Landon grabbed the freezing blue magic and violently mixed it with his own bright white Kinetic Echo magic. He opened his dark eyes. His eyes no longer glowed with just white light. They burned with a brilliant, blinding mixture of white fire and sparkling blue lightning. The War Resonance magic instantly woke up. The invisible, glowing doorway inside his mind flew wide open. The magical web shot across the world. It connected perfectly to Claire, Silas, Kade, Marcus, Navarro, Jin, Sera, and Juno. “Landon!” Claire’s brilliant, beautiful mind echoed joyfully in his brain. “I am here, Claire,” Landon thought warmly. “Thank you. You saved my brother. Now, let me save the world.” Landon stood up. The massive, burning wave of General Rauth’s red Destruction magic was still pushing against him. The dry, rusting heat was trying to turn his skin into gra

The giant, thirty-foot juggernaut slowly walked across the cavern toward the pile of rocks. The heavy footsteps shook the ground. "You fought a good fight, Landon Hale," Rauth’s grinding voice echoed in the dark. "But your story ends here. You die in the dirt, and I reshape the universe." Rauth raised his giant, spiked wrecking ball high into the air. He aimed it directly at the pile of rocks where Landon was trapped. Landon closed his eyes. He listened to the warm, beautiful voices of his friends in the magical web. He felt Claire’s love. He felt Kade’s loyalty. He was not afraid to die. He just wished he could have saved them. “I am sorry, Claire,” Landon thought softly. Rauth swung the massive weapon down. Suddenly, a blinding flash of bright green light erupted from the dark tunnel at the edge of the cavern. A massive, crescent-shaped wave of pure, emerald-gre

The giant, freezing blue hand of the ancient god pulled General Kade Rauth down into the dark, bottomless hole. Rauth’s terrible, screaming voice echoed off the cold stone walls of the underground cavern. He begged for mercy. He cried in pure terror. And then, his screams suddenly stopped. The massive underground room fell completely, deathly silent. Landon Hale stood at the edge of the broken stone floor. He was breathing heavily. His massive chest rose and fell. His dark eyes stared deeply into the glowing blue abyss. Behind Landon, the Vanguard team slowly walked forward. Claire Arden limped on her injured ankle. She stood right next to Landon and grabbed his large, bruised hand. "Is he dead?" Claire whispered softly. Her voice shook in the freezing air. "Did the monster eat him?" Kade walked up, holding his empty rocket launcher. "I hope so," Kade growled. "I hope that ugly sea monster chewed him into a million pieces." Silas Hale, Landon's older brother, did not smile. He

Landon slowly groaned. He fluttered his dark eyes open. His vision was blurry. He tasted copper and blood. "I cannot... I cannot break his armor," Landon gasped weakly. "It is too strong, Claire." Claire grabbed his large, dirty hand and squeezed it tightly. "You do not have to fight him alone," Claire promised fiercely. "We are the Vanguard. We do this together." Claire turned her head and looked back at the team. "Fire everything you have!" Claire commanded loudly over the roaring magic. "Do not let him step any closer to Landon!" The Vanguard team obeyed instantly. They were terrified, but they were incredibly brave. Marcus roared and charged forward. He aimed his massive automatic shotgun at Rauth's glowing blue helmet. Kade pulled his combat knives. He knew he had no rockets left. He threw his sharp steel knives directly at Rauth's chest. Navarro raised his silver sniper pistol. He aimed perfectly and fired rapidly. Jin and Sera picked up dropped laser rifles from the flo

Claire looked down at her own feet. She remembered what Landon had taught her. She remembered how the Kinetic Echo magic worked. “If I cannot break his armor,” Claire thought brilliantly, “I will break the ground beneath his feet.” Claire held the heavy golden shield high into the air with both hands. "Let him go!" Claire screamed at the top of her lungs. Claire threw herself forward. She slammed the edge of the ancient golden shield directly into the cracked, broken stone floor right next to Rauth's heavy boots. The magical impact was absolutely spectacular. The pure, golden life energy inside the shield violently rejected the toxic, dead-god magic infecting the cavern floor. A massive, blinding explosion of golden light erupted from the ground. The solid stone floor beneath General Rauth completely shattered into a million pieces. The earth simply vanished. General Rauth roared in surprise as he lost his footing. He fell backward into a deep, newly formed crater. He let go of