Chapter 28: The Final Battle

Chapter 28: The Final Battle

Silvia's POV

The explosion of magic sent a violent ripple through the air. Flames surged from Silvia's hands, clashing against the commander's dark energy, creating a swirling vortex of power that crackled like a raging storm. The heat was suffocating, but Silvia didn't back down.

The commander grinned, unfazed. He stepped forward, slicing through the flames with a mere flick of his wrist. His power ate through hers, swallowing her fire whole as though it had never existed.

Silvia's stomach twisted. That's not normal.

"Fascinating," the commander mused, tilting his head. "You wield your magic well, but you lack control."

Dragon groaned from where he had been thrown. He pushed himself up, one hand pressed against his ribs as he glared at the commander. "Yeah? Well, maybe she doesn't need control. Maybe she just needs me."

With that, Dragon vanished—a blur of motion as he reappeared behind the commander, daggers aimed straight for his back.

The commander turned impossibly fast, catching Dragon's wrist mid-swing. Shadows curled around his fingers, spreading over Dragon's skin like living tendrils.

Dragon gritted his teeth. "Yeah, no thanks."

He twisted, using the commander's own momentum against him, kicking off the ground and landing a well-aimed knee to the ribs. The commander staggered—just for a second.

That was all Silvia needed.

She threw her hands forward, summoning a wall of fire, forcing the commander to leap back. His coat sizzled, embers eating at the fabric, but he didn't seem bothered.

Instead, he smiled.

"Good," he murmured. "Now we can begin."

Tarren's POV

Tarren had seen a lot of terrifying things in his life—monsters, warlords, the fall of entire cities—but the power surging through that corridor was something else entirely.

The commander wasn't just a high-ranking enforcer. He was something more. Something worse.

"Get the prisoners out!" Tarren barked at his team. "Now!"

His fighters hesitated, their eyes flicking toward the fight. The walls trembled as Silvia and the commander clashed again, their magic sending shockwaves through the facility.

"That's an order!" Tarren snapped.

With a final glance at the battle, his people nodded and hurried to evacuate the prisoners. Tarren turned back just in time to see the commander slam a wave of black energy into Dragon, sending him skidding across the floor.

Damn it.

Dragon coughed, rolling onto his hands and knees. "Okay, that one hurt."

Tarren pulled out his rifle, taking aim. "Hold him down. I'll put a bolt between his eyes."

The commander laughed. A deep, rich sound, utterly amused. "Oh, you poor things. You think you've won?"

The walls groaned.

Tarren barely had time to react before the entire facility shook violently. The ground split beneath them, and a wave of heat erupted from below.

Then, the screaming started.

Silvia's POV

Silvia barely kept her footing as the floor cracked apart, revealing a dark chasm beneath. Steam and smoke curled into the air, and deep, guttural roars echoed from the depths.

"What the hell—?" Dragon started, before a clawed hand shot out of the pit.

It wasn't human.

The creature hauled itself up, its body covered in blackened armor-like scales. Its eyes glowed a deep, eerie blue, its mouth full of jagged teeth.

It wasn't alone.

More of them crawled from the darkness, clawing their way into the facility. Monsters. Not the usual beasts that roamed the wastelands—these were different. Stronger. Organized.

And Silvia knew, deep down, they weren't just here by accident.

The commander smiled, watching as the creatures swarmed the halls. "You thought you were fighting one war," he mused. "But you were never prepared for the other."

Silvia's blood ran cold.

A monstrous roar shattered the hallway, reverberating through her bones. She turned in time to see one of the creatures lunge at Tarren's men, claws slicing through armor like paper.

Tarren cursed, unloading a barrage of bullets into the beast's skull. It barely staggered.

Dragon grabbed Silvia's arm. "We need to get out of here, now!"

She gritted her teeth. "Not without the prisoners."

Tarren barked orders, directing the last of his fighters toward the exit. "We don't have time for this!"

The commander stepped forward, his smirk growing as the monsters surrounded them. "Run, if you like. It won't matter. This world belongs to them now."

Silvia's magic flared again, hotter, angrier. "Over my dead body."

She threw her hands forward, sending a wave of fire down the corridor, engulfing the nearest creatures. They screeched, recoiling from the heat, but it wasn't enough to stop them all.

Dragon swore under his breath. "We are so screwed."

Tarren reloaded his rifle, eyes flashing with grim determination. "If we're going down, we're taking as many of these things with us as we can."

Silvia refused to let it end here.

She turned to Dragon, her heart pounding. "You trust me?"

Dragon arched a brow. "Not when you ask like that."

She didn't wait. She grabbed him by the front of his coat and kissed him—fast, fierce, and full of the fire inside her. When she pulled away, Dragon was stunned silent.

"Just in case we don't make it out," Silvia whispered.

Dragon blinked, then grinned through the chaos. "Oh, we're making it out. I have too many plans for you."

Silvia turned back to the fight, magic burning at her fingertips.

The war wasn't coming.

It was here.

And she wasn't backing down.