The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

Except for one. Nephil still wanted the boy. Solomon. Only then could Nephil be fully in control. And while Ninnis served the Nephilim with all of his being, he did not want to give up this power.

He could feel it burning inside him, rotting him from the inside even as he grew stronger. But he believed it would be better to burn bright, like a star, for a moment than to remain in the shadows. He would lead the Nephilim to the surface. He would wage war on humanity. And he would instill a new era of Nephilim rule on this planet.

Having completed all of that, his death, and Nephil’s, would be acceptable to him. Though he knew the ancient being, whose spirit wouldn’t carry on in death, disagreed. That said, there was also no choice. The boy was gone. Far from their reach in the realm of Tartarus.

Ninnis frowned as he remembered Solomon’s final act. His willingness to not just die, but endure eternal torture rather than give himself over to his enemies, revealed a strength Ninnis did not believe possible. He’d been wrong about the boy. He wasn’t just strong enough to contain the spirit of Nephil, he’d been strong enough to repel it.

Pain gripped Ninnis’s chest. He rubbed his hand over the spot, thinking of Solomon’s face disappearing in the dark grip of Tartarus. It was a sacrifice he could not comprehend. His thoughts drifted to the message Solomon had once carved in a wall. ‘I forgive you.’ He’d thought the words hollow. Left to taunt him. To make him feel weak.

But now? The boy’s convictions proved real.

And were he not confined in Tartarus, Solomon might actually be a threat. His power wasn’t simply physical, it was also transformative.

In the aftermath of Solomon’s departure, Ninnis had ordered a census. Behemoth had devoured hundreds. The dinosaurs killed another thirty. Ninnis himself had slain twenty-five before claiming the flesh of Nephil. He wanted to know the state of their forces before the battle was waged. What he discovered was surprising, not because of how many were dead, but because of how many had deserted. Thirty-six hunters were missing, including his daughter, Kainda. He couldn’t be sure they’d all turned against the Nephilim, but it was possible some, inspired by the boy’s sacrifice, found some part of themselves that had been buried since their breaking.

If that spread, if all the hunters were won over, a war would need to be fought here on Antarctica before they could move to the outside world.

But that would never happen. With the boy gone, his influence would never spread.

A hot wind surged past Ninnis. He turned his eyes up, looking at the bright sun which now hung in the sky for so long.

When he bonded with Nephil, he became aware of everything the demon had experienced, including his battle for control of the boy—a battle that identified at least one traitor—Xin, who had thus far eluded capture. But he also recalled the very first moments of the bonding, when Nephil’s spirit nearly took full control of Solomon. As he realized the host was not willing, he reached out and grasped the land, the whole Earth, and wrenched it free from its moorings. It was the opening salvo of their assault on the surface—a first strike that had already claimed countless lives.

Ninnis smiled as he looked at the scene around him. He stood atop a mountain that just a month ago was covered in snow, but which now held the first signs of green growth. The Earth’s crust had shifted. Antarctica had been relocated to the equator. From his perch, he watched rivers of melt water flow into the ocean. Far in the distance, he could see giant ice shelves floating away. They had reshaped the world and made the Nephilim’s home a paradise once again. And the land became fertile, spurred on by the healing properties of Nephilim blood spilled into the earth. But that wasn’t all. The continent was expanding. Growing. With trillions upon trillions of tons of ice flowing away, the massive weight pushing the continent deeper below sea level had lifted.

Ninnis let out a laugh that rolled down the mountainside and over the exposed citadel of Olympus.

Antarktos was rising.





Prologue



Lieutenant Ninnis looked at the blade in his hand. The bright sun overhead reflected off its surface, the intensity of its gleam burning his eyes. But the pain didn’t bother him. Not because it was insignificant—even after spending nearly three months above ground, the sunlight still hurt his eyes—but because the pain delighted him.

Delighted Nephil.

The body and spirit of Nephil that resided in his body had been meant for another. Solomon Ull Vincent. A boy. The first and only child naturally born of a human being on the continent of Antarctica. The child bonded with the land on a supernatural level. Beyond understanding.