The sfora turned brighter an instant before one Dimme escaped.
Kat had to duck as it flew at her head, but she held her ground.
"Let it go," Sin said. "Just keep chanting. Seal the tomb on the others and then we'll deal with her."
Kat stayed focused even while the others were fighting virtually on top of her. She watched as the tomb finally began to knit itself closed. Time seemed to slow down before the Dimme cries were finally silenced.
Covered in sweat, Zakar pressed the sfora to the lock and sealed it before he collapsed on the ground.
Kat was about to go to him until she saw Kessar from the corner of her eye. Before she could even blink, he turned aside one of the Dolophoni and lunged at Sin, stabbing him in the back, straight through his heart.
She couldn't breathe as she watched in horror. "No!" she cried.
Kessar laughed evilly.
Sin's eyes widened an instant before he sank to his knees. It was then she realized Kessar had taken Sin's sword that had been forged by Sin's people. It was the one thing that could kill the gallu and it was also able to kill Sin...
Her vision clouded by fury, she blasted Kessar with a god-bolt from her hands. And then she hit him with another and another until she had him pinned to the floor. She was so intent on him that she missed the other demon who ran at her back and knocked her to the ground. Kat sprang to her feet and turned on her newest attacker. She manifested a dagger in her hand and lunged for the demon. It dodged, then tried to bite her. Kat swept its feet out from under it, then plunged her dagger between its eyes.
She rose, looking for Kessar to kill him too... Unfortunately, she didn't see him. But she did see Sin writhing in a pool of his own blood.
Terrified, she ran to him. "Sin?"
He was shaking as she pulled him into her arms. "I've got you, baby," she whispered, placing her hand to his wound. Kat whispered as she tried to heal his wound. But it wouldn't close. How could that be? "I don't understand..."
"It's a Sumerian weapon," Ash said as he knelt beside them. "One designed to kill their gods."
She looked up at him and did something she'd never done before. She begged. "Heal him, please. I'll do anything."
"I can't, Katra. Not from this."
"He can't die. Don't you understand? Please... please, Daddy, help him."
Ash's heart broke as he heard the desperate love in her tone. Kat was willing to do anything to protect Sin. He remembered a time in his life when he'd felt that way about Artemis. And that love had turned on him and ruined his life. It had left him shattered and vacant. Lost and damned.
He could give Kat the knowledge to save Sin, but would Sin be like Artemis and cause her pain? Would she look back on this moment in time and curse it the way he did his own past? Would she hate herself later for this one desperate moment where her entire world was the one she loved and nothing else mattered except keeping Sin close to her?
Don't interfere with free will. She wanted Sin. Who was he to stop her from choosing to make a sacrifice for him?
Ash controlled fate. But the human heart was its own master, right or wrong. Good or bad.
Dread, agony, and love warred inside him as he clenched his teeth. What should he do? Protect his daughter from a future that might or might not happen or give her the one thing she wanted most?
But in the end, he knew he had no choice. The decision was hers to make, not his. Life was a series of choices made and the consequences that followed.
Please don't let this hurt her. Don't let her regret her love the way I regret mine. Please...
Taking a deep breath, he spoke. "Give him your powers, Kat."
She scowled at him. "What? I don't have the power to heal myself."
"I know. But your powers are from the Atlantean and Greek pantheons. They're not Sumerian. Those powers will negate the sword blade. It will save him. Trust me. But you'll have to give away your powers permanently."
Kat couldn't breathe as she heard those words. She'd never been without her powers... it would leave her defenseless. Vulnerable.
"Don't, Kat," Sin said, his teeth chattering from the pain of his wound. "Don't weaken yourself for me."
Those words cemented her conviction. Her heart pounding, she leaned over and kissed him. And as she did so, she summoned her powers from deep inside and let them leave her to fill his body.