I burst from the glowing hallway at a dead sprint, lungs scraping for air, each breath tearing through my chest like broken glass. Behind me, the thunder of giant reptilian feet pounded the stone in a relentless cadence. Every impact shuddered through my spine, the vibrations crawling up my ribs and into my skull.

  Turquoise light washed across the cavern ahead, revealing chaos frozen in motion.

  Ryker and Owen stood braced at the center of a tight phalanx, their bodies rigid, jaws clenched. Sweat streaked through ash and blood on their faces. The defenders around them gripped their weapons like lifelines, backs pressed against a barricade made from shattered bone, splintered shields, and monster carcasses stacked three deep.

  The air tasted of iron and gore.

  A streak of brilliant blue snapped toward my face.

  A mana arrow. Full draw. Full speed.

  Friendly fire. Outstanding.

  My mind lagged behind my instincts. My body moved first. I ducked low, spine bending until I felt vertebrae protest, and the arrow hissed over my head. I pushed off the stone and launched upward, muscles screaming as I lifted myself into the air.

  For a split second, I was suspended above the defenders, bodies and weapons and flickering mana outlines laid out beneath me like a battlefield diorama.

  Then gravity reclaimed me.

  I slammed into the stone behind the line. My knees buckled. Vision flickered into darkness. For a heartbeat, the world vanished, replaced by a dull, pulsing void. I forced my eyes open. The cavern spun in a nauseating tilt before it settled again.

  A roar rolled over us like a physical force as the first Elites slammed into the barricade. Shields rattled. Stone cracked. The defenders staggered.

  Kira and Jamie appeared above me, faces pinched with panic.

  Kira’s eyes shone in the turquoise glow, wide and frantic, her breath forming quick fogs in the chill air. Her hands hovered over me, fingers trembling as if afraid to touch. Jamie’s jaw was set tight, his gaze darting between me and the chaos behind him.

  I tried to speak.

  Instead, my entire body seized in a violent convulsion. My muscles trembled uncontrollably, vision tunneling as a spike of pain shot down my spine.

  This is what happens when you use Wind Step like an idiot.

  Again.

  “Elias,” Kira breathed, her voice cracking. “You are shaking. Look at me.”

  She pressed her staff against my chest. Warmth blossomed outward, a slow, soothing tide that loosened the painful tightness in my muscles. Relief washed through me, my breathing evening out, though exhaustion still clung to my bones like wet sand.

  Jamie crouched beside her, eyes scanning my face. “I can carry him,” he said. His voice was steady, but worry twitched at the corner of his mouth.

  “Stop,” I rasped. “I only need a moment.”

  Kira pressed something into my palm. Her fingers curled mine around it, lingering with a silent plea in the touch.

  Mana crystals.

  I crushed them. Cool, clean energy surged into my body like a breath of winter air. The fog behind my eyes thinned. My limbs stopped trembling. My heartbeat steadied.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  Kira crushed more in my hand without being asked, her movements quick and precise. She watched my face, searching for signs of strength returning. Her eyes softened when she found it.

  The cavern sharpened around me: the metallic scent of blood, the musty stink of lizard hides, the electric tang of mana. Screams, clashes, the rhythmic snap of bowstrings.

  “What is our status?” I forced out, pushing myself upright.

  Jamie straightened. “Logan, Ryker, and the Chief have the front line. Gideon and Flynn are guarding the archers with Shanira.”

  His expression darkened. A flicker of embarrassment tightened his features.

  “We also found another healer,” he said. “He was hiding. Said this was too dangerous.”

  I met Jamie’s eyes. A tremor of recognition moved behind his.

  He was remembering his own hesitation.

  “This is new territory for everyone,” I said quietly. “Courage takes time.”

  “I know,” Jamie admitted. His shoulders slumped. “I keep thinking that if he stepped forward earlier…”

  “Do not chase ghosts of what could have happened,” I said. “You froze once too. You still stepped forward.”

  Jamie’s cheeks reddened. “Still feels wrong.”

  “The fact that he came at all means he wants to help,” I said. “That deserves a chance.”

  Jamie nodded slowly, breath steadying.

  “Where is he?” I asked.

  “With the archers. Ryker placed him behind them. I need to get back.”

  He sprinted away.

  Kira lingered, eyes full of worry.

  “Are you sure you can keep going?” she asked softly. “You look like you were hit by a truck.”

  “Just tired,” I said. “Go help them. Some of them are probably already bleeding.”

  She gave a fragile smile. “I will keep my eyes on you.”

