The artifact on Malvek chest, the obsidian Heart pulsed.
Malvek's body jolted. His veins lit up again. Arcs of chaotic energy crackled across his limbs, lashing out in every direction.
A tendril of black lightning shot from his chest and ripped through the ground, carving a molten scar across the street. Another blast tore upward into the sky, slamming into the cavern ceiling and bringing down a rain of stone.
"Scatter!" Tharn barked.
The nephirid dove for cover as a dome of fractured light exploded outward. Everything within five meters was flung back, Kaela barely ducked behind a ruined column as the blast tore the top off a nearby wall.
Malvek screamed, "Die ALL of you!!!"
He stomped forward, and the very air shimmered around him. Shards of the Obsidian Heart were peeling off like embers, floating midair, each one radiating unstable magic. They shot off at random, some like fireballs, others like thunderbolts.
