The Axé sphere grew, the vital energy was drawn in and concentrated into enormous sums. With each passing second, it took on an increasingly massive appearance. Its concentric movement propagated a high-pitched sound in the air.

  Seeing it, General Gahiji took a step back. The area around Hakim was condensed with electromagnetic force.

  This thing could really kill me if it hit me hard.

  “Die, General Gahiji!”

  The Sage of the Law launched the Resolution of Force Major at the enemy. The sphere of energy hit the soldier in the chest. His body began to disintegrate into tiny Axé particles. Only his lower waist and legs remained. The Axé sphere hit a building and consumed it entirely in a great implosion.

  Hakim felt his strength drain away. His legs trembled. Ekundayo ran to him to prevent his friend from collapsing to the ground. He had used a lot of his Ofó. Fadala also came to his aid, but the sage rejected their help.

  The Sage of the Law sat down on the debris-strewn ground. He smoothed his sweat-dripping hair and said:

  “Damn you! You got what you deserved.”

  The Sage of Justice put a hand on his friend's shoulder and squeezed hard.

  “He gave us a lot of trouble, my friend.”

  Fadala puffed on his cigarette and let the gray spirals rise into the sky.

  “His Alteration of Quantity allows him to split his body at the atomic level and resume his original form. I don't suppose he can survive that technique. I saw what it can do on the Judgement Stone.”

  “We need to help Mashal.”

  “Do you really think old Mashal needs our help? He's his own army.”

  “Hohohohoho, I've never felt so alive in my entire life.”

  The trio assumed a defensive posture. Gahiji's voice continued to echo in the air. The mediums were the first to notice that the particles of Axé that had spread through the air were now returning to focus on the soldier. Little by little, the general resumed his cyborg form.

  There wasn't a single scratch on his cybertech armor. His cybernetic exoskeleton remained with the same defensive capacity as when the fight had begun. Gahiji patted his chest to shake off the dust, a gesture of irony.

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  “I confess that your Ofó is very dangerous. If I hadn't used my atomic dispersion, I would have been crushed by your Axé sphere.”

  Hakim gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe what had happened before his eyes.

  “No one has ever survived the Force Major Resolution.”

  “Everything has a first time, sage Hakim. Don't worry, for fighting with honor, I'll kill you last.”

  “That doesn't sound like good news.”

  Unable to fight back, the trio stood paralyzed in front of the giant. Gahiji lived up to his military reputation. Not even Hakim's most powerful Ofó had wounded him. There seemed to be no alternative to facing him. Escaping seemed to be a temporary solution. But they were the last barrier before the enemy and a weakened Akachi.

  “Any last words?”

  Hakim raised his right hand and showed his middle finger to the enemy.

  “Fuck you, tin man!”

  “I confess I'm surprised by that attitude, I thought sages were more courteous.”

  “I'm really going to die, one more or one less rudeness won't make any difference.”

  “It's true, near death, morals abandon us.”

  Gahiji continued to advance against his opponents. However, the sense of danger they had emitted at the beginning had ceased. They were no longer cornered, they seemed more indifferent. The soldier thought they had given up on life for good.

  No, something's not right.

  “For someone who's been handed a death warrant, you're calm.”

  Fadala took out his cigarette and threw it on the ground. He stepped on it and put it out. He straightened his tie and answered Gahiji with a smile:

  “Don't worry, General Gahiji. We're enjoying the symphony of silence.”

  “Symphony of silence?”

  The soldier stopped. His ears perked up. The thunder of the bombs, the groans of the tracer bullets had ceased.

  “But what…”

  Prac! The ground began to shake around Gahiji. He activated his thrusters, but he was too late. Dozens of Mashal jumped out of the ground and fell on his opponent like a swarm of bees.

  ?

  Spin Bomb paced back and forth. She seemed irritated by the lack of news of the fighting outside. With each bomb that fell and firefight that began, her nerves were increasingly on edge.

  Azekel was sitting on a rug, approached his son and whispered in his ear:

  “Your daughter-in-law seems to be very irritable.”

  “Tell me about it, I'm starting to feel sorry for my son.”

  “What are you two whispering about?”

  Spin Bomb appeared between the two of them and brought their heads close to their cheeks. Azekel and Adisa turned pale. They answered in unison:

  “No, nothing!”

  “I think it's good. What the hell! Fadala and Ekundayo should have been back by now.”

  Feruzi continued to perform the Discharge Session on Akachi. The damage to his energy network had been too great. He had incorporated an Entity without proper preparation or training.

  Transforming that damage into Axé particles to be propagated outside the patient's body required skill, but also a lot of concentration. Something he couldn't get from a teenage girl marching furiously around the room. Feruzi smoothed the sweat from his forehead and said to calm his pupil:

  “Spin Bomb, you should put more trust in all of us. We won't let Akachi be captured.”

  The young woman walked towards her master and once again felt close to the medium lying on the floor. His condition seemed stable.

  “Getting nervous won't do any good. Gahiji is a formidable enemy, but there are three mediums with sage level out there, not counting the undertaker, he's clever.”

  Feruzi was trying to fool himself. He knew very well that even if the general was defeated, the losses on the other side would be even greater. He could only hope that his old friend Mashal would return safely.