They didn't flinch.
They moved.
Five of them.
Bound not by fate.
But by choice.
By fury.
By fire.
By war.
Wrathbound.
---
Bizon's roar tore through the air like a damn bomb going off, a sound so violent it made the ground shudder under Kade's broken body. It wasn't just noise—it was a physical thing, slamming into him, rattling his teeth, stabbing into his chest like a spike.
Kade didn't need to see him to know they were screwed. He could feel it—the pure, crushing weight of the monster's presence. It wasn't a creature standing there.
It was a nightmare.
It was death.
Bizon loomed, blocking out the sky, a hulking, seething mass of muscle and shadow. The kind of thing you didn't fight—you ran from, if you were smart.
Too bad running wasn't an option anymore.
The first hit had already wrecked them. Ren, Lila, Nico—all down, bodies crumpled in the dirt like broken dolls. Ava wasn't moving either. She was lying there, twisted, a slick pool of blood spreading out from underneath her.
Kade's gut twisted.
Bizon's low, cruel laugh rolled out over the battlefield. "Pathetic," he said, like it was a joke, like they weren't even worth the effort.
Then he flicked his wrist—and a shockwave tore through them like a hammer. Kade watched, helpless, as his friends were thrown like ragdolls, slamming into rocks and debris, landing in boneless heaps.
His own body felt like a sack of broken glass. Every nerve screamed. His head spun. His chest heaved. His ears were ringing so loud he could barely hear the world anymore.
But he heard their cries. Distant. Muffled. Desperate.
He couldn't move. He couldn't even lift a finger.
All he could do was watch.
Bizon's eyes locked onto Ava, his face twisting into a sadistic grin. "I'll start with her," he growled, his voice thick with the promise of murder. "Then the rest of you will fall."
Kade's heart kicked against his ribs, frantic.
Move.
MOVE.
MOVE, DAMMIT!
But his body didn't listen. His arms felt like dead weight. His legs might as well have been made of concrete.
He was failing them.
He was watching her die.
And then—
Something snapped.
It wasn't a decision. It wasn't courage. It wasn't anything logical at all.
It was something older. Something raw.
The artifact on his wrist exploded with light.
Kade gasped, his back arching as raw, white-hot power tore through him like a flood. It hurt—it hurt so bad he thought he might black out—but it was alive. It was waking him up, setting every cell on fire.
The pain didn't go away.
He just didn't care about it anymore.
His mind cleared. The fog lifted. And all that was left was rage. Burning, blinding, bone-deep rage.
Bizon's claws came down toward Ava—and that's when it happened.
In his hand, like it had always been there waiting for him, a sword of pure, searing light snapped into existence.
Kade didn't question it.
He didn't think.
He moved.
With a roar that didn't sound anything like a high school nobody, Kade swung the blade up, meeting Bizon's claws in midair. The collision cracked like thunder, light and shadow slamming against each other with a blinding blast of sparks.
The sword—God, it felt right. It felt like an extension of himself, like his anger and desperation had taken shape and hardened into something real, something deadly.
Bizon staggered back, snarling in disbelief.
"You think you can stop me?" he spat.
Kade didn't answer. He couldn't. He was too busy breathing like he was drowning in fire, too busy keeping the sword steady in his shaking hands.
Bizon lunged again, faster this time—but Kade was already moving. Another wild swing, another flash of light as he deflected the monster's next attack.
He wasn't fighting to win.
He was fighting because he had to.
Because if he didn't, Ava was dead. They were all dead.
Behind him, the artifact pulsed again—and Kade barely registered the way the light started coiling around Ava's broken body. Slowly, painfully, it lifted her off the ground, wrapping her in that blinding, searing energy.
Then—
Her eyes opened.
And Kade swore the world tilted sideways.
Ava moved. No—she blurred. One second she was lying there, the next she was across the battlefield, and then—CRACK!—her fist slammed into Bizon's chest like a cannon.
The Wraith King staggered, caught completely off guard.
Kade blinked. He almost couldn't process what he was seeing. Ava wasn't just alive—she was faster than anything he'd ever seen. Faster than Bizon. Faster than thought.
She became a storm of fists and kicks, hitting Bizon over and over, each blow a blur of motion and pure, furious light.
And Bizon—this unstoppable monster, this nightmare—he couldn't keep up.
He was too slow.
Too heavy.
Too wrong.
Kade didn't stop to think. He surged forward too, the sword blazing in his hands, swinging it with everything he had. Every clash of metal and claw sent shockwaves ripping through the air.
And then behind him—movement. Ren groaning. Nico's illusions flickering back to life. Lila's hands crackling with new lightning.
They weren't done yet.
They weren't broken.
They were Wrathbound.
The fight turned, like a switch flipping. Nico's illusions split the battlefield, making three copies of Ava zip around, confusing Bizon. Lila's lightning rained down, sharp and vicious, forcing him back step after step.
But it was Ava—Ava, a one-woman army—who kept landing the real hits, darting in and out of his reach, pounding him down piece by piece.
Bizon roared, a desperate, ugly sound. "YOU CANNOT WIN!"
Kade just grinned through bloody teeth.
He tightened his grip on the sword.
And swung.
The blade cleaved through Bizon's shadowy mass like it was paper, slicing him open with a blinding crack of light.
Bizon howled—one last, shuddering sound of rage and defeat—and then disappeared into the darkness, ripped apart from the humiliation he just received.
Kade stood there, chest heaving, sword hanging heavy in his hands, the taste of blood thick in his mouth.
It wasn't over.
Not even close.
But they'd survived this round.
And together, they'd brought a nightmare to its knees.
To be continued...