Hoping onto Asmodeus’ back with nary a thought, I kicked both heels into his side, as if he was a horse, and he took to the skies, Sally and Rex clinging to his back legs. If I’d have spurred him on like that normally I’d have had an earful, but he was raring to go and didn’t say anything.

  In seconds we reached the box and I saw something falling from the railings out of the corner of my eyes. Spectators screamed and ran away, pushing and shoving to remove themselves from the tiered seating underneath the danger zone. I wanted to check it out, but I had to reach Havier first.

  Asmodeus landed, beathing his wings hard in a hover and slapping the stone ground with his thick claws, and I stood on his back, jumping off and landing in a combat roll, coming to a kneeling position, bow drawn as I gazed upon the scene.

  Havier was seething.

  Teeth clenched, eyes bulging with every muscle in his body tensing and pushing against the constraints of his skin. Fire flickered on his fingertips and a mix of fury and grief were etched into his weathered face.

  “Sister!” Sally screamed and I turned to look, seeing her dash across the battlefield with reckless abandon, skidding on her knees as she scooped up something in her arms. Brushing bloodied hair tenderly, she held a decapitated head.

  Is that…

  My heart sank, I felt sick as I gazed upon Taylor. She had been one of the first people I’d met in this world. Kind, over-enthusiastic, she’d helped me right back at the start of my journey when she had no need to.

  “Oh no…” Panda said, his voice catching, an edge of falsetto as he too rushed towards the catonid’s body. They had been good friends, that was how I’d met her, following Panda to her store. And now she was…

  A firm, fury hand patted my shoulder, rousing me from the scene as I looked towards where Rex was glaring. Standing in all black attire and a half-ripped face wrapping which obscured part of her face, was Phonoi.

  “Looks like we have company, Havier,” she said quietly, half crouched and poised to strike.

  “Phonoi?” I said dumbly. “But you said you were leaving?”

  “People say a lot of things, Champion of Acyls,” she replied, eyes locked firmly on Havier. “If you recall, I also said that Chrysus wanted to make a bet with me. I lost; this is my payment to him. Sorry Havier, but we simply can’t allow you to ascend, you’re far more useful dead. I’m almost jealous. Such a shame.”

  She pounced so quickly I couldn’t keep up with her, dark aura shrouded the vision from my dragon’s eye, it was painful, like tiny daggers slowly circulating my iris, cutting into my eyes with every rotation, pain shooting backwards into my skull. In a flash, her dagger collided with Havier’s forearm, which he’d managed to block with, just in the nick of time. His skin burst, dark necrosis spreading across the arm as blood leaked from the wound. Her fist glowed a bright blue colour, aura wrapped tightly like a glove. I recognised the feel; I’d felt it before.

  Soul power.

  Wasting no time, Havier punched her in the chest with a green flaming fist. The middle section of her wrapping burned away. She jumped backwards, avoiding the worst of the blow and skidding to halt, crouching so low her hands were touching the floor. A devilish smile lightened her face.

  She’s enjoying this.

  Without thinking, I fired off a quick soul shot and her smile widened. With hands faster than lightning, she snatched the arrow mid flight and crushed it in her fist. Suddenly, her smile soured. Bringing the arrow to her lips, she licked it, eyes a roaring tempest.

  “Soul energy… no wonder Acyls chose you. How interesting.”

  Before I could reply, I had to throw my arms out to steady myself against the urgently shaking ground. Havier’s face had deep, black veins protruding through the skin, his eyes were bright green and his fists were clenched, elbows tucked in at his waist like a karate pose.

  “Havier, no!” Rex shouted to no avail.

  At the same time, Sally sailed through the air out of nowhere, her glowing, oversized sword raised, screaming as she slashed powerfully at Phonoi who side stepped the attack with ease.

  “Die!”

  The catonid’s sword impacted the ground, cracking the flooring deeply, stone sliced like butter, ground still shaking. It was carnage. Phonoi looked between the two of them.

  “Now it’s a fight,” she rasped, eyes gleaming as her own aura began to encircle her in darkest black, wrapping closely to her skin like a glowing film, her fist still blue, soul aura still wrapped tightly around it.

  “This is bad, we need to leave,” Rex said, pulling at my arm but my feet were rooted to the spot. “Now, Kaleb! If Havier releases that attack we’ll be incinerated!”

