Mathias froze in the doorway, his eyes locking first on her crumpled body… then on my bloodstained hands.
“What have you done?” he breathed, horror turning quickly to rage. “Where’s my daughter?”
I tilted my head, lips curling into a sneer. “Why don’t you ask your wife?” I gestured casually toward Cora’s still form. “Oh… looks like it might be too late for that.”
Mathias bellowed and slammed his fist into my jaw with thunderous force. My body flew back, skidding across the floor.
By the time I hit the stone, he was already cradling her, rocking her gently like she might wake again.
“Oh, my Cora… my poor, sweet Cora,” he whispered, kissing her face, hands, and the fading heat of her skin.
Then he turned to me, grief curdling into fury, eyes ablaze. “All these years, I knew you would betray me. I gave you a secondchance. And still, you’re nothing but a power-hungry, egocentric bastard. I swear, I will have my revenge.”
I sat up, wiping the blood from my mouth, and snarled with amused contempt. “And what will you do? Try to stop me? Everything you built will burn. Your school. Your students. Your sanctimonious dream. I slaughtered your beloved—and I will find your daughter. And when I do, I’ll erase the last piece of your legacy.”
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the hallway behind him.
I looked past Mathias—beyond his dead wife—and saw flames.
Flaming timbers crashed across the floor, embers exploding like fireworks. The fire had spread faster than I anticipated.
Damn Amir. He set it ablaze.
Mathias crawled forward and grabbed at my ankles, desperation etched into his soot-smeared face. “Why?” he rasped. “Why are you so hell-bent on destroying me?”
I yanked my leg free and snarled, “Because you destroyed me. You sent the Timehunters. You murdered my children. You killed Zara. You preach goodness while hiding behind shadows—you’re the worst of us all.”
Mathias stared up at me, eyes wild. “I did not kill your children!” he shouted. “I never sent the Timehunters!”
The inferno surged through the hall with terrifying speed. Sparks rained down like molten tears. Thick smoke poured from the ceiling, wrapping around us in choking tendrils.
Everything was burning.
Everything was collapsing.
And in the flames, two monsters faced one another—one clinging to the ruins of love, the other feeding on the bones of vengeance.
“I’m going to make you suffer!” I roared, my voice thundering through the flames. “Watch your world burn to ash, swallowed by darkness and despair. I will become the master of this realm. I shall rule everything!”
The hallway around us was ablaze, fire devouring the walls with a hungry hiss. Flames licked at the doorframe, curling inward like the fingers of hell itself. Smoke billowed, thick and choking, a storm of fire and fury closing in.
Mathias coughed violently, still clutching at my boots. “Thinkagain,” he growled, voice ragged with pain. He clawed at my legs, trying to pull himself upright. “We’ll see who finishes last.”
With a snarl, I kicked him hard in the chest. His hands fell away, and he crumpled.
I seized both of his legs and dragged him across the stone floor, his body scraping and thrashing behind me. He cursed, fought, pleaded—but I felt nothing.
Just the roar of fire.
Just the heat of righteous vengeance.
At the threshold, I paused—just long enough to look him in the eyes.
Then, I hurled him into the inferno with one final, monstrous heave.
His scream split the air.
Flames engulfed him—his clothes, his flesh, his face.
