The pillar of pitch-black energy collided with Seraphina's miniature sun in midair. The sky split with a sound like tearing metal, shockwaves shattering every glass window across the inner spire. White-gold light and void-black mist cancelled each other out in a violent cascade of ozone and falling ash.
Seraphina drifted back down to the stone platform, her staff humming violently as she absorbed the recoil. Her golden eyes narrowed, locked onto Kyle as the dark pillar settled back into his sternum.
Kyle fell to his knees, his throat burning, blood dripping from his nose onto the cracked floor. The amber crystal in his chest was no longer just pulsing—it was spinning, its core glowing like an angry furnace.
