Finally, with one mighty right cross and an explosion of force that blew out another of the pyramid’s external walls, I hit the Demogorgon with a punch so hard its head exploded in a spray of blood and shattered bone. Its lifeless— and headless—form crashed to the floor, shaking the entire pyramid. Then I turned to take on the next one, which, at that moment, tore my titan’s left arm off.
I couldn’t beat this one, not now, not half-destroyed … but I had a creature that could beat it. I lunged for the Demogorgon’s throat, slamming the fingers of my titan’s remaining hand around it, and I gripped it tight, pulling all the Death power I possibly could into that grip. The Demogorgon writhed and roared, gripping my Death Titan arm with both of its massive, muscular red arms, trying to tear my arm either off its throat or off my body, but the force of my Death magic held it firm. Behind us, the Blood God was almost fully formed. Once that happened, my Death Titan would be history, and the only thing that could defeat him was the dragon, which was not yet resurrected.
I had to act fast.
Now that two of the walls of the pyramid had been blown out, I was able to get a view of the ocean two miles away. A grin came across my face at the sight that greeted my eyes. For out of the breaking waves, my Undead Army was marching. They had arrived. Tens of thousands of undead troops. Skeletons and zombies, undead barbarians on direwolves, Frost Giants and undead panthers, and tens of thousands more, were emerging from the waves.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“Now, motherfucker, you die too,” I snarled at the final Demogorgon.
Then, pulling every ounce of Death power I could grab from all over Prand into my Titan, I concentrated the entirety of this power into my arm and hurled the huge Demogorgon toward the ocean. The massive red demon, bigger than any cathedral, hurtled through the air in an arc that temporarily blotted out the sun. Behind me, the Blood God assumed his final form and blasted torrents of red lightning out of his dozens of hands, blowing my Death Titan to smithereens and sending my body—the actor’s body—flying hundreds of feet up into the air.
A harpy swooped down and caught the actor’s body in mid-air. Through his eyes, I watched as the Demogorgon plummeted toward the ocean. And then, as the massive red body was about to hit the water, hundreds of huge kraken tentacles broke the surface to catch the demon. My undead kraken grabbed the falling Demogorgon and hauled it under the waves, ripping it to shreds.
On land, the entire Blood Pyramid exploded as the Blood God stepped out of it and began laying waste to everything around it. He was a grotesque, towering titan made entirely of flowing blood, with multiple heads and limbs,
“We are ready,” Yumo-Rezu’s voice entered my mind. She was speaking to my actual body, where it was located on my warship, and I could hear her voice like a distant call.
I hauled my spirit out of the actor’s body; it was time to resurrect the dragon. The final phase of the battle had begun.
In the ship’s hold, Yumo-Rezu had finished the ritual, and the Dragon Heart was in place. All that was needed was for me to resurrect the dragon.
“I’m ready,” Friya said. They had broken the huge jar, and she was waiting with her hands on the Dragon Heart.
“Let’s do this,” I said.
As it always was when resurrecting a dead thing, I needed a portion of my own life-force to start the process. The chunk of life-force needed to resurrect a dragon, though, was bigger than any I’d ever had to use, even with Friya’s strong life force already being present. It felt as if I was ripping my own heart in half and losing half of my strength, vitality, and power instantaneously, but it had to be done.
I injected the massive chunk of life-force into the dragon’s heart and fused this new energy with the two waiting souls—the dragon’s and Friya’s.
Friya let out a terrible howl, and it looked as if the Dragon Heart was absorbing her, like a giant slug devouring her. Then, however, something incredible happened: organs started to form inside the torso, flesh started growing on the dragon’s bones, and scales grew over the flesh. All of this happened in mere seconds, and soon there was a living, breathing dragon filling up the entirety of the ship’s hold.
“A black dragon,” Yumo-Rezu murmured, struck with awe and wonder. “A Death dragon!”
The creature looked more magnificent than I ever could have imagined. Its scales were jet black, shinier than polished onyx, and each shimmered with an iridescent glow. The dragon was immensely muscular, with a powerful neck and a long tail the same length as the rest of its body. Its reptilian head was covered in thorny spikes and horns, and its batlike wings, for the moment furled up against its body, looked like they would each be twice the length of its torso when unfurled. The mighty beast opened its mouth, revealing rows of enormous teeth of a size and sharpness that rivalled the wyrm’s. Most striking about the dragon, though, were its eyes, which were like those of a snake, yet glowing with swirling veins of bright colors.
And in those eyes, I saw Friya. She was the dragon now, and she was proud and joyful … and ready to kick some ass.
On my hands, the Dragon Gauntlets began to glow, and tiny arcs of lightning crackled between their fingertips. I felt, through the gloves, a bond being created between my soul and the dragon’s.
“We are one,” Friya’s voice spoke inside my mind. Another voice, though was also speaking, echoing her every
