No one really understands why Kaleon's essence triggers Emperor War Beasts into a frothing state of primal fury. All I know is what I've been told—that these ancient monsters were exposed to it deliberately, as part of some divine contingency plan to prevent Kaleon from ever returning to the Eternal Prison.
A safeguard. A trap. Or a cruel cosmic joke, depending on how you look at it.
And now here I was, lying on the cold stone floor, practically marinated in a trace of Kaleon's aura thanks to the pendant pressed against my chest—an aura that, even diluted and fused with my own, was enough to rouse the worst.
Pazuzu was snarling beside me, each growl low and seismic, like tectonic plates shifting with rage. He kept himself curled around me like a living barricade, shielding me from what we both knew was coming.
And the others? The three gods who'd faced down disasters and demigods alike?
Flattened.
