I gave him one last look, then lifted my hand toward the sky. The colossal palm of lightning obeyed my motion, drifting away from the city until it hovered just beyond the capital's border.
Then, with a flick of my wrist, I let it fall.
BOOM!
A flash swallowed everything, the world turned white, then empty, like sound and color were ripped away all at once. The shockwave hit a few seconds later, a deep, rumbling echo that rolled across the plains.
When the haze cleared, a crater lay where the palm had struck. It was massive, deep enough that the bottom couldn't be seen, its edges still glowing, the earth scorched black by lightning.
I turned back toward the capital one last time, then shot upward.
*****
I was back inside Dante's ship as it sliced through the dark stretch of space. The hum of the engines filled the silence, steady and constant. With us, locked in containment cells, were the emperor of Sukra, his grandmasters, and the three captured Ferans.