  “I worry about you too,” I said.

  She did not look back, but raised a hand in a small wave. The faint blush at the tips of her ears said enough.

  Time to deal with this new healer.

  Mana arrows sang overhead as I made my way to the archers. Shanira and five others fired in perfect rhythm. Four released shimmering bolts while two pulled back, hands glowing as they gathered mana. Then they swapped in a seamless dance.

  The air thrummed with the hum of their shots.

  Gideon and Flynn stood before them like the pillars of a gate.

  Gideon was a wall of iron, shield high, mace swinging in vicious arcs that shattered bone and sent bodies tumbling. His expression held the calm focus of a man refusing to yield an inch.

  Flynn was the opposite. A flicker. A ripple. A shadow with steel edges. His kodachi flashed like a silver whisper, slicing through throats and joints before the lizards even realized he had moved. His presence was so precise it almost felt unreal.

  Behind them crouched a skinny man gripping his staff like it was the last plank on a sinking ship. Panic trembled in his limbs. Sweat trickled down his forehead. His eyes darted wildly, never settling.

  I approached.

  “Hey,” I called.

  He nearly jumped out of his own skin. His staff clattered against the stone before he fumbled to catch it again.

  How did this guy survive long enough to get here?

  “My name is Elias,” I said, offering him my hand. “Yours?”

  He stared at my hand like it was a loaded gun. His throat worked twice before sound emerged.

  “I know who you are.”

  I frowned. “Do you work at Valen PD?”

  He shook his head rapidly. “No. I am a School Resource Officer. North District.”

  “Then how do you know me?” I asked.

  He swallowed hard. “They talk about you. You lead people. You fight in the front. You… you give people hope.”

  The words sat uncomfortably in my gut. Hope. Me. No.

  “So what is your name?” I asked gently.

  “Ivan,” he whispered.

  “Thank you, Ivan.”

  He blinked. Again. As if the words confused him.

  “Thank you?” he repeated. “You are not angry I hid? That I stayed back while others died?”

  Shame washed across his face. Shoulders trembled. He shrank into himself.

  I lowered myself until our eyes met. Mana light flickered across his face as another arrow streaked overhead.

  “Ivan,” I said softly. “Look at me.”

  It took effort, but he did.

  “No one is marking the seconds you froze,” I said. “Fear hits hard when reality changes. What matters is that you came out here anyway. Lives will be saved because of you.”

  A roar shook the stone. A lesser lizard slammed into Gideon’s shield. Flynn vanished, reappeared behind it, and killed it with a single precise cut.

  Ivan watched, horrified.

  “They need you,” I said. “Right now.”

  “I do not know if I can,” he whispered.

  “You can,” I said. “I will cover you. You heal.”

  He took a trembling breath. “Who first?”

  “Flynn,” I said. “He looks like he is favoring one side.”

  Flynn staggered as he reappeared behind another lizard, chest heaving.

  “He is hurt,” Ivan whispered.

  “Then fix it.”

  Ivan hesitated only one heartbeat before stepping forward. His staff shook in his grip. A flicker of pale blue light wavered at its tip, weak and stuttering.

  “Come on,” I whispered.

  The glow steadied.

  Then grew.

  Then pulsed.

  The light washed over Flynn. His shoulders straightened. The strain left his eyes.

  Flynn blinked, stunned. “You did that?”

  Ivan nodded frantically.

  Flynn grinned. “Do it again.”

  Ivan cast again. Stronger. A third time. Stronger still.

  Shanira laughed in relief. “About time we got another healer.”

  Ivan’s face brightened with something like pride.

  He was no longer hiding.

  He was healing.

  And for a moment, the tide pushed back.

  Then the cavern floor shook.

  And everything changed.

  The cavern shifted.

  It was subtle at first, a faint tremble beneath my boots, almost like the stone exhaled. The ongoing battle blurred into a chaotic background noise, but this… this felt different. Heavy. Wrong. A distant pressure pushed against my eardrums.

  A second vibration followed, stronger, rolling up my legs like a physical warning.

  Players paused mid-swing. Mana lights flickered. Somewhere in the back ranks, someone’s breath hitched sharply.

  Then came the third tremor.

  This one struck hard enough that shards of stone cracked off the cavern walls and rattled across the floor. The barricade shuddered beneath the defenders’ hands. Even the Elites hesitated, claws scraping as they backed a step away from the far tunnel.

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  The entire cavern held its breath.

