“Die, human!”
An incredible force like nothing Warren had ever felt before knocked him from his feet. He felt the bones in his chest shatter and crumple inward. When he struck the wall behind him, the breath left his lungs in a rush and his senses fled.
THIRTY-ONE
“Boot anchors,” Simon said. He felt the impacts of the boot anchors shootinginto the stone floor. They bit deeply as he twisted his right side toward the whirling gout of flame.
“Warning,” the suit’s AI stated. “Combustible fluid approaching exceedsacceptable temperatures. Take”
Whatever the AI might have said was lost in the thunderous roar that enveloped Simon’s mind. The audio receptors shut down to preserve his hearing,but he lost the auditory connection with the AI at the same time. The intense heat nearly broiled him, and he wondered if he’d been parboiled inside his armoranyway.
Pain returned first, then the instinct to live. The HUD showed that the demon was advancing at a run. Simon lifted his Spike Bolter and aimed at the demon’shorrible face. He squeezed the trigger and refused to give ground. Danielle, Leah, and the other Templar hadn’t yet recovered.
The demonHargastor, Simon rememberedlifted its empty hand to ward off thepalladium spikes. It never broke stride. Hoping to take the creature off-balance, Simon flung himself forward and met the demon, going chest-to-chest. At the last moment, Simon activated the boot spikes again and butted into the demon.
Hargastor hit Simon so hard that he broke the stone floor that was anchored to the Templar’s boots. Simon felt the extra weightat the ends of his legs. He withdrew the spikes and the stone chunks dropped away.
Senses reeling, vision through the HUD not reading true, Simon discovered he’d lost the Spike Bolter. He still held his sword, but using it wasproblematic. Instead, he looped one leg inside the demon’s leg and tripped themassive creature. They collapsed to the floor and rolled over Danielle, who had been blown from her feet.
The demon rolled and tried to come up on top of Simon. Gripping his sword tightly, Simon slammed the haft into the inside of the demon’s support elbow.The joint gave way to the blow and folded. As Hargastor fell, Simon butted him in the chin with the top of his helm, then caught the buckling arm with his free hand and pulled.
Hargastor fell to the side and Simon pummeled the demon in the face with the sword hilt. He was too close to employ the blade.
The demon roared in rage, but Simon heard pain in there as well. His attack had hurt the demon, but he knew it would have killed most lesser demons.
“Offensive flea,” Hargastor snarled. He closed his own fist and hammeredSimon.
Stunned by the blow, Simon shot backward and collided with Danielle. Both of them went down. Simon immediately tried to get up, but the demon was faster.
Hargastor backhanded Simon while he was still on his knees. Simon flipped over backwards and felt the breath leave his lungs. His borrowed vision reeled sickeningly. The demon came for him immediately.
“You’re going to die, Templar. You should have stayed away from here. Youshould have stayed away from the book.”
Desperation filled Simon when he realized there was only one book the demon could be referring to. It was one thing to fight for his life, but if he lived and the demon got the manuscript, he’d lost everything. Before he could move,Hargastor picked him up in both hands and slammed him into the wall. Stone smashed and cracks ran for several feet in all directions.
The demon’s head suddenly rocked sideways as an explosive round from aCluster Rifle struck home. One of the horns snapped off and went flying. Bloody ichors ran from the horn stump and stained the side of the demon’s neck.
Howling with rage, Hargastor turned to face his newest opponent.
While standing less than thirty feet away, Leah calmly took aim again and fired. This time the round sped harmlessly by until it hit the passageway wall. Hargastor launched himself in pursuit of Leah.
Nathan tried to push through a mass of Darkspawn but couldn’t reach Hargastorin time. Danielle was still trying to recover, and the remaining Templar was down, dead or unconscious.
Simon pulled himself out of the deep impression made by his impact against the wall. Small rocks and dust spilled out around him as he got to his feet. He took four quick strides and threw himself headlong at Hargastor as the demon drew back a hand that suddenly filled with swirling fire and black smoke.
When he reached the demon, Simon curled his arm around Hargastor’s ankles andpulled tightly. The demon tried to complete his attack against Leah even as he fell. Rifle to her shoulder, she tracked her opponent as the demon rebounded from the floor, then fired.
The missile struck Hargastor in the chest. Acid burned deeply into his skin. Some of it splashed over Simon’s armor and set offalarms inside the HUD.
“Warning. Armor shielding is at sixty-one percent capacity.”
Simon ignored the announcement. He was in the thick of it now and knew that he had no choice about giving up. If he released the demon, Hargastor would undoubtedly try to get to Leah because she was the least protected among them. Demons could sense things like that.
Hargastor’s eyes blazed as he turned on Simon. “You’re annoying me, pest.Can’t you just die?”
“You first,” Simon replied. He slammed his fist against the demon’s burnedand acid-eaten face. Even as he watched, though, Hargastor’s wounds werehealing. Simon struck again and again, willing the bone to break and the flesh to split.
Abruptly, the demon surged to its feet, though it remained hunkered over because of the low ceiling. The thing’s strength was incredible. Simon knew thatif they were out in the open, the fight might already be over.
Nathan attacked with his Spike Bolter and sword from the other side. Palladium spikes struck home from point-blank range and the sword slashed the demon’s hide.
The demon picked Simon up by one foot and swung him into Nathan like a club. Both
