Flames licked at my skin, hot and wild, burning sharper than pain. My thoughts were a storm, twisting and thrashing as the clearing morphed into something more than a battlefield—it was a crucible. Every lesson I’d learned, every fear I’d buried, every fragment of power I barely understood all demanded attention. Violet light pulsed around my wrists, snapping, curling, alive with my heartbeat, my breath, my will.

Silas moved beside me, shadow tethered to mine, blade slicing the chaos, precise and silent. But even he seemed aware that this fight wasn’t about steel or spells. This was bigger. Older. Hunger that couldn’t be killed.

Hardin stumbled, his attacks jagged and...