Chapter FORTY-TWO
Landon
I heard the commotion behind me, the sound of two bodies crashing into the display of chalices against the wall. I fought every instinct to turn and look. I held my breath, and pulled the trigger.
Clara's head snapped to the left as the bullet pierced her skull and travelled through to the other side. I heard Charis cry out in shock. Malize's head whipped towards me while her body tumbled to the floor.
I felt it instantly. The power unconfined, released from the battery in one tremendous burst. I focused, pulling it into me, gathering it as quickly as it exploded away, taking hold of every line and tendril and dragging it inward towards my soul with a desperation beyond desperation. I traced it through her, to the energy of a dying Beast. Malize had been trying to take it, but he had been resisting.
He didn't resist me.
"I still hate you, kid," I heard in my mind. "But I hate him more."
Malize was on his feet. He stretched a hand out towards me, and I felt the push of his power. I caught it, met it, and turned it around, drawing from a well that seemed infinitely deep. He stumbled back, and then recovered with a smile.
"I had hoped to keep you out of this," he said.
"You knew this might happen," I replied, throwing the gun towards him.
"Balance."
He launched towards me, his entire body changing as he approached.
I focused, casting the power out at his growing mass of dark strength. He fell straight down, once more in human form. He looked up at me.
"I've destroyed one of you already, and you're using the same power. You can't beat me." He swiped his hand to the left, and one of the pedestals flew towards me from the side. I should have been thrown across the room, but I planted my feet and hardened myself. It crumbled against me.
"Do you know why he could't beat you?" I asked. I brought the sword to bear, stepping in towards him and bringing it down. He caught it in his hand and snapped it in half.
"Why?" His face was right next to mine, our eyes locked.
"He didn't have a good enough reason to live."
I focused, pushing against him. The power sent a shockwave through the air that shattered the glass of every display case in the room. Malize flew backwards, slamming into the rear wall and dropping to the ground. I didn't hesitate to chase after him.
He was on his feet again before I could get there. His eyes flared with white energy, and he threw his hands out towards me. I couldn't overpower it this time, and I found myself on my back.
"Erus wanted to be a god. I am a god where I come from, Landon. When I'm done with you, I'll be a god here as well."
I rolled away from the blast of power that drove a deep hole into the marble floor, spinning fast enough for the momentum to bring me to my feet. I could feel my power growing even now, the spigot opened fully. I skipped towards him, catching his waist with my arms and powering ahead. We blasted through the wall of the Museum together, and out into the street. Except there was no street, just cold, empty ground. The entire world was burning in blue flame, dark clouds, lightning and wind. Malize used my shock to slam my back, knocking me down.
"The Box can't handle this much power," he said, hovering above me. "You'll destroy your world In your effort to stop me."
I had no choice. I shot up at him, my own energy dancing from my fingertips. It lanced out, catching him off-guard. He screamed in pain and recovered, firing back with his own power.
We circled like that, rising up and up into the Box's atmosphere, into the heavy clouds filled with our warring energy. I strained against the force of his power, and he strained against the force of mine. We traded blows, we ebbed and flowed like the tide. We were evenly matched. Balanced. All of Ross' power versus all of his.
The world around us began to shake.
"You'll kill us all, Landon," Malize said. "Submit, and I'll spare your life, and Charis'. Of all of your kind, I always intended to keep her safe."
I felt like I was burning alive, the power coursing through me reaching its upper limits. I was on fire. I was drenched in ice. I was drowning and suffocating and overwhelmed. I couldn't lose, not like this. We both knew it.
I also couldn't win.
It was a simple decision, made in the height of my pain and in the desperation of distant hope. I let it go. I let all of it go. I dropped my guard, and his power dug into me, lacing me with pain and forcing every part of my soul to cry out in horror. He stopped attacking, and followed me down as I went into free-fall, riding from the heights towards the welcoming ground below.
I closed my eyes and thought of Josette, her plain face and soft smile, her bright and shining heart of pure goodness.
I thought of Ulnyx, my antagonistic conscience, putting the truth before me and pummeling me with it like a blunt instrument.
I thought of Dante, sending me off from my demise to protect the world from dangers we had all underestimated.
I thought of Sarah, of her strength and resolve, and the battle I hoped she would always win.
I thought of Obi, the truest friend I had ever had.
Last, I thought of Charis. I had never truly loved before. I hadn't even known what it meant. She had opened my eyes to everything, in more ways than I could count.
There was one other person, one who I had almost forgotten about. I didn't really know what to make of her, or what to feel or think. She was an afterthought, a piece of my existence I had believed settled.
She was the reason I was going to win.
I hit the ground hard, but I didn't even feel it. Every part of me was already in so much pain, there was nothing left to add. I looked up at Malize, who landed softly at my side and knelt down beside me.
He reached out towards my forehead. "We can only be what we are, Landon."
"I can't believe you fell for that," Rebecca said from behind him.
It was the slightest distraction, but it was what I had been waiting for. I reached up and grabbed Malize's head, twisting it and breaking his neck.