The air in the ruined hall had barely settled when the first scream hit.
It wasn't a battle cry. A warning.
Ari.
Nola turned instantly but it was too late.
A blast of blue magic struck Ari square in the chest, flinging her across the chamber.
She slammed into a broken column and crumpled to the floor, unmoving. Her staff clattered beside her, glowing dim, the runes around her flickering, then vanishing entirely.
A figure stepped between them, rising from the shadow of the fractured wall like a phantom given flesh.
Saren Draal.
His armor shimmered with molten obsidian, segmented plates over muscles. No helmet, just a cruel, pale face with dangerous eyes and a smile deep with contempt.
In his hand, he held a hammer too large to be logical, metal fused with bone, veins of red light pulsing through its surface. On his chest burned a glyph none of them recognized, black as oil and shaped like a sun turned inward.
"You really burned through all your tricks for the warm-up," he said, voice dry and cutting. "Didn't save anything for the main event. Bad planning."
Tris loosed an arrow in a flash.
Saren caught it. Fingers closed around the shaft mid-flight.
Snap.
He tossed the pieces to the ground like twigs. "Cute."
Nola hovered forward, fury icing her nerves, but Vera stepped up beside her, swords glowing.
"Get back," Vera said to Tris and Felix. "He's mine."
Saren cocked his head. "Ah. The hammer of the group." His eyes narrowed.
"Still tired from your little dance with the titan golem? Or do you have something left in the tank?"
She charged, both blades drawn, and he didn't move.
Vera struck, twin arcs of burning light slashing across his torso.
And that was it.
Saren didn't even grunt. The blades cut, but shallow.
He struck back with a single blow, a swing of the hammer that knocked the daylight out of her.`
The force blasted Vera off her feet and sent her flying, crashing into the wall behind Nola with a crushing sound of pain.
She slumped, coughing and trying to get up.
"Stop," he said, almost disappointed. "You're out of sync. Your support's down. The girl with the runes was your spine, and I just broke it."
Nola's golden katana flared as she descended toward him, slashing with lightning speed.
Saren moved.
Not fast. Just… exact. One step back, one twist. He blocked the katana with the shaft of his hammer. The impact echoed across the chamber.
Nola's eyes narrowed. She spun, trying again, faster.
He blocked again. And again. Then, on the fourth strike, he struck her mid-swing with the butt of his hammer, sending her skidding across the ground, cloak smoking.
Tris fired, three arrows in a single shoot.
Saren flicked his hand. A barrier flared to life, pulsing purple and black, absorbing the arrows like rain on stone.
"I warned you," he said, walking toward them. "You're tired. You wasted all your Stage Two shine on toys and tricks.
"This would have been just a warm-up for me." he gestured to the battlefield littered with shattered golems
Felix stepped forward, hands glowing. "I will not let you leave."
Saren stopped, then grinned.
"I'm not walking away. I came to say hello and good-bye, a good-bye forever."
He looked over his shoulder toward the edge of the ruin, a cliff that dropped into clouds far below.
"But now that I've seen what you've got left… I don't need to wait any longer."
He leapt backward in one smooth motion, twisting midair, and landed at the ruin's edge, standing like a wraith outlined against the dusk.
Felix was already at Ari's side, checking her pulse, scanning her with magic. "She's alive. Breathing. Just… drained. Whatever he hit her with, it wasn't just impact. It disrupted her channels. Like a precision strike."
"She's down," Tris said grimly, gripping his bow tighter. "And without her…"
"We're exposed," Nola said, rising from the dust. Her katana glowed in her grip, the heat from its edge turning the cracked floor to glass. Her voice was flat, but her eyes burned. "We end this. Now."
Saren laughed.
It was a low, dry rasp, somewhere between amusement and hunger.
"You really think you're still standing? Still fighting?" He started walking forward again, each step calm and lax like he was sure of his victory. "I didn't come here to measure you."
He spun the hammer once in his hand. "I came here to break you."
He lunged.
This time, faster.
Felix threw up a ward, but Saren crashed through it like it was air. The hammer smashed into Felix's barrier arm and sent him flying sideways, glyphs sparking wild in his wake.
Tris fired, a full spread of ricochet arrows, and Nola charged, blade humming with golden fury.
Saren twisted mid-air, using a fragment of Vera's own shattered light to absorb two arrows, then raised a shield just as Nola closed in. Her katana struck with the force of a meteor, and he blocked it. Just barely.
Their eyes locked.
"You're better than the others," Saren said, low and grinning. "But you're still holding back."
He forced her back with a shoulder slam and spun to slam the ground. The hammer struck like a seismic charge. The floor cracked in a wave, rupturing outward. Vera threw up a barrier to protect Tris and herself, catching the worst of the shockwave.
Nola dodged upward, floating, flanking from the left and Tris shifted to the right. They moved in perfect sync.
"You're not walking away from this!" Tris shouted.
"I never planned to."
Saren rushed forward, colliding with Vera mid-step. She met him with both blades, locking weapons. Their power flared outward, wind and light bursting around them.
Sparks exploded with every strike.
Tris loosed another barrage of arrows, angling for his flanks, Saren turned with impossible speed, swinging his hammer like a windmill, deflecting the shots midair. One caught him in the shoulder. It barely slowed him down.
"Felix!" Nola shouted.
The mage staggered up from rubble, hand bleeding, eyes glowing.
"I've got one shot left, make it count!"
He raised both arms, casting a vortex of runes beneath Saren's feet, gravity shifted. For half a second, the battlefield warped, pulling Saren's balance.
Nola struck.
She blurred past him, golden slash carving deep into his side.
He grunted, blood misted in the air but he didn't fall.
Instead, he smiled.
"I felt that," he said.
Then he grabbed Nola mid-air and hurled her into a pillar.
Stone exploded.
Tris screamed and shot three more arrows, this time to pin. One caught Saren's thigh, staggering him.
Vera struck again, both blades forming a massive arc of light that slashed across his chest.
He dropped to one knee.
And still, he rose.
He was scorched and bleeding. Bu he still laughed..
"You're not weak," he rasped, eyes burning now. "You're close. Almost enough. Almost ready."
He raised the hammer again, its core now glowing red-hot.
"Let's see what you do," he growled, "without mercy."