CHAPTER 80: DEMON IN CAMELOT

The eastern market of the capital was filled with chaos. Stalls toppled, goods scattered, and civilians screamed bloody murder as they fled in every direction.

What had once been a bustling morning of trade and laughter had now turned into a killing ground.

Hybrid Zero rose to her feet slowly, her joints popping with a sound that was just too wrong.

Her eyes, those voidlike pits with faint crimson swirling, locked on the nearest mage who had rushed to help her.

"Hold! I don’t think she’s a Demon!" The mage yelled, hands outstretched with glowing spell formations of containment. "She’s unstable, but she’s just a girl!"

The spell bloomed to life, forming a barrier that covered the hybrid.

Order seemed to be returning as the hybrid was now trapped. And those who had heard what the mage had said slowed down their retreat, becoming more relaxed.

"Calm down, kid." The man said in a calming tone. "Everything is gonna be alright."

Hybrid Zero tilted her head, lips curling back into a feral grin.

With a blur of motion, her claws lashed forward, tearing through the barrier and rending the mage’s chest open. He screamed once before collapsing in a spray of blood.

The crowd erupted in renewed panic. People shoved and trampled one another in their desperation to escape.

"Contain her! Now!" Another mage bellowed, his staff slamming into the ground. A net of golden light burst forth, wrapping around Hybrid Zero.

For a heartbeat, it seemed to hold. Then her wings burst open with a violent snap, feathers glowing with eerie blue fire. With one wrenching motion, she tore the golden net apart, fragments of light scattering like broken glass.

She leapt into the air, wings beating hard, sending a gale that overturned stalls and knocked civilians to the ground.

From above, she dove like a predator. Her talons seized another mage who was in the middle of casting a spell, dragging him into the sky.

His scream was cut off as she snapped his spine with casual cruelty and dropped his corpse onto the cobblestones below.

The remaining mages spread out, their voices overlapping as they shouted orders and incantations.

Bolts of flame, arrows of ice, and lances of light streaked toward her from every direction.

Hybrid Zero twisted in the air, some blasts missing, others smashing into her body. Her skin blistered, flesh charring and peeling away, only to reform seconds later as black veins pulsed and knit the damage back together.

One mage teleported directly onto her back, stabbing a glowing sword towards her neck.

Hybrid Zero screeched, spinning violently in the air, wings folding and unfolding in mad gyrations.

She slammed herself against a stone wall, crushing the mage against it with a sickening crunch before swatting his broken body away like refuse.

"Keep her contained! Focus fire!" shouted another, his staff glowing with silver runes. A dozen containment glyphs spread across the cobblestones, rising into a dome of shimmering blue.

Hybrid Zero landed within it, crouching low like a beast preparing to spring. Her claws dug furrows into the ground. Her chest heaved, dark energy gathering in her throat.

Then, with a roar, she unleashed a cone of corrupted flame, blue fire tainted with black smoke. The dome resisted for mere seconds before shattering under the onslaught.

The flames rolled across the square, consuming three mages who had been too close. Their screams echoed until they were ash.

Above, Hybrid Zero flapped her wings again, ascending through the haze of smoke and fire. Her black eyes surveyed the battlefield. The civilians had nearly all fled, though dozens of bodies lay trampled in the chaos, victims of panic as much as her own hand.

The remaining mages regrouped. Four of them, battered but determined, stood shoulder to shoulder.

"We’ll bring her down together!" Their leader shouted, channeling mana until his body glowed with a golden aura.

His comrades followed suit, each unleashing their strongest spells. Spears of light, waves of fire, blades of wind, all converged on Hybrid Zero.

She dove to meet them.

The collision was a storm of magic. Her body was pierced by light, her wings scorched by fire, her skin flayed by razor winds.

She screamed, but it was not pain, it was fury. Even as her body was torn, it regenerated, muscle knitting, bone re-forming, skin sealing with blackened veins.

She slammed into the leader, her claws driving through his chest in a spray of gore.

The other three panicked. One tried to retreat, teleporting backward, but Hybrid Zero lunged, tearing his head clean off before his spell completed.

Another tried to blast her with fire from close range. She tanked it head-on, the flames consuming half her body. For a moment she was a burning corpse, then the flames guttered out, and she was whole again, her talons ripping the mage in half.

The last survivor screamed and fled, sprinting across the square.

Hybrid Zero crouched low, wings flaring, then launched herself forward. In a blur she caught him by the throat, lifting him off the ground. He thrashed desperately, casting spells at point blank, searing her flesh. She only squeezed tighter, until his neck snapped like a twig.

She dropped the corpse and spread her wings, breathing heavily.

Around her, the square was unrecognizable, smoldering ruins, collapsed walls, shattered stone, the air thick with smoke and the stench of death.

Hybrid Zero raised her head, eyes glowing brighter, chest heaving with each breath.

Her roar tore through the capital once more, shaking glass from windows and rattling the hearts of all who heard.

Then the sounds of shouts filled the air from the far end of the square.

Armored soldiers marched in, their plates etched with glowing runes of reinforcement. These were not the low-ranked city mages who had first responded. These were high-level soldiers of Camelot, veterans of the warfront.

Their captain raised a massive halberd, the blade gleaming with enchantments. "Form up!" He bellowed. "We face a demon in the heart of the capital! Do not waver!"

Hybrid Zero crouched low again, her wings spreading wide, talons carving scars into the stone.

She licked blood from her lips and snarled, eyes fixed on the new prey that had arrived.