but even that wasn’t enough. Not this time.
Moonworth stepped closer, unhurried, his confidence absolute. His golden eyes gleamed with quiet amusement, with certainty. He had already decided the outcome of this fight. “You feel it, don’t you?” His voice was almost gentle, an imitation of kindness wrapped in cruelty. “That weight pressing down on you? That’
