Chapter 43

Amid stacks of iron and machinery in a derelict factory, Dianna hides and assesses, baiting Tobias while bleeding from serpent-inflicted wounds that slow her true-form healing. She exploits exposed chemical lines, ignites them, and unleashes a chain explosion that collapses the building and scatters foes.

Tobias emerges burned but instantly regenerates, declaring Dianna cannot stop their endgame. He pins Dianna, drives an iron blade into her multiple times, and taunts about the equinox and that her slain sister was not blood, aiming to drain her before Kaden’s return. Dianna endures to keep him talking, waiting for an opening.

As Tobias twists the knife, Neverra appears and slashes his face with a flaming blade, and Logan yanks the weapon from Dianna and hauls her up. Logan refuses to abandon her, restoring Dianna’s resolve in the face of mounting injuries and exhaustion.

Enraged, Tobias triggers the ground to quake as reanimated corpses claw free from the rubble. He sheds his human guise, transforming into a fifty-foot serpent with massive fangs and commands the undead to attack. Dianna, Logan, and Neverra ready themselves as the serpent charges, the confrontation escalating into a full-scale battle.