The Destroyer bent down and reached into the back of the battlemage’s robes. He pulled out a stone orb that shone with blue light—a portal core—and slipped it behind his own back. “Battlemages are such a disappointment, don’t you find?”

  “Last chance to surrender,” Ted said, leveling his staff at the Destroyer.

  The Destroyer chuckled and strode forward. “You are an amusing child. A shame I will have to bury you in the deepest, darkest dungeon while I rip everyone you love apart.”

  Ted tried to smile as if he held all the cards. “So, what are you waiting for?”

  “Me?” The Destroyer bellowed with rancorous laughter. “I’m waiting to have a little fun with your ambush. Come out and play, Prowlers.”

  Sweat beaded on Ted’s brow. “They’re here to watch us fight.”

  Another bellow of laughter. “Come now, Ted, you might just be the worst liar I’ve ever known. Besides, I see the last of them moving into position now. You have me surrounded by dozens of rangers. Even a few dwarven mages.”

  Now, came Jeremy’s message.

  Arrows and lightning bolts and dispels flew out from the trees and Ted unleashed the firebolt from his staff. The barrage hit the Destroyer again and again, sending ripples through the white and teal Absorb effects covering him.

  Ripples that did nothing but make the Destroyer smile.

  Elivala blinked into existence behind the Destroyer in a haze of blue magic. Mana swirled around her, faster and faster, magic building in the blink of an eye.

  Ted forced himself to watch the mana vortex shred Elivala to nothing. The ground shuddered with the blast, and the Destroyer…

  …the Destroyer smiled, and raised his hands with a shrug. “You cannot seriously believe that would kill a god?”

  Retreat, came Jeremy’s message.

  Heat flushed through Ted. All that, Elivala’s life, and they hadn’t even scratched him. “You’re no god. A god would let their children go.”

  “Is that so?” The Destroyer stepped forward, his smile flattening into a sneer. “Your allies abandon you like slaves fleeing a broken barge.”

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  “At least I’ll never be backstabbed by myself.”

  A frown came upon the Destroyer and he became very still. “No? Review all your choices leading you to this moment, where you stand before a god who will torture you for all eternity, and tell me you’ve had your own back.”

  All clear, said Jeremy.

  Ted’s jaw clenched. He steeled himself to do what had to be done, but the image of the vortex tearing Elivala apart stabbed at his gut. She’d thought she could make the difference, take the destroyer down, and all she’d done was throw her life away for nothing.

  What if that’s all he was about to do? Kill the Great Forest for a hopeless cause?

  The Destroyer was too confident. Too sure of himself.

  Shit. What if he had a way to reincarnate?

  More laughter bellowed from the Destroyer. “There it is. The self-doubt. The realization of your place in reality. The knowledge that the more you fight it, the more harm you cause.” He raised his hand, wreathed with Force magic, and clenched it into a fist.

  A wood elven ranger hurtled through the air—one of the Erinbar prowlers—and smashed against a tree with a sickening thud.

  Such pointless death. Ted’s breaths quickened. Would it really matter if he skipped straight to the next stage? The Forest didn’t have to die for nothing.

  “Yes,” the Destroyer said, “you understand now. Call out for your father, Ted. Let us end this before it gets out of hand.”

  Follow the plan, Cara messaged. That’s an order, Prowler.

  Yes, sir. Ted pulled on his mana and wove it into a conduit to direct a flood of power he could never dream to truly control.

  “One last hurrah, just to be sure?” the Destroyer said, sauntering towards Ted with a smug grin that flaunted razor-sharp tusks. “Very well; take your best shot.”

  The conduit sealed. Ted directed it at the Destroyer and pulled on that ocean of power, letting its warm embrace roll over him, and unleashed a foot-wide beam of pure darkness at the Destroyer’s chest.

  The Destroyer’s eyes went wide. His hand came up in a flash, raising a barrier of pure white before him that shuddered and strained.

  Sweet, tingling power flowed through Ted, faster and faster, roaring with the beautiful screams of the Forest.

  Grunting and groaning, the Destroyer bared his teeth and closed his eyes, pouring his own power into the barrier.

  With each passing moment, each tree’s scream falling silent, the darkness inched closer to the Destroyer’s heart, closer to ridding the world of that abomination.

  The Destroyer’s face contorted with rage. He was failing, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  Ted smiled. All that power, dancing through his veins, to the distant dying howls of worthless trees.

  “Well played,” growled the Destroyer. His flow of magic stuttered. His barrier collapsed and the darkness ripped through his chest and the tree trunks beyond.

  Ted cut off that beautiful flood of joy and stared at the dinner-plate sized hole through the Destroyer’s chest and those blank, vacant eyes.

  It was done.

  Around him, withered leaves, shriveled bushes, and blacked trunks spoke of the dreadful price that the Forest had paid.

  A price well worth it.

  An emerald green ember of magic sparkled above the Destroyer. Beside it, a hole in the world sucked in light.

  Life and Dark magic.