The giant monster charged forward through the fire.Landon knew he could not fight this monster alone. He knew his human muscles were not fast enough to dodge the purple sword.But Landon also knew something else. He finally understood his own heart. He was not fighting because he was angry. He was not fighting because he hated the Iron Order.He was fighting because he loved Claire Arden. He was fighting because he loved Kade, Jin, Sera, Juno, Marcus, and Navarro. His love was his greatest weapon. It was a weapon that General Rauth could never understand.Landon closed his dark eyes. He did not hold his magic back anymore. He did not build a wall in his mind to hide from the sleeping sea monster in Milwaukee. He did not care about the risks.Landon fully, completely embraced the absolute potential of the War Resonance. He pushed the bright white pool of Kinetic Echo magic completely open.“Connect,” Landon commanded his soul.The invisible, glowing white web of magic exploded outward

The thick, gray steam covered absolutely everything. It was a complete and terrifying nightmare. The freezing, pitch-black water from the Milwaukee portal was pouring down from the sky. It crashed violently into the boiling hot, roaring fires of the Lagos skyscraper.When the freezing water met the hot fire, it created a massive, hissing cloud of thick fog. PSSSCCCCHHHHH!The sound was incredibly loud. It sounded like a thousand angry snakes hissing at the exact same time. The fog was so thick that Landon Hale could not see his own hands in front of his face. The air smelled like burning plastic, salty ocean water, and toxic magic.Landon stood bravely in front of the broken white dropship. He held Claire Arden tightly behind his broad, muscular back. He wanted to shield her from any danger hiding in the fog.High above them, poking through the swirling purple portal in the ceiling, the massive, pitch-black tentacle of the Deep One hung in the sky. The ancient sea monster was waiti

The hot, boiling African sun beat down on the ruined Aether Dominion skyscraper.Landon Hale dangled helplessly in the empty sky, fifty stories above the busy streets of Lagos, Nigeria. He was holding onto a thick, rusty steel cable with his broken, dislocated left arm. His right arm was wrapped tightly around Claire Arden.High above them on the broken roof, General Kade Rauth raised his glowing purple magic sword. Rauth was smiling. He was going to cut the steel cable and drop Landon and Claire to their deaths. But Rauth had forgotten to look up.Through the giant, swirling purple portal in the sky, a nightmare reached into Africa. It was the massive, pitch-black tentacle of the ancient Deep One. The monster was reaching all the way from the freezing waters of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.The giant tentacle was covered in sharp, jagged white ice. When the freezing ice hit the boiling hot air of Lagos, a massive cloud of thick white steam exploded into the sky.KABOOOOOM! The giant tentacl

“The building is clear,” Jin’s relieved voice echoed softly through the glowing white magic web. “I am reading zero Iron Order heat signatures on the lower floors. We did it.”“We won,” Kade cheered happily, lowering his smoking rocket launcher.Landon stood perfectly still in the middle of the forty-eighth floor. He was breathing heavily. Sweat poured down his muscular chest. His hands still glowed with bright white magic.He felt a deep, overwhelming sense of pride. His team was perfect. They had survived the impossible. But Landon knew the battle was not truly over.“Where is he?” Landon asked silently in his mind. “Where is General Rauth?”“He is above you, Landon,” Sera thought nervously. “My computer shows a single, massive heat signature on the very top roof of the building. It is glowing with toxic purple magic. It is Rauth. He survived the tentacle strike.”Landon looked up at the broken concrete ceiling.“Get the civilians out of the building,” Landon commanded his team thro

Landon opened his dark eyes. They burned with a blinding, brilliant white fire that was brighter than the African sun.His tired, aching muscles suddenly felt completely refreshed. The pain in his rib vanished. The white Kinetic Echo magic sparked and crackled wildly around his fists.General Rauth stared at the glowing man. Rauth’s black eyes narrowed in disgust."Love," General Rauth spat the word like it was a poisonous snake. "You humans are so pathetic. You think love makes you strong. It only makes you weak. It gives me a target to destroy. I will kill her right in front of you, Landon, and then I will watch your heart break."General Rauth turned his massive, ten-foot-tall body away from Landon.Rauth charged directly toward Claire.The evil general raised his black, metal-clawed hand. A fresh, glowing purple sword of toxic magic shot out of his wrist. He aimed the deadly blade right at Claire’s chest.Claire did not run away. She did not even flinch. Through the glowing white