The earth cracked with every pulse of energy. Clara's body hovered a foot above the ground, her back arched, golden and crimson veins fighting across her skin in a grotesque war. Jagged wings, half-bone and half-light, beat once, shaking the air like thunder.
Evelyn didn't let go of her arm. Her nails dug deep, blood streaming down her wrist, but she clung on anyway. "Clara! Don't you dare leave me—do you hear me? Don't you dare!"
The answer came not in words but in a scream. It wasn't human anymore—it layered multiple voices, Clara's delicate tone buried beneath something older, deeper. The air distorted around her as if reality itself was being ripped apart.
Damien planted his flaming sword into the ground, anchoring himself against the shockwave. His teeth gritted, his voice cut sharp. "She's destabilizing. If this continues, she'll burn out—or worse, collapse into whatever Yurin tried to turn her into."
Evelyn snapped her head toward him, eyes wide and bloodshot. "Then stop talking and help me!"
"I am helping you." Damien's flames flared higher, wrapping around his armor like a second skin. "But if she crosses the point of no return—"
"You shut your mouth right now." Evelyn's voice cracked, feral with desperation. "If you even suggest killing her again, I swear I'll—"
Zeke cut in before her rage could spiral. His voice was calm, but his hands were trembling as glyphs crawled across his skin. "Both of you—focus. Look."
They did.
Clara's transformation wasn't only consuming her. The land beneath them warped, spreading outward like ink on parchment. Grass blackened, stone fractured, air rippled as if submerged underwater. And at the very center, beneath Clara's floating form, a rift had opened—small, but glowing with the same crimson void that had devoured Yurin before.
Damien's jaw tightened. "She's tearing the seal. If that rift expands, we're finished."
Evelyn shook her head violently, strands of her dark hair sticking to her tearstained face. "No. Clara's fighting it. I can feel it. She's still in there." She pressed her forehead against Clara's shaking hand. "Come back to me. You hear me? You come back."
For a flicker of a second, Clara's golden veins surged brighter. Evelyn's heart leapt—only for the crimson to slam back, twice as strong. The wings spread wide, slicing the air with a shriek that wasn't wind but something older, something from the void itself.
Zeke raised his hand, the glyphs now burning like scars. "If I pour everything into a binding, I might be able to hold her down. But it will hurt her. Badly."
Evelyn rounded on him instantly. "You won't."
Zeke didn't flinch at her fury. His gray eyes were steady, even sorrowful. "If she tears open that rift, Evelyn, she won't be Clara anymore. She'll be a conduit. Do you understand? Not possessed. Not corrupted. Erased."
The word hit like a blade. Erased.
Evelyn's grip tightened until her knuckles bled. "Then we anchor her harder. I don't care what it takes."
Damien slammed his fist against the ground, flames erupting outward in a circle to stabilize the breaking terrain. "Then we buy her time. Whatever fight she's having inside—she needs space to win it."
For once, Zeke didn't argue. He only muttered, "Space… and belief." His glyphs spread out, forming a lattice around Clara, not binding but shielding—like a net to catch a falling star.
Evelyn poured her shadow-chains over Clara's arms and torso, not to restrain but to hold. The shadows weren't cold this time; they pulsed with warmth, echoing Evelyn's heartbeat.
Damien raised his sword, channeling his fire skyward. Flames burst like a pillar, punching through the blackened clouds, filling the battlefield with desperate light.
Together, they stood around Clara—flames, shadows, and glyphs interwoven—anchoring her against the void's pull.
And for the first time, Clara's scream faltered.
Her head turned slightly, golden light flickering in her pupils. Her lips parted.
"…Evelyn?"
The voice was faint. Broken. But it was hers.
Evelyn nearly collapsed in relief, but she caught herself, sobbing out a laugh. "Yes! Yes, it's me! You're here, you're still here!"
But then—her pupils snapped red again, her expression twisting into something feral, her wings lashing outward. The lattice of glyphs cracked under the pressure.
Zeke staggered, coughing blood. "She's splitting! Both forces are trying to claim her!"
Damien's flames roared, sweat pouring down his brow. "Then we don't let either win—we make her choose."
The ground quaked as the rift beneath Clara widened, light bleeding crimson and gold. Her body convulsed, golden veins and black fissures colliding like storms.
Evelyn held her face, ignoring the heat, ignoring the cuts. "Clara, listen to me. Forget Yurin. Forget the void. Look at me. Only me. Do you remember what you told me once? That you thought you were weak? That you thought you didn't deserve any of us?"
Clara's lips trembled, both voices warring through her throat.
"You were wrong." Evelyn pressed her forehead to hers, shadows coiling around both of them like a vow. "You are the strongest person I know. And I'm not letting you drown. Even if I have to drag you out myself."
The battlefield screamed as the rift expanded. The golden light surged again, brighter this time, resisting the crimson tide. Clara's scream tore through the air—both monstrous and human, agony and defiance tangled as one.
And then—
The rift exploded outward, consuming everything in a blinding flash of gold and red.
The last thing Evelyn felt before the shockwave hurled her away was Clara's hand tightening around hers.