The portal to the Eclipse Core pulsed with energy unlike anything Li Wei had ever felt. It was like staring into a hole in reality—an endless chasm of white-gold light that twisted gravity, bent space, and whispered promises of truth and annihilation. The very air vibrated with secrets too old for time.
SYSTEM ALERT:
ECLIPSE CORE BREACH INITIATED
DANGER LEVEL: ABSOLUTE
KNOWN MONARCH SIGNATURES: [Lutharen], [Vexal], [Queen Shyren]
"Stay close. No matter what," Li Wei commanded, his voice steady, but his eyes sharp.
The girls nodded. Each one had shed blood, endured trials, and transcended mortal limits. Now, they walked willingly into the core of cosmic ruin. As one, they stepped through the light.
1. The Realm Beyond Time
The Eclipse Core wasn't a battlefield. It was a wound.
They emerged into a shattered dimension—floating islands spun in reverse time, gravity surged in pulses, rivers of memory shimmered like molten glass, and ancient echoes whispered in broken languages. Stars bled. Suns cried.
In the sky above, three Monarchs floated:
Queen Shyren, her form cloaked in vines and black roses that wept thorns,
Vexal, whose fractured body shattered and reassembled every heartbeat,
Lutharen, the Endless Hunger, whose skeletal maw devoured light and time.
"So the rats enter the heart of the maze," Vexal mused, voice echoing in maddening rhythms.
Shyren smiled, petals falling from her fingertips. "Welcome to the end of your story."
Lotus stepped forward, her spirit glowing like a sunrise over battlefields. "This story isn't over yet."
2. Fractured Battlefields
Before Li Wei could respond, the Monarchs moved.
Time cracked.
Space twisted.
Each group was flung into isolated realms forged by Monarch magic.
Li Wei and Yue found themselves in a realm of living mirrors, where every step multiplied their reflections into hostile clones.
Lana and Scarlet descended into a devouring pit filled with the echoes of fallen suns and spectral monsters with mouths only for consumption.
Lotus, Meiyu, and Shen Ruo awoke in a black cathedral of thorns, where every stained-glass window showed distorted visions of Li Wei choosing someone else.
SYSTEM UPDATE:
NEW FUNCTION UNLOCKED: SOLO BOND EXPANSION
EMERGENCY BOOST GRANTED: COSMIC FLARE (x1 Use)
Li Wei gritted his teeth. "Yue. You with me?"
"Always." Her hand slid into his. The system reacted.
NEW COMPATIBILITY SYNC DETECTED: YUE - MAXIMUM HARMONY
Vexal's disembodied voice echoed through the mirror void. "Let's see if love survives the shattering."
3. Yue's Light, Li Wei's Fury
The mirror realm was pure chaos. Clones of Yue and Li Wei attacked relentlessly, some showing twisted versions of themselves — corrupted with Monarch symbols. One clone Yue laughed madly; one clone Li Wei struck with an inverted blade of despair.
Yue, cornered, summoned her most powerful ability yet: Absolute Zero Bloom — an ice storm of delicate lotus petals that froze illusions in their conceptual roots. The air dropped to a temperature that shattered sound.
Li Wei activated his new blade technique: Chrono Reversal Edge — allowing him to rewind five seconds of causality and dodge a fatal blow. With that, he saw Vexal's true self: hiding inside a mirror fragment beneath their feet.
Together, they struck. Yue's ice pinned Vexal; Li Wei's sword broke the frame.
But just before the killing blow, Vexal split his own mind and scattered.
SYSTEM NOTICE: VEXAL STATUS - DISSIPATED, NOT DESTROYED
Yue breathed hard. "We'll face him again."
Li Wei nodded. "Next time, he won't escape."
4. Hunger Unleashed
Scarlet and Lana were surrounded.
Lutharen's realm pulsed with hunger. Every attack they landed only made him grow—absorbing their energy and twisting it into grotesque mouths that floated through the void.
"Standard attacks are useless," Scarlet muttered.
Lana, breathing heavily, whispered, "What if I ignite everything? Even myself?"
Scarlet's eyes widened. "You'd—"
"I trust you to pull me out."
With that, Lana activated Solar Fang Rebirth, and set her own flame spirit ablaze. Her entire form became a sun reborn, scorching the very concept of hunger.
Lutharen screamed.
Scarlet, moving faster than ever in Bone Phoenix Form III, impaled his core.
He collapsed into silence—but did not die.
"Next time," Scarlet said darkly, "we'll bring oblivion."
5. Shyren's Corruption
Inside the thorn cathedral, Shyren attacked minds—not bodies.
Meiyu saw herself forgotten.
Shen Ruo saw her seals break and kill innocents.
Lotus saw Li Wei in someone else's arms.
Shyren whispered:
"He will forget you."
"You are a burden."
"You were never chosen."
Meiyu began to sob.
Shen Ruo's knees buckled.
But Lotus, her spirit forged through endless meditation and compassion, activated her final bond:
BOND AWAKENED — LOTUS: SANCTIFIED BLOOMFIELD
A dome of pure spiritual harmony surrounded them, dispelling all illusions.
Shyren hissed. "You're no flower. You're a weed."
Meiyu, now clear-eyed, said with a grin, "Then it's time we choked you out."
Together, they pierced Shyren's heart with chains of memory, vines of resilience, and mirrored arrows of truth.
6. Reunion and Revelation
The teams reunited in the Eclipse Core's pulsing heart.
Bloodied. Burned. Bruised.
Unbroken.
Li Wei saw them—his girls—and something within him surged. Their love was no weakness. It was a weapon. A shield. A truth.
SYSTEM WARNING:
FINAL STAGE UNLOCKED
ENTITY APPROACHING: [KING IN ECLIPSE]
From the deepest rift in the Core, reality bled.
A being emerged.
He wore a cloak of black fire. His eyes were two inverted stars.
His voice echoed in all languages at once. "You have walked the path. You have bound six souls. You have broken the pattern. Therefore… I choose you."
Li Wei stepped forward, his sword glowing with combined essence:
Yue's frost
Lana's fire
Lotus's healing
Meiyu's illusions
Shen Ruo's bindings
Scarlet's fury
"I don't care who you are," he said. "But I'm ending this."
The girls stood beside him.
"Together," they said.
The King raised his hand.
The stars screamed.
The final battle had begun.