I opened myself to the light inside.

The Prophet's body jerked straight and rigid like he'd been struck by lightning.

Every ounce of power that had sucked away the lives of my entire village exploded from me. This time it all poured into the Prophet.

In fear and in shame, I had locked myself away so deep inside that I couldn't reach it or feel it. The moment in the past when I'd killed the villagers collided with the present in an explosion of power.

The Prophet choked, his body quaking. His skin flushed a red so deep it bordered on purple. A scream tore from the depths of me. It felt like the power ripped me open. But I let it all out, every last drop I could muster.

On the ground, Nash struggled onto his arms. The relief of seeing him alive only fueled me.

"Die!" I shrieked and gave myself to the endless energy inside.

The Prophet fought me, but I could feel his will bending and wilting and collapsing in on itself.

"Max…" Piercey reached across the ground for me. He shook his head. "Don't."

Even after all he'd seen today, all he'd seen when we connected, Piercey still didn't want me to kill the Prophet. His voice croaked as he begged me again to stop. Then, I felt his urging to let him in. To listen to him with the neural link.

I didn't. I shut him out. There was only one way to make sure the Prophet never hurt my people ever again, and that was to kill him.

I gave myself over to the power that turned me into Eclipse, the Soul Eater, and accepted pure destruction–blind and all-consuming rage.

The Prophet coughed blood into the air in a scarlet spray. My nostrils twitched as I poured my power into his body.

"Okay." He clawed at his chest. "Okay! I'll spare them. All of them!"

The power rushed out of me.

"Release them." The Prophet doubled over and spewed another mouthful of blood. "What are you waiting for? Release the prisoners."

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The closer I pushed him to death, the harder it became to actually overpower him. The will to survive made his abilities intensify. I struggled to finish him off and contain his power at the same time. He was losing the fight, but I wasn't sure how close I was to finishing him off.

The lead disciple sprinted down the hill toward the warriors who had finally risen from their bow. "Release the prisoners! Release them now!"

"Stop." Piercey coughed and pounded his hand against the ground. "Stop it now, Max! He's surrendering. This isn't the right way to deal with him."

This was the man who'd starved villagers until they succumbed to his power. Used the roads meant for trade and safe passage to send out bands of warriors to pillage and leave us all destitute. Who warred against us until every last village fell. This man carved his name into Nash's spine and left him permanently scarred.

He'd killed me over and over again when I slipped to the Eclipse.

"He must die." My voice boomed with my power.

Piercey couldn't understand. He'd spent too long on top of that mountain, grown too powerful. There was no order, no justice, in this Valley. Only power.

The gates of the village groaned loud enough for me to hear. My heart caught. Children sprinted out. Men and women following behind them, helping our elderly. Our warriors raced to our innocent, and where once they clashed with the enemy in sprays of blood, they now wrapped their arms around family, clinging to one another in the red-stained grass.

Leif sprinted for the crowd, stumbled, and fell to the ground. He shoved himself back to his feet and ran with wavering legs for his family. Wren chased after him. Arn emerged from the crowd, carrying Rune, as he sprinted for his husband. Safe. Finally, truly, safe.

A sob slipped from my chest.

Nash looked at me and stole my attention for a moment. I knew then that if he asked me to stop, it would hurt. We'd planned this together. Were in this together. I wanted to kill the Prophet. I couldn't trust him, especially with his ego wounded now. But if Nash, of all people, thought I should spare him, it would break my heart, because I was killing this man no matter what.

Nash's resolute eyes stared into mine. "He'll come for your people. He'll come for Rune and Elsie." Nash nodded. "Do it."

The last barrier of my power, that I didn't even know I'd held onto, fell away. The Prophet slid back on his heels in a gale of my energy and then slammed onto his back. I focused on containing his power that burst free as he finally started to die.

"Damn it." Veins bulged in Piercey's neck. "This makes you no better than him. Just one powerful person deciding the fate of everyone else."

I didn't need to be better. I needed my people to live. If that meant I had to be a demon, so be it. So fucking be it.

The disciples, battered as they were, tried to fend me off of the Prophet. Their power clawed at my body, but it wasn't enough. I'd rip myself to shreds killing him if I had to.

The Prophet's head snapped back as he gurgled on his own blood. I imagined that my energy poured through his gaping mouth and sprang through every part of his body, tearing at the fabric of his being.

The bastard's eyes rolled in the back of his head.

A voice barely reached me through the chaos of my power. A tone I would now recognize in any voice.

"Max."

My eyes shot to the right and my heart seized in my body.

Flare glared at me. And in her arms, she held a small child bundled in a blanket.