Only the demons could see through the suffocating dark, their vision unimpeded by shadow. And each of them reveled in the carnage and chaos they had unleashed, feeding off it as though it were a feast laid out just for them.
Arius did not even need to move from where he stood, watching the slaughter unfold before him. There was a cruel sort of stillness to him, a predator utterly at ease amidst ruin. Slowly, he lifted his hands.
The shadows answered. They erupted from every corner of the room, thick and viscous. They lashed outward in violent arcs, whips of pure night that sliced cleanly through almost everything. A man's arm was severed in an instant, sent flying across the room. From the stump, arterial blood sprayed in a violent burst, splattering the walls in crimson streaks.
