The next hit of power slices through me so hard it feels like my heart explodes in my chest, along with all of my other insides.

A scream is ripped through my lips, and panic ensues when I hear four yells of pain come from my guys.

Slamming into the ground, I’m grappled by the tar that tries to close over me, sealing me in a quickly forming cocoon that I have to burn away.

I spot my guys all struggling with the same thing, and the entire area catches purple-fire.

Jude pushes up on his hands and knees, as I narrowly manage to blow up the next assault of deceptively small, fiery, falling rocks that hit like a freight train upon impact.

“This isn’t working!” Jude shouts, grabbing my hand when I start to rush to my next attack. “You haven’t weakened it at all!”

My eyes collide with his, and I feel my jaw wobble. “Don’t tell me to give up just yet,” I grind out.

I turn my attention back to Jahl as the army of puppets rush by him, splitting around him as they race toward us, and the ground quakes as I charge.

As the puppets light up purple, blazing a trail through them, I scream with the next blast of power. Pain slices through me when Jahl launches his much stronger counterattack, and I taste acid in my mouth as my breath is knocked out of me, and a sense of weightlessness hits. The world around me seems to turn in slow, dizzying motions as I fall for what feels like forever, hearing four men screaming my name.

Fire churns in my veins, even as the next hit slices through me so hard I swear my body is being ripped apart.

Chapter 31

GAGE

My heart thunders in my chest as I watch Paca sail into the air, getting slashed left and right, her dress getting almost stripped from her body as more and more marks appear.

Black blood oozes from her many wounds as she falls, her body limp, as Jahl continues taunting us with its repeated line.

“Surrender yourselves. You cannot defeat me. Surrender yourselves.”

As Paca falls, Jahl hits her again with a blast so powerful that it drills her into the ground, the dust and fire spraying up so hard that I lose sight of her.

I scream her name, even as the heat of the blast knocks me back, but my scream is swallowed by the next series of explosions that rain down in the area where she fell.

“Paca!” Jude yells, scrambling to his feet as he darts in that direction, only to get knocked back by the next falling star strike.

I barely catch a glimpse of her as she curls in on herself, her dress ripped to shreds, and her body not faring much better. A ground-quaking boom rattles, and more of the dirt sprays up as an assault of epic proportions hits her from all sides in so many ways that I can’t even tell what all Jahl is doing.

It strolls through the raining chaos as though this is a casual affair, unaffected by all of her attacks, even as she, The Apocalypse, struggles to move against its.

I lose sight of her again as Jahl disappears into the debris on his way to her, and Ezekiel slides to my side, while Kai stumbles to my other.

“We have to do something!” Kai shouts.

“Even if we hit it with our Unity Strike, it’s pointless until Paca weakens it,” I remind him, my hands shaking with uncertainty and powerlessness.

“I have to get her and us out of here,” Jude snaps as he pulls out the emergency amulet.

A spray of black fire suddenly shoots into the air, and the entire ground gets cloaked in the same flames in the next instant.

My eyes lift to where Jahl disappeared, just as the black fire, a stone wall, and a streak of black lightning all nail him at once. He’s hammered backwards, just in time for two large chakrams to come streaking out of the chaos, nailing him in the face, chest, torso…I lose track of them because they start moving faster and faster, one strike after another connecting with him without ever returning to…

My breath hisses out as Paca emerges from the smoke, clad in all black, her short blonde hair pinned under the onyx, glistening crown. Her black dress flows similarly to the purple one, only the train that drags the ground behind her is much longer.

She smirks as tornadoes drop from the sky, swirling with those ferocious, black flames that cut through Jahl’s counterattack with ease. Its eyes widen, as another barrage of earth, fire, air, and power slam into it, driving it into the ground just as it did her.

“I think now would be a good time to quit gaping and hit it with our Unity Strike,” Kai states flatly, even as we all continue to stare a little.

Jude has to adjust himself in his pants…and so do I. Because…Paca is every-fucking-thing right now.

She doesn’t even flinch when Jahl tries to hit her, and a shriek of pain pierces our ears when she hits it with all those flaming twisters at once.

