The corridor outside the arena lay quiet. Torchlight breathed against stone.
Magnolia leaned on the railing. Poison stood beside him, arms crossed, mask tilted back.
"You feel it too," Poison said. Flat voice. No patience.
Magnolia nodded. "The air keeps shifting. Someone watches."
Poison snorted. "Figures. Gods wake up and everyone grows curious."
Footsteps echoed. Light. Careful.
Ren stepped from the shadows. Hands in pockets. Eyes sharp.
"I have to watch your backs," Ren said. "Don't think I enjoy this."
Poison glanced over. "Comforting."
Magnolia turned. "You should stay inside."
Ren shook his head. "No. Not after Delilah. Not after Sekhmet."
They stood in a tight circle. Tension pulled the space thin.
Poison broke it. "So what's the plan?"
Magnolia opened his mouth.
The air snapped.
Magnolia spun and hurled a small fireball down the corridor. Fast. Controlled.
A sphere of wind slammed into it midair.
The impact popped. Heat and pressure bloomed. Dust sprayed the walls.
Poison shifted stance. Knives ready. Ren lowered his center.
Nothing moved.
Then a girl stepped forward, hands raised, breath shaky.
Emma.
Magnolia stared. "What are you doing here."
Poison's voice cut in. "If you panic, you're toast."
Emma swallowed. "I know."
She lowered her hands. "I came because I'm tired of waiting. Everyone fights. Everyone decides things. I stay behind. I don't want that anymore."
Silence pressed in.
Ren spoke without heat. "You might not be useless. You'll be a burden."
Emma flinched. She did not step back.
Magnolia lifted a hand. "Enough."
He looked at Ren. "Calm down."
Ren's jaw tightened. He said nothing.
Magnolia faced Emma. "You stay close. You listen. You move when told."
She nodded fast. Relief mixed with fear.
Poison sighed. "Great. Babysitting during a god crisis."
Magnolia turned back toward the corridor ahead. His voice steadied.
"Then we move together," he said. "No straying away."
Firelight danced along the walls as they set off.
Four shadows. One direction. No turning back.
They moved down the passage together. Boots soft. Breathing loud.
Ren broke first. "I'm not taking orders from someone like you."
Magnolia did not turn. "Good. Then don't."
Poison chuckled. "Bold talk for someone who showed up late and angry."
Ren's eyes cut sideways. "Say that again."
Poison smiled thin. "Relax. If I wanted you gone, you'd already be bleeding."
Red light flared.
Energy gathered in Ren's palm. A beam formed, crimson streaked with white, violent and unstable. The air screamed around it.
Poison shifted his stance. Calm. Ready.
Magnolia snapped around. "HALT."
The word hit like a wall.
The beam faltered but stayed alive. Ren's jaw shook.
Magnolia raised a hand toward Emma. "Do you sense that."
Emma froze. Her eyes widened. "Yes. It's wrong. Like laughter under water."
The torches flickered.
The corridor bent. Stone rippled like cloth.
A man stepped out of nothing, clapping slowly. Painted grin. Mismatched eyes. Bells chimed without sound.
Ahn.
"Well," he said, voice bright and rotten. "This feels intimate."
Poison swore under his breath. "That's the clown."
Ren's beam collapsed. Fear replaced anger.
Magnolia stepped forward, fire licking faintly around his knuckles. "You picked the wrong place."
Ahn tilted his head. "No. I picked the perfect moment. Tension. Insecurity. Youth."
His eyes slid to Emma. He smiled wider. "And doubt."
Emma backed up a step. Magnolia shifted in front of her.
Ahn laughed softly. "Relax. I'm not here to fight. Fighting is messy."
He tapped his temple. "I prefer seeds."
The torches died all at once.
Darkness swallowed the corridor.
And somewhere close, something laughed again.
Darkness pressed in.
Ren laughed first. Short. Sharp. Mean. "You remember me."
Ahn tilted his head. His sleeve hung empty on the right side. Cloth knotted. No hand.
Ren stepped forward. "Last time we met, you ran. You screamed. Poison pinned you. I took your hand."
He raised his own right hand. Open. Mocking. "Looks like you forgot something."
Poison snorted. "Hard to juggle chaos one-handed."
Ahn stared at the empty space where his hand belonged. His smile twitched. Not gone. Cracked.
"You children cling to souvenirs," he said. "You think damage equals defeat."
