The loud ringing noise in Irin's ears subsided, and then he heard a heartbeat that wasn't his.
He realized a moment later that a white barrier had encased him. Levi's massive wings arched around him like a shield, protecting him from the NightSpawn's attack.
"Levi...?" Irin blurted out in shock.
When the NightSpawn noticed its attack had been blocked, the creature screeched in disappointment.
Before the monster could mount a second assault, the saber-tooth tiger ran from its position and dived into the air and gripped the NightSpawn's head, pulling it down with its enormous weight.
The saber-toothed tiger dragged the creature's head and yanked it sideways with all its weight.
The Nightspawn's body tore itself free from its head.
As the decapitated torso flew in one direction, black blood sprayed across the floor, and the tiger flung the head, still locked in its jaws, the other way like a discarded doll. The body hit the ground with a thud and went still.
Irin looked up and noticed the wings retract, folding back into Levi's spine.
Levi turned his head slightly and offered Irin a smile. It was a tired expression of pure relief.
"You're... okay," Levi whispered, sounding like a ghost.
"Yes. I'm-" Irin was still speaking when Levi rolled his eyes and lost consciousness.
Irin rushed forward and caught Levi's falling body before he hit his head on the floor.
Levi had used up all his energy to form wings that protected Irin from the creature's attack. By forming the wings, Levi had no strength left. This lack of strength triggered his body, leaving him unconscious.
For Levi, that was the cost he had to pay anytime he used his wings. He cannot use the wings to fly for reasons unknown to him. Neither did he know why he had those wings in the first place. A fact that remained a mystery to all of them.
Whenever he uses the wing as a shield, he loses all his strength and consciousness.
"Levi? Levi, stay with me!" Irin held Levi close, sitting him up against his chest.
The saber-toothed tiger roamed about for a while before it positioned itself right beside its master, aiming to shield them from unexpected threats.
"Look at the cost of your disobedience," the cult leader said across the room.
" Why not give up? Lay down your steel. I am a generous man; I will grant you a merciful end before I slowly feast on your bodies."
"A merciful death?" Violet laughed, uncoiling her whip. "Keep it. You're going to need all the mercy you can find in the place where I'm sending you."
"I've got a better idea," Caspian spat on the floor. "Go to hell."
His long sword trailed a wake of light as he closed the distance to the cult leader in a quick charge. At the same time, Violet ran in the opposite direction and launched her attack.
She snapped her whip through the air toward the cult leader. The whip wrapped around the mutated calf of the cult leader. Violet planted her feet a few inches apart and used all her momentum to pull the creature's leg, throwing off its balance just as Caspian reached striking distance.
Seizing the opening, Caspian raised his blade to cut off the cult leader's neck.
The cult leader swung his arm with speed. His clawed hand caught the sharp edge of Caspian's blade, and the sound of metal hitting a bone was heard.
"Is that all you've got?" the Leader mocked, even as Violet's whip tore a piece of flesh from his leg.
"Not even close," Caspian growled, twisting his hilt to lock the blade against the monster's claws, forcing a stalemate while Violet prepared her next attack.
Violet whacked her whip with everything she had, aiming for the Leader's neck.
But because of his NightSpawn abilities, the cult leader was able to evade it. The leader retreated slightly and swiftly grabbed the whip out of the air with his enormous, grey hand. With a loud growl, he yanked the metal whip toward him with brute force.
Violet stumbled and lost her balance. She held onto her whip as the cult leader dragged her forward. Before she could get close to his grasp, Violet hooked her legs against a crate and anchored herself.
She leaned her whole weight backward and pulled. The three of them were locked in a stalemate.
Seeing that the cult leader was gaining the upper hand, Violet raised one of her hands in the air and conjured a yellow light at the tip of her finger.
"Eat this," she said before touching her whip, sending an extra bolt of lightning that traveled up the whip and zapped the cult leader.
'ARRRGGHHHHH' The cult leader screamed in agony as the lightning cooked him from the inside out. His grip on the whip slackened as he staggered back to recover from the shock.
Caspian used the opportunity and unlocked the blade from his claw. He ran and jumped high, using the side of a pillar as a springboard. He leapt into the air and cut off the arm of the cult leader.
The sword severed the cult leader's entire right hand.
The leader shrieked as he clutched the stump at his right shoulder.
Sensing his waning strength, Violet circled him from behind and swung her whip with force. The whip landed with a thunderous crack in the middle of his back.
Caspian didn't give the cult leader a chance to recover. He speedily dived in and delivered quick slashes across the cult's leader's foot.
The cult leader's monstrous body collapsed onto his knees with a heavy thud, utterly defeated.
After a few moments lying flat on the floor, the cult leader started crawling. He dragged himself on all fours toward the altar, leaving a trail of black blood behind him.
Violet and Caspian stood their ground. They watched solemnly as the man reached the altar.
The cult leader thrust his clawed hand into his chest upon reaching the altar.
"No," Violet tried to stop him.
He yanked out his heart and held it above the altar for a second before squeezing the organ. Black blood dropped from the heart to the altar.
As the last drop of blood touched the altar, the cult leader fell to the floor dead.
The floor and the building began to shake violently as dust fell from the ceiling. Violet and Caspian held each other to stay upright.
Irin and the saber-toothed tiger moved Levi's unconscious body under a staircase, right before part of the ceiling collapsed where they had been. Stone blocks smashed into the floor, splintering and sending shards flying.
After that, the altar fell apart entirely. And a hand with six fingers crawled out of it.
It was a massive hand, formed by different "delicate" human body parts. Just above its mouth, an enormous eye blinked open in the middle of its palm.
It dragged itself away from the rubble and then stopped several spaces away from them.
"No way."
Violet's face went pale. "That's-"
"The Six Fingers," Cassian finished grimly. "A beast of the Desecrated Hand."
"HARRRR-GHRRRAAAAA-WARRRGH!" the monster let out a deafening roar.