  A low, almost subsonic growl rolled through the chamber. It thrummed in my chest like a plucked wire, resonating with something primal in my bones. A warning older than language.

  Shanira’s voice cracked across the chaos. “Something is coming. Something big.”

  The air thickened.

  Heat breathed from the far tunnel, carrying the rancid scent of old blood and rotting scales. A deep crack split through one of the supporting ribs overhead. Dust drifted down like gray snow.

  Then the far barricade exploded.

  Stone, bone, and monster flesh burst outward in a violent plume. Defenders were flung like rag dolls. A loud concussive boom shook the cavern, the shockwave pushing against my armor hard enough to steal my breath.

  A wall of debris rolled forward, swallowing the battlefield.

  Inside it, something moved.

  A silhouette began to take shape — hulking, broad, impossibly massive. Its footsteps weren’t footsteps at all. They were impacts, each one smashing into the stone with a deep, bone-rattling thud.

  The dust parted around it.

  And the behemoth stepped into the light.

  It was enormous, towering over even the Elites. Its skin wasn’t smooth like the lesser lizards. It was hide layered in thick armored plates, each one scarred, some cracked, some shattered entirely as if other monsters had once bitten chunks out of it.

  Its eyes glowed a deep, molten gold, burning with an ancient animal hatred.

  A second behemoth lumbered through the breach behind it.

  Then a third.

  Then a fourth.

  Each one larger than the last. Each one older.

  Each one carrying scars like a history written in flesh.

  The cavern shook with their presence. Heat radiated from their bodies, rolling across us in waves. The defenders nearest the breach instinctively staggered back, shields lowering, breath hitching in their throats.

  Even the Elites retreated several steps, hissing, their tails lashing like terrified serpents.

  Shanira whispered, voice trembling, “These are not normal Elites. These are something else.”

  A player nearby dropped his sword with a clatter. Someone else sobbed under their breath. Ryker’s grip tightened on his spear until his knuckles went white.

  I felt the pressure building behind my ribs, a cold fist closing around my lungs.

  We were in trouble.

  Real trouble.

  My mind flashed through every tactic, every trick, every scrap of mana I had left. It was not enough. Not for this.

  The first behemoth inhaled deeply. Its chest expanded like a rising mountain.

  Then it roared.

  The roar smashed against the cavern walls like a physical force, a tidal wave of sound that made my ears ring. Every torch flickered violently. Arrows quivered on bowstrings. Some players staggered back, hands flying to their heads.

  The beast lowered its head and charged.

  The stone buckled beneath its weight.

  Chaos erupted.

  Three players broke entirely, scrambling to their feet as panic seized them. Their eyes were wide, unfocused, pupils blown with terror. They turned and sprinted for the portal, weapons forgotten, screams tearing from their throats.

  “Do not run through that gate!” I shouted.

  They did not hear me.

  They vanished into the swirling blue light.

  A swarm of lesser lizards sensed the opening and surged after them, shrieking triumphantly.

  My stomach knotted. Monsters had just escaped into the real world.

  A shadow dropped from above, slamming into the ground near the gate hard enough to send cracks radiating through the stone.

  Logan.

  He rose from the impact like a titan pulled from a myth, dust cascading off his shoulders. His eyes gleamed with savage anticipation. His axe rested casually in one massive hand as if it weighed nothing at all.

  Three lesser lizards charged him.

  Logan met the first with a brutal downward chop that split its head open. The second he cut clean in half with a single sweeping arc, green blood spraying across the stone. The third leapt at him with a shriek.

  Logan dropped his axe and punched it mid-air.

  The impact sounded like a watermelon being thrown against a brick wall. Bone and brain matter erupted in a wet spray as the creature’s skull caved inward. The body collapsed at his feet.

  Another lizard tried to escape. Logan grabbed it by the tail, muscles bulging as he spun in a wide circle. His roar blended with the monster’s shriek before he released it.

  The corpse arced through the air like a grotesque discus and slammed directly into the face of a charging Elite.

  The Elite stumbled, momentarily stunned.

  Logan rolled his neck, picked up his axe, and grinned — a wide, unhinged, hungry grin.

  “Now we are talking.”

  He turned his gaze toward the behemoths.

  And charged straight at them.

  Logan broke into a sprint that felt less like running and more like a declaration of war. Each step shook the stone, dust bouncing with every impact. The behemoth looming in front of him snarled and dipped its massive head, molten eyes narrowing as it accepted the challenge.

  For a moment, the battlefield seemed to bend around the two of them. Even the Elites paused, instincts recognizing a duel they were not worthy to interrupt.