  This is why he needed bodyguards. So he wouldn’t have to use… that.

  “This is amazing!” Asmodeus bellowed, firing a tornado of angry lightening at the god who caught it in her palm, crushed it until it was a small, heavy-looking, spark, and threw it casually at Havier. He batted it away with the back of its hand and I heard an explosion in the distance, followed by the screams of the dying, melted, putrid flesh burned at my nostril hairs, heat warmed my back, but still I couldn’t look away.

  The sheer power… I thought, encapsulated by the standoff, knowing that at any moment I could die just from the proximity to such a fight. I want it.

  “ENOUGH!”

  Breaking me from my enthrallment, a powerful, bellowing voice which threatened to burst my ear drums ricochet around the room. Turning towards it, I saw the remnants of a closing portal and Diako standing tall. His fierce gaze focused on Phonoi alone.

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  “Don’t ruin the fun, Achlys,” Phonoi said murderously. “Why don’t you slither back to Diopolis and leave me to my games.”

  “Your games have gone far enough,” he said in a hoarse rasp. “Come quietly and I might let you live. You’re surrounded. It only makes sense.”

  I realised that Lucas was stood at the god’s shoulder, his mouth agape as he stared helplessly at Taylor’s corpse.

  “Come quietly?” She snorted. “You’ve lost your edge dear shadow lord. I wonder if you’ll find it again when you see what I did to your little Reaper.”

  Jack too? Fuck. My mind flashed back to the figure I’d seen falling over the railing.

  Diako’s face soured, aura thrashing wildly around him like whipping vines from a carnivorous plant. The room darkened; all light from the sun seemed to disappear. The last thing I saw was Phonoi’s face turn a ghostly white, then the world went blank. It was only a moment before the lights reappeared but Phonoi was nowhere to be seen and the screams of the spectators were louder, everything was clearer to see. Havier was on his knees, Diako’s hand on his head and aura was leaking out of him, siphoning into the god’s hand, he was helpless against him.

  What’s he doing? Where’s Phonoi?

  “Await me at your penthouse,” Diako said, “I won’t be long.” Before I could reply he waved his hand and I felt the familiar, gut wrenching feeling of being pulled through a portal.

  ***

  Sitting silently in the penthouse living room reminded me of a wake I’d been to as a child. When my grandma died, after the funeral, we’d all sat around in uncomfortable black clothing, the adults drank, and for what seemed like an eternity, no one spoke. A dark cloud hung over my family as we cried together. I felt an odd sadness as I was pulled back into that memory. Looking around the penthouse living room, I could barely see through the thick gloom which hung on everyone’s faces: sad eyes and frown lines.

  Sally’s eyes were red and puffy, Lucas had a grim look etched onto his haggard, unshaven face. Rex sat quietly, nursing a tankard of ale from the kitchen and Panda stood alone on the veranda, gazing out over the city, bamboo pipe in hand.

  I’d left Bell with Loki when we’d flown off towards Havier. In hindsight, that might have been pretty dangerous for her. Not long after Diako had sent us through the portal, I’d messaged Asmodeus and asked him to pick her up. They were on their way back.

  Oddly, I was happy to see Diako’s portal opening in the middle of the room when it finally came, anything to breach the growing sadness which enveloped the space. Havier stepped out first, nursing a dead-skinned arm in his remaining hand. The necrosis had reached his upper bicep, peeling skin and weeping pus left a sour odour which slowly spread around the room.

  “Father!” Lucas yelped, moving towards him, but the stony-faced emperor brushed him aside, sitting hard on the sofa, eyes glaring at nothing in particular as he dented the cushion.

  Diako followed him through the portal but remained standing at the side of our group, surveying us like a hawk. After a long moment, Havier broke the silence. “Necrosis,” he said.

  “Will you be able to save it?” I asked.

  “If it was caused by any normal person then yes, but Phonoi is a god. I may be powerful, but even I can’t bring the dead back to life.”

  Diako approached him, “ready?” he asked. Havier nodded solemnly and the god waved his hand, opening a small portal just above the bicep. Havier pulled the arm which slid off with ease. The remaining stump, a sad cauterised lump of useless flesh.

