Four screams joined Chase's shriek of agony, each voice different and expressing the same anguish, anger, and panic that Kai felt. His chest was burning, his stomach was burning, his body was shaking. He was angrier than he'd ever been in his entire life, his body trembling with anger. He'd heard the term "seeing red" before, but he didn't think it was actually true until now. His vision was edged with red, and his eyes locked on the tall, dark figure before him. 

Underneath the burning emotions Kai felt throughout his whole body, his brain registered that his voice was one of the ones that was still screaming. The other three, including Chase's, had died out, but Kai couldn't stop. His anger was boiling through his mouth, pounding through his blood. 

The Dark Lord was standing directly in front of Kai, the Darkness around him thinned into short wisps of shadows, floating around him aimlessly. Chase had crumpled sideways, collapsed on his right side with his eyes shut tightly and his hands clenched into fists. His chest was soaked with darkness, blood mixed with Magic. 

Kai felt his yell grow louder and raise an octave, and a moment later he was moving, lunging forward and throwing his arms in front of him. To his surprise, Dark Magic flew from his palms without his command, hardening into blades and shooting through the air toward The Dark Lord. 

The Dark Lord waved his hand with a bored look, and the knives were thrown off course, flinging themselves sideways and dissolving a moment later. 

Something inside Kai snapped.

"I'll kill you!" he shrieked at The Dark Lord, feeling angry tears slide down his cheeks. He realized that he wasn't touching the ground - instead, he was hovering about three feet above the ground, the Shadow wings flapping to keep him afloat. "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FOR THAT!" 

The Dark Lord merely stared up at him with an impatient, bored look. Slowly, a small smile crawled onto his face, and he chuckled lightly, placing one hand on his hip. "Believe me, boy, I would love to see you try." 

"You're going to," Kai said flatly, unable to express the pain that he was feeling on the inside through his words. Without even thinking, his wings propelled him forward, raining down on The Dark Lord's head. 

Kai brought his leg back to kick the man in the head, to maybe knock him senseless; but the shadows around The Dark Lord wrapped around him, and with a muffled poof, he vanished from below Kai's legs. 

Kai landed harshly on one foot with a grunt, but ignored the slight pain that rocketed up his shin. He placed his other foot on the ground and whipped around in a circle, searching angrily for the king of Shadows.

When his eyes landed on The Dark Lord, he braced himself to charge forward again, but he stopped himself when he saw that the shadow king was already busy. Shintaro had tackled him from behind, pinning him to the grass and using some kind of Light Magic to keep his father from teleporting. Amy, who had appeared when Kai wasn't looking, had her legs wrapped around The Dark Lord's throat, sitting on his shoulders. Angry tears slid down her cheeks, momentarily startling Kai. She had hardly known Chase, and here she was, mourning like she'd known him for years.

Linda burst out of the house suddenly, dust and rubble crumbling off her shoulders and smudging along her cheeks. She had Gabriel by the hand as she rushed out of the crumbling doorway, but Gabriel was limping with each step and grimacing in pain. 

Kai felt his shadowy wings fold delicately over his back as he walked stiffly toward the downed Dark Lord. Shintaro looked just as angry and devastated as Kai felt, maybe even more. Chase was his son, and Kai had only been his friend. 

Before he could make it to The Dark Lord, however, Linda appeared in front of him, stopping him with an arm to his chest. She made her way in front of him to block his path, looking up at him with a firm look. 

"Don't, Kai," she pleaded sternly, yet behind her words, she was just as upset as the rest of them. She had heard Chase's final scream, possibly even seen what had happened before she'd come out. "I know you're angry, but that's not going to solve anything." 

Kai almost scoffed at her words. He was angry, but there was something deep inside him that was more than just anger. It was loathing, hatred, the desire to rip The Dark Lord's head right off his neck. When Kai thought about it, it terrified him, because he knew in his right mind, he would never do something like that. But the thought vanished and he was angry again. 

"Get out of the way, Linda," he said sharply. "He is going to pay for what he did. He's going to regret ever existing when I'm through with him." 

