Page 28

The creature that had been Adona launched herself across the chamber with shocking speed, her massive claws raking through the air toward the nearest target—an angel warrior who barely managed to dive out of the way before those talons shredded the space where he'd stood.

“Don't hurt her!” I shouted, dodging a swipe from Julien that nearly took my head off. “She's still Adona!”

“Tell her that!” Farrah called back, creating a wall of ice between herself and the transformed angel, who shattered it with a single blow. “Because she doesn't seem to know!”

The chamber had descended into absolute chaos.

The disciplined battle lines had dissolved into a frantic scramble as everyone—Rhodes's forces and our allies alike—tried to avoid Adona's relentless attacks. She moved with terrifying grace, her six wings allowing her to change direction in midair with impossible agility.

“We need to contain her somehow!” Lacey shouted, her hands weaving protective spells around herself and Abbie as Adona's attention briefly turned their way.

“How?” Levi growled, still locked in combat with Sariel. “She's juiced up on whatever the hell that dagger did to her!”

Rhodes had retreated to the far side of the chamber, his face pale with shock as he watched the monster he'd created tear through his own forces.

“Adona!” he called, his voice cutting through the din of battle. “I command you to stop this! Obey me!”

The creature paused, her golden eyes fixing on Rhodes with predatory focus. For a heartbeat, I thought his command might have worked—then she let out another earth-shaking roar and launched herself toward him, all six wings propelling her with frightening speed.

Rhodes barely had time to summon his own wings before Adona crashed into the spot where he'd stood. Stone cracked beneath the impact, sending fissures spreading across the floor. Rhodes took to the air, flying toward the shattered dome of the ceiling, desperate to escape.

“He's getting away!” I shouted, breaking free from Julien with a well-placed blast of light magic.

Without hesitation, I summoned my wings, the familiar weight settling against my back as they unfurled in a flash of white feathers.

Levi was already airborne, his demonic wings propelling him upward in pursuit of Rhodes. I followed, the rush of air against my face as I soared through the broken dome a stark contrast to the chaos we left behind.

Outside, the sky of Elysium stretched above us, eternally bright and beautiful despite the turmoil below. Rhodes was a dark speck against that perfect blue, flying fast toward another section of the Celestial Tower.

“Cut him off!” I called to Levi, banking sharply to the right while he veered left, trying to trap Rhodes between us.

Rhodes saw the maneuver and dove sharply, heading for a large stained-glass window that depicted the creation of Elysium. He crashed through it in an explosion of colored glass, disappearing into the building once more.

Levi and I followed without hesitation, shielding our faces from the razor-sharp shards as we burst through the ruined window. We tumbled into a section of the grand library, shelves stretching from floor to ceiling, filled with ancient scrolls and tomes that documented the history of our realm.

Rhodes stood at the center of the room, his Celestial sword already drawn, his expression a mixture of rage and desperation.

“You've ruined everything,” he snarled, pointing the blade at me.

“Generations of planning, centuries of preparation—all destroyed because you couldn't mind your own business!”

“Destroying Elysium was never my business,” I replied, my own sword materializing in my hand. “You made it personal when you betrayed us, when you killed Soren and the others, and you blamed me.”

“I did what was necessary!” Rhodes shouted, his composure cracking further. “Elysium was stagnating, growing weak under Adona's leadership. I would have made us strong again, feared throughout all realms!”

“Feared isn't the same as respected,” I said, circling slowly to his right while Levi moved to his left. “And strength without compassion is just tyranny.”

Rhodes laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. “Such naive platitudes. You sound just like Soren before I killed him.”

My grip tightened on my sword. “That's a compliment.”

Rhodes tensed, preparing to attack, when a flash of light announced a new arrival. Haines burst through the library doors, his own sword drawn, moving immediately to Rhodes's side.

“The monster is rampaging through the upper levels,” he reported, his voice tense. “We need to retreat, regroup.”

“I'm not running from them,” Rhodes spat, gesturing toward Levi and me with his sword. “Not when I'm so close to ending this.”

“Two against two,” Levi said, darkfire crackling around his free hand. “I like those odds.”

