Page 266 of Interion

“Yugo is unconscious or dead and isn’t responding to calls. We need a blocker with a level higher than 800, and the only one like that is Zafira.” Zion shifted his attention to the freckled blonde woman on the left. “Three students have already died. We don’t have time for formal entries.”

The blocker nodded, grasping the urgency, and lowered the barrier. But the king raised it again, borrowing her gifts and trapping her inside.

“Zafira isn’t going anywhere.” The blonde and the general looked at the man. “The city is full of foreigners. Do you really think I’m going to give up my best defense? This could be a well-crafted plan to leave me vulnerable.”

Zion stared at the sovereign, unable to believe what he was hearing. He pressed his mouth into a thin line because if he opened it at that moment, he’d tell Elitium to go fuck himself. Serguei, sensing where this was heading, intervened before things got out of control.

“It’s not an attack on the palace, Your Majesty. It’s an attack on twenty children who unite the four nations, and those children are our responsibility. If we let them die, we’ll have problems with the other cities.” He used his most diplomatic tone. “There’s no threatening mind within the walls. Let the general take Zafira.”

The king turned to him, scowling.

“Do I need to give you a direct order to keep your mouth shut, Serguei?”

His eyes were razor-sharp as he stared down the psychic, who kept his gaze fixed on Zion. Despite his calm demeanor, the general knew a storm was brewing inside his father. When Serguei didn't respond, the ruler turned to the general.

“Zafira is not authorized to go. It may not be a direct attack, but who can guarantee they won't kill her out there? She and Yugo are the only high-level blockers, and Yugo must already be dead if he's not responding. I won't hand over Zafira.” Elitium crossed his arms over his chest, utterly convinced he was right. “The nation can handle the death of twenty children. We'll say it was a Drutes attack, and that'll take care of it. In fact, we can use this as a tactic to launch an attack against the enemy.”

Shadows snaked toward the king, who raised the defensive wall even higher. It was as if a clock were ticking in Zion's head, counting each second as the carnisials drew closer to Kyller.

“What kind of king ignores his people when they need him most?” the general demanded through gritted teeth. He saw Serguei stiffen. The look in his eyes carried an implicit warning: this was dangerous ground. “I'm not asking you to expose yourself to danger. I'm asking to borrow Zafira for thirty minutes. After the barrier falls, I'll handle the problem myself.”

“Are you telling me your king isn't more important than twenty students?” Elitium asked.

Zion felt the monarch's psychic gift probing his mind and, this time, didn't bother pretending—he didn't have time for games. He saw the shock register on Elitium's face when the king slammed into his barrier.

“I'm saying a true king puts his people first, whether it's one person or twenty,” he hissed, while Kaori announced through the communication device that all students in area 2 had been disconnected. “We don't have time—more people just died. We need to act fast.”

Zafira took a step toward the stairs.

“Go sit down, Zafira. You don't have permission to go anywhere,” the sovereign commanded, invoking the blood pact that bound them.

Everyone noticed when the blocker sat down, as if controlled by invisible strings, and lowered her head. A knot of disbelief the size of an orange formed in Zion's throat. He swallowed it down, feeling his patience slipping away.

“And you, general…” The king looked at him while lightning crackled in his hands and Koduz's. “For the sake of your title, I'd suggest you go back to that test and do whatever you can so the nations don't think we sat on our hands. We need to maintain a good image, so use that energy and that beauty for something useful.”

Zion trembled from head to toe. Pure hatred emanated from him and from the shadows.

“Did you forget that Kyller is inside that dome?” He pointed behind him as if the barrier were there. It was his last sensible attempt to reason with the ruler.

The monarch smiled and shrugged.

“You didn't bond with her. It'll just be one less Drutes in this world.”

And that was it. Zion's self-control turned to ash as the shadows hurled themselves at the barrier the king was building around himself. Without Zafira to strengthen it, the barrier was weak. The general shattered it with his shadow-wrapped fists. But the moment he broke through, a net of lightning struck him from both Koduz and the sovereign. Even as electricity coursed through him, his mind suffered psychic attacks from Elitium—but this didn't shake him. He was already used to battling under mental pressure. Serguei had trained him to fight while maintaining a strong barrier.

Zion fell to his knees, gasping. The electricity rattled every atom of his body as he clenched his jaw to keep from screaming. When the current passed, he struggled to breathe, fighting against unconsciousness. He thought his neurons had fried.

“Who do you think you are to challenge me in my palace?” The king pointed a finger at him. “Do you think you're powerful just because I gave you the rank of general? Do you think you can come in here and overthrow me because of a weak, disgusting half-breed who should have died a long time ago? You're nothing, Zion Voluz, just dust under my feet, just like your father.”

Hearing his partner insulted, Zion tried to get up once more, dizzy with pain and blind with rage. Another bolt shot his way. But as the lightning came, he sent the shadows toward Koduz. The two attacks crossed paths, and when the shadows slammed into the electrokinetic's chest, the general heard his own scream at the same moment lightning tore through his body, disrupting his heartbeat and shaking him to the core. Despite the pain, he still had control of the shadows, so he ordered them not to kill the man—just knock him unconscious.

Koduz fell, and Zion staggered to his feet. He pulled a dagger from his belt and steadied himself as he walked toward the king. Elitium rose, worried for the first time. He tried to use Serguei's psychic gift to stop him, but Zion's mental barrier was impenetrable. Only then did the ruler discover that all those years, he had been deceived. He had never actually seen the shadow wielder's mind—only what Zion allowed him to see. Zion climbed the first step with a fury so uncontrolled that even his father held his breath.

“Stop!” the king shouted, taking two steps back. Without Koduz, there was no way to create lightning. “That's an order!”

The general climbed the second step, and his knees wavered, but determination kept him standing. Zafira created an energy wall in front of him, and Zion sent the shadows to knock her unconscious. Since they were already inside the dome, hovering over Koduz's body, they reached the blocker almost instantly.

Over the years, the king had pushed the general past his breaking point, and this was the last straw. Zion felt as if a massive balloon of rage had ruptured in his chest. Years of senseless orders. Years of being treated like the king's personal plaything while managing the security of two cities and an entire battalion as the monarch threw tantrums and acted like a fool. Years of watching the king treat people like trash and use Serguei as a prized possession. The insults to Kyller were the final straw, and now the flood threatened to paint the throne red.