The God of War looked down at the blood covering his remaining hand.
His brows drew together.
"What sword technique was that?"
He moved the torn breastplate aside. "I have never seen it before."
The wound on his body began across the back of Darius's shoulder and curved around his side. Torn muscle showed beneath the separated armour, and the edges opened whenever the borrowed body breathed. Along the ribs, the cut had reached his bone, leaving narrow grooves in the exposed surfaces.
It was not a shallow injury.
But his heart remained intact. His spine had been spared, and the body was nowhere near the state Simon was after his first attack.
Yet it had failed him when he reached for the fleeing demon.
The god touched two fingers beside the wound. Aether gathered beneath them, and the torn flesh began drawing together.
A black spark appeared.
The new connection broke, releasing another thin stream of blood.