Ren's grin widened. "You bleed. That means you lose."
Ahn's eyes slid to Magnolia. The grin settled again. "And you brought the sun's mistake with you."
Magnolia did not answer the jab. Fire pulsed once around his fingers. Controlled. Tight.
"Where is Sekhmet," Magnolia said.
The name sank into the stone.
Ahn sighed, theatrical. "Straight to business. No jokes. No curiosity."
He leaned closer. Too close. "She walks. She breathes. She learns hunger."
Emma stiffened. Ren's smile faded.
Magnolia's voice stayed level. "Where."
Ahn's eyes gleamed. "Safe. Loved. Angry."
Poison stepped forward half a step. "You put a god in a child again and you think we won't tear you apart."
Ahn laughed. High. Thin. "You already tried. Ask my hand how it went."
Ren's jaw clenched. Red light sparked again around his arm.
Magnolia raised one finger. Ren stopped.
Ahn clapped once. Slow. Careful. "Good. You learned restraint. Took you long enough."
His gaze swept them all. "Find me when you understand what you are protecting."
The air folded.
Wind screamed inward. Fire flared and died.
Ahn vanished.
Silence rushed back in.
Ren spat on the stone. "Next time I take the other hand."
Poison exhaled. "Next time he does not talk."
Magnolia stared at the space Ahn left behind. Jaw tight. Eyes burning.
"She's moving," he said. "And we are behind."
Fire lit his palm again.
"Then we catch up."
Magnolia slowed. Not his feet. His mind.
Sekhmet was not a trail. No scent. No heat. No footprint.
Gold flickered across his vision.
The world dimmed.
A voice slid into his skull. Old. Vast. Burning.
"Sense her. Sense her malice. Sense her rage. Anger. Revenge. Envy."
Ra.
Magnolia sucked in a breath. "So that's how you want it," he muttered.
He turned his head slightly. "Emma. Stop thinking. Feel."
She glanced back. "Feel what."
"Everything wrong," Magnolia said. "Insane anger. Rage stacked on rage. Revenge soaked in envy. If your chest tightens, follow that."
Emma closed her eyes.
The air shifted.
Ren stiffened.
Poison saw it. Said nothing.
Ren's eyes bled red. White streaks cut through the color like cracks in glass. His jaw tightened. Breath slowed.
Emma gasped. Her hands shook. "I feel it. It's loud. It hates. It wants everything to burn but one thing more."
Magnolia leaned forward. "Which."
"Being forgotten."
She snapped her eyes open and pointed east. "There."
Magnolia nodded once. "Move."
They ran.
Stone blurred. Sand kicked up. Wind tore at their clothes.
Emma led. Face pale. Focused.
Magnolia stayed behind her. Fire rolled low around his calves. Controlled. Ready.
Ren ran to Magnolia's left. Silent. Teeth clenched. Red light leaking through his eyes with every step.
Poison took the right. Relaxed stride. Deadly calm. "If this ends with a god tantrum, I call first strike."
Magnolia did not answer. His eyes burned gold again for a breath.
"Pick up the pace," he said.
They did.
The air ahead warped. Heavy. Violent. Alive.
Sekhmet was close.
And she was furious.
Emma skidded to a stop.
So did the air.
Magnolia felt it before he saw them. Pressure. Static. Old gods watching through borrowed skin.
Figures stepped out from between broken columns and half-buried stone. Not rushing. Not hiding. Waiting.
Baron stood first.
Bandages crossed his chest. Lightning crawled under his skin like something alive and impatient. His eyes locked on Magnolia and did not blink.
Beside him, Valentina rolled her shoulders, crocodile sigils faintly shifting under her skin. Power sat on her like weight she enjoyed carrying.
Kibo leaned on his heel, calm, unreadable, eyes half-lidded like he already knew how this ended.
Abraham stood a step behind them, hands folded, gaze sharp. Thoth's mark shimmered once, then settled.
Behind them came strangers.
Chloe moved like a blade sheathed in silk. Shorter than the others. Eyes sharp enough to cut plans apart. Athena's presence pressed outward, quiet but suffocating.
Valerie walked beside Calix, vines coiling lazily around her wrists, flowers opening and closing with her pulse. Her smile was gentle. Dangerous.
Calix stood last. Still. Heavy. Hades sat in his shadow. The ground under his boots looked tired.
