The demon girl's fingers had already torn into the cliff edge. Her claws carved deep grooves through solid rock as she leaned forward over the drop.
Below her, Hajin was sprinting straight into the heart of a collapsing singularity. The monster's entire mana reserve compressed into a single point that screamed toward critical mass.
"Let go," she said, her voice stripped of its usual edge, "he is running to his death."
The demon boy's hand clamped around her wrist, certainly immovable.
He did not look at her, his gaze fixed on the crater floor where gold and purple light clashed in Hajin's chains.
"He is not stupid," the boy said, his tone flat, "because if he is moving in, he has a plan."
"Do you call that a plan," she asked while whipping her head around. "That thing is condensing its whole core, the blast will vaporize these ruins, and one burned human cannot stop it."
She twisted against his grip, but his locked fingers refused to move from her wrist.
