Chapter 28 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 28: Drain Protocol

"Get your head down if you want to keep it!" Soren’s voice roared over the screech of metal on stone.

He didn't wait for me to move. His hand clamped onto the back of my collar, hauling me backward just as a bolt of white-hot holy fire slammed into the pillar where I'd been standing. The stone didn't just crack; it vaporized. Dust and sulfur filled my lungs, making me cough as I hit the floor hard.

"I'm fine!" I snapped, scrambling to my knees. "Just give me a second!"

I wasn't looking at him. I was staring at the soul bomb—a pulsing, jagged sphere of violet energy hovering in the center of the chamber. It looked like a dying star trapped in a cage of obsidian needles. The countdown in my peripheral vision was screaming in neon red: 02:14. Two minutes until we were both smeared across the walls of this dungeon.

"You have a second," Soren spat. He stepped in front of me, his blade humming a low, predatory note. He didn't look back, but I could see the tension in his shoulders, the way his cloak fluttered in the heat.