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He opened his le tooth onto his flat, wide tongue, and I gagged We weren’t even that close, but I could smell his breath froy my neck to peer around hih away from the main fray

“Now, you big baby,” I crooned, forcing as much persuasion as I could into uy would require more persuasion, but I didn’t want to skimp on it “Hit yourself in the head, real hard”

He hesitated, confusion reflecting in his big, bloodshot eye

“Use your club,” I intoned, pushing my power even harder “And hit yourself In the head”

Nothing

Goddamn it

Language barrier, maybe?

“Swing it like this” I picked up a long piece of broken stalagic out toward the cyclops “And bash yourself over the head Swing very hard”

I pushed i to supplement my words with a visual, as if my persuasion was a picture book meant for a child Finally, the cyclops seeestures, and I made a mental note to ask a teacher about that if we survived this battle Seeht me those little details by now—like whether I needed to be able to speak the sae as someone to persuade them

Either way, the cyclops did as he was told He swung the heavy club all the way out to one side, then swung it back as hard as he could The wet, sickening thud as the spikes eain

He was still on his feet soh his skull was pierced and caved in, thick red and black goo spilling from the wound

“Fall that way,” I told hi that his rasp my directive

He fell The club hit the ground first and soo poured out like a river in e pile of rocks and the cyclops, leavingbody and scaled his buht tears to ross, do not reco to turn in our favor

The little flying whatevers were gone, splattered against the rocks or s their own for now, but there were only a few left, and they were not working together On the ground, the spider centaur de havoc, but his smaller minions had been crushed or burned The salamander was split fro with a river of lava that ran nearby

I was still bursting with energy and cocky from my success, so I raced toward the front lines without hesitation I watched Hannah take out three harpies at once, and whooped for her That was ain the dark struck at s