The golem raised its massive, jagged foot one last time. It hovered directly over Ren's shattered face, the shadow of death eclipsing the broken man.
"One last lesson, hero," Rex whispered, the voice now low, intimate, and terrifyingly calm. "In my world... there is no glory..."
"There is only... the weight!"
SPLAT!
The foot descended with the full, unmitigated force of the Earthen Authority. The sound was a sickening, wet explosion of bone, brain matter, and fluid.
The ground beneath Ren didn't just absorb the impact; it seemed to swallow the remains, leaving nothing but a dark, spreading pool of gore and the echoing, silent vibration of Rex's triumphant laughter.
...
Rex didn't let the euphoria of Ren's death fade. He fed on it.
He felt the shift in the island's energy, the way the resistance was trying to find its footing, and he decided it was time to turn his attention to the next variable. And his eyes locked onto Veran Caulstow.
