Another volley of black and purple fireballs arced out of the shield. Most of them were blocked with shields as there were more Mages in the area they were launched toward.

"I'm about sick of that," I said, "so I think it's time to put an end to that shit."

"Too true."

"That will be our target in a minute," I said, "but first I've got one more injured man in here."

I knelt beside Keith, the camera man. His leg was dislocated at the knee.

"Sorry Keith, this is gonna hurt."

I twisted and shoved his leg back into place with a pop. His face went pale but he held up pretty good. I Pulled through his stream toward the knee and I could see the pain in his aura diminish.

"That should do you, Keith," I said and stood up.

That was the moment that no matter how I try, I will never forget.

The line of Trainees, along with Rictor and my Mages stopped the advance of the Kresh. The lines weren't in far enough yet, but they were stopped at least.

I was facing southeast when I stood up, and I saw the whole thing in slow motion. Another volley of Demon fireballs arced toward the Trainees, and with a novel sort of response, Rictor was slamming disc after disc into the fireballs. He broke them up that way, except the last one.

His disc just disappeared as a twisted darkness began to form about a hundred feet in front of him, about thirty feet from my mom and a group of thirty trainees.

The incoming fireball also disappeared from the other direction and a huge jagged bolt of energy shot out of the forming portal.

In less than a second, Rictor was airborne, and he landed feet from the energy spewing portal. He slammed a shield out around him and the portal. Then he opened his portal on the shield, and slammed outward with everything he had. The shield impacted the Trainees and Kyra, throwing them sideways, away from the center where he stood. There were Mages and Trainees tumbling through the air and the portal exploded with a force that literally shook the ground under my feet.

Chapter 47.

There are many things a person takes for granted. Fourteen years he had followed me into caves, into hordes of Demons. He had never even been seriously wounded in all that time. Somewhere inside my mind I had believed he was indestructible.

I saw my friend's Soul just...cease to be and something broke inside of me. Something important. I thought the ground was still shaking, but it was me shaking as the walls I had so carefully built around that monster inside me crumbled, and that beast came roaring from the darkness.

"Rictoooooooor!"

My voice began as a scream of despair, and ended as something not human. Rage, hate, and pain flooded my awareness, and my head snapped to the north where my enemy was hiding inside its black shield. All that rage was driving me, and I was moving before I had even finished screaming my friend's name.

There was no door to the north but I ripped a hole in the shield as if it weren't even there. Out that hole I plunged with an inhuman roar. I was on the other side of the Jaeghernauts before anyone even knew I was moving.

"Oh shit," Daphne said as I shot past her into that mass of Demons between me and my prey.

I discovered something in that mad charge into the abyss. I learned what makes a Soullord so devastating to their enemies. There was no focus, no planning. There was rage and there was power. I was Pulling harder than I have ever Pulled before and the power wasn't being steered into my weapons. It was flowing through me in torrents. Soulfire ripped out of me in massive arcs. Gouts of flame spewed into the throngs of Demons. Every ounce of that power was channeled through my body instead of around it. That's the Soullord's gift. A body that can channel as much power as he can Pull.

At Morndel I had hurt myself some. Mostly from holding the massive well of power inside me instead of channeling it through me.

I was screaming incoherently as I plowed through the Demons in front of me. I was hit, and the massive well of power healed me as fast as I was wounded. I lashed out with arc after arc, and bodies literally exploded in front of me. It was the most terrifying thing I had ever experienced. I wasn't in control and all I could do was hold on as my monster reveled in its glory.

I speak of the monster inside me as a separate entity, but I know it's not...not really. It's the part of me that does the awful things that people should not do. When I let that part of me out, I am still me, but I am something else, too. More and more I find that part of me growing and becoming stronger. Never more than that very moment.

What scares me the most is that I enjoy it. I'm free.

The shield was getting closer, and I was sending gouts of fire toward it. I could see it bowing under the pressure but it didn't break. I threw both my swords at it and they pierced the shield to the hilt.

I sent discs from my launchers into it with no more effect than the attacks that came before.

A group of Wraiths shot between me and the shield and I charged right into them. As I reached the first one I jumped over its head. My hand grasped the upper jaw below me and I ripped the top of its skull completely off. My flaming left foot slammed through the chest of the next one and my arm came around with the skull top. I poured fire into it and let it fly. It exploded through the chest of another Wraith, and embedded itself into the shield. There were two more Wraiths between me and my target, so I went through them. They exploded in a mist of Demon blood as my flaming form impacted with them.

Everything I had thrown at the shield had been stopped. But I reached out as I had done with the shield I had started from and ripped the damn thing apart. Apparently, my skill with power flows extends right across the board. No doubt, due to the Demon blood running through my veins.

I was inside the shield bubble and the end where I entered became a flaming patch of hell as I erupted in Soulfire.

