The moment Adeoluwa reached her, the world snapped.
Not softly.
Not slowly.
It was like reality cracked open — a loud, splitting tear that echoed through the entire factory.
The white fire swirling around Adun bent toward the Cube, dragged like metal to a magnet. The pressure in the air shifted violently. The boys felt it immediately — the sensation of being pulled forward and pushed backward at the same time.
Adun's body convulsed once, twice — then twisted unnaturally, as if her bones were bending in two directions. Her scream carved itself into the air.
Ayo forced himself to stand.
"ADE, STOP! IT'S TOO MUCH!"
Adeoluwa didn't hear him.
The Cube had swallowed every sense he had.
Flashes of memory burst into his head — not his memories, not Adun's memories… but Adun-the-god's memories:
Temples made of white sugar blocks.
Rivers glowing red.
Priests bowing.
Sacrifices kneeling.
Voices chanting his name:
"Adun Oro Mi-Fun!
Ẹlẹ́dàá Ẹ̀jẹ́ Didùn!"
(Adun, Sweet-Blood Giver!)
Adeoluwa staggered as if someone punched him inside his skull.
He felt the hunger of the deity.
He felt the sweetness of blood.
He felt the endless, ancient thirst.
He felt the god reaching for him.
Banji saw him sway, eyes turning faintly white.
"EMMANUEL!" Banji shouted. "HE'S CONNECTED TO IT! CUT THE LINK!"
Emmanuel, panting heavily, forced himself up and slammed his palms together.
Blue sparks crackled between his hands.
"I CAN'T—NOT ALONE—THE POWER IS TOO DENSE!"
Ayo rushed to him.
"What do you need?!"
Emmanuel's voice was strained, shaking.
"Your strength. Banji's focus. Ade's will.
We have ONE CHANCE to pull the god out before it fuses with him too."
Ayo swallowed hard.
"Let's go."
They formed a triangle, hands overlapping, facing the storm where Adeoluwa and Adun clashed.
Inside the storm, Adeoluwa finally reached her.
Their foreheads touched.
Her skin was scorching, cracking, glowing like molten glass.
"Adun…" he whispered, breath shaking.
"You're not alone. I'm here."
For the first time, her real voice broke through the fire:
"…I don't… want to die…"
He grabbed her shoulders.
"You're not dying.
You're fighting."
But the god inside her thrashed violently.
White flames shot out of her spine like wings made of fire.
The floor cracked like dry sugar.
The walls glowed red-hot.
The god roared:
"FLESH IS WEAK.
SOULS ARE SWEET.
I WILL FEED."
Adeoluwa screamed through clenched teeth:
"You're NOT USING HER!"
Behind him, the boys activated their combined focus.
Emmanuel's voice cut through the noise:
"ADE—NOW! GIVE US SOMETHING TO PULL!"
Adeoluwa lifted the Cube, pressed it to Adun's chest.
The Cube glowed — not bright white anymore — but red.
Deep, thick red.
Blood red.
The symbol of Adun burned across both their chests:
⭕ Three jagged lines — the Sweet-Blood Seal
A pulse.
Another pulse.
Another.
The deity noticed what they were doing.
And it went wild.
Adun's body snapped backward like a puppet pulled by strings.
Her eyes flared blinding-white.
Her mouth opened but no sound came — only a shockwave of burning air.
The factory exploded outward in a ring of force.
Metal flew.
Wood shattered.
Concrete dust filled the air like ash.
The boys were thrown to the ground again.
Banji rolled to a stop, coughing blood.
"Oh God… this thing is going to kill her!"
Ayo stood with trembling legs.
"No… Ade isn't letting it."
Adeoluwa held on, arms locked around Adun as power poured between them.
He felt her heart beating too fast.
He felt her life slipping.
He felt the god pushing into her bones, her blood, her breath.
He pushed back.
"TAKE ME INSTEAD!" he screamed into the deafening storm.
Adun's fading voice choked out:
"No… Ade… don't…"
The deity answered with a voice like thunder grinding through broken stones:
"ONE HOST WILL BREAK.
ONE HOST WILL BURN.
BUT I WILL HAVE BOTH."
A beam of white energy erupted from Adun's chest, shooting upward into the clouds, lighting up the entire night sky.
The storm clouds above swirled into a spiral — the Sweet Blood Spiral — huge, glowing, pulsing directly over the factory.
Emmanuel gasped.
"It's forming a summoning vortex—A FULL DESCENT!
If it completes… the god won't just be inside her—
HE WILL MANIFEST PHYSICALLY."
Banji's voice cracked.
"Then stop it! DO SOMETHING!"
Ayo shouted:
"ADE! LET US HELP YOU!"
Adeoluwa squeezed Adun tighter, voice raw:
"JUST A LITTLE LONGER…"
The Cube was burning him alive.
His arms blistered.
His chest glowed red.
His veins lit like molten sugar.
He was seconds from collapse.
Then—
BOOOOOM!
A massive column of energy blasted outward, shaking the entire town.
The vortex above roared.
Adun's body trembled violently.
Adeoluwa's scream echoed across the burning night.
The boys pushed all their power into the link.
The deity shrieked in fury.
And then—
Everything went white.