  I felt my heart hammer once, hard enough to ache.

  Logan did not slow, instead picking up speed as he charged.

  His boots struck the ground in a pounding cadence that reminded me of battering rams hitting castle gates. His shoulders rolled with anticipation. His axe rose. Sweat streaked down the sides of his temples. A feral grin tugged at his mouth, matching the wild fire in his eyes.

  “Come on,” Logan murmured to himself, low enough that only someone watching him with every fiber of their attention would catch it. “Give me something worth the scars.”

  The behemoth thundered toward him, each stride sending pebbles skittering across the cavern floor. Its jaws opened wide, revealing rows of serrated teeth long enough to cut a car in half. Its breath washed over the battlefield in a hot, rotting wave that made my throat tighten.

  They collided.

  The impact echoed like a bomb.

  Logan planted his feet. Every muscle in his thick frame tightened beneath the strain. His boots skidded several feet backward, carving two trenches into the stone. The behemoth buckled slightly, surprised that a human had stopped its charge instead of splattering against the wall behind him.

  Logan’s expression shifted. The grin faded. Something colder slipped into his eyes.

  A judgment.

  “You are not the strongest thing I have fought today,” he said.

  He twisted his torso with a roar and swung his axe upward. The blade smashed into the behemoth’s lower jaw with a sickening crunch that sprayed fragments of yellowed bone into the air. I heard the crack even from where I stood.

  The behemoth reeled, staggering sideways. Logan spun with the momentum, digging his feet into the stone, and landed another heavy blow across its thick skull. The beast toppled to the ground with an earthshaking crash.

  “Kill it!” I yelled, still fighting off a lesser lizard clawing at my leg.

  Logan glanced at me, head tilted, brow raised.

  “Where is the sport in that?” he called back.

  He stepped away from the fallen behemoth and waited. Actually waited. Arms loose. Axe resting on one shoulder. Breathing steady.

  The behemoth writhed, dazed, its limbs twitching in an attempt to regain balance.

  “You done?” Logan asked it.

  The beast pushed itself upright on trembling legs.

  Logan nodded. “Good.”

  He charged again.

  His axe slammed into the side of the behemoth’s skull. The massive creature collapsed a second time. Logan paced calmly to its opposite side, eyeing the thick, armored neck as if assessing a piece of meat at a butcher’s shop. When the beast stirred again, Logan crouched slightly, preparing his next attack.

  Another roar cut through the cavern.

  A second behemoth barreled toward him, enraged by the assault on its kin.

  Logan looked delighted.

  “Now this is a fight!”

  He ripped his axe free and met the second behemoth head on. It swung a massive claw at him. Logan ducked low, the attack whooshing overhead with enough force to topple boulders.

  He surged upward, burying his axe deep between the beast’s scale plates. Green ichor exploded outward. The second behemoth screeched and whirled violently, flinging Logan off its hide.

  He hit the ground hard enough that his body bounced. The gasp that escaped him was ragged and sharp. His axe clattered across the stone several feet away.

  For a half second, Logan did not move.

  Then he pushed himself up, wiping blood from his lip with the back of his hand.

  He spat onto the stone. Red streaked his saliva.

  His grin returned, wider than before.

  “That was a good hit,” he muttered. “My turn.”

  He sprinted again, still laughing under his breath.

  The second behemoth lunged. Logan sidestepped, sweeping low to retrieve his axe mid-movement. He rose and buried his shoulder into the creature’s kneecap with enough force to snap the joint. The beast buckled, roaring, its leg folding at a wrong angle.

  Logan swung upward. The axe tore through the softer underside, spraying blood across his chest in a hot wave. The behemoth shrieked, collapsing sideways.

  Logan did not wait this time.

  He turned on the first Elite, which had finally regained its footing, head shaking in fury.

  “Round two,” Logan said.

  The Elite charged.

  Logan raised his axe and met it once more.

  The blade carved deep into its throat. Blood pulsed from the open wound in thick, steaming gouts. The creature’s eyes widened, then dimmed rapidly as its massive body crumpled.

  Logan wrenched his axe free and stepped back as the Elite’s head struck the ground with a dull, final thud.

  He looked around for the next monster, chest rising and falling slowly, like a man taking a walk instead of fighting for his life.

  He spotted me.

  He strode over with relaxed confidence, blood splattering behind him with each heavy footstep.

  “Hope I didn't steal your kill,” he said, lifting his axe slightly as if presenting it.

