The ground shook under the weight of our clashing powers. Silver-blue flames burned across my skin. I could feel Ignition killing me one second at a time. But Ave was there with me, roaring inside my mind with his own brand of support.

  “We’re not done! Not until that bastard is in the dirt!” Ave barked.

  Robert disengaged and gained distance before lunging again, both axes blazing with crimson energy. I parried the first strike, slipped under the second, and unleashed an Eclipse Strike across his chest that sent him flying backward.

  My vision flickered from the effort, forcing me to stumble. I gritted my teeth, forced myself to focus. I could already see that he was back on his feet, charging power into his axes. He was already back on his feet, power building in his axes. The class he had acquired, Mystic Juggernaut, was definitely living up to its name.

  I braced myself, unleashed everything I had to give chase, and shot forward in a streak of silver-blue light. I reached him before he even registered that I had moved, but I misjudged the distance, unfamiliar with my new power and overshot. I was too close for Ember to strike and had too much momentum to stop.

  So I did the only thing I could think of.

  I lowered my shoulder and slammed into him. His body felt like solid steel on impact, but I roared and drove forward, sending him tumbling across the torn-up field and crashing into one of the few trees still standing.

  The trunk splintered as his body tore through it. I might have smiled at his cry of pain, but the impact had not left me unscathed either. My aura and power were stronger than ever, but my body was still nowhere near as tough as his.

  My left arm had paid the price. It felt broken, but before I could assess the damage, I saw movement. Robert was already back on his feet across the field, climbing out of a pile of splintered wood and debris

  “RIVEN!” Ave bellowed inside my mind. “Get up! He’s coming!”

  I spat out a glob of blood and snapped back mentally. “I can see that, Ave!”

  I forced myself upright and raised my guard. As Robert charged across the field, I took a second to assess him. I quickly realized I was not the only one in rough shape. His aura was ragged and unstable. His armor was cracked and broken in multiple places.

  But despite his state the bastard still came roaring across the battlefield.

  I roared my own challenge and met him halfway.

  Our blades collided in a pillar of blue and red light so bright it erased the edges of my vision.

  Robert snarled at me. “You shouldn’t exist! How many Outliers do we have to kill before the System finally leaves us alone?”

  “You’re a fool,” I spat through clenched teeth. “Being afraid of deadly monsters is human. But what you and your Faction chose to do, choking your people’s growth and burying their potential just so your family could cling to power…”

  I leaned harder into the clash, forcing his axes to creak and grind.

  “That is unforgivable. If you were allowed to keep going down this path, you would have doomed every man, woman, and child on this world. And mine.”

  I shoved him back.

  Ave snarled inside my mind. “Enough foreplay! Put your back into it. It is now or never.”

  He did not need to tell me twice.

  Ignition surged higher. My soul screamed as Ember transformed in my grip. The blade lengthened and widened until it was nearly the size of Robert himself. Sapphire flames exploded upward from it, blasting into the sky like a rocket engine.

  Ave and I roared as one.

  “SUNDER!”

  I swung the massive flaming blade in a horizontal arc.

  It slammed into Robert.

  The shockwave ripped the already shattered battlefield apart. I saw his eyes go wide in shock the instant the strike connected. The force hurled his crumpled crimson form toward the lake at the speed of a cannonball.

  He satisfyingly skipped across the ground once, twice, three times before slamming into the earth near the lake’s edge. The impact dug a crater so deep that water immediately began rushing in.

  Ignition faltered inside me. Pain drove spikes through my lungs. I could barely breathe, but Robert was still alive. I had to hold a little longer, just a little longer.

  I staggered forward, forcing myself to move faster. Every step burned my feet from the inside. The crater was filling quickly. Robert lay half submerged, coughing blood, a massive wound bleeding across his chest.

  He saw me coming and tried to push himself free, but failed almost immediately. Both of his arms were shattered. “I cannot yield. I will not…” he rasped

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  I grabbed him by the throat and wrenched him free of the water and mud, dragging him onto solid ground before slamming him down.

  “You’re about to not have a choice,” I growled

  Ave snapped inside my skull, “Riven! We’re almost at the point of no return; finish this!” Robert tried to lift one of his mangled arms. His hand trembled so violently that he dropped it back to the ground. “I… cannot… yield…”

  I didn’t have time for this bullshit. I stabbed Ember in his thigh.

  Robert screamed, high, raw, desperate as I turned the blade.

  “I always hear people say they can’t do this or that,” I snarled. “For this reason or that. For pride. For ego. For fear.”

  Sapphire flames crawled along the blade, eating into his leg. “But what you fail to understand, Robert of the Shattered Blades…” I leaned down, flames reflecting in my eyes.

  “…is that I am much worse than whoever or whatever your reason is not to yield to me.”

  I twisted the blade again and let the blue fire surge out.

  Robert shrieked, thrashing and clawing at the ground as the flames tore into him. I smelled burning flesh and heard his skin begin to pop, but I did not stop.

  His aura collapsed completely. The last of his armor melted into molten slag under my flames. He was defenseless now.

  Ave’s voice thundered through me, “Riven! If he doesn’t yield now, you’ll have to kill him! You CANNOT hold Ignition much longer!”

