I didn't see the attack.
There was no flash.
No warning.
No moment where my instincts screamed at me to move.
Ygros was above me.
Then the mountain disappeared.
BOOOOOOM!
For a fraction of a second, I felt weightless.
Then everything hit me at once.
Stone.
Snow.
Pressure.
Pain.
My body punched through the ridge like I'd been fired from a cannon. Rock shattered around me as I fell deeper, bounced off something solid, then crashed through another layer.
I tried to breathe.
Couldn't.
Tried again.
Nothing.
My back hit stone.
Everything stopped.
Darkness.
I lay there with my eyes open, staring at absolutely nothing.
My ears rang.
My fingers twitched.
Good.
Still had fingers.
I tried my legs.
Pain.
Also good.
Pain meant they were there.
Probably.
My lungs finally remembered their job.
I sucked in a breath.
Immediately regretted it.
"AGH!"
Something was wrong with my ribs.
Definitely wrong this time.
I coughed.
Blood hit my chin.
Not ideal.
Above me, light appeared through the hole my body had made.
A tiny circle.
Snow drifted through it.
I stared upward.
"…Ow."
The mountain answered with a low rumble.
Then the light disappeared.
My heart stopped.
Something blocked the opening.
Ygros.
"Oh, come on."
Two red eyes appeared.
Then four.
Then six.
All staring down.
I couldn't see the rest of its body.
Just the eyes.
Watching.
Waiting.
That anger came back.
Not because Ygros had hurt me.
Because it was still doing this.
Still testing.
Still deciding how much effort I deserved.
I pushed myself onto one elbow.
My body screamed.
"Enjoying yourself?"
The eyes didn't move.
"You could at least answer."
Nothing.
I spat blood beside me.
"Rude."
One eye narrowed.
Then the mountain screamed.
I froze.
Cracks raced across the stone around me.
"No."
The entire ceiling collapsed.
"NOPE!"
I rolled.
Rock smashed down where my head had been.
I crawled through the darkness as boulders crashed around me.
One hit my back.
Pain exploded through my spine.
I kept moving.
Another shattered beside my face.
Stone fragments cut my cheek.
There.
A gap.
I threw myself through it.
The tunnel behind me collapsed.
I slid down a slope of broken rock and snow before bursting out of the side of the mountain.
Open air.
Bad.
Very bad.
I was falling again.
"Why do I keep doing this?!"
I twisted.
The ice sword was still in my hand.
Somehow.
I drove it into the cliff.
SKRRRCH!
The blade carved through stone.
Too fast.
I tightened my grip with both hands.
"Stop!"
Ice exploded outward.
The blade froze into the mountain.
My fall ended violently.
My shoulder nearly came out of its socket.
I screamed.
But I stopped.
For about two seconds.
Then the cliff above me exploded.
Ygros came through it.
Not around.
Through.
Thirty feet of armored nightmare launched from the mountain with all six arms spread.
My eyes widened.
"Seriously?!"
I ripped the sword free.
Dropped.
A claw passed above me.
I stabbed again.
Swung around the blade.
Second claw.
Missed.
Third.
I kicked off the cliff.
Fourth.
I twisted.
Fifth.
Too close.
The edge caught my side.
Heat ripped across my ribs.
Blood sprayed into the air.
Sixth.
I blocked.
Mistake.
CLANG!
The ice sword bent.
My wrists screamed.
I lost my grip.
The sword spun away.
Ygros's other hand closed around me.
Everything stopped.
I stared at the black claws wrapped around my body.
"…Oh."
Ygros squeezed.
Pain.
Not normal pain.
Everything pain.
My ribs compressed.
My shoulders locked.
My breath vanished.
I pushed against its fingers.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Ygros and I fell together through the storm.
Mountains rotated beneath us.
My vision darkened at the edges.
"Let…"
I pushed harder.
"…go…"
Ygros stared at me.
One finger tightened.
Something cracked.
I screamed.
The sound came through the broadcast.
That changed everything.
Until then, the fight had still looked impossible in the way hero battles often looked impossible.
Explosions.
Mountains breaking.
Bodies flying.
People had seen things like that before.
Not on this scale.
But they'd seen them.
Then Kai screamed.
Times Square went silent.
The cheers stopped.
The little boy on his father's shoulders lowered his fists.
"Papa?"
His father didn't answer.
On-screen, Ygros held Kai in one hand.
The difference in size was horrifying.
Kai looked tiny.
Not like a hero.
Like a person.
A seventeen-year-old person.
Blood ran from his side.
One arm hung at an angle that didn't look right.
The boy whispered:
"Is he losing?"
