Landon sat down in the pilot's seat. Claire sat right next to him in the co-pilot's chair. "The navigation computer is totally locked, Landon!" Jin announced happily from the back seat. "I built a new firewall. General Rauth cannot hack our steering wheel again." "Great job, Jin," Landon praised her. Landon grabbed the glowing steering controls. He pushed the heavy throttle forward. The white dropship roared to life. It lifted off the snowy street of Milwaukee. It shot high into the dark, freezing night sky, flying south toward Chicago. Inside the cabin, it was incredibly quiet. No one spoke. The emotional tension was heavier than it had ever been. They all knew this was the final journey. Landon looked out the thick glass windshield. The sky ahead of them was absolutely horrifying. The dark night was completely gone. The sky over Chicago was glowing with a blinding, toxic, sickly purple light. Massive, unnatural storm clouds swirled in a gigantic circle over the city. Thick,

"They are the memories of the dead gods," Silas explained loudly, raising his glowing green sword. "The toxic magic is so thick here that it is animating the ghosts of the past! They feed on human sorrow!" One of the Shadow-Husks lunged forward with blinding speed. It swung its jagged dark sword directly at Juno’s neck. Juno screamed and dropped her medical bag, covering her face. A loud, metallic crash echoed on the stairs. Landon had moved with impossible, superhuman speed. He stepped perfectly in front of Juno. He raised his heavy black rifle horizontally and blocked the dark sword with the metal barrel of his gun. The magical impact pushed Landon backward. His boots slid on the slippery black stone. "Get behind me, Juno!" Landon ordered deeply. Juno scrambled backward up the stairs, hiding behind Marcus. "We cannot shoot them!" Kade yelled, remembering their fight in Africa. "Bullets just pass right through their shadowy bodies!" "Then we fight them with magic!" Landon ro

The freezing winter wind howled like a dying animal at the bottom of the massive Chicago crater. Landon Hale stood completely frozen in the black mud. His dark eyes were locked on the horrifying monster standing in the doorway of the Citadel. It was Commander Wolfe. The evil Iron Order leader had returned from the dead. His gray, rotting skin was stretched tightly over his bones. A glowing, toxic purple relic core pulsed wildly inside his open chest. In his pale, dead hand, he held a heavy black remote control. High above them, hundreds of innocent civilians were trapped inside floating bubbles of freezing black water. The young Nigerian boy, Ayo, pressed his hands against his watery cage, looking down in terror. "Ten," the zombie Commander Wolfe hissed. His voice sounded like grinding rocks and rotting meat. "You have exactly ten seconds to drop your weapons, Landon Hale. Or I will press this button. The magic will turn off, and your precious little friends will fall fifty feet t

"You are so weak, Claire," the Iron Shadow Claire mocked smoothly. "You try to be a leader, but you are just a scared little girl playing with guns. You will get them all killed." The real Claire’s jaw locked tight. She raised her own silver pistol. "I am not afraid of a cheap magic trick." The fake Kade laughed loudly. He pointed to his own face. The scars on his face were glowing red and oozing black blood. "You think they love you, Kade?" the Iron Shadow Kade hissed. "You are just an ugly, broken freak. They pity you." Kade’s real hands shook with sudden anger. "Shut your dirty mouth!" Landon instantly understood the terrible trap. General Rauth was not just fighting their bodies. He was fighting their minds. He wanted to break their spirits before they even entered the palace. "Do not listen to them!" Landon roared out loud. "They are just illusions! They are trying to make us angry!" Landon reached deep into his soul. He pushed a massive wave of bright white War Resonance

The incredible kinetic energy tried to rip his bones apart. It tried to stop his heart. His boots slid backward through the thick black mud, digging deep, smoking trenches. The skin on his arms burned. But Landon was a master of kinetic energy. He didn't just create it; he could feel it. He could channel it. Landon forced the massive, violent energy to travel down through his arms, down his spine, and directly down through his heavy boots into the solid earth below him. He acted like a massive magical lightning rod. The earth shook violently beneath his feet. The ground absorbed the terrible shockwave harmlessly deep into the dirt. The purple wave faded away. The attack was over. Landon fell forward onto his hands and knees, panting incredibly heavily. Smoke poured from his winter coat. He was completely, utterly exhausted. But he was alive. And his team was perfectly safe behind him. The Iron Shadow Landon stared in absolute shock. Its dark purple hands were totally empty. It