Her solid black eyes glisten like dark gems, as her smile twists into one of sadistic delight. She lifts her hand, and the stars Jahl has commanded suddenly bend to her will, raining down on him hard enough to send another ear-splitting shriek into the air.

“Seriously…we should help,” Kai states with some awe as the chakrams continue to dance on Jahl like it’s their favorite thing to do, the twisters attack with merciless rage, and the area attacks him with the fury of Wrath.

Paca continues standing, unfazed, as she attacks with little effort, her latest level-up apparently something straight out of fucking amazing.

Her hair whips in the wind, the short strands flowing as the wind batters her, sending her dress flowing behind her. She struts, eyes trained on her target, relentlessly hitting him with more power at her fingertips than I thought possible.

A hand clasps my shoulder, and I feel the burning start in my veins, as Kai forces us to help her, reminding us we’re not just some sideline chumps here to cheer on our girlfriend.

I feel the heat when it leaves us, staggering all of us back a step, as the power courses from our bodies and collides with a heady crash against Jahl, sending another fierce shriek into the air.

“Again!” Jude shouts, forcing the power to rise again.

And again.

And again.

And…again…

Paca continues assailing him with her new phenomenal level-up, while we batter him from behind, struggling to keep our feet in place as we hit him harder than we’ve ever forced the power out before in training.

It seems to go on forever, and still seems like seconds at the same time, even as I grit and strain to put every ounce of energy I have left into each strike.

One last surge of power has us all yelling with the effort it takes, and I drop to my knees, too exhausted to do another, as Paca charges Jahl, an army of flaming twisters, rushing rocks, and streams of fire all chasing her back as she attacks with a final blow.

When it is hit this time, I see its body streak with fissures, cracks of light shining through, as the mouth twists and distorts. A shrill scream of a thousand high pitches forces us to cover our ears, even as I feel blood dripping out of them, as the whole cage rocks with the next explosion that knocks us on our asses.

Dust sprays in my eyes, forcing me to close them, while I fight the nausea caused by never-ending scream…that finally cuts out.

I’m half worried I’ve gone deaf, but then I hear Paca’s diabolical, evil laughter echoing all around us.

I blink my eyes open, seeing the last of the raining debris, and spot Paca covered in the black tar, as she keeps her head tilted back, laughing manically into the air.

I’m on my feet and rushing to her in the next instant.

Chapter 32

PACA

Goop smeared across my face, my heart pounding in my chest, I watch as the inky splices turn to ash and rain down all around us. I’m almost scared to make a sound because I don’t know if it’ll be a laugh or a cry.

The sky crackles with the sound of phantom jets racing over as the storm is pulled back in a ripple, revealing the dim gray sky.

My hands shake, because I’m almost scared to believe we did it.

We. Did. It.

We saved the motherfucking world and beat the impossible-to-beat adversary…and lived.

“We’re alive,” I manage to choke out to myself, shaking harder and harder with too much cautious excitement to contain.

Tears start racing down my cheeks, even as I tilt my head back and release the evilest damn laugh I can muster as loud as I freaking can. It’s soooooo fucking cathartic that it turns into genuine, hysterical laughter.

Jude’s eyes clash with mine, and he takes brisk strides, rapidly closing the gape between us. The second he’s close, his hand comes up and cups the back of my head before his lips crash to mine. He kisses me so fiercely that my fingers are curling against the leather bands on his chest before I even realize I’ve touched him.

My heart and soul almost leap out of my body, touching his, as something almost magnetizes us together. The kiss only gets more desperate as he clings to me, pulling me so close that there’s not a breath of air that could squeeze between our bodies.

I’m half breathless when he pulls back, eyes flicking over mine before he breathes out shakily and takes a step back. Our gazes hold, and I give him a small smile.

He was holding back all this time…because he didn’t want to love me long enough to see me die.

Laughter and shouts of euphoric disbelief echo behind him.

“I love you too,” I say quietly just as the other three coming running toward us.

His lips move, but no sound comes out, almost as though he’s dumbfounded and relieved and…a lot of other emotions right now. I can relate.