His father stared at the screen.
This time, he couldn't lie.
"Yes."
"Get him out."
The general's voice cut through Hero Command.
Evelyn didn't move.
"Cross."
"I heard you."
"Then order extraction."
"With what?"
"Anything."
"Anything we send enters Ygros's range."
"He's going to die."
"I know."
The general stared at her.
Evelyn's hands were clenched behind her back.
Hard enough that her nails dug into her palms.
"Do you think I don't know that?"
"Then stop this!"
"How?"
Her voice rose.
The command center went silent.
Evelyn pointed at the screen.
"You want a helicopter? Ygros will destroy it."
The general said nothing.
"Jet?"
Nothing.
"Teleportation?"
"We don't have anyone capable of crossing that distance."
"Then tell me how."
The general's jaw tightened.
Evelyn looked back at Kai.
Her voice lowered.
"Give me an option and I'll take it."
Nobody did.
That was the horror of it.
The most powerful military command structure in the country was watching a teenager get crushed on live television.
And there was nothing they could do.
A medic shouted from below.
"Heart rate one-eighty-seven!"
Another voice.
"Blood oxygen dropping!"
"Pressure trauma across the chest!"
"Possible rib fractures!"
"Right shoulder dislocation!"
Evelyn's expression changed.
"His shoulder?"
"Likely."
"Can he still use the sword?"
The medic stared at her.
"That's your question?"
Evelyn looked down.
"Can he?"
A pause.
"Not effectively."
Evelyn's eyes returned to Ygros.
"Then this is over."
"No."
Emi was standing.
She didn't remember standing.
Her hands gripped the edge of the table.
"Move."
On-screen, Kai struggled inside Ygros's hand.
Frank looked at her.
"He can't hear you."
"I know."
"Then…"
"I KNOW."
Emi's voice cracked through the room.
Everyone went quiet.
She stared at the screen.
"Don't push against the fingers."
Kai did exactly that.
Emi swore.
"You're wasting strength."
Toma didn't make a joke.
Nobody did.
This wasn't entertaining anymore.
Paul sat with both hands covering his mouth.
Kenya's fox had disappeared.
Beth watched the telemetry.
Benny watched Kai.
Frank watched Ygros.
Threya had stopped watching entirely.
She was staring at the table.
Beth noticed.
"You don't have to watch."
Threya's jaw tightened.
"I'm fine."
Another scream came through the speakers.
Her eyes closed.
Benny looked over.
Something about this felt wrong.
Not familiar.
Not recognition.
Just wrong.
They had refused this mission.
Correctly.
They knew that.
Every tactical assessment said the same thing.
Yet someone their age had gone instead.
Now they were sitting safely in a government building while he was being crushed.
Benny hated it.
"He needs help."
Frank looked at him.
"We can't get there."
"I know."
"Even if we could…"
"I know."
Benny stood.
Frank's voice softened.
"Benny."
"I said I know."
Metal objects around the room began trembling.
A chair leg.
The screws in the table.
A pen.
Benny looked down.
Stopped.
The objects settled.
He sat again.
Helpless.
He hated that more than fear.
Bladeon wasn't watching Kai.
He was watching Ygros.
The woman beside him had gone pale.
"He's dead."
"No."
She looked over.
"What?"
"Not yet."
"How can you possibly…"
"Look."
Ygros's hand was closed around Kai.
But Bladeon wasn't looking at the hand.
He was looking at the fingers.
Pressure.
Placement.
The angle.
His eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
The woman stared.
"What?"
Bladeon stepped closer.
"Why hasn't it killed him?"
"It is killing him."
"No."
"He's bleeding!"
"I can see that."
"Then what are you talking about?"
Bladeon pointed.
"Look at its thumb."
She did.
"I don't…"
"It's against his sternum."
"So?"
"If Ygros closes that thumb another inch, his chest collapses."
The woman stopped breathing.
Bladeon continued.
"Maybe less."
Ygros squeezed again.
Kai screamed.
But the thumb didn't move.
Bladeon went still.
There.
Confirmation.
Not enough to understand.
Enough to worry him.
"It's controlling the pressure."
The woman looked at him.
"You're saying it's torturing him?"
"I don't know."
Bladeon stared at Ygros.
"But if it wanted him dead…"
His expression darkened.
"…he'd already be dead."
I couldn't feel my right hand.
That seemed important.
My left wasn't doing much better.
Ygros's grip tightened again.
Something in my chest shifted.
I nearly blacked out.
Think.
I couldn't overpower it.
Obviously.
Couldn't reach the sword.
Couldn't breathe properly.
Couldn't…
Sword.
