All that cold and weakness Ruxnoth had caused in me went away.
Only strength and power remained.
A familiar cry caught my attention, and I swung my head to see Evira in dragon form soaring from the wreckage like a glacial phoenix, headed back to the battlefield.
No—directly to me.
She rained down a whole slew of magical icicles, tearing into the soldiers as she soared overhead, then even erecting ice walls around Grandpa and his agents to assist.
And then she went to snatch me up in her paw.
I stepped back out of reach.
She landed right in front of me, tilting her gorgeous dragon head in question.
I reached out with my free hand not currently holding Undead Domination steady and stroked her glacial scales. “Taking off to a safe haven, just leaving this one battlefield, isn’t the solution. You’re a tactical genius like Vax, you must see it as well, sweetheart.”
She made a disgruntled dragon sound, not liking me calling that out one bit.
I smiled and nuzzled against her for a moment. “Through all this madness, through everything else, this thing between the four of us has given me so much joy, breathed life into me in a way—ironic, yes? Maybe. It’s given me a place when the rest of the world was screaming at me. Thank you for giving that to me. It means more than I can even explain right now—especially on a battlefield. And I’m sorry, little dragon. I’m so sorry to do this under these circumstances, but… I love you. I love you so much, Evira.” I stepped back. “I’ll take care of this. I’ll fix it. Tell the others.”
“Very good boy indeed.”
I jolted at the sound of that voice, and spun to see Ruxnoth had just teleported in.
“You did this!” I yelled.
“This was fated. You just failed to accept that. Now you have no choice.”
I growled and started for him.
His hand shot out, wrapping around my throat.
“Calm yourself,” he rumbled, squeezing hard enough that I not only spluttered, but lost my hold on Undead Domination, and those I’d been holding dropped onto the grass, freed. Immediately, they burst back into battle and headed for Evira. I roared as it drove her away from me, as she cried out when they burned and hit her with blast after blast.
“Stop… this,” I rasped to Ruxnoth. “You have… the power.”
“Yes, I certainly do. But I also can’t waste that when Sanctus needs me to conserve it. Unless, of course, you are now ready to assist.”
“You just… heard what… I said… to Evira.”
“And yet you can understand my need to confirm with the way you have been recently.”
“Yes. I’ll… go. Now. Just… spare them.”
“Excellent. Then there is only one thing left to see to before I bring you to where you really belong.”
“One… thing?”
He loosened his grip, but instead of an answer coming, he flinched as green power radiated out everywhere in a rush, knocking out magic every which way.
Then Ryker Morgan materialized, palms live with that special defensive power of his that could cut through the magic of others.
Ruxnoth’s remained, though. And while Ryker had been known to impact Celestial power too, it was the gray tint enveloping Ruxnoth that made it impossible. It was the same thing preventing him from being able to cut out the amber glow radiating off me. Necromantic power. Death magic.
“Cease!” he called out over the battlefield. “These are unauthorized acts! Stand down immediately!”
Eruptions of power appeared all around the area, and then dozens of Guardian Movement members materialized as well.
