บท 192: Meltdown

I thought… No, I hoped that with the help of my blood tribute, I could once again clutch the moment and dodge Loraz's strike. 

But my body was too weakened to withstand the pressure of the skill for long enough for me to dodge. In fact, the very moment I tried to push my body against the thick slurry of air to remove my head from the path of Loraz's fist, the spell collapsed. 

My desperate attempt to raise a barrier of darkness fell through when Loraz's attack proved to be faster than my defense. 

My darkness surged forth… but it was far too little and long too late. Still, tiny tentacles of the elemental darkness reached Loraz's forearm before he could strike my face. They latched onto the man's skin, desperately biting down to stop the man's fist… 

Only to snap and break, allowing Fay's father's strike to land squarely on my chin. 

The world went blank for a moment.