Ren stopped dead. His red eyes narrowed. "You've got to be kidding me."
Poison clicked his tongue. "Wow. Reunion tour. Missing snacks."
Magnolia stepped forward half a pace. Fire breathed low around his hands. "Move," he said. "You don't want to be here."
Baron laughed once. Short. Bitter. "Funny. I was about to say the same thing."
Valentina glanced between them. "He's serious," she said. "You feel it too, right. The rage."
Emma swallowed. "Sekhmet is close."
Chloe's eyes flicked to her. Studied. Calculated. "So the girl speaks true."
Magnolia's gaze snapped to Chloe. "And you are."
"Someone who knows Nero lies," Chloe said. "And someone who knows you won't stop."
Calix spoke without raising his voice. "This ends badly if we fight here."
Ren scoffed. "You don't get a vote."
Valerie lifted her hands slightly. Vines bloomed across her palms, twisting into a simple image. Two figures clashing. Lightning and flame. One fell. A crown formed above the other, then cracked.
She let the image fade. "You are all running toward the same disaster from different directions."
Baron's jaw tightened. His eyes stayed on Magnolia. "I hated you," he said. "Still do, some days. But Nero fed that hate. I see it now."
Abraham stepped forward. "Magnolia didn't choose his role. None of us did."
Silence stretched.
Sekhmet's presence pulsed in the distance. Closer now. Hotter.
Magnolia exhaled slowly. "Then don't stand in my way."
Baron took a step aside.
So did Valentina. Kibo followed. Abraham last.
Chloe hesitated. Then nodded once. "We move together. Or we all burn alone."
Ren muttered, "I don't trust this."
Poison grinned. "Good. Keeps you alive."
Emma closed her eyes again. "She's moving."
Magnolia turned toward the pull. Fire flared brighter around him.
"Then we don't waste time," he said.
Two pacts. One path. A goddess of destruction waiting ahead.
And no one left pretending this would end clean.
They didn't slow.
The ground ahead shimmered with heat distortion. Sekhmet's presence pulled at the air like a wound refusing to close.
Then footsteps closed in from behind.
Abraham was first to reach them. He didn't announce himself. He simply fell into step beside Magnolia, eyes scanning, mind already working three paths ahead.
"You're burning too loud," he said calmly. "She'll feel you soon."
Magnolia nodded once. "Good."
Kibo caught up next, breathing steady, not a drop of panic in his posture. He gave Poison a sideways glance. "You look worse than last time."
Poison smirked. "You missed me."
Valentina barreled in last, skidding to a stop beside Magnolia and pulling him into a brief, hard grip. "You're an idiot," she said. "Don't do that again."
Emma let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "I thought you were gone."
Valentina shook her head. "Not a chance."
Ren stayed off to the side. Arms crossed. Eyes glowing faintly red with white streaks cutting through them like cracks in glass. He watched Baron. Watched Calix. Watched everything. Trust sat nowhere near his face.
Baron stepped forward, boots crunching against stone. The lightning under his skin flickered, restless. "We're not here to stop you," he said, voice low. "Not anymore."
Magnolia met his stare. Neither blinked.
Calix joined him, presence heavy, grounding. "Sekhmet wakes fully, borders stop meaning anything. Death won't keep up. Hades won't like that."
Poison tilted his head. "Hades ever like anything?"
Calix almost smiled.
Abraham looked between Baron and Magnolia. "Then intentions align. For now."
Emma flinched slightly as another surge of rage washed over her senses. "She's close. And she's… learning."
Valerie's vines tightened around her wrists behind them. "Ahn won't stay far. He never does."
Silence fell again. Thicker this time. Not hostile. Just aware.
Magnolia stepped forward, claiming the front without asking permission. Fire rolled low around his arms, controlled, focused.
"No leaders," he said. "No empires. We end Sekhmet or slow her long enough to separate the girl."
Ren finally spoke, voice sharp. "And if we can't."
Magnolia didn't turn. "Then we survive long enough to try again."
Baron exhaled through his nose. "Still reckless."
"Still alive," Poison shot back.
Emma took the lead again, eyes closed, hand outstretched, following the trail of fury like a compass needle gone mad.
"Move," she said. "Now."
They ran.
Old enemies. Uneasy allies. Gods watching through borrowed eyes.
And ahead of them, something ancient stretched, smiled, and remembered how good it felt to be angry.