The Forsaken Revenant didn’t need to be asked twice. The monster lurched forward in a blur of shadowy limbs, closing the distance between itself and Alex so fast that he barely even had an instant to register the motion.

Alex’s stomach clenched as he pulled on the Singularity Core. Even with Edict of the Shattered King, dodging the horrifying mass of darkness bearing down on him would have been difficult — but he had no plans of dodging this time around.

The massive white anchor chained to his wrist lurched as the Singularity Core turned over. It leapt into the air, streaking up diagonally right as the Revenant charged into its path. The impossibly heavy chunk of metal slammed into the monster with a loud crunch, knocking it from its course.

Shards of shadow armor spun through the air as the Revenant was launched up into the ceiling. It connected with a thunderous crash. A loud crunch a moment later marked Alex’s anchor slamming into the wall of the room and embedding itself in the stone.

The Revenant dropped back to the ground, its shoulder warped and pulverized. Debris rained down all around it as it let out a furious hiss. Molten blue light twisted through from beneath the new wound. Swaying gossamer tendrils poured out from the cracks as shadows crept to pull the damage back together.

The Revenant’s eyes bore into Alex, sending cold chills twisting down his chest. He bared his teeth. If Sovereign Cataclysm hadn’t been empowering him, he probably would have gotten frozen a long time ago.

That did damage, but not enough. This thing is really something else. It’s already starting to heal from such a strong blow. I need to hit it faster — or harder. If I could somehow spin the anchor around like a lasso a few times before launching it…

But there was just no way he could control the Singularity Core to such a degree. He’d only just gotten his hands on the anchor. Such fine control of the ability was still well beyond him. He was more likely to launch the anchor off into somebody else than he was to hit the Revenant.

A wretched scream tore through the air as the Revenant threw its head back. Its entire body split down the center from the top of its head all the way to the bottom of its waist, pulling apart to reveal a seething mass of intense blue light.

Thread spooled out from the monster. Claire’s wings snapped down and she launched through the air, slashing her claws across its still wounded shoulder in an attempt to take it by surprise.

Her fingers dug through the damaged plates and into the dark flesh beneath. The Revenant lurched to the side, the opening in its body slamming closed as it swung a hand at the Dhampir.

Claire dipped out of the way. She just barely managed to dodge the blow and throw herself to the side before the Revenant’s foot drove down into the ground where she’d been standing a moment before with a resonating crash.

Alex activated the Singularity Core once more. He darted forward, drawing the heavy chain connecting him to the anchor taut as he made straight for the Revenant before it could press its advantage on Claire.

The monster spun toward him, its mouth snapping open and blue light pouring out a moment before it found the anchor blurring through the air in its direction once again.

With a hiss of anger, the Revenant leapt to the side. The anchor shot right past it. Alex’s eyes only had an instant to widen before he realized the back wall of the room was a bit farther than he’d calculated for.

The chain snapped taut — and then yanked him right off his feet. Alex’s curse was lost in a howl of wind as he was pulled off his feet and through the air in the wake of the huge weapon.

It collided with the wall a second later. He barely managed to twist himself around, crashing into the stone beside the anchor feet-first in a crouch before springing off the stone and activating the Singularity Core once more.

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Rushing wind and rumbling chain links marked the anchor as it screamed past him and slammed into the Revenant’s stomach. It lifted the Revenant off its feet and launched it backward, pinning the monster to the wall behind it with a sickening crunch.

Fragments of shadowy armor spun out all around the wound and searing blue light spilled out from within it. The Revenant clawed at the anchor, but even its powerful claws could do nothing but screech against the white metal.

Whatever magic composed Berith’s chains — it was far more powerful than the Forsaken Revenant.

“What is this thing? How is it still alive after two blows like that?” Claire asked, sliding up beside Alex. She didn’t try to attack the thrashing monster. It was little surprise. Even though it was pinned, getting close to it would have been a death sentence.

The deadly blue threads flicked through the air all around the Mirrorlands creature. Alex and Claire had seen firsthand just how deadly they were. Just getting touched by one was enough to let the Revenant drag something into its maw.

Pinning the monster was far from defeating it.

“I don’t know,” Alex said grimly. He tightened his grip on the white chain.

The Revenant pulled itself to the side. Its body warped and pulled like taffy, leaving a large chunk of itself impaled in the wall as it slowly dragged itself out from beneath the Anchor. Blue light poured from the wound, but shadows quickly rushed to fill in the damage.

Not once did the Revenant’s eyes leave Alex.

“This is one tough bastard,” Alex whispered. This wasn’t the same kind of regeneration that Princess had. Aside from cracking the armor plates covering the Revenant, it didn’t seem like they’d ever even managed to hurt the monster.

All he’d done was inconvenience it.

The Revenant freed itself with one final lurch. Shadows pooled around the portions of its body that were still pinned to the wall by the anchor. They dripped to the ground and flowed in rivers across it to wind back up the Revenant’s body and return to its flesh.

“Plan?” Claire hissed. “That didn’t do enough. I don’t know if we can hurt it at all.”

Derek let out a groan. His fingers twitched. One hand tightened into a fist. He was starting to get control of his senses back — but it wasn’t enough. Even if Derek could magically recover instantly, there was nothing he could do to harm the Revenant any more than Alex and Claire could.

“I just want to know why this thing wants to kick my ass so badly,” Alex hissed. He watched the Revenant warily. If it moved forward, it would put itself between himself and the anchor.

That would give him an opportunity to re-activate the Singularity Core and yank the anchor back to himself, hitting the Revenant from behind. So long as he ducked fast enough to avoid what would come after that, it would give him another blow and buy them both time to think.

But the Revenant didn’t attack. It stood still for a moment, watching Alex with its freezing cold eyes as if trying to drink his soul in from the other side of the room. Then its body twitched.

The seam running vertically down its face split open. Threads spooled out, clumped into tongues, as a raspy hiss slipped from the monster’s skull. It sounded different than the previous noises the Revenant had made. Thicker — more complex, as if trying to form into something else entirely.

Its hiss turned into a raspy sputter, like a wheezing cough escaping the phlegm filled lungs of a patient on their deathbed.

Derek jerked abruptly. He stumbled, pulling himself free from his magically induced paralysis, and drew in a sharp gasp. The berserker tore an axe free from his chest in the same motion. He bared his teeth and lowered into a fighting stance.

“I hate this thing,” Derek growled. “Let’s kill it.”

“Working on that,” Alex said. He cracked his neck, feeling the beat of his heart slamming in his chest. Adrenaline tore through his entire body as he waited for the Revenant to make its move. Attacking before it did meant his chances of missing were too high. The Anchor was already positioned. He just had to bide his time. “Be careful. It’s strong. Really strong.”

The Revenant still made no move to attack. It just watched them, that gurgling cough growing louder and thicker in its throat. The sound bubbled and shifted, and the Revenant twitched along with its voice. Its movements were unnatural and jerky, limbs jittering to the pull of invisible threads.

There was a sharp crack. The Revenant’s head snapped to the side like it had been twisted ninety degrees in an instant. Its disgusting, gurgling coughing came to an abrupt stop as if it had drawn in a sudden breath of air.

Then the Revenant’s head twisted back into its proper position.

“Alex,” it whispered, the word dripping like bile. The seam splitting its body grew wider and the blue light within it churned in hunger. It took a single, jerky step toward him as its voice grew stronger, clearer, as if it were adapting with every word it spoke. “Give it back, Alex. Give it back.”

Oh, you have to be fucking kidding me.