Brace yourselves

Power beyond my comprehension surged sharp and bright at the forefront of my mind. Whorls and jagged lightning coated my skin as the flames condensed, the vibrant fox form sinking into my skin. I snapped my teeth, flames sparking away with the snap!

Blood assailed my nose and I could taste the metallic tang in the back of my throat. I noted the strain my attack had caused him written across his features, the tension in his shoulders. My ears trained on every sound, every breath, the beating of the demon's heart across from me.

I heard her gentle, desperate voice. It brought me back to earth. I threw a glance at Elizabeth and Meliodas. She was reaching out to the Captain, who lay face down on the ground. I remembered the first day I'd met them. A runaway princess and a perverted bar-owner. Elizabeth's outlandish mission to unite criminals against an entire kingdom. The fights, the terror, the pain, the reunions, the joy, the laughter. Hawk, Diane, Ban, King, Gowther, Leraj.

The anger, the heartache, the need - palpable like the mana throbbing through me. The emotions burned as strong as my flames. No one else was going to die!

I cut my ties to the human inside of me, the primal fox instinct blotting out everyone and everything else except the man I'd named my prey.

I reached him before he could react, slamming my fist into his chest with all my rage. Bone cracked under pressure, skin splitting open and drowning my hands in black blood. He stopped rolling ten feet away, mangled torso, bones protruding through his ashen skin.

"I am going to tear you limb from limb. Burn your pathetic body into nothing but ash. " The violent words made me giddy. I strode towards him, my boots burnt to scraps, bare feet leaving fires in my wake.

He threw himself at me, a blur of speed my eyes could follow this time. I dodged his attacks, slipping around and past him with all the ease of a fox. Sparks glittered in the sky in my wake as the power - my power - crackled in my ears. He lunged close and I saw his triumphant smirk at having finally caught me.

I grabbed his forearm. His eyes widened. "By the time I'm done with you, you won't even have the strength to beg for mercy!" The sparks around our heads grew bright.

The chain explosion travelled up and he shot skywards.

He came free from the smoke, righting himself. "Hellblaze!" Purple and black fire dancing up and down his arms. He flew down at me.

I flexed my fingers, the fire fox surging to life around me. Behind that fist was enough demonic power to send me six feet under but I was unperturbed. That wouldn't make a dent. Nine tails enclosed me like petals of a flower. He hit the shield with a boom. I allowed him half a second to attempt to break through before flicking the tails outwards.

It sent him careening with a discharge of fire that raised a massive plume of black smoke into the heavens.

I cocked my head and the tails disappeared.

"How on earth do you even have that much power?" He cradled his hands to his chest, fingers smoking where my flames had whipped through his.

I bared my teeth and raised my hands, clawing them in his direction. Fire snaked around my wrists and over my hands, forming solid, three-inch claws at the end of each finger. He activated his Hellblaze in response.

We clashed, my anger driving my speed until the world around us was nothing but a blur, the only sound the air howling past my ears. I slashed, punched, scratched and kicked; bones cracked, muscles tore, claws rendered skin to strips of flesh. Our blood soaked the ground.

My chest tightened, the pressure building again, stronger than before. I high-kicked him in the chest and put distance between us. My hands practically trembled as I hovered them before my chest, the air between my palms turning hazy white as a flame ignited and grew.

Hendrickson raised his arms out, black pinpoints forming in the air around him.

The claws merged into the flame, spiralling into a pulsating ball. The colours of the rainbow swirled and swirled with a deep hum, the air around me shimmering turbulently with heat. The ground rumbled. All I could taste was mana.

The Dark Snow around his head pooled together, growing larger and larger into a massive black sphere. Darker than night, pure demonic energy that made my hair stand on end.

He lowered his hand in my direction and the black sphere descended. With a roar, I swung my hands into the air, my own power transforming into a massive, blazing sphere above my head. Then I swung down and released the power.

They collided in a bright flash, flames warring with darkness. A sudden, deafening silence, before the resounding explosion sent ash and dust into a frenzy. I landed on my hands and feet, nails gouging the ground.

The world settled with a hush. Hendrickson was on his hands and knees, black blood dripping off his broken body.

This is my chance!

I rushed forward, calling back my flames. But they didn't respond. Fatigue heavier than stone suddenly dropped on me. I'd only moved ten metres before I lost my footing.

I fell to a knee, my breaths heaving out of scorched lungs, struggling past the burns in my throat. Raw blisters covered my arms and legs, my skin cherry red from the flames, the same flames dancing on my skin still and sucking the mana straight from my soul.

I tried once again to stand but I was new-born again, human, not fox.

"It seems a fox truly is no match for a demon." Hendrickon was on his feet, his body slowly regenerating. I felt the surge in his mana whereas the power that had flowed so freely through me dissolved, slipping out of my grasp like smoke. The flames sputtered out.

I lowered my head, growling under my breath. I had no strength left to cast but I would not die on my knees. I staggered to my feet, hands clenched at my sides. "I won't... be done... until you're dead!" Blood dripped through my clenched teeth.

Without the strange power soothing me, my vision became topsy turvy, sounds loud and soft at the same time. Pain shook my bones. Only two thoughts occupied my brain, screaming, crying, howling - don't let him pass! and please make it stop!

I chomped hard on my lip to stop from crying out, tears dripping down my cheeks.

He raised his hand above his head and clenched his fist. Dark Snow appeared, slowly merging into the dark sphere again.

Damn it! I couldn't move an inch, my mana and physical strength stripped to nothing. Then this truly was to be the end of it.

A quavering smile graced my lips at the tale this made. Reincarnated with demonic power, killed by demonic power. My circle of life. I despaired but at least I had kept them safe for a little while longer and I prayed that it was enough for them.

"There isn't a soul alive who can save you now," he said.

"Estra!" Elizabeth's cry broke my heart.

He pointed in my direction. "Dead End."

I opened my mouth to throw him a final retort, for if I was to go down in a blaze of glory, I wanted the last word.

"You wanna bet?" A ball of pink, porky flesh landed in front of me, trotters braced. "Never fear, Lord Hawk is here!"

My heart disappeared somewhere down in my feet. "You idiot, what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Estra. But I need you to help Meliodas so he can save Elizabeth. It's our only chance."

The fear of losing him too ignited my mana. Weak and fluttery yet more than enough. Adrenaline zapped through me and I could move again. But it was too late to dodge and drag him to safety.

I have to save them!

I dug into the depths of my soul and dragged that terrifying, thrilling power back to life with every fibre of my being. Flames crackled from shoulder to fist on one arm and that need, that want to conquer drowned out all sounds.

I won't let anyone else die!

I jumped in front of Hawk and channeled the last of my strength into my hand. I reeled my fist back, my vision filled with nothing but that ball of death. I heard them screaming my name, my friends, my family.

Let me save them!

"Gr-"