Linda slapped him.

"No," she said roughly, bringing her hand back down to her side. "You're not going to do anything. He's much more capable of killing you than you are him. Besides," she added dryly with a dark look over her shoulder, "that son of a glitch isn't worth your time."

"Please," The Dark Lord spat. "I have a name too, you know. And it's not 'son of a glitch', in case any of you were wondering. It's Brethren, which means, in my tongue, general." 

"No one cares," Linda shot over her shoulder harshly, clenching her hands at her sides. She looked back to Kai and shook her head pleadingly. "You can't do anything to him, Kai. I won't let you, and you probably very literally can't. I don't want you to get hurt doing something that you know you can't accomplish." 

"Listen to the girl," Brethren said suggestively. "She's not seen what I can do, but at least she's got some sense." He grunted as Amy aggressively shoved his face into the dirt with a groan of rage.

"Just shut up, will you?" she said severely. "No one wants to listen to your yammering. We want your head lopped off and thrown into a river for what you've done. At least, that's what I want." Her voice was acidly cold as she spoke, and Kai felt some terror return to his body, sending shivers down his spine.

Linda frowned worriedly at her friend, as if just realizing that Amy had a very dark side. "Um, not exactly, but sure, we can go with that. We would like you to shut up too." 

"None of you are going to do anything," Shintaro said roughly, tightening his grip on his father's arms. "I'm the fool who let him escape. I'm the one who's going to deal with him." 

Kai wanted to tell Shintaro he wasn't a fool, but his mouth didn't move. He clenched his hands at his sides. Maybe Shintaro could be a fool sometimes, especially at times like this, but he wasn't always a fool. 

Kai was very angry he had to remind himself of that instead of just automatically knowing. 

This fired up his anger again, and he started toward Brethren with rage growing in his chest, but a loud cry from behind him stopped him in his tracks.

Amy's head shot up, her eyes locking on something behind Kai. Her mouth opened then closed again, and Kai heard her teeth grind together roughly. Her eyes widened in shock and confusion and rage. 

Linda turned around and stared at the same spot behind Kai, drawing in a sharp breath and taking a small step back. 

Abby followed her lead, but her eyes shone with tears and her hand clamped over her mouth. 

Gabriel, who had sat down by the wall to take off his right shoe and examine his ankle, looked up with a terrified and confused look, training his eyes on the same thing everyone else was looking at.

Zeke was staring at the spot with terror and confusion, his mouth hanging open and his eyebrows furrowed in shock. Falte was doing the same, but his eyebrows were up high in terrified surprise. 

Shintaro was staring at the spot with a tight jaw, his eyes wide with anger and shock and even more rage. 

Moon and The Dark Lord were both grinning like madmen. 

Dreadfully, Kai turned around. 

Chase was sitting forward on his knees, leaning forward so much that his white hair fell in front of his face and hid his features. Both hands were clutching his chest, turning a dark red wherever he touched. He was gasping for air and occasionally emitting low groans of pain through breaths. 

Kai rushed over to him immediately, his heart jumping into his throat in fear and relief and confusion. The Dark Lord had just murdered his friend - he'd watched it with his own eyes. How could Chase be alive? 

Chase looked up sharply just before Kai knelt in front of his friend. 

What Kai saw made him skid to a stop. 

Chase's eyes were widened, his mouth open and showing gritted teeth. His once yellow pupils were now a blood red, matching Thorn and Brethren's eye color. 

Something was wrong. 

This wasn't right.

Chase wasn't right.

Kai screamed as Chase leaped to his feet with a cry and charged toward Kai with a Dark Magic spear in his hand.

~

Fortieth chapterrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe this!

I'm almost finished!

OMGOODNESS, I'm so happy right now!!! 

I can't wait to finish this book! 

Y'all are going to love the next one but also hate the ending of this one and possibly hate the next one too!

Don't hate me!

Also... WHAT JUST HAPPENED? XD

You'll have to seeeeeeeeeee-

In the next chapterrrrrrrrr-

P33333aac333333!!~~~~