  “All yours,” I replied, breathing hard. “Every inch of it.”

  His grin widened. “Good. Where do you want me next?”

  I pointed toward the remaining behemoth bearing down on Chief Dobson and Charlie.

  Logan nodded once.

  “I will take that one,” he said.

  And he ran toward it.

  Logan tore across the cavern toward Chief Dobson and Charlie, but before I could watch him collide with the next monster, something sharp cut through the noise.

  A scream.

  High, terrified.

  Kira.

  My heart slammed so hard against my ribs I almost didn’t hear the second sound — the snarling chorus of lesser lizards.

  I spun.

  Kira stood backed against a jagged pillar, a semicircle of a dozen lesser lizards closing around her like a tightening noose. Their jaws snapped in erratic intervals, each click a hungry punctuation. One lone player — tall, bearded, clutching a heavy mace — fought to keep the pack from swallowing her whole.

  A towering Elite lurked behind them, its yellow eyes glowing like lanterns through the dust. Its head lowered in preparation for a charge.

  No.

  Not again.

  Not her.

  Fear turned to fire. Mana surged down my legs so fast the stone beneath me cracked.

  I launched into Wind Step.

  The world snapped backward in a blur of blue light and whipping air. I reappeared at the player’s side just as he crushed a lesser lizard’s skull with a brutal downward swing. Bone fragments bounced across the stone.

  “Thank God,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “This was about to get ugly.”

  “Getting there,” I replied, my voice as tight as my grip.

  Two lizards leapt at me. I sliced one clean in half; the other lost its head to a fast, efficient stroke. My gladius left my hand a moment later, spiraling through the air before pinning a third monster to the cavern wall like a grotesque decoration.

  The Elite behind them growled, a deep rumble that vibrated through the stone under my boots.

  Kira’s eyes met mine. Relief. Fear. Trust.

  “I will go high, you go low,” I said without hesitation.

  The mace wielder snorted. “Sure thing. I will take the fangs and claws while you enjoy the view.”

  “Let's switch then,” I answered.

  “No,” he huffed. “I can't jump that high.”

  A short laugh escaped me despite the danger. “Then I go high. You go low.”

  He nodded once, gripping his mace. “Good plan.”

  The Elite lunged.

  We charged to meet it.

  He ducked under the snapping jaws and slammed his mace into the Elite’s knee. The crack was loud, like a tree splitting under an axe. The creature’s leg buckled sideways. It roared, half collapsing.

  My opening.

  I Wind Stepped, appearing midair above the creature’s spine. I landed on its back, boots sliding across slick scales. My Jian plunged deep into the joint where scale met muscle.

  Mana surged through me.

  I unleashed a Kinetic Burst.

  The detonation was brutal. Vertebrae and scale fragments exploded outward in a spray of green ichor. The Elite screamed as its limbs went limp.

  The mace wielder finished the job with a decisive, powerful blow to the skull.

  The beast toppled.

  We both stood over the corpse, breathing hard.

  “Thanks for the assist,” he said, wiping blood from his brow.

  “Assist? I did the work. You hit the corpse,” I replied.

  He gave me a crooked grin. “Funny. Kill screen popped for me when my mace connected.”

  Behind him, Kira rolled her eyes, a tired but genuine smile tugging at her lips.

  Yeah. She was alright. That was enough to keep my heart beating.

  I extended a hand to the guy. “Since you watched her back, the kill is yours. I am Elias.”

  He clasped my forearm. His grip was firm, warm. “Jonathan Hale. Everyone calls me Jon.”

  My entire world stopped.

  The battlefield blurred.

  The screaming.

  The fighting.

  The clashing steel.

  It all dimmed.

  Jonathan.

  The syllables wrapped around my throat like cold fingers. My stomach dropped, and the air thinned until each breath felt clawed from a shrinking space.

  Kira inhaled sharply beside me. She knew. She remembered.

  Jon noticed the color drain from my face. Confusion scraped across his expression. “You alright? Did I say something wrong?”

  But his voice felt far away.

  Too far.

  Behind a wall of memories crashing down like an avalanche.

  Highway 8.

  The strobing red and blue lights.

  The copper-stained asphalt.

  Jonathan Kent’s hollow eyes.

  Monica slumped with a hole in her skull.

  The Glock shaking in his hand before he steadied it.

  His voice breaking as he whispered, Take me to them.

  The gunshot.

  The body collapsing beside the ambulance.

  The wet, sickening thud when his head hit the pavement.