I forced my eyes open.
The ice sword was falling beneath us.
Maybe two hundred feet below.
Spinning.
Gone.
No.
Not gone.
Mine.
The thought came strangely.
Not possession.
Connection.
I knew that sword.
Every inch.
Weight.
Balance.
Edge.
The amount of magic stored in the core.
The way energy traveled through the grip.
The tiny imperfection near the guard where the metal had cooled unevenly during forging.
I knew it.
So why did I need to touch it?
I reached.
Not with my hand.
I didn't know what I reached with.
Something inside me extended.
The sword stopped falling.
My eyes widened.
Ygros noticed.
The blade hung in open air.
For one impossible second, neither of us moved.
Then I thought:
Come here.
The sword launched upward.
Ygros turned.
Too late.
The blade shot past its lower arm.
I twisted it.
No hand.
No grip.
Just instinct.
The sword curved through the air.
Ygros released me.
I fell.
Air exploded into my lungs.
I gasped.
The sword flew toward me.
I reached with my left hand.
Caught it.
Pain shot through my palm.
Didn't matter.
Ygros was above.
I was below.
Falling.
One arm useless.
Ribs damaged.
Blood running down my side.
Perfect.
I smiled.
"Round two."
I swung.
Nothing happened.
"…Right."
We were fifty feet apart.
Sword problem.
Ygros raised one claw.
I felt the attack before I saw it.
Move.
I twisted.
An invisible force cut past me.
Clouds split for miles behind.
My eyes widened.
Okay.
That's what destroyed the ridge.
Another claw.
I turned.
Second invisible slash.
Another.
Third.
They came faster.
I fell between them.
Left.
Right.
Turn.
Drop.
Every slash carved through the storm.
The sky itself looked like it was breaking apart.
From the ground, white lines appeared across the clouds.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Twelve.
I couldn't see the attacks.
But I could read Ygros.
Shoulder.
Wrist.
Claw.
Every movement created a line.
Every line meant death.
So I stopped watching the attacks.
I watched him.
Ygros's upper-left shoulder moved.
Down.
I rolled.
A slash passed above.
Lower-right wrist.
Horizontal.
I tucked my legs.
Middle-left claw.
Diagonal.
Turn.
My body screamed.
I ignored it.
Another.
Another.
Another.
The world became movement.
Nothing else.
No cameras.
No government.
No Flag-Bearers.
No father.
No name.
Ygros.
Me.
Sword.
Move.
My right arm hung useless.
So I changed styles.
Left hand.
Reverse grip.
My body adjusted.
The sword felt exactly the same.
Because of course it did.
A sword didn't care which hand held it.
Only whether the person holding it understood.
Ygros's eyes narrowed.
There.
Interest again.
"Yeah."
I dropped beneath another slash.
"You like that?"
Ygros moved two hands simultaneously.
Two invisible cuts crossed.
No opening.
Except…
There.
I rotated sideways.
The attacks passed inches from my chest and back.
My jacket split.
Skin burned.
But I fit.
Barely.
I laughed.
I couldn't help it.
"You missed."
Ygros disappeared.
My stomach dropped.
Damn it.
Behind.
I turned.
A fist filled my vision.
I moved the sword.
Not blocking.
Never block.
Redirect.
The blade touched Ygros's wrist.
I turned my hips.
Used its momentum.
For a fraction of a second, the fist changed direction.
Enough.
It passed my head.
The pressure ripped hair from my scalp.
I planted one foot against Ygros's arm.
Pushed.
Climbed.
Same trick as before.
Ygros knew it.
A second hand came.
I jumped early.
Third.
Expected.
Fourth.
Expected.
Fifth.
Expected.
Sixth…
Didn't come.
My eyes widened.
Ygros had learned.
Its sixth hand waited exactly where I was going to land.
"Oh."
The claw hit me.
BOOM!
I flew downward.
Fast.
Ground.
Too close.
I crossed the sword beneath me.
Ice.
NOW.
The blade responded.
A massive sheet of ice exploded across the valley.
I hit it.
It shattered.
But it slowed me.
Second layer.
Shattered.
Third.
Fourth.
Fifth.
I crashed through every one.
Then hit snow.
The world went black.
"Kai!"
Nobody knew who shouted it.
Maybe several people.
The broadcast shook as the camera tried to reacquire him.
A crater filled the screen.
No movement.
Snow drifted into it.
Ten seconds.
Nothing.
Times Square had become silent enough to hear traffic lights change.
Hero Command waited.
The Flag-Bearers waited.
Paris waited.
Japan waited.
Millions of homes waited.
Ygros descended from the clouds.
