26: Can’t Think of a Title
Lilith stared hard, face set like a storm front, and lifted the splintered tabletop from her face. The face that once belonged to Joe had been smashed by the Little White Dragon; blood flowed like spilled lacquer, painting him red. Yet the thing only wiped it once with its right hand, and the wound sealed into black skin studded with yellow eyeballs. In a blink, he no longer looked like a normal male Vampire.
The monster watched the Little White Dragon with the eyes blooming across its body. Under that countless gaze, gooseflesh crawled over Lilith like frost ants.
“Hey, you. Don’t stare at a pretty girl like that. It’s gross.” Lilith jabbed a finger at the thing. Her clothes were light; being ogled by a monster still pissed her off.
Roar! The creature consumed by Black Sun Devouring lacked words or wit. Like a beast sighting prey, it bellowed, eyes pinning Lilith like iron tacks, then coiled to lunge and bite.
“Hey!” As it sprang, Lilith gripped her Astrolabe with both hands, set like a batter at the plate, and swung full-force into the charging face.
Awrooo! Its face caved like a dented helm, and the monster toppled, twitching. It keened on the floor, whimpering like a beaten hound.
Seeing it down, Lilith snapped the Astrolabe up and sent a ray of frost, white breath knifing across the air.
The monster sprang up a heartbeat before the beam hit. It glared, anger simmering like hot pitch, at the much smaller girl, already weighing how to swat this buzzing gnat.
“Haa!” the monster bellowed, and its body began to swell like a storming tide. Alarm tightened Lilith’s face; she fixed her gaze on the growing bulk and raised her left hand.
Regret pricked like needles—she should’ve seen it. If it could mimic Joe and hide in Morris, then the expedition that turned into monsters had likely been eaten by it. Even if those four Black Sun Devouring monsters were the weakest infected, devouring four of its kind wouldn’t leave an easy foe.
The thing was rousing the Black Sun Devouring hoarded in its gut. That swelling body was the telltale bloom. In moments, this house would turn into a Black Sun Devouring source, and the street—maybe half of Morris—would rot under its stain.
She didn’t know how Vampires handled Black Sun Devouring. But resolve flashed like a drawn blade—she couldn’t let this thing vent its pollution unchecked.
The Little White Dragon sighed, a quiet drop into a cold well. She’d avoided this power, planning to learn it slowly with the system. The system was gone; it was on her alone.
“Should be fine… right,” she murmured. On the back of her left hand, the rune of the Demon King flared crimson, and a reek like carrion wind surged out. The Taint poured from the Little White Dragon and wrapped the room.
Shock knifed through the evolving monster. It stared around, bewildered, sniffing the twitching meat-walls that oozed a terror-stink. Instinct screamed to back off, though it didn’t know why. It hauled its half-evolved bulk away from the walls.
Satisfaction warmed Lilith as the room sealed shut. She’d dreaded touching this much Taint—she’d fought it for years and never wanted to see it again. Yet it obeyed. She told it, Wrap the room, and it laid one skin over the room, nothing extra, nothing wild.
Yes—this was Lilith’s fix for a Black Sun Devouring leak: wrap the Black Sun Devouring in a second skin of Taint. Box poison with poison; the street stays clean.
Of course. Genius worthy of her.
Strictly speaking, the Taint spreading is far worse than Black Sun Devouring. But Lilith didn’t have time to babysit the math.
The Little White Dragon lifted the Astrolabe; first things first—end the monster, then talk.
Lilith hefted the Astrolabe in both hands. White frost bloomed over the sea-blue gem, turning her staff into a not-so-handy, hard-headed hammer.
She raised it high and brought it down. The almost-evolved monster threw up its arms to block.
Lilith had guessed the block; she hadn’t planned to end it with that swing. The instant wood met arm, the Little White Dragon let go, tucked midair like a swift fish, slipped through the gap, and drove a fist at its face.
Backed by the Void Command Seat, her fist landed with bell-like force. The monster’s stout face-bones buckled; one of those terrible fangs spat out and skittered away.
Landing the hit, Lilith drew a deep breath, marshaled the constellations again, and snapped her left fist toward its face.
“Yah! Eight hundred thousand horses—Exploding Punch!”
Wind shoved at her knuckles; clear ice skinned her fist and, under her shaping, became a sharp spike that punched straight into the monster’s brow.
Its brain scrambled, the monster jerked from crown to heel. Lilith whipped her hand back and flicked a sharp kick to boot it away.
It hit the wall and writhed to rise, but the Taint clinging to the plaster had already seized its limbs. Layer by layer it wrapped the man-high brute, hardening it into a meat cocoon.
The cocoon twitched and collapsed inward. With a chorus of sick snaps, the man-high bundle shrank to a small sphere, bobbed once, then darted into Lilith’s body like a swallowed pearl.
After a quick inward check—no snags, no leaks—Lilith pushed open the tight door and stepped out.
Outside, Annie stood at the threshold, eyes bright and tight with worry. Seeing the Little White Dragon unharmed, the Vampire girl hurried over, trembling like a leaf.
“Miss Lilith, Joe…?”
“He’s been consumed by Black Sun Devouring. He probably turned into a Black Sun Devouring monster on his way back.”
“…I thought so.”
Annie lowered her gaze, grief shading her face like rain. But after a heartbeat she straightened, patted her cheeks, and looked to Lilith.
“Then… what do you plan to do next, Miss Lilith?”
“This has to be reported to Morris,” the Little White Dragon said, pinching her chin in thought. “You must have people who handle Black Sun contamination. Take me to them.”
