Ostap found him first.
Misha had no time to plan a route to Ufa before the boy who everyone thought was dead appeared on the roof of the apartment building. “You’re coming with me. The professor wants to study your ability to alter DNA.” The conversation ended with a sickle of wind that sliced straight through Misha’s thigh. But the Evolutionist had evolved – Chimeric Regeneration knit the bone together in seconds, and Shadow Ropes hoisted Ostap into the air.
Their former friend summoned forty phantom creatures out of thin air and ran away. But he left Misha with something valuable: the information that his father was still alive.
There’s no time to chase him. The crystal that protects Lensk is going out, two thousand of Arkharov’s men are waiting for a new leader of the clan in Ufa, and to reach Yury – his older brother, who is ready to hand over the reins of power – Misha will have to get through cities teeming with monsters. In Sterlitamak and Belebey, he’ll find dozens of salamanders, lizards, and tetradons, attacking in waves.
On the other hand, Misha can now absorb another’s flame with just a wave of his hand and transform people into winged chimeras. Then he assembles the Soul of the Ifrit combination, which gives him complete immunity to fire magic. And he gets to use Memory Weaver for the first time – one touch, and the imperial investigator interrogating Baron Titov is muttering happily about pastries.
The Arkharov clan finally has a new leader. Kungur is being fortified. A new generation of weapons is being forged from the bones of the giant Ettin. Portal stones, workshops, guardsmen, allies – everything’s coming together into a plan that could shake the empire.
But up on the telecommunications tower, which looks out over all of Kungur, Ostap has already declared: “You’re caught now.” And Professor Preobrazhensky isn’t in the habit of backing down.