Page 488 of Axis of Fire

Flames raged in every direction, pouring from a massive creature standing in the center of the chaos.

Its bloated body was coated in soot, barely concealing the deep burgundy color of its skin. Curved black horns crowned its head, while bright yellow eyes with slit pupils gleamed with unsettling amusement.

My gaze immediately searched for familiar figures, desperate to make sure they were alive.

Seris stood with a dome of blue fire shielding himself and Pria while she launched attack after attack.

None of her lightning seemed to affect the monster.

It simply stood there, lazily sweeping its thick paws through the air, scattering flames in every direction, smiling as though her efforts entertained it.

With every new strike, fresh cuts split open across its body.

Instead of blood, fire burst from the wounds, spreading even farther around us.

"Damn it!" Pria cursed, finally lowering her hands.

Nearby, Loretta had woven a barricade out of shadows, shielding herself and Kaeron behind it.

I ran toward them—they were closer.

"What is that?" I asked. "Is this part of the trial?"

"No idea." Loretta reinforced the shadow barrier as the previous one caught fire beneath another wave of flames. "Nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Has anyone else tried attacking it?" I asked quickly, already calculating the best angle from which I could strike it with my own fire.

"Only Pria." Loretta didn't take her eyes off the creature. "Looks like her lightning is more like food to it."

"Maybe I just need to hit it harder?" Pria suggested.

"Exactly," Kaeron replied dryly. "Give it an even bigger advantage."

"Then what is that thing?" I repeated.

"A demon that was sealed inside the Temple of Morod," Seris answered, nearly jumping aside as one of the demon's flaming arrows slammed into his fire shield.

"If it only feeds on lightning, then..." Kaeron trailed off before turning to Seris. "Try hitting it with your fire. Pria, put up a shield."

Both of them nodded without hesitation.

Pria raised a thin disc of crackling lightning in front of them just as Seris fired.

For a single heartbeat, his blue flames collided with the demon's crimson fire.

The two forces seemed to merge—

and then vanished.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean?" Pria exclaimed, widening her lightning shield just in time to block the creature's retaliation.

The demon's flames swallowed the barrier almost instantly.

A wall of shadows rose in its place.

Seconds later, the cracks covering the monster's body split even farther apart, and the fire surrounding it surged higher.

Wider.