Chapter 22 · Whose Body Is It Anyway?

"Get out of my head." Silas's voice slammed through the dark before Ella could finish tearing another strip of mana from him.

She held on anyway.

The stolen power curled around her like hot wire. It bit, sparked, and fed the cracked blue bar floating in front of her. Silas's mind shook beneath her grip. Somewhere outside, his body staggered across a stone floor. His boots scraped. Someone shouted his name.

None of that mattered.

The system window blinked once.

[PARASITIC DRAIN: 71%]

"You don't get to give me orders," Ella said.

"It's my body."

"Not for long."

The dark space around them tightened. Silas had always built his mind like a fortress, all black walls and locked doors. Now those walls were moving. They folded inward, forcing her back from the glowing stream of mana she had found behind his ribs.

Not ribs. Not really. This wasn't a body she could touch. It was the shape of his power, his memories, his will.