As the child strained so hard that black tears streamed from her eyes, the somewhat clumsy little black handprints finally found the canine monster's gaping mouth and plunged inside, as though the monster itself were sucking down black broth.
The child plopped back onto the ground, clapping her little hands and giggling.
Snap!
The yellow-robed Nightmare Wizard Apprentice raised a hand and snapped his fingers.
"Aah!"
The child fell to the ground, clutching her mouth. Thick black smoke poured through the gaps between her little hands.
The pale canine monster, frozen in place, gradually blurred out of sight.
Crack! A twisted, elongated pale foreleg thrust out of the child's smoke-filled mouth, followed by the other foreleg, then a canine head with no eyes, nose, or ears. The child's mouth stretched wide, and when the entire canine body emerged, it burst apart, scattering black vapor everywhere.
"Sorry, I failed to hold back," the yellow-robed apprentice said softly. "The curse was so effective largely because it hadn't finished transforming. All I needed to do was give it a little help, but then I couldn't control it perfectly. Only a nightmare fiend that has slipped out of control is a true nightmare fiend..."
Those words weren't just directed at the bald, middle-aged apprentice. He was also making it clear that he had never used his full strength, Ruger thought.
"Waaah! Aah!"
Loud wailing rang out.
The bald apprentice tossed over the nightmare organ they had agreed upon, then immediately ran toward Little One, whose head had shattered.
The broken child's chest stirred slightly. Her clothes tore open, and an even smaller Little One emerged. Crying, she climbed along the arm the bald man held out to her and burrowed into his sunken chest. Only after opening her little mouth to latch onto a