Slowly.
It landed beside the crater.
The impact shook snow from nearby peaks.
It walked forward.
One step.
Then another.
Stopped at the edge.
Looked down.
Nothing moved.
Paul whispered:
"…Is he…"
"No," Emi said immediately.
But she didn't know.
Beth checked the public vitals.
No reading.
"Telemetry dropped."
Benny stood.
"That doesn't mean…"
"I know."
Threya finally looked at the screen.
Ygros stared into the crater.
Seconds passed.
Then its head tilted.
Bladeon noticed first.
His eyes narrowed.
"What are you looking at?"
Ygros took one step backward.
Not forward.
Backward.
Bladeon froze.
"…Oh."
In the crater, something moved.
A hand.
Bloodied fingers pushed through snow.
Then an arm.
Kai slowly dragged himself upward.
The world inhaled.
He got one knee beneath himself.
Fell.
Tried again.
His right arm hung useless.
Blood covered half his face.
His jacket was torn apart.
The ice sword remained in his left hand.
He planted it into the ground.
Used it to stand.
His legs shook violently.
Ygros watched.
Kai lifted his head.
And smiled.
Not confidently.
Not because he thought he could win.
The smile of someone who had finally understood how ridiculous his situation was.
I coughed.
Blood hit the snow.
"Okay."
I looked at Ygros.
"You're…"
Another cough.
"…pretty strong."
Ygros stared.
I leaned against the sword.
My vision kept fading.
Focus.
"You know…"
Breath.
"…I've been thinking."
Ygros waited.
"You've had…"
I swallowed blood.
"…a lot of chances."
No response.
My smile disappeared.
There it was.
The thought I hadn't wanted to acknowledge.
The thumb against my chest.
The missed ridge.
The gradual increase in speed.
The attacks that pushed me without finishing me.
The sixth hand that could've gone through my body instead of hitting me downward.
I stared at Ygros.
Cold spread through me that had nothing to do with the sword.
"You're not trying to kill me."
Across the world, nobody heard those words.
The broadcast microphones had been damaged in the crash.
But Ygros heard.
All six eyes narrowed.
My grip tightened.
"Are you?"
Silence.
Then the voice entered my mind.
Calm.
Ancient.
Almost disappointed.
"No."
My stomach dropped.
Ygros stepped toward me.
I couldn't move.
Didn't have enough left.
It stopped only a few feet away.
For the first time, I could see every detail of its face.
Scars cut through the black armor.
Old ones.
Some deep enough that whatever had made them must've been terrifying.
Ygros leaned down.
Six red eyes met two blue ones.
Then it spoke inside my mind.
"You are not him."
I forgot about the pain.
"What?"
Ygros stared at me.
"You carry his blood."
My heart stopped.
"Who?"
I already knew.
I needed to hear it.
"Who are you talking about?"
Ygros straightened.
Everything inside me went cold.
My father.
Not a guess.
Not recognition of the surname.
Ygros knew him.
I stepped forward despite every part of my body begging me not to.
"Where is he?"
Ygros turned.
"WHERE IS HE?!"
The First Apocalypse began walking away.
Anger burned through the pain.
"No."
I ripped the sword from the ground.
"You don't get to do that!"
Ygros stopped.
"You don't get to say his name and walk away!"
Ice spread from my feet.
My body had nothing left.
The sword knew it.
I knew it.
Didn't matter.
"Become worthy of the name you carry."
The pressure around Ygros changed.
The ice sword trembled.
My anger exploded.
"Screw you."
I raised the blade.
"If you know where he is…"
Cold erupted around me.
"…then I'm getting the answer."
The sword pulsed.
Once.
Hard.
Pain shot through my arm.
I ignored it.
Another pulse.
Stronger.
Ice crawled across my skin.
Not around it.
Across it.
My fingers began going numb.
The sword was warning me.
My body couldn't handle more.
I knew.
I didn't care.
Ygros turned fully toward me.
All six arms lowered.
Waiting.
I poured everything I had into the blade.
Cold spread across the valley.
The snow stopped falling.
The clouds above us began to crystallize.
For the first time since the battle began…
Ygros's expression changed.
Not amusement.
Not curiosity.
Something sharper.
Recognition.
The blade in my hand glowed blue-white.
Cracks of light traveled through the ice beneath my feet.
My blood felt frozen.
My heart struggled against the cold.
But I stood.
One arm.
Broken body.
Barely conscious.
I pointed the sword at one of the strongest beings humanity had ever seen.
And Ygros looked at the blade…
like he'd seen it before.
I took one breath.
Then another.
And whispered:
"Now you're going to answer me."