The pouch burst open right in front of his face.
A cloud of shimmering, grey powder enveloped him.
The effect was instantaneous.
The Lord screamed. It wasn't a roar of rage; it was a scream of agony. The green fire in his eyes flickered, sputtered, and went out, leaving only hollow sockets.
The psychic pressure that had been crushing the valley vanished.
The zombies around him—hundreds of them—dropped. Without his mind controlling them, they collapsed into heaps of rotting flesh.
The Lord fell to his knees, clutching his head.
What... have you... done? his voice was a whisper now, faint and broken.
"Severed the cord," I said, landing awkwardly on the ground, rolling to break my fall.
I stood up, swaying. My body was done. My stamina was zero.
But the Lord was vulnerable.
He thrashed, his movements jerky and uncoordinated. He was trying to access his powers, but the Null-Dust had created a void. He was cut off from the Mist.
He was just a corpse in armor.
Kill me, he hissed. Do it.
I looked at him. I wanted to. I wanted to drive the Spear through his skull.
But I had lost the Spear in the explosion. I had nothing.
"I got you," a voice said.
Ryan walked out of the tunnel entrance. He looked tired, but his eyes were fixed on the kneeling giant.
He raised his hand.
"Burn," Ryan whispered.
A thin, precise jet of flame shot out. It wasn't wild fire. It was focused. It entered the Lord's open mouth.
The Lord convulsed. Fire bloomed inside him, incinerating the dry tissue, the black blood, the ancient bones.
He collapsed forward, turning to ash before he even hit the ground.
It was over.