Magic 9

Behind him, Elspeth willed him all the power and protection she could muster, and Rafiq found himself floating as much as running, a charge that lifted him into the air right at the heart of the creature, just as the creature turned to face him.

For a moment, Rafiq felt the touch of divinity. He imagined wings spread out from his back as he held an archangel’s sword, soaring over the battlefield toward the lord of evil. I am Asha’s return, he thought.

As Malfegor saw the blade, and as the light from the blade approached his skin, he howled. As Rafiq flew toward him, the demon raked his claws across Rafiq’s body. Rafiq felt his armor tear away from him as if it were paper, but he didn’t feel the hellish claws cut his skin, nor did his trajectory waver. He fell into the beast, his destiny unalterable.

Rafiq swung once, twice, and the sword cut through the abomination, slicing deep channels of light all the way through his body. Two fissures in the shape of an “X” tore Malfegor open from his shoulders to his hips, and his body parted at the seams. The demon’s arms fell to the sides, his head rolled backward, and his body crumpled to the ground. The abomination collapsed, a mountain of death, destroyed.

Alara Unbroken, Part 3