The Destroyer’s grip loosened and fell away. There was no point fighting anymore, it was over. They were trapped, and in an instant Idonia would cut the cord sustaining the pocket dimension, consigning the Destroyer to oblivion.

  Ted scrambled across the floor of the ancient wood elven mage hall and pulled himself to his feet. He’d done it. He’d lured the Destroyer into the trap. And yet…

  They were still there.

  How? Ted glanced around at the smooth bark walls covered in magical wood elven script and the five unsealed yet closed wooden doors to the magics beyond. All of this should have collapsed in on itself without Erinbar’s portal core supporting it.

  Gravelly laughter from behind him filling the space with its mockery, and a dark pit formed in Ted’s stomach. He slowly turned and faced the Destroyer’s smug grin.

  “Your trap has turned against you, human.” The Destroyer raised his hands and a great force shoved Ted down onto his knees. “Just how stupid do you think I am? The portal core I brought with me is more than ample to sustain this dimension, within which you shall respawn each time you pointlessly kill yourself trying to escape.”

  Ted’s blood ran cold. The Destroyer knew the power of portal cores more than anyone—what had he been thinking? He raised his hands, ready to cast though no spell stood a chance. “I killed you once. Hand over the portal cores, or I’ll kill you again.”

  “Go ahead.” The Destroyer held his hands out wide, exposing the wide hole in his clothes from the previous killing. “Except, wait—you’ve already drained the Forest dry, and now you kneel, without weapons or allies.”

  Ted launched at the Destroyer, casting Dispel with one hand and Firetouch with the other.

  The Destroyer stepped in and smashed his forehead against Ted’s nose with a brutal crack.

  Pain exploded in Ted’s face. He twisted away, casting aside the Dispel and pressing the Firetouch into the Destroyer’s face.

  A tiny ripple of teal magic spread across the Destroyer’s Absorb Aegis, and he smiled. “You’re only making it worse for yourself.”

  Ted stumbled backwards, his head pounding, pain searing his nose. He needed a plan. A better plan. Any plan.

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  “Take a moment, human, to marvel in your own stupidity and hubris, and then—” the Destroyer advanced “—let’s discuss your father.”

  Smooth bark wall pressed against Ted’s back. No plan could save him now. The Destroyer’s power was too great. Even if he killed the Destroyer again, he’d simply come back. That’s why he was so confident, so sure of his victory.

  And yet…

  “Why do you care?” Ted spat out.

  The Destroyer grimaced for an instant, only to banish it with bellowing laughter. “Betrayal must be met with retribution.”

  “You’re lying.” Ted gritted his teeth. The Destroyer had a vulnerability. One specific to Ted and his father. “Why?”

  The Destroyer grabbed Ted by the throat and lifted him up off the ground. “Foolish human. Your prison will be one of pain.”

  Mental intrusion detected.

  A way to use magic, to combine it with outside knowledge to build a weapon?

  The Destroyer’s grip tightened, and mana flooded out of Ted. “I pondered how to properly cage you, and then I realized—wouldn’t it be deliciously ironic if you caged yourself?”

  Ted gasped for air and grasped at his mana a final mana vortex, only for it to slip through his fingers.

  “Having trouble?”

  What little mana he had left slowly trickled away, leaving him utterly powerless.

  Mana was power. So where did the power for mana vortices come from?

  Ted’s heart jumped. Mana vortexes drew in power from the air, from the world itself. The mana came faster than any caster could control it, yet mana could be guided, could be manipulated—and magic could be coded to guide that power automatically.

  “Good idea,” the Destroyer snarled. “What a shame you’ve stumbled upon it too late.”

  The last of Ted’s mana slipped away, and that dumb mana drain finally broke.

  Memories flooded back.

  Disabling the entire reincarnation system, for Heroes and the Destroyer.

  Nola’s report on the orc battlemage carrying an active portal stone.

  Gramok’s certainty of the Destroyer’s wish to repay Ted’s trap at Valbort with an ironic trap of his own.

  The realization of why the Destroyer’s attack was near the ruins.

  Realizing why the Destroyer was afraid.

  Failure after failure trying to tame mana vortexes.

  Designing a bomb with Dad to confine more and more magic within a torus until it could hold no more.

  Building the bomb in the Rebirth room.

  Double checking the math on the containment field.

  Creating the dead man’s switch and a backup trigger.

  Cara insisting, “You can’t lie to save the Forest.”

  Casting Continuous Alter Memory upon himself.

  Ted thought of his father killing him and swung a fist at the Destroyer’s face, yet it fell short. Thought of mother downing another bottle and slammed his hands into the Destroyer’s arm, as if trying to beat down a steel bar.

  The Destroyer frowned. “What are you hiding?”

  Ted thought of Cara, of how he’d never see her again, and kicked with his feet, though he strained to even touch the Destroyer’s chest with the tip of his boots.

  The Destroyer’s eyes widened. He raised his hands, blue Portals magic swirled around him, and the world went white.