Shadowgirl

Chapter 7

My fists slammed into his face with unsatisfyingly soft thud. I expected him to fly backward as Xymon had. Instead, my attack barely managed to knock him back a step. Still enraged, I poured my anger into repeated strikes to his face. They barely seemed to affect him. My knuckles ached, feeling as if they had been slammed repeatedly into a moss-covered rock. The tough, tanned skin of his face had probably been the only thing softening the impact with his bones, preventing me from breaking my hands.

I began to breathe heavily as my rage-fueled outburst went on without doing any serious damage. As my attacks began to slow, his surprise at the unexpected speed and ferocity of my attack turned to smug confidence. He had realized exactly what I had: I couldn't do any damage to him.

The strength that had allowed me to eclipse Sapphire Valkyrie and defeat Xymon didn't seem to be in Xoron's league.

Just how powerful was this guy?!

Recovered sufficiently from the surprise of my sudden flurry of blows, Xoron pulled a huge fist back and launched it into my abdomen. The blow hammered into me, plowing through the sculpted abs I'd been so proud of with ease. My eyes bulged as my stomach exploded in unbearable agony, and flew backward into the sky from the force of it.

Reeling in agony as I sailed through the air, he didn't give me any time to regroup from the aftereffects of his immense power. Launching himself into the sky, he accelerated after me. I saw him coming, but there was nothing I could do. I flailed helplessly with my limbs, but there was no hard surface to push off against. I was helpless. A sitting—er, flying—duck. There wasn't anything I could do about his approach except brace for another devastating attack.

As he cocked his fist again, I squeezed my eyes shut, attempting to ready myself for the pain I knew was coming. Sure enough, a microsecond later, it arrived. My throat erupted in excruciating pain. He had punched me in the throat! I attempted to swallow, then to breathe. I could do neither. Preoccupied with these difficulties, clutching at my nonfunctional trachea, I didn't even notice as the ground raced toward me, his blow driving me back to earth at breakneck speed. Another detonation of agony rattled my bones as I smashed into the street below. My movement stopped only when I was at the bottom of an impact crater a good ten feet under the surface of the road above.

I had thought I was such a badass after beating Sapphire Valkyrie and Xymon with relative ease. Writhing in pain at the bottom of the crater, unable to breathe, I realized that I hadn't truly risen above my usual level of failure. I was still below expectations. Below what I needed to be. Below Xoron.

The realization stung. Not because of my ego—I was accustomed to failing to meet expectations—but because I knew that I was letting Andrea down. Just moments ago, she had given me hope. She had made me realize that I had the potential to be incredible, to be a Xyr Queen—likely, the most powerful woman in the universe. She had sacrificed, first, her home for me to have that opportunity. Then, her life. I desperately wanted to live up to the potential she saw in me, to make her sacrifices worth their cost. But I was beginning to realize that I would never have the chance to become what she must have wanted me to. Just as I hadn't been able to save her.

With two punches, Emperor Xoron had taken the fight completely out of me. The thought sent a jolt of anger through me. I had to do better than that. For Andrea. Uncaring that I still hadn't been able to manage to suck in any oxygen after the vicious strike to my neck, I set my jaw and struggled to my feet...

...just in time to see Xoron swoop down from the sky to land in front of me with a dark smile. "Ready for more?" He smirked. "Excellent!"

Massive, iron fists flew into my head, my stomach, my hips. I felt the heat of bruises forming on my face, the crunch of ribs breaking, the slapping sounds of my muscles being obliterated under Xoron's shower of might. But the blows just kept coming. The man was merciless as he shattered my gorgeous body.