Chapter 33 · Bound to the Executioner: Leveling Up With My Enemy - Chapter 33: Max Overdrive: Gods in the Crosshairs

"Get your hand off me and push the damn lever, Vesp! Now!" Soren’s voice wasn’t a request. It was a snarl, raw and jagged, vibrating right against my ear.

He had me pinned against the cold obsidian console of the defense spire, his chest heaving against my back. The heat coming off him was insane, a feverish radiation that smelled like ozone and burnt copper. My fingers were trembling, hovering over the primary trigger of the spire’s redline sequence.

"I can't!" I screamed back, my voice cracking. "The system is rejecting the input. It says the soul-sync is too unstable. If I push this, we don't just fire the beam—we burn out!"

"Then burn!" Soren gripped my wrist, his fingers digging into my skin with a bruising intensity. He didn't just push my hand down; he locked his entire weight behind me, forcing my palm flat against the glowing crystal trigger. "The Maker fleet is three minutes from glassing this entire continent. Do you want to die shivering in a hole, or do you want to go out taking a god with us?"

I gasped as the contact sparked.