As Nero battled the creature within the fog, it crept outward in restless waves, devouring the town inch by inch. The air thinned. The temperature dropped. Frost traced the edges of every surface it touched.

  No one dared to speak.

  Inside the white abyss, something vast was trying to break the world apart.

  Everyone was stunned by the scene unfolding before them. Kato spoke first, voice shaky. “What the hell? I can’t see anything because of the fog.”

  Vinn snapped, face pale and hands trembling. “Shut the hell up and watch the thermal feed. Pray they don’t notice us.” He glanced at Kato again, voice dropping to a whisper. “If they decide we’re enemies… we won’t even get a chance to beg.”

  Kato said nothing, only stared nervously at the thermal feed, his heartbeat pounding like a drum.

  Inside the fog, Nero hammered the monster with blow after bone-breaking blow. Each strike could crush stone, each impact punching holes in the fog for a heartbeat before it sealed again, shivering in the turbulent air. Shards of ice and steam mingled, curling like smoke in every direction, the smell of scorched earth hanging thickly.

  In Thom’s house, he worked frantically to keep Dorne alive—bandaging cuts, stopping the bleeding, muttering under his breath with clenched teeth. Lina hid under the dining table, clutching CH, trembling violently. Everyone else in town stayed hidden in their houses, too terrified to peek outside. All they could hear were the roars, crashes, savage shouts slicing the night, and the thunderous reverberations of impacts.

  Even the Iron Veil team was silent. Captain Mera Dastin’s eyes stayed glued to the thermal feed Echo Needle transmitted, her jaw tight, sweat streaking her face as the feed flickered from the heat and cold of the battle.

  Inside the fog, the beast struck again and again, but Nero evaded most attacks with precision. The few blows that landed melted his ice-flesh for a heartbeat before it re-formed, cracks sealing with a hiss. He didn’t flinch. He pressed forward, each strike harder and faster than the last. The beast slowed, but Nero did not.

  Then, with a brutal swing, the monster slammed into Nero’s left side. He shot out of the fog like a cannonball, a trail of mist spiraling behind him, before crashing into the ground. Rolling, he slammed his right hand into the earth, freezing it instantly. Chunks of dirt and shards of ice erupted into the air, glittering in the half-light of the fog. He skidded to a stop, chest heaving, eyes locked on the creature.

  The monster limped out of the fog, glowing fiercely, struggling to stay upright, its movements jerky from exhaustion. It turned to flee on its remaining three limbs. Nero’s gaze swept the ground. His left arm, pinned to the creature’s severed leg, was already in use. Then his eyes fell on Thom’s abandoned rifle.

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  He leapt for it. He cracked the chamber open—one round left. A grin spread across his face. He kept the frost from touching the weapon, gripped it with one hand, and raised it, his gaze shining pale and merciless. Sparks danced around the chamber, a faint hiss of energy trailing from the metal.

  “WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING!?” Nero roared, voice carrying through the fog. “EVEN THE GRIM REAPER CAN’T SAVE YOU FROM ME!”

  The beast didn’t look back.

  Nero pulled the trigger. A thunderclap rang out. Metal screamed and tore apart as the rifle exploded, slamming him backward. The single bullet shot forward like a missile, tearing the monster’s right shoulder from its body and embedding itself into the ground. Smoke and chemical fumes hissed upward. The crater glowed bright yellow as the beast collapsed, screeching, blood spraying across the ground.

  Nero tossed the twisted remnants aside and charged. The monster dragged itself with the other arm, the heat so intense that the ground under it began to melt. It crawled past its severed left leg, still nailed in place by Nero’s frozen grip.

  Nero slowed, assessing the damage. The creature’s scales were melting, trembling violently with high-frequency vibrations that tore at the air, destroying itself from the inside. Nero knelt by his left hand. Gripping the frozen leg, he shattered it into brittle shards, frost spreading outward like liquid steel. He pulled his left arm free from the ground, realigning with the severed stump, and—humming faintly—it reattached as if it had never been gone.

  Flexing his fingers, he approached the crawling beast.

  “Look at you,” he mocked. “A proud predator… now reduced to this.”

  He stopped in front of it, eyes cold. “You used that technique to fight me, to survive. But it looks like it’s the reason you lost. And now you're melting from the inside.”

  It tried to crawl past him. He stomped its arm, freezing it. The monster kept screaming from the pain. Its arm shattered under his heel.

  The scream that followed rattling the air. The beast lunged, biting his leg. Its teeth met ice harder than steel. Even the scorching heat couldn’t melt it fast enough to harm him.

  Nero yanked his leg free. The ground around him—five meters across—was now frozen solid.

  Nero leaned closer, voice sharp and devoid of warmth. “Every scream you’ve ever made… I’m silencing it.”

  The monster whimpered.

  “And your fight… it ends here.”

  He tapped the frozen ground with the heel of his left foot. Ice spikes erupted from beneath the monster, impaling it at multiple points, lifting it ten feet above the ground. Frost spread across its body, freezing it solid. With a final, blood-curdling screech, the monster froze in place, utterly still.

  Nero stared at it in silence.

  Kato, Vinn, and Rhea were too stunned to move.

  Through the radio, General Mordane’s voice came tight and quick:

  “Team Echo Needle, move away from that position. Now.”

  Rhea’s hands shook as she grabbed the mic. “Roger that, General.”

  Nero’s head turned sharply toward their location. Even from this distance, they felt his gaze.

  Vinn swallowed hard. “Fuck… I think he knows we’re here.”