Without warning, Haines attacked, launching himself at Levi with blinding speed. Their blades met in a shower of sparks, darkfire meeting light magic in explosive bursts that scorched the ancient books nearby.

Rhodes came at me a heartbeat later, his sword a blur of motion as he pressed his attack.

I parried desperately, giving ground as I sought to find my rhythm against his centuries of experience.

He was good—one of the best swordsmen in Elysium—but I had spent years training under Ylena's exacting standards, and more recently, sparring with Levi.

We were evenly matched, neither able to gain a significant advantage. Rhodes's strikes were precise, powerful, but I was faster, more agile. For every blow he landed, I countered with one of my own.

Across the library, Levi and Haines were engaged in an equally fierce battle.

Levi fought with the raw power of his demonic nature, his movements less refined than Haines's but no less deadly.

Bookshelves toppled as they crashed into them, ancient texts scattering across the floor like fallen leaves.

I caught glimpses of Levi's face as we fought, saw the strain in his features as he fought to maintain control. His eyes flickered between their normal blue and the burning black of his demon form, his skin occasionally rippling with hints of the transformation we'd witnessed in the forest.

“Levi,” I called, concerned. “Stay with me!”

He nodded tightly, visibly wrestling with the urge to fully transform. Part of me—the desperate, pragmatic part—almost wished he would. His demon form had torn through a dozen angels with terrifying ease. It could give us the edge we needed.

But I remembered his horror afterward, his fear that he was becoming like his father. I couldn't ask that of him, couldn't bear to see him torment himself that way again.

Rhodes seized on my moment of distraction, his sword slicing toward my neck.

I barely managed to deflect the blow, the force of it sending me staggering backward into a reading table.

My wings instinctively flared to help me keep my balance, knocking over a stack of scrolls that scattered across the marble floor.

“Losing focus, Ariella?” Rhodes taunted, pressing his advantage. “Such a basic mistake. I expected better from Ylena's prized student.”

I gritted my teeth, pushing back against his relentless assault. “Don't you dare speak her name. Not after what you did to her.”

“What I did?” Rhodes laughed. “I simply used her ambition against her. She was always too hungry for power, too eager to climb higher in the ranks. All I had to do was show her a path, and she took it willingly.”

His words hit me like physical blows, reopening wounds I'd thought were beginning to heal. Ylena had been my mentor, my guide—and according to Kadriel, my father's murderer. The complexity of her betrayal still burned.

With a cry of rage, I channeled that pain into my attack, driving Rhodes back with a flurry of strikes that momentarily caught him off guard. My blade nicked his cheek, drawing a thin line of dark blood that glowed against his skin.

Rhodes's expression darkened, his own attacks becoming more vicious, less controlled. We were both fighting on pure emotion now, technique abandoned in favor of raw power and speed.

Across the library, I heard Haines let out a cry of pain.

Risking a glance, I saw that Levi had partially transformed—not the full, terrifying change I'd witnessed before, but enough to give him an edge.

His skin had darkened, his eyes glowed with inner fire, and his wings had extended to nearly twice their normal size.

It was working—Haines was on the defensive now, bleeding from several wounds, his perfect composure finally cracking in the face of Levi's relentless assault.

“Haines!” Rhodes called, concern flashing across his face for the first time.

That momentary distraction was all I needed. I feinted left, then struck right, my sword slicing across Rhodes's sword arm. He hissed in pain, his grip on his weapon faltering for a crucial second.

I pressed my advantage, my boot connecting with his chest in a kick that sent him staggering backward into a bookshelf. It collapsed under his weight, ancient tomes raining down on him as he struggled to regain his footing.

“It's over, Rhodes,” I said, my sword leveled at his throat. “Surrender.”

“Never,” he spat, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. “I'd rather die than see Elysium fall back into weakness and mediocrity.”

Before I could respond, the library doors burst open once more. Lacey and Abbie rushed in, both looking disheveled but determined.

“The binding spell,” Abbie said, her hands already moving in complex patterns. “We can use it now.”

Rhodes tried to lunge at me, but I dodged, keeping my sword trained on him as Lacey and Abbie positioned themselves on either side of the ruined library. They began to chant in unison, a language older than Elysium itself, their fingers tracing glowing sigils in the air.