The knight of broken geometry advanced again, its bent blade gleaming with angles that hurt to look at. Each step warped the ground, forcing the tiles beneath Kaelen's boots to shift into patterns he couldn't trust.
Lyra braced herself, blood still dripping from the mirrored wound. She was pale, but her eyes were locked on the creature with a ferocity that defied exhaustion.
Kaelen raised the relic, fire racing up his arm. He remembered the watchers' words echoing above:
"To strike is to bleed."
But fire wasn't steel. Fire didn't cut—it consumed.
The knight lunged. Kaelen thrust his hand forward, hurling a stream of white-hot flame. The creature's form twisted, catching alight. Its body screamed in silence as the fire burned through its impossible armor.
For one breathless instant, Kaelen braced for pain—ready for his own skin to blister, his own veins to ignite.
But nothing happened.
His fire seared the knight without wounding him.
Kaelen's lips curled into a savage grin. "Not all strikes are equal."
Lyra laughed, bloody but fierce. "Then burn it to ash!"
The knight staggered, its shifting body collapsing in on itself. It swung its blade one last time, the arc slicing through Kaelen's flame. The relic pulsed, and Kaelen caught the strike with a shield of fire, the impact rattling his bones but not wounding him.
The knight dissolved into smoke and shards of broken geometry, scattering across the tiles like shattered glass.
The watchers above murmured, their thousand voices blending into a sound like grinding stone.
"The rule bends. The piece adapts. Intriguing."
Kaelen turned toward them, his chest heaving. He raised the relic defiantly, fire spilling from his hand into the air, painting the sky with light. "You made the rules," he growled. "But we're not here to follow them. We're here to break them."
The watchers went silent. Then, one by one, new eyes opened in the fractal sky—dozens more, widening with interest.
The candle-bearer stumbled forward, their little flame flickering with new life. Their voice was hushed, trembling. "Kaelen… you've done it. You found the loophole."
Lyra wiped blood from her mouth, her grin sharp despite the pain. "Then let's tear open every rule they throw at us."
The tiles beneath their feet shuddered. New shapes rose—a board that wasn't flat, but a spiraling staircase of shifting light, climbing into infinity.
The chorus of watchers whispered as one:
"Then climb. Break what you dare. But every ascent carries a cost."
Kaelen tightened his grip on the relic. Lyra steadied her blade. Together, they stepped onto the first stair.