Slowly, I opened my eyes, and saw that the Renegade Praetor's massive frame had frozen in place, powered off. The red light that had powered it up was now completely gone, and after glancing to one side, I confirmed that the Exorcist too had returned to its normal, defensive form.
Realizing what had happened, I let out a deep sigh of relief, and with some effort, broke out of the chunk of the ceiling that had fell on me. I didn't need to be able to channel magic to do that—all I needed to do was use my enhanced vampiric and angelic physical strength, nothing more.
Not wasting any time, I circled around behind the Renegade Praetor's body, forcefully tore off the metal gate protecting its core, and pressed the tip of my gun against the blue light-bulb shaped orb inside. Then, without any hesitation, I pulled on the trigger—not once, but five continuous times.