  Looking down at his rotted arm in disgust, he shook his head. With a hushed curse word, he tossed the rotting, oozing arm onto the fire and it burst into flame casting a putrid odour around the room.

  “I’m sorry about your arm,” Rex said. “But did you have to stink out the place?”

  “What would you have me do, toss it off the roof?”

  “At least that would have saved us from the stench,” Sally said with a sad chuckle.

  Our group fell into silence once more, Havier staring at the floor as we all looked off into a distance that wasn’t there. The gloomy atmosphere was as thick as cottage cheese, it clung to us all, quicksand lapping at my legs, pulling me under.

  Eventually, I broke the silence myself. “What happens now? Chrysus has the upper hand now Phonoi has revealed herself. Three gods to our two.”

  “We still have more territory, a larger army,” Lucas said, but his argument wasn’t very convincing.

  “Perhaps it would be better to leave?” Rex suggested. “We could regroup at High Rock, train our people, gather our forces… mourn our dead.” Those words hung over the group like a guillotine, an albatross around our necks, threatening to drag us to murky depths.

  “We still need to try,” I said. “It can’t end here, not like this. We owe it to…” I trailed off, some part of me unable to say Taylor’s name. I hadn’t even seen Jack’s body. It was all too surreal, though no one had said anything about either of them since we’d been portalled back.

  Everyone looked up at me, pitying eyes locking onto my own. Sally nodded solemnly. “Gonad’s is right. We can’t just run away with our tails between our legs like wounded dogs – sorry Rex. We have to fight.”

  “I agree,” Havier added. “And for more reasons that you know. If Chrysus wins the tournament he wins the right to impose a new law on the pantheon, we can’t allow that.”

  “And you’ll likely lose your domain if we lose,” Lucas added. “There was significant collateral damage during your fight, Father. No doubt Chrysus will use that to attempt to depose you. Hundreds of spectators died from that lightening you batted away. Half the west stand was completely destroyed.”

  “He can bloody well try,” Havier muttered dangerously.

  “What do you mean he can make a new law?” I asked, a flash of heat filling my cheeks. I looked towards Diako. The god, who had remained silent thus far, turned towards me with flashing, sombre eyes.

  “It is true, Champion.” He said grimly. “Though it is not common knowledge,” he glared at Havier, “the winner of the tournament can impose one new law on the pantheon. No doubt, this is Chrysus’ goal, the final piece to his coup d’etat puzzle. If you lose tomorrow, then he’ll be in a powerful position.”

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” I asked, voice low and venomous. Why didn’t anyone trust me with this.

  “As I said, it’s not common knowled-”

  “Well maybe it should be!” I snapped, getting to my feet. “Listen here, if you don’t trust me then I may as well fucking walk away right now. I’m putting my life on the line to help you. Taylor and Jack died for this! You need to start being honest with me if you want my help. This is why I hate gods, you’re all a bunch of self-important pricks.”

  “I thought you were an atheist?” Sally muttered.

  “Fuck off, Sally,” I said, though my anger did subside a bit. She grinned at me, though her eyes were still sad, still harboured the tear tracks which cut paths down her cheeks like jagged trenches.

  “What happened to Jack?” Lucas asked the room, Havier was the one to reply.

  “He was killed by Phonoi. He fought valiantly and I will miss him.”

  More stoic a eulogy has never been said.

  “I collected his body,” Diako said and turned to Sally, “and your sister’s. If you wish to hold a funeral I will not begrudge you of it. One of you may wish to use Jack’s weapon, it is unique.”

  His body isn’t even cold and we’re already looting it…

  “Give it to Panda,” I said, pushing my sickened thoughts down. “It’s about time he was able to defend himself.”

  “You know it needs force mana to work…” Rex said.

  “He has force mana, since he hit phase three.”

  Everyone stared, eyes widened. Diako had performed the ritual during our time in the training zone. Panda had developed a single mana-based attack: magic missile. It wasn’t very strong so he never used it, but perhaps with the addition of Jack’s gun he could be useful in combat as well as out of it, especially sniping from Asmodeus’ back.

  “We’ll hold the funeral after I win this thing,” I said, looking between each of them. They returned my nod, a hardened gaze passing between us all. “Then we can give them a proper send off, tell them that their sacrifices weren’t in vain.”

  “Get some sleep,” Diako said. “Tomorrow, we end this.”