Far away, in a dark corner of purgatory, a cold and eerie room came to life.
Bones littered the floor like autumn leaves, crunching under invisible steps.
At the room's center were two ancient fountains—one dry, the other bubbling with black liquid.
From the darkness near the dry fountain, something stirred.
A small spinal cord twitched on the ground, wriggling like a centipede. It slithered toward a pile of bones.
As if guided by some unseen force, the bones began attaching to the cord, one by one—ribs, limbs, and finally, a skull.
The skeleton of a baby took shape.
Then, where its eyes should have been, a red light flickered to life.
It glowed for a few seconds—then faded.
The body went still again.
While back on the battlefield, they all stood still,catching their breath after their long battle,knowing that the next time someone rests like this...
The other side would have to be dead.
Then, right before Annie's eyes, the entire castle shifted.
Massive stone spires bent unnaturally, reshaping into jagged towers as dark arches curled over the battlefield like the ribs of some ancient beast.
The ground beneath her feet cracked and split as the terrain twisted.
Platforms rose from nothing, others crumbled into the abyss below.
Vel'Zorath's Castle Creation was in full effect, transforming the very environment into a weaponized maze. But Annie didn't falter.
With her wand gripped tightly, she launched herself from one floating fragment of the ruined castle to another.
Each leap was a burst of blinding light as her Light Creation surged beneath her feet like divine propulsion.
In the skies above, the Eclipse Purgatorist acted with eerie calm.
A silent motion of his hand summoned more miniature suns, blazing spheres of concentrated death that glowed with burning intensity.
One after another, they shot down like meteors toward her.
Each collision lit up the darkened sky, setting the crumbling ruins ablaze in radiant fire.
But that wasn't all.
As if the chaos weren't already overwhelming, dozens of Vel'Tharion's clones emerged from the shadows,
their bodies multiplying like flickering illusions, only to become tangible as they struck.
They were fast, aggressive, and coordinated. Each one moved with lethal precision, surrounding Annie from all sides.
Now caught in the crossfire between the Eclipse's celestial assault and Vel'Tharion's unending swarm,
Annie was battling three powerful enemies at once. But she was holding her ground.
Her wand roared to life with every swing, each explosion rippling outward with golden brilliance.
A single flare took out three clones in a flash. Another one vaporized a chunk of collapsing castle debris midair.
Despite the overwhelming odds, Annie danced across the battlefield like a storm of light, her movements graceful, fierce, and unyielding.
Far away, hidden behind a collapsed ridge of the shattered mountain, Menma moved with purpose.
His Ringmaster Creation allowed him to blink through reality, hopping between glowing rings suspended midair.
He zipped through them like a ghost, scouting for Annie's location. The distant sound of destruction was all he needed—
a booming quake echoed across the canyon, and his eyes locked onto the falling mountain where a chunk of the cliffside had completely collapsed.
As dust and smoke clouded the horizon, Menma finally spotted her.
There she was—Annie—fighting for her life amidst the ruins, her wand blazing through the darkness as she fended off Vel'Tharion's multiplying clones.
Dodged the relentless solar barrage from the Eclipse, and braced herself against Vel'Zorath's shifting battlefield.
Menma's breath caught. She was still alive. Still fighting.
But she was outnumbered.
Suddenly, Annie paused midair, just long enough to gather energy at the tip of her wand.
Light curled around her like silver mist, condensing into a small sphere.
She swung her wand down, hurling the glowing mass in the Eclipse's direction.
It was the Dust Technique.
The golden orb spiraled through the air, glowing brighter the closer it got to him.
The Eclipse narrowed his eyes, immediately sensing danger.
With a sudden flap of his cape, he shot sideways, avoiding the blast as it neared his position.
But Annie wasn't done. Her aim had never been direct.
She wanted him to dodge.
As the dust orb passed him, it began to pulse violently.
Vel'Tharion's clones jumped in its path, trying to intercept the energy and force it into forming a deadly line.
It was a clever trick—his Multiply Creation could potentially distort the spell's structure or redirect its outcome.
But it didn't work.
The orb ignored the clones completely, phasing through them like mist.
And just as it passed by the Eclipse, it began to transform—its outer shell cracking and unfolding into a complex web of glowing lines.
In seconds, it morphed into a cage-like structure, spinning and twisting like a divine trap.
Thin lines wrapped around him, faster than the eye could follow, forming a brilliant cage of golden light.
The Eclipse's eyes widened as he realized what had happened. He was caught.
The Dust had locked onto him with frightening precision, its lines slashing through the air like divine wires, trapping him like a bird in a glowing cage.
And it was closing in, shrinking rapidly.
This was no ordinary spell. If it finished collapsing, it wouldn't just trap him—it would kill him.
But just before the final strike could land, Vel'Zorath intervened.
With a thunderous roar, he restructured the castle once more.
The floating platforms around Annie suddenly groaned and shuddered.
The air warped. From deep within the twisted stonework, a massive structure rose—thick walls curved inward like a cannon.
It wasn't a wall anymore.
It was a launch device.
And from it came the Eclipse's largest sun yet—a colossal sphere of radiant energy, glowing so fiercely that the air around it wavered like a desert mirage.
Vel'Zorath had restructured the castle itself to launch the sun directly at Annie, breaking her concentration and saving the Eclipse from certain death.
But it didn't end there.
Vel'Tharion stepped forward, raising both hands.
In an instant, his Multiply Creation activated again. The massive sun multiplied—one, two, ten, fifty—no, hundreds.
A thousand burning suns bloomed from the original, each one slightly smaller but still massively destructive.
Annie saw it too late.
She turned, tried to shield herself, but there was no escape. The first sun hit her like a hammer of fire, then another, and another.
A blinding cascade of explosions engulfed the area. The entire sky turned white with light.
The force of the attack shattered nearby ruins, turned entire towers into dust, and sent shockwaves rippling across the broken land.
The golden lines of the Dust Technique vanished in an instant.
Inside the cage, the Eclipse gasped for air as the trap dissolved around him.
He fell to one knee, breathing hard, the close brush with death still burning in his veins.
"That attack…" he muttered under his breath, his voice strained. "It wouldn't have just killed me… it would've killed all of us."
The battlefield went silent.
The smoke began to clear, drifting away in the gentle breeze that followed the storm of magic. Debris rained softly from the sky.
Rubble crumbled at the edges of the cliffs.
And from within the devastation, a single figure stood.
Annie.
She was still alive—but barely. Her clothes were torn and scorched, blood streaked her arms and legs, and her wand hung limply by her side.
Her eyes were half-lidded, her breath shallow. Every part of her body screamed with pain.
She was trembling, her legs refusing to give way, even as her knees buckled.
But somehow… she was still standing.