  I forced more flame into the wound with as much haste as I could. Applying more pain, more pressure, every second channeling the flames made my vision flicker.

  Robert’s voice broke through the roar of fire, faint at first… “I… I y…”

  “LOUDER!” Ave and I roared at once.

  Finally, through choking smoke and agony, the word came out clear:

  “I YIELD! I…” he didn’t finish his sentance as his eyes rolled back. Relief washed over me but I didn't have the time or energy to enjoy the moment; I plummeted straight into darkness. I crashed into my soul?realm and saw… devastation.

  The flames were everywhere. They had climbed the trunk, licking dangerously close to the lowest branches. My soul?tree crackled under the heat, its glow dimming with every second.

  Ember was burning. Not the clean sapphire flames I was accumsted to, but dark orange and black flames.

  “Ave!” I shouted. “AVE!”

  A silhouette writhed beneath the flames, his form distorting as the silver?blue fire consumed him.

  “Riven, pull me out, hurry before the flames reach the branches!”

  I lunged through the heat, grabbed Ember’s hilt, and my palm hissed instantly as skin seared. I gritted my teeth and PULLED.

  The blade tore free of the tree with a sound like ripping metal.

  The flames sputtered.

  Then slowly, agonizingly, they receded.

  The soul?realm dimmed to a low flicker. My soul?tree shuddered, but it still stood. Ember cooled in my hand, dim and exhausted.

  Ave didn’t speak.

  Not a word. But I could feel his relief through our soul bond. From what I could tell, he had been in as much pain or more than myself. “Thank you, Ave, without your help all would have been lost.”

  “I wish I could give you a witty retort, but I think I am going to take a nice long nap instead. Good fight, kid.” With those words, he went silent.

  I snapped back into my body with a ragged gasp. My entire chest felt as if it had been crushed. My left arm was definitely broken. Without Ignition supplying me with energy I was struggling to move, but I wasn’t the only one in rough shape.

  Robert lay in front of me, burned, broken, whimpering.

  Then the System chimed.

  I pushed myself upright, but a wave of dizziness slammed into me so hard my knees buckled. I barely caught myself by using Ember as a cane, the blade trembling under my weight. I pulled it out of the dirt and dismissed it. Ave had to be hurting too and probably did not appreciate me using him as a crutch. “Sorry Ave,” I muttered.

  For a moment, all I could do was breathe, slow, controlled, forcing the world to steady.

  Then I forced myself to stand. Weakness was a luxury I couldn’t afford right now.

  Robert’s Elites were still here, watching everything. Robert himself was still conscious. I couldn’t let any of them see how close I was to collapsing.

  Tucker’s voice entered my mind, “Do you want me to come get you?” I grabbed Robert by his ankle.

  He screamed as fresh pain shot through his charred nerves. “I appreciate bud, but I need to do this alone this time.”

  Robert started to sob. “Aw, Shut up,” I muttered, dragging him behind me. By the time we reached the others, my vision was tunneling.

  I let go of his leg and kicked him toward his bound Elites.

  “Take that piece of shit,” I rasped, “and get out of my sight.”

  Kaye was stoic as she flicked two fingers.

  The imprisoned Elites were released instantly. They scrambled to grab their leader and retreat, none daring to look me in the eye.

  As they crossed the field’s edge, Tucker threw back his head and howled, the sound full of wild triumph. A portal opened, and they were gone.

  Balt whooped. Alice sobbed with relief. Marcilla cheered. Mack grinned wide. Vex and her Elites all clapped or nodded respectfully towards me.

  The battle was over.

  But one man hadn’t moved.

  A middle?aged warrior in brown and gold armor remained behind, down on one knee, head bowed low. I frowned, exhaustion sharpening my voice as I asked the only question that made sense.

  “Why do you linger?”

  He lifted his gaze. There was no fear in his eyes, only resolve.

  “My name is Parker,” he said. “If you’ll have me… I wish to join you. I know I must earn your trust, but I will swear a System?oath of loyalty to you if you will accept me into your service. I’ve been under the Shattered Blades’ thumb for too long.” He drew a steady breath. “I heard you in the fight with the Faction Leader. I agree with what you were saying. Were you telling the truth? Will you give us a chance to grow and protect our world? Or have I thrown my life away?”

  I glanced at Mimi.

  She smiled and nodded. A quiet, knowing approval.

  “I was telling the truth,” I said. “Welcome aboard, Parker.” I let him make his oath and turned to Balt and Tucker, trying to stand straight but only half succeeding.

  “Tucker, Balt… can you two do me a favor real quick?” I rasped.

  Balt stepped in, worry behind the grit in his voice. “Yeah, brother?”

  Tucker padded up beside him. “What’s up, Riv?”

  I let out a breath. “If you guys could catch me, that’d be great.”

  The darkness I had been shoving back finally surged forward.

  My legs gave out.

  I felt Balt’s arms wrap around me before I hit the ground. Somewhere through the blur I heard Alice’s voice, tight with panic, asking if I was going to be alright.

  Balt laughed. “Believe it or not, I wouldn’t worry. He does this whole passing-out thing constantly.”

  My last coherent thought before everything went black was simple and honest.

  What a dick.