The rubble didn't hold.
John knew it the moment the ground began to scream.
Not crack—*scream*. Stone grinding against stone, mana tearing through the earth like a wound being forced open. The weight he'd dropped on the monster shifted, then buckled outward as something vast and furious moved beneath it.
John forced himself upright despite the protest from every muscle in his body. His wings twitched uselessly, still refusing to fully steady themselves. Blood trickled down his flank, warm and sticky, soaking into the shattered rock beneath him.
"…Of course," he muttered hoarsely. "That would've been too easy."
The rubble exploded.
Boulders the size of houses were hurled aside as the monster surged free, dragging half the earth with it. Its roar this time wasn't just anger—it was pain layered with something worse.
Loss of control.
