“Good job, Scorpion!” Rock called as he led warriors through the path of destruction I’d carved. “Pace yourself! Don’t burn out!”
Deathsong giggled in his grip.Let’s go, Rocky! Time to drink some foul blood!
Cassius remained glued to my side, a silent vow to Killian. His eyes constantly scanned for threats I was too focused to see, his blade a blur whenever a Shrieker strayed too close.
My throat tightened as my mate collided with Ruin—the impact like two titans breaking the world.
Foul darkness rolled off the god in waves, an inverse flame that poisoned the air and corrupted thought. Warriors who had moved to aid Killian were already cooling corpses, slain by mere proximity to that foul power.
Icy fear stole my breath and flooded my system. My feet carried me forward. I had to get to Killian, to fight beside him.
“He’s fine, Barbie.” Cassius’s hand on my shoulder was an immovable anchor. “Trust your mate. Focus.”
“Stay outside the ring!” Killian roared at the surrounding warriors, not breaking his stare, his eyes fixed on Ruin. “Now!”
They fell back reluctantly, forming a wide perimeter, weapons ready but honoring his command.
Killian’s starlight blade met a crimson sword that materialized in my father’s hand. The impact sent a shockwave through the earth, turning the stone around them into powder.
“You are my daughter’s mate,” Ruin’s voice hissed, the sound of boiling water poured over broken glass. “For you, she betrayed me.”
“You’ll pay for every second you tortured her!” Killian snarled, the words ripped from the depths of his fury. “They say you can’t die, but I will make you wish for it!”
No being had challenged him in eons. Until now.
“You dare speak to your god this way?” Ruin bellowed, the sound shredding the air. “You will die screaming, and my daughter will watch!”
“Eat worms!” Killian roared. “You’re not my god, or anyone’s. Crawl back into the void you came from.”
They crashed together again in a brutal exchange. My mate moved with a hybrid’s lethal grace, raw dragon power fueling every strike, each blow calculated to kill a god.
It wasn’t enough to win, but it was enough to hold. He just needed to keep Ruin engaged long enough for us to cull his army.
But Ruin flowed around the attacks like smoke. Where Killian’s blade should have severed a limb, shadow simply parted and reformed. A thrust that would have pierced any heart found only void. My father wasn’t just fighting; he was demonstrating the utter futility of the struggle.
Dragon fire erupted from Killian’s jaws, a torrent of fury hot enough to fuse sand into glass. The inferno engulfed Ruin completely, and for one breathtaking moment, hope flared within me.
But then my father’s charred flesh knitted itself back together, seamless and whole.
It was unfolding exactly like his battle with the Earth deities eons ago.
My father could heal indefinitely while his opponents were worn down, their strength spent. Even Killian’s enhanced regeneration, supercharged by his dragon and our mate bond, was no match for that instant, effortless repair.
My eyes burned with pure hatred. Why couldn’t that fucker just lie down and die?
I wanted to help so badly my very bones ached. But a reckless charge would only distract my mate, giving him one more vulnerability to protect.
“Is that all you can do?” Ruin sneered, the sound grating like stone on bone. “My daughter should have picked another mate more worthy of her.”
Killian’s answer was a spear of lightning and raw fury, a strike that should have vaporized a mountain and scattered its atoms to the solar winds. Instead, my father simply opened his void of a mouth and swallowed the blast whole. The power meant to destroy him only made him stronger.
“Time to break my daughter’s heart!” Ruin vowed viciously.
His crimson blade flashed. Killian parried with his starlight sword, but the sheer force from the god drove him back several feet before he steadied himself. A flicker of surprise twisted Ruin’s features. He hadn’t expected any being to possess such strength. Now, he would stop at nothing to eliminate my mate, taking out the competition.
Ruin unleashed his shadows, and they were suddenly everywhere. A shadow-wrapped fist slammed into Killian’s ribs. I felt his agony as my own, a sharp, sickening crack of bone. The entire battlefield seemed to freeze at the sound of an apex predator’s pained roar.
But my mate did not fall. His dragon healing surged, knitting bone even as Ruin pressed his advantage. Killian used the momentum of the next attack, spinning to bring his blade around in an arc. It carved through Ruin from shoulder to hip, cleaving him open to the spine. For one glorious, satisfying second, I saw fear in my father’s eyes.