I could finally see the Demons inside the shield, and there were ten Demonmages. There was also a Farrara'Ti. He was twice the size of the Mages, and his stream was well over two feet in diameter. They were all about to launch fireballs at me, so I did something completely unexpected. I reached out with my mind, and ripped the Souls right out of their bodies.

My hand was outstretched and the Soul of the Farrara'Ti was sucked right into my grasp. The second I touched that Soul my whole world went crazy. I felt their Source and it was massive. In that moment I knew I could use it as I used the Source on my world. I was whatever they would call a Soullord of their Source as well as my own.

But, as with anything, there is a price.

Pain ripped through me as something inside me spasmed. I thought I had felt the extent of what rage could be. I hadn't felt near the limits until this moment. I absolutely went berserk.

The Kresh had no idea what they were creating when they come for my mother. I am descended from the mightiest Soullord to ever walk the Earth. His blood is in my veins. The blood of one of the most powerful of the Farrara'Ti also flows through my veins, creating the bridge it took for me to be on the level of their "Demon Lords". I am Rash'Tor'Ri, the Life-ender. I am a Soullord of the Blood, I am the Bloodlord, the only one of my kind. They created their own Hell on the day when they slaughtered a pregnant Soulguard woman in New Mexico.

I am the Demon that crawled up out of that Hell.

For some time I was lost in the maelstrom of hate, rage, and pain that my touching of that Soul had triggered. I knew without looking that the empty spot inside my Soul was no longer empty, and I had let something into me that I was not going to be able to just get rid of. There would be a price to pay for the power I had just used.

God only knows what that price will entail.

When I regained some of my senses, I found the whole battlefield eerily quiet. I was inside a circle of Jaeghernauts. Kharl was standing in front of me, and there was fear rolling through his aura. It was something I had never wanted to see. Never before had Kharl been afraid of me.

I realized something else. I could feel what my Dad was feeling as well as see it. I felt relief as I could tell that he wasn't afraid of me. He was afraid for me. And with good cause.

I felt something squirm in my right fist. I looked down to see the tattered remains of the Soul I had ripped from the Farrara'Ti. I had ripped it to shreds.

I looked back up to see everyone and everything looking silently at me. Some in horror, some in rage, some with stark terror. That was both human and Kresh alike.

"Damn, Son," Kharl said softly.

I was still shaking with the pent up emotions roiling inside me.

"Initiate Code Alpha," I heard Dietrich's voice on coms, "I repeat, Code Alpha."

"Copy," returned the voice of Lyrica.

"Copy," I said hoarsely.

"Five supports!" Kharl ordered and the five strongest of the Mages around me stepped back inside the ring. The others closed up the ranks in one fluid movement.

Code Alpha. This is what we were waiting for. The Demons were no longer trying to escape the lines. The Mages were free to give me the power to do the damage needed to end this.

"On your command, Soullord One."

"Standby," I answered, and looked out at the seething hatred rolling through the thousands of Demons outside the circle.

I raised that tattered Soul high into the air.

"You want me?!" I roared, "Come get me!!!"

My challenge ripped across the massed Demons, and they returned a roar that literally shook the ground.

"Oh, shit," Daphne repeated her earlier assessment of the situation.

I tossed the Soul to the side and it was sucked into the Gate.

"Come and burn," I said softly, then I clicked my coms, "Pull."

The Demons charged our little group, and two hundred and thirty two Mages Pulled into the sky. The world seemed to vibrate with a huge THRUMMM!

Lyrica snatched that power, and created the giant maelstrom of power in the sky above us. I closed my eyes and just used my inner sight to track the power. I could sense the flows all around us and the mighty vortex above us. I raised my arms to the sky and when they came down, gouts of fire slammed into the Earth.

I began the steps of a new dance. This dance was a dance of the mind, a dance of power. This was a dance of destruction. The Dance of Death. I could see all of the power around me, and I brought down Hell on Earth. All around us the fires slammed into the ground.

MOTHER! FATHER! The names of those who had died for me slammed outward from my mind. They were pushed by rage and hate each accompanied by a gout of fire from the sky.

SEARSON! JAYDEN! The names of a hundred and two children and teachers from Morndel slammed outward. They had died for me just as much as my mother and father. Or died because of me.

WILSON! JANICEK! My friends and fellow warriors. Every name of those who have died under my command is etched into my mind. Each gout of destruction to slam into the ground was accompanied by a name.

The earth shook as I added name after name to the list of the Fallen. My friends, my brothers and sisters, all of the fallen Soulguards I have known were names on that list.

NORA! JENNA! The names roared out across the field. I didn't even realize that they were slamming into those around me from my mind. The list was in my head, and I was Lashing each time with those names. Both Kresh and Human alike felt those names slamming through their minds like hammer blows. The list continued through every single one of the Fallen.

FORTRAINE! A Gout of fire hit thirty feet in front of the interlocked shields held in a circle around the Jaeghernauts with a mighty BOOM!

