Ted yanked on his mana and cast Nullify Life at the Destroyer’s corpse, but it was too late, the Contingency Rebirth had already triggered. Pain stabbed at his chest—he should have expected that—and he poured mana into a rapid Firebolt, aided by a mere trickle of spirit from the Forest.

  The Destroyer pulled himself upright, leathery green skin bare in the large circle around his chest where the clothes had been disintegrated, and shimmering teal Absorb and Armor effects raced to engulf him.

  “Enkirtara!” The firebolt struck the Destroyer’s chest, dissipating in the Absorb effect without even so much as a ripple.

  The Destroyer smiled, and resumed his saunter towards Ted. “A valiant attempt.”

  The void of drained power quietly screamed at Ted. The Destroyer hadn’t recast Rebirth—he had Soul Weakness, no point—but with the Forest spent, destroying him was almost certainly beyond Ted’s power.

  “I am impressed,” the Destroyer said, stopping three paces away. “Congratulations; no human has ever impressed me before.”

  Ted eyed the gap between them. Step-lunge distance. A taunting bait for a chance that Ted no longer had. “Last chance to surrender.”

  “Oh?” The Destroyer laughed and took another step forward. “You have another Forest ripe for the slaughter?”

  Ted clenched his jaw. He had to follow the plan, and the Destroyer knew he’d never flee, not until all options had been spent. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  For a few long seconds, the Destroyer stared into Ted’s eyes. “You can’t beat me. Even if whatever ill-conceived plan you have strikes me down now, I’ll come back just as strong as ever, and your beloved Forest will still be dead.”

  Harnessing the rage burning in his chest, Ted lunged, swinging his sword for the Destroyer’s neck while casting Dispel through the staff.

  Steel clashed against steel, the blade stopped by the Destroyer’s wrist guard, and his other hand slammed against Ted’s chest with a flash of Energy, knocking the wind from him and cutting off the screams of the Forest with a Nullify Portals powerful enough to smash straight through his Absorb.

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  Pushing through pain, Ted pressed the staff against the Destroyer’s gut and unleashed Dispel. It crackled and fizzled against the Destroyer’s Absorb, garnering a smile from the orc.

  A flurry of arrows swished through the air and Force magic flashed a dozen times in an instant. One myrellium arrow hung in the air, caught by Telekinesis, while a dozen others clattered against the Destroyer’s Armor, their imbued magic absorbed.

  Yet still the Destroyer stood, smiling. He slammed his palm into Ted’s jaw, knocking him back. “Primitive fool,” he snarled, following up with a punch to Ted’s gut.

  Ted doubled over, clutching at agony burning in his ribs, his failure made incarnate. His mana was almost spent, and his regen draining still for that horrific link to the Forest that he no longer had. Ignoring the pain searing in his gut, he swung again at the Destroyer.

  Another clink of steel on steel, blade against impossibly quick wrist guard.

  Mental intrusion detected.

  The Destroyer grabbed Ted by the throat and lifted him up off the ground. “Your plans have failed. Tell your father to join us here, and I will grace you both with the mercy of a pleasant cage—together or apart, your call.”

  Ted stared into the dark pit of the Destroyer’s eyes, and knew he’d lost. He’d failed. All he could do now was cling to Cara’s orders and stick to the plan no matter what, and pray that the magic of the ruins portal was enough to overcome the Nullify. Flee, he messaged. He can’t be stopped.

  The Destroyer squeezed with one hand and ripped the sword from Ted’s hand with the other, tossing it aside like it were made of foam. “Call him. Now.”

  The pressure on Ted’s throat grew and lightness snuck into his head. A force pulled on his staff, ripping it from his hand. He pulled on his mana, turning it inward into Shapeshift, and coughed out, “Fly.”

  His Contingency triggered. The force tugged him backward, pulling them both, and knocking the Destroyer off balance.

  Shapeshift triggered and the pressure on Ted’s neck fell away, his whole body shrinking down into tiny bones and feathers and wings. He flapped them hard and pulled away, trusting the instincts of his new form to carry him to the portalway.

  Behind him a roar bellowed and footsteps thudded in futility. No feet could catch up to wings.

  He flew up three flaps and swooped, thirty feet, twenty—

  Nullify Nature washed over him. Wings became arms, talons feet, his beak his nose, and gravity took hold again, plowing him into the ground.

  Footsteps fell behind, closing in. Grass and dirt pressed against his mouth and nose and eyes.

  He pulled himself up and ran, legs pumping, sprinting for the blazing blue portal, and he lunged for safety.

  A heavy grip seized his hand, and the mass of the Destroyer barreled into him, throwing them both through the portal.

  Magic tingled across his skin and they clattered out onto the floor of the mage ruins. A purple-blue Farsight hovered four feet up in the air, staring down upon them for an instant before blinking out of existence—followed by the five blue portals around the room, trapping them with no hope of escape.