  Kira stepped forward and placed a hand on Jon’s shoulder, her voice trembling as she spoke.

  “It reminds Elias of someone. Someone who died on a scene we handled. A father named Jonathan. He… lost everything that day. His wife. His kids. Both murdered. He couldn’t bear the grief.”

  Jon’s face softened. Pain flickered through his eyes like he was hearing a story carved out of grief he knew too well.

  He swallowed. “I am sorry you carry that. I am sorry your Jonathan is gone.”

  My jaw clenched. I forced a breath in, then another. The cavern sharpened back into focus around me.

  Jon stepped closer, lowering his voice. “We all have ghosts, mate. The stubborn ones stay longer than we want. After this fight, let us raise a drink to them, and maybe one day they will let us breathe easier.”

  I nodded once. My throat was tight. My chest ached. But his words cut through the memory fog like a warm blade.

  “Thank you,” I said. And I meant it.

  A roar ripped across the cavern, shaking dust loose from the ceiling.

  The behemoth Logan and Jamie fought thrashed violently, its massive tail whipping downward. The impact sent Jamie flying across the stone. Logan staggered but held the line alone, axe grinding against rows of monstrous teeth.

  Jon lifted his mace again. His haunted expression shifted to determination. “They need us.”

  I pointed at Kira. “Go with her. Keep her safe.”

  Kira opened her mouth to protest, but Jon was already moving to her side.

  My swords materialized in my hands, mana crackling faintly along their edges.

  “Time to back him up,” I muttered.

  And I ran.

  Logan braced himself against the behemoth’s charge as if preparing to wrestle an avalanche. The monster’s jaws snapped shut inches from his face. The sound was a violent clack that echoed through the cavern like two boulders smashing together. The ground trembled from the weight of the creature’s lunge.

  Logan’s boots dug trenches into the stone. His arms locked around the shaft of his axe. Muscles bulged across his shoulders and neck. His face twisted with exertion, teeth grit, veins standing out across his forearms like steel cords.

  The behemoth roared, spraying hot, rancid breath across Logan’s face. The force of it whipped his hair backward. He snarled right back at it.

  “Come on,” he rasped, voice vibrating with adrenaline. “Try harder.”

  The beast shoved down with enough force to crush a pickup truck, but Logan held, refusing to be moved more than inches. His gaze sharpened, pupils narrowing into predatory slits. He shifted his stance, sliding one foot back for leverage as he pushed upward with renewed fury.

  I sprinted toward him. Dust and debris swirled in the air with each thunderous step of the behemoth. Logan snarled again, leaning into the pressure as the creature’s skull pressed harder against his axe.

  He spotted me approaching out of the corner of his eye.

  “Little help,” he growled.

  “Already on the way.”

  I slid across the ground as the behemoth lunged again, its massive body shifting to crush Logan under sheer weight. Logan stepped aside with a powerful pivot, letting the beast stumble forward. I dropped low, my glowing Jian carving a long, deep slice through the thick scales of its hind leg.

  The creature shrieked. A torrent of hot, green blood poured across the stone. Its limb collapsed under its own mass, forcing it to slam down onto one knee. The shockwave rippled across the cavern and rattled my bones.

  Logan reacted instantly.

  His axe came down with devastating precision, biting into the back of the monster’s neck. The blade sank deep. He pulled it free and struck again. Then again. Each hit was a brutal, disciplined assault. Each blow cracked scale and bone.

  The behemoth thrashed in wild agony, claws raking across the ground. One swipe nearly caught Logan, missing him by inches. Stone shattered from the impact.

  I darted past the beast’s flailing arms, slipping beneath its shoulder, blades raised. My boots splashed through puddles of thick, green ichor. The air was hot, heavy, and filled with the stench of blood and monstrous flesh.

  The wound in its neck gaped wide, vertebrae exposed.

  Perfect.

  I plunged both swords deep. Mana surged from my core through my arms, condensing into a violently sharp, explosive pressure that pulsed like a heartbeat between the blades.

  “Stay down,” I whispered.

  I unleashed the burst.

  The Kinetic Burst ripped through flesh, bone, and scale in a geyser of gore. The creature convulsed, body lifting several inches off the ground as the energy detonated inside it. The spine shattered under the force. The behemoth’s head toppled forward in a slow, almost majestic arc before slamming into the stone with a heavy, final thud.

  The impact made nearby defenders stumble.

  I stumbled too, breathing hard as I tore my blades free and staggered backward. Green blood dripped from the edges of my swords, pooling at my feet.