All or nothing

The King's claws closed in around his neck, and Alex could even feel them slightly penetrate his skin, drawing blood.

It stared directly into Alex's eyes.

Even without the ability to speak or communicate across complex thoughts, Alex could easily see the playfulness, arrogance and mockery in its eyes.

But instead of crushing his neck, killing him then and there, the beast decided to toss him into the air.

Alex was helpless to resist, and only moments later he could feel the dark energy surrounding the beast start to build up around the same hand that had just tossed him.

Vwoom!

The gathered dark energy blasted out all at once in Alex's direction, sending him flying upwards for hundreds of kilometres.

This time, he managed to place Virtue's Edge in front of him, allowing it to absorb the brunt of the attack, lessening the damage he would have received otherwise.