BXBX NOVEL Chapter 94: On Me!
The tiger\'s hind legs pressed against the tunnel like it was a ramp. Its muscles contracted like coils for one final burst of explosive speed.
That was when a red beam the thickness of Zach\'s arm was reflected in the tiger\'s fully green eyes. It didn\'t even frown or seem to notice the laser.
The tiger\'s muscles tensed fully. It wasn\'t in a state to care about the laser. Even if it was, it had thick underworld energy billowing out of its body to protect it. The underworld energy was concentrated enough that it would minimize any attacks, especially ones of energy.
The laser was powerful, especially since it was four concentrated into one.
But the tiger was an experiment. It was a failed experiment, but it hadn\'t stopped at failure. Instead of disposing of the tiger or trying to save it or redeem the experiment, the underworlders in charge of the tiger\'s modification had decided to do something else, part of which was to pump the tiger with as much underworld energy as possible.
It came at the cost of the tiger\'s life span, but the underworlders didn\'t even factor that into their thinking. They only thought about how much underworld energy they could pump in and how they could raise that limit.
The underworld energy would have rendered the laser mostly harmless, if not completely ineffective.
But the tiger wasn\'t the only one with underworld energy as part of their arsenal.
A mostly shattered mannequin stood up from the rubble around the tiger\'s feet, barely having escaped death, and put one hand and one broken stump of an arm against its leg. With a groan like an old tree swaying in the wind on an autumn night, the Mannequin used one of its few talents.
It stole the underworld energy from the tiger. But there was too much underworld energy for it to steal it all before the laser faded.
The Mannequin reached with its hand toward the tiger\'s chest and sucked away the underworld energy from there.
The smoke sizzled and the Mannequin crackled by touching and being so close to the laser. But the smoke was inanimate, and the Mannequin was determined.
Before the laser stopped, the Mannequin successfully opened up a path, releasing the concentrated beam of heat and light onto the tiger\'s fleshly body.
Smoke from something burning escaped from where the laser hit, but it was impossible to see it in the chaos of laser and underworld energy mixing with the tiger\'s body.
The tiger felt searing pain. It felt panic. It felt fear.
It felt the madness overtake it again as it released the tension in its muscles and shot forward, ignoring the laser burrowing through its body.
The tiger flew toward Zach\'s group, which was just now coming to a halt on the ground. But Zach still threw up a barrier. He threw up another. One rock solid and one soft.
The laser pushed against the tiger until it made a clean hole through. It had done a lot to reduce the tiger\'s speed and momentum, but with nothing more to block it, the laser stopped affecting the tiger.
Effectively, the tiger was already dead. But it was also already flying through the air with all the speed and force of its explosive leap.
It rammed into and through the soft barrier. Zach let it absorb it all and break.
It was enough to bring the tiger down to the ground. Unfortunately, the Sentinel\'s laser couldn\'t fire anymore, and the only thing left to stop the tiger was Zach\'s second barrier.
The tiger\'s front paws pressed against the barrier but were held back and pushed up against the rest of its body. Then, the tiger\'s face and nose reached and slammed into the barrier.
The barrier held up against that as well.
However, when the tiger\'s neck and body were compressed and its entire weight landed against the barrier, it became too much.
Zach\'s insides contorted as he landed on the ground. Two barriers he had put so much effort into breaking one after the other made him want to spit up blood.
The tiger slid against the floor.
Zach had succeeded.
Their plan had succeeded.
The tiger was dead. It stopped right in front of them.
The Sentinel and Yanael stood in front of the group.
Zach got up by taking support against the wall. He hobbled over to the tiger.
It had a hole through its entire body that had burned and boiled its insides. Underworld energy had ravaged its body.
But there was still light in its eyes. Zach saw it clearly as the madness from the surge of underworld energy faded.
He stood in front of the tiger and looked it dead in the eyes.
"Don\'t worry. I\'ll send whoever put you through this to wherever you end up. You won\'t be alone. You won\'t be bored."
The tiger closed its eyes.
They were enemies. They had been irreconcilable. But they found reconciliation in the death of one of them and in the face of a common and commonly hated enemy.
They respected each other and each other\'s strengths.
Neither respected the Underworld.
The tiger accepted Zach\'s words and died peacefully.
Zach turned around and looked at Yanael, his friends, and their familiars.
"We did it!"
However, the underworlders who modified the tiger hadn\'t wasted their precious underworld energy on the tiger. They had used the tiger as a medium and as transport.
The tiger\'s death wasn\'t the end. It was the beginning of their plan.
The tiger\'s leg thumped like a beating heart. Once.
Like it had been the signal for something, the tiger\'s leg started expanding and twisting. Underworld energy swirled and gathered around it.
Zach turned around as soon as he heard the thump. He saw the leg.
"On me!"
The others didn\'t waste any time. Dukiel, Julius, the Sentinel, and Yanael gathered around Zach as closely as they could.
Julius looked toward the Mannequin with trembling eyes. He reached out with a hand.
Zach knew what Julius was feeling, but there wasn\'t anything they could do. The Mannequin was too far away and on the other side of the leg on the verge of explosion.
Zach grabbed Julius\' hand and tucked it in close as he cast a barrier around them. He put up a second.
A third.
Blood trickled out of Zach\'s nose.
A fourth.
Blood dribbled out of Zach\'s mouth.
A fifth.
The last thing Zach saw before everything went black–before he passed out–was inky darkness expanding at the speed of light.