The night didn't feel like night anymore.
It felt alive — swollen, trembling, holding its breath like something ancient was about to wake up and swallow the world whole.
Wind spiraled around the old cocoa factory, cold at first… then suddenly warm, then burning hot, like a furnace hidden under the ground. The broken walls trembled. The rusted roof groaned. Dust rose from the floor like spirits being shaken awake.
Ayo felt the tremor first.
A soft vibration under his feet — almost like a whisper.
Banji heard it next.
A crackling sound… like sugar heating too long on a fire.
Emmanuel's eyes narrowed. "This isn't natural."
Adeoluwa said nothing.
His hands shook around the glowing Sugar Cube — but it wasn't fear.
It was the Cube itself trembling… reacting… calling.
Because at the center of the factory…
Adun was rising.
Not standing.
Not walking.
Rising.
Her toes hovered inches above the cracked floor. Her hair whipped in a wind that wasn't blowing. Her eyes glowed white — not the color of purity, but the color of power so hot it burned.
Her skin looked like melted sugar pulled too far — stretched, glowing, cracking. Thin lines like sugar fractures ran across her arms, her neck, her cheeks… light leaking from every crack.
Banji whispered, "Oh God…"
Emmanuel swallowed hard.
"Ayo… she's not hosting the god anymore."
Ayo's voice was barely audible.
"She's becoming it."
And then—
The air exploded.
A thunderous blast of white-gold energy burst from Adun's chest, sending the boys stumbling backward. The factory lights shattered. Metal pipes bent. Concrete split like brittle biscuits.
And from Adun's mouth — but not in her voice — a chilling, ancient growl rolled across the room:
"ẸNÍ TÍ Ó JẸ SÚGÀ… BẸ́Ẹ̀ NI YÓÒ RÚ MI."
(The one who eats sweetness… must also carry me.)
The god Oro Mi-Fun was fully awake.
Ayo shielded his face from the scorching air.
"ADE! SHE'S OVERLOADING!"
Adeoluwa held the Sugar Cube tighter. It pulsed violently in his hands, like a second heartbeat — one that matched the frantic flare of Adun's burning body.
Adun screamed — a raw, tearing sound that wasn't just pain… it was transformation.
Power burst out of her again, this time in spirals of blinding white flame.
Her body arched violently.
Energy poured out like a fountain of molten sugar.
Her skin glowed brighter, cracks widening, glass-like fragments falling from her body and evaporating mid-air.
Ayo's voice shook. "She'll tear herself apart!"
Emmanuel's voice was even worse — quiet, heavy, terrified.
"No… she'll tear the town apart."
Then—BOOM.
A pillar of white fire shot upward, cutting through the roof like paper. Hot metal shards rained down, glowing red, clattering across the floor. The building shook so hard it felt like the earth itself was rejecting what was happening.
Adun floated higher, her back arched, her arms thrown wide.
Symbols blazed across her skin — spirals, grains, cubes, and the burning mark of Oro Mi-Fun:
a circle with three jagged lines through it.
The symbol pulsed violently… each throb stronger than the last.
Banji whispered, "She's turning into a conduit… she can't contain it…"
The god inside her spoke again, louder, deeper:
"SWEETNESS DOES NOT RETURN TO THE EARTH WITHOUT A PRICE."
"HER BODY IS MINE. HER SOUL IS MINE. ALL IS MINE."
Adeoluwa's breathing hitched.
The Cube flared in his hands, burning-hot but he didn't let go.
The Cube wanted her.
The Cube needed her.
The Cube was calling her back.
With a shaky step, Adeoluwa moved forward.
"Adun…"
His voice cracked.
"Fight it. Please. You're stronger than this."
For a second — just a second — her glowing eyes dimmed.
Her lips trembled.
Her real voice pushed through:
"…Ade…"
But then the overload surged again.
A shockwave blasted outward.
Ayo was thrown against a wall.
Banji skidded across the floor.
Emmanuel mustered a shield, but it cracked like breaking glass.
Heat flooded the factory.
White light scorched the walls.
The air hissed like a boiling kettle.
Adeoluwa didn't stop.
He stepped through the burning wind, teeth gritted, pushing forward even as his clothes singed and his skin reddened.
"ADUN!" he screamed.
"COME BACK!"
The Cube responded — glowing so bright it hurt to look at, humming with the sound of a thousand vibrating sugar crystals.
The god inside her roared:
"SHE IS SWEETNESS."
"SHE IS MINE."
Adeoluwa roared back:
"NOT TONIGHT!!"
And he sprinted straight into the heart of the burning storm, the Sugar Cube blazing like a star in his hands…