Chapter 4

Thunder rumbled across the sky.

Storm clouds covered the night sky within seconds. Lightning flashed inside them as strong winds swept through the ruins, sending glass and dust flying.

Adrian used Thunderstorm, his strongest attack. He had never used it in a normal fight before.

Even Mark and the others could barely stand under the pressure. They quickly backed away as someone shouted, "Clear the area!" But behind Daniel, Erin was trying to hide a smile.

She thought I was about to die. Once I was gone, she could take my energy core and replace me in Adrian's heart forever.

I lay trapped beneath the rubble. Almost half the bones in my body were broken.

A high-tier zombie could heal quickly, but Adrian's lightning stopped my body from healing. Instead, my wounds were burning black. With every breath, black blood poured from my chest.

I looked up at Adrian, floating in the air with lightning surrounding him.

That was my fiancé.

He was about to kill me to avenge my death.

How absurd.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. My shoulder, my knees, and my burned body weren't what hurt the most. It was my heart. Even now, part of me still hoped he would recognize me.

Adrian once told me he could recognize me anywhere, no matter what I wore or how many people were around. We had trained together for eight years. He knew all my habits. He knew I rubbed my ring finger when I was nervous. He knew I always protected my left side first when shielding my teammates.

But now, I had protected the ring again and again. I had given him our secret signal again and again. He still didn't recognize me.

He believed Erin's tears. He believed a random piece of fabric. But he couldn't believe that the monster desperately trying to reach him might still have a human mind.

Suddenly, I didn't want to fight anymore.

For two weeks, I had hidden in the ruins like a rat. I was too afraid to go out during the day or approach the fortress at night. Whenever I heard a vehicle, I hoped it was Adrian coming to find me.

I kept believing that once he came and saw the ring, everything would be okay.

He finally came. But instead of saving me, he was going to kill me.

I slowly lowered my right hand and closed my eyes.

"Die!"

Adrian's roar echoed across the night.

His thunderblade came down, filled with all his remaining power.

The blade pierced my flesh with a sickening sound.

It went straight through my chest and shattered the core keeping me alive. Lightning exploded inside me, tearing through my entire body.

My body jerked violently before collapsing backward.

Maybe my heart had already died, because it didn't hurt as much as I expected.

As I fell, my left hand slipped from my chest and landed palm-up. A beam of light broke through the clouds and fell across it.

My hand was covered in blood and badly mangled, with several bones exposed.

But the engagement ring was still on my finger, completely untouched.

The silver-white ring caught the light and glowed brightly. Inside were our initials: A and L.

Adrian had asked the only jeweler in New Avalon to make it for me. The ring had a biometric lock linked to my blood and bone structure. No one else could remove it unless they cut off my finger.

Adrian's hand froze on the hilt.

He stared at the ring. All the anger and hatred disappeared from his eyes. In their place was pure terror.

The thunder stopped.

The wind stopped too.

Adrian slowly looked from the ring to my ruined face.

The sword slipped from his hand and fell onto the rubble.

"L-Layla?"