My lips moved and I spoke the words I’d heard before, words that would unlock the ultimate power—words that Alex spoke once before. I didn’t understand how this worked. I also didn’t care. “Θάρρος.”

Courage.

A shock rippled across my body, followed by a wealth of warmth. Determination poured into my chest.

“Δύναµη,” I said.

Strength.

Another jolt of power hit me, charging me up. The warmth turned to heat, invading my muscles, breaking them down and rebuilding them rapidly.

Someone shouted, a high-pitched scream. There was a yell, a rougher and heavier gasp.

I kept going as I stepped forward, through the shades circling Atlas. “Απόλυτη εξουσία.”

Absolute power.

Amber light radiated through the room. Screams pitched higher as every cell in my body hummed with power. Glyphs appeared on my skin, swirling fast. The shades flew backward, revealing a transfixed Atlas.

I finished it. “Αήττητο.”

Air punched out of my lungs as static charged the air around me. Cords of light appeared all over the room. One. Two. Then three and four. Five. Six. Seven. The bright luminous cords came from everywhere, slamming into my chest, knocking me back into the wall and then up in the air. Inside of me, power shifted and pulsed. A fire lit me up, hot and cold all at once. Power filled every cell.

My feet were on the floor again, and my head was thrown back. Out of the corners of my eyes I saw bodies withering, but I focused on the source of my rage. Every sense became hyper aware. Vision sharp. The smell of burnt pizza mixed with the metallic tang of blood and the scent of sweat. I heard multiple inhales of breath.

The world was tinted in white.

Fear flickered over the Titan’s face. Oh yeah, he knew what he was facing. He knew the end was coming for him, the true end, and there was no escaping it, because I was the beginning and I was the end.

“No,” I said, in a deep and heavy voice I did not recognize as my own. “I am done with this.”

I summoned akasha, but this time it was different. The aether sang in my veins and flooded my body. The whitish-tinted amber circled down my arm, crackling and spitting into the air as it powered down my arm.

Atlas tried to move, but it was too late.

Akasha slammed into the Titan, hitting him in the chest, and it kept coming as I prowled forward, keeping up with the intensity, surrounding him with its power. Wisps of smoke hit the air and tiny bursts of light shot out, hitting the shades. The light swallowed and destroyed them.