RICTOR!!! And the world began to shake in one continuous blast at the very last name on my list. As the name of my friend slammed outward with all of the loss and pain I was feeling, I began ripping Power down without the tempo of the list. I ripped multiple gouts of destruction down from the heavens all around us.

BUUURRRRNNN!!!!! The word ripped out from my mind, and rolled across the massed horde of screaming Kresh. It was Lashed out with all of the rage and hate I felt.

I was lost in the destruction. Lost in a world of hate and rage. My tears fell as fiery drops of Soulfire. So many people had died for me and that list had grown this day, I knew. There would be a whole new list of names for me to remember.

"Enough, Son."

I heard Kharl's voice from my right, and I felt the squeeze of the hand on my right shoulder.

I opened my eyes to a sight right out of Hell. The ring of Mages were standing in a circle around me and outside that circle, the earth was melted. Some spots flowed like water. What few Demons were left scrambled for the Gate or just stood dazed out in the midst of that apocalypse.

I looked out at the stragglers and a vision of my friend's Soul being snuffed like a candle in the wind flashed through my mind.

"It will never be enough," I said bitterly.

I stood there motionless as I watched the remainder flee through the Gate. Then the Gate simply winked out of existence. There wasn't even a trace of the huge portal that had been there.

Then I heard a new sound. It began some distance away but it grew louder. A mighty cheer rolled through the ranks of warriors surrounding the smoking field. We had won but I couldn't bring myself to cheer. I saw a dying Trainee I had brought into this place, I saw my best friend incinerated by an explosion. These are what I will remember from the Second Battle of Kansas. These things will haunt me for a great deal of time.

Both of them died as heroes. And they will be remembered as such. Even after letting the Soul free from my grasp, I could feel the new well of hatred and rage inside me.

Yes they will be remembered, and yes, they will be avenged.

Chapter 48.

My body felt like it had been seriously abused. So much power had ripped through me in a short amount of time. I felt drained, even though I was filled by a fifteen inch Soulstream. It was not just a physical weariness, it was emotional weariness. I was just tired and sore all over.

I made myself move toward the melted earth to the west of us, toward the spot where I could see her Soul. It shone like a beacon in the darkness and I walked toward it. I crafted a bridge across the melted and blasted earth as I walked toward her. The Jaeghernauts followed behind me in rows of four with Kharl walking directly behind me.

I met her at the edge of the blasted landscape, and she was in my arms and holding me. Her head rested against my chest and I held her tight. Our Soulstreams merged and some of the physical weariness fell away but the emotional weariness would take time.

Not only had I lost my best friend, I had become something else out there on that battlefield. I'd known for years about the Demon DNA, but I now had a second Soulstream that led to that spot that had always been empty. It was an ugly Soulstream and it fluctuated with the opening and closing of the portals out on the field. It seemed to vanish as the last of the portals shut down but I could still feel the reservoir of that ugly power down inside me.

I don't know where that ugliness will take me in the future. It is the price I paid for the victory we achieved. The price I will always have to pay for the things I can do that no one else can. The things needed to fight this war against the Kresh.

As we walked toward the crowds of Soulguards and National Guardsmen the cheers continued, louder and louder. Let them have their moment of victory. We are far from finished, but the Kresh now know that the first battle of Kansas was not just a fluke. They were destroyed because we destroyed them. They'll think twice before coming back to Kansas.

The crowds parted as we walked through toward the headquarters. We must have been a real sight. A lot of my insane charge toward the shielded Demonmages I had been unshielded and I was covered in both Demon blood and a lot of my own. Once it was on me it was there. The shields would burn the blood away but my shields were outside of that. There is a certain distance from the body that is imbued with my Soul, or I would always come back from a fight naked. That would be a sight as well I guess.

Here I was covered in blood, and beside me walked Lyrica with some of that blood smeared on her from our embrace. It wasn't bothering her very much as she held tight against my side. She was just worried about me. She had seen what I had done, seen what had sparked my unstoppable rage. She could see into my Soul, see what I had done to myself.

The crowd parted as my group made our way through toward our HQ. I just wanted somewhere I could sit and be still for a few minutes. We reached the HQ and I walked inside. The Jaeghernauts remained outside in formation at the door facing the cheering crowd.

As the door closed behind me I turned my back to the wall and slid to the floor. Everything began to register on my mind, and the new well of rage was right under the surface. There were things I needed to know. Where was my mom? How many trainees had died out in that mess for me? How many Guards? How many of my friends?

My mental state was a far cry less important than these things. It was more pressing on me right this moment than the others, but I didn't have time to do anything about it right then. Lyrica sank to the floor right beside me, and her arms wrapped around me. We didn't say anything, we didn't need to. Our Souls merged, and she could feel everything I did. Just as I could feel everything she did. We just sat there for a while.

"It was easy to say Code Alpha," Marcus said, "but to actually see it is something else, Colin."

I sat in the office of General Polomo. Marcus Stratton and Polomo sat in the other chairs in his office.