“That building there,” Zora breathed, pointing to a three-story gray rectangle with a few glowing windows—the only structure in this part of the complex not closed for the night. “That’s where the rogues are. Any moment now, our first team will—”

The lights in the windows flickered, then all went out at once. A moment later, firelight flared somewhere inside the building.

“It’s started,” Zora muttered. “I hope Kai got the message. Let’s hurry!”

Zylas continued down the dirt road, me and Zora a few paces behind. More light—fire, along with colorful flashes—emanated from the rogues’ building, and muffled bangs and crashes became audible. My nerves tightened. The golems had been moved, the enemy might know we were here, and if Claude was nearby, that meant we had Nazhivēr to worry about.

“Any sign of a flying demon?” I whispered into my mic.

“Nope.” A rustle as Amalia shifted position on her high perch. “But people are running out of that building now and—oh shit! There are the golems. Someone just got trampled.”

Orange light flared from the other side of the gray structure.

“Hurry!” Zora barked.

Zylas broke into a fast jog, forcing me and Zora into a run. He raced to a dead end, where a collection of rusting tractor-trailers was parked. As I reached him, he scooped an arm around my middle, lifting my feet off the ground, then caught Zora in the same grip.

She was still gasping in surprise as he sprang on top of the nearest trailer. With three lightning-fast leaps, we were over the fence, into a parking lot, and streaking toward a gap between the rogues’ building and a storage bay—a long strip lined with overhead doors.

As though a volume switch had been slammed straight to max, noise erupted—shouts, screams, bangs, thuds, crashes, and bizarre reverberations that could only be magic. Light blazed and flickered from the front of the building as Zylas sprinted toward it, only marginally slowed by his two passengers.

Ahead of us, a new racket erupted—metallic banging like off-kilter pistons. A dog-like golem, identical to the ones that had attacked the Odin’s Eye guild, charged out of the storage bay’s nearest door toward the unseen fight.

“Shit!” Amalia exclaimed in my ear. “Robin, there are golems closing in on them from all sides. Our guys are about to be trapped in the middle.”

“We’re on it! Zylas—”

Before I could say more, he swerved toward the storage bay, where three more golems had appeared, pinkish runes glowing over their metal bodies as they ran with lumbering gaits.

Zylas’s slowing stride was my only warning, and I braced myself as he let go. As Zora and I dropped to the ground, he launched toward the lead golem and slammed both feet into its front legs. The steel limbs went out from under it and the golem collapsed onto its side with a hideous metallic shriek.

Zylas rolled clear, shot to his feet, and leaped again as the second golem belched a jet of fluid at him. It sprayed across the pavement, bubbling and hissing.

“Zora,” I shouted over the cacophony. “Can you distract one?”

She nodded and drew her sword. Gulping back a wave of panic, I pulled my infernus chain off my neck and sprinted toward the last golem in line. As I closed in, it turned in mid-charge—and headed straight for me.

Zora shot across its path. Jaws spewing fire, it lurched after her, and I dove toward its exposed side.

I stuck my hand under its belly and shouted, “Ori eruptum impello!”

Silver light ballooned out from the artifact in my hand. The spell expanded under the golem, heaving the beast upward. It crashed onto its side.

Zora leaped in front of me, her sword held crosswise and her hand braced against the blade. “Ori gladio reflectetur!”

A semi-transparent purple wall the width of the blade whooshed out of the steel, and the acid spouting from the next golem’s mouth splattered all over the barrier instead of us.

The spell faded almost as fast as it had appeared, but it’d been enough. Zora grabbed my hand and sprinted away from the golems. I looped my infernus back over my head as I ran.

Another booming crash—Zylas knocking his second golem over. Three down and three more to go, one charging after us and the other two hopelessly chasing the agile demon.

“Nice work with the impello spell,” Zora congratulated with a quick grin. “Don’t suppose you have another one?”

“No, sorry.”

“Then this way. Come on!”

With a golem in pursuit, she raced toward an abandoned flatbed trailer. Seizing the hooked end of a rusted chain hanging from the bed, she tossed it to me. “Get ready!”

I caught the heavy chain, already panicking. Ready for what?

The golem barreled toward us, and Zora stretched the chain out. Catching on, I locked my limbs. As the golem reached us, she jumped aside. The golem ran into the chain, almost tearing it from my gloved hands.

I threw the end of the chain to Zora. Dodging its snapping jaws, she looped the chain around its neck and lobbed the end back to me. I shoved the hook into a gap in the golem’s shoulder joint, and we both ran for it.

The golem hammered after us, hit the end of the chain, and jolted to a stop. Straining forward, its feet scraping the ground, it struggled to break free. The chain held.

“Yes!” Zora yelled. “Now let’s get the last—”

She broke off with a surprised grunt. The final golem was lying on its side, and Zylas stood over it, holding its steel skull. He dropped the dismembered head to the ground.

An explosion boomed from around the corner of the building. A fireball burst outward, orange-tinted smoke billowing into the sky.

“No!” Zora sprinted toward her battling comrades, shouting over her shoulder, “Come on, Robin!”

As I took a frantic step after her, Amalia’s voice crackled in my ear.

“Robin! A dude with a supersized golem just left the far end of that long, skinny building. He’s heading away from the fight.”

“Claude?” I gasped.

“Who else could it be? He’s moving quick—go after him!”

Zylas! I called silently, then asked Amalia, “Any sign of Nazhivēr?”

“Not yet. I’m watching, though. Hurry before Claude gets away!”

Zylas scooped me off the ground. I grabbed his shoulders as he slung me onto his back without breaking stride. He streaked the length of the storage bay, then leaped from a car roof onto a building.