The storm over Future Pride had never been darker. Neon lights flickered beneath a sky cracked with violet lightning — the clash between Ignis and Vexar painted the heavens in chaos. From the tallest spire of the city, their powers collided like living storms — flame against void, creation against destruction.
Every strike shattered windows for miles. Holographic billboards glitched and died, broadcasting static instead of hope. People below watched in awe and terror as two godlike figures tore through their world.
"Still clinging to your light, Ronak?" Vexar's voice was a whisper and a roar at once — distorted by the pulsing corruption of the plasma storm within him. "You think fire can save them? Fire only devours."
Ignis's eyes blazed with golden fury. "You lost faith, Vexar. Urja believed in something bigger—"
"Urja's belief killed him!" Vexar interrupted, unleashing a shockwave of void energy that sent Ignis crashing through a holo-dome. "And soon it will kill you too."
The world fractured around them. Ignis tried to summon balance — earth beneath his feet, light in his palms, air swirling through the storm — but his emotions boiled over. The grief, the anger, the fear... they twisted his flame. It surged uncontrolled, flaring crimson instead of gold.
And then — it happened.
A blast of unstable fire erupted from him, spiraling into the city below. Towers ignited. Energy conduits exploded. Future Pride screamed. The people who once cheered his name now fled from his light.
"Saurabh!" he shouted, spotting his best friend among the chaos — trying to evacuate civilians from a collapsing plaza.
Before Ignis could reach him, a falling energy shard struck. The explosion threw Saurabh across the street, blood marking the pavement.
"No!" Ignis fell to his knees beside him, trembling hands trying to heal, but the fire that once gave life only burned hotter, unstable. Tears cut through the soot on his face.
Then came Urja. The old hero, his armor fractured, his energy dimming, landed between Ignis and Vexar. His voice was weak, but his presence commanded silence.
"Enough, both of you."
He looked at Ignis — at Ronak — with the tenderness of a father.
"The flame doesn't choose who's worthy. You do."
Urja turned toward Vexar, sadness clouding his glowing eyes. "You were my brother once, Vexar. Let me end this... before the world burns with us."
Before Ignis could stop him, Urja summoned the last of his strength. His body ignited in pure, white plasma — the original "ALL IN ONE" light. The air itself shimmered as he drew both their chaotic energies inward, forming a radiant sphere.
"Urja! No!" Ignis screamed, reaching for him — but the light was too bright, too fierce.
Urja smiled faintly through the blinding glow.
"Don't let the flame die with me... make it mean something."
The explosion silenced everything.
Buildings turned to silhouettes against the white storm.
Then — darkness.
When the light faded, Urja was gone.
Vexar had vanished into the shadows.
And Ignis stood alone amid the ruins of Future Pride, ash swirling around him like snow.
He fell to his knees, his symbol — the phoenix — flickering weakly across broken screens.
His wings were gone. His mentor was gone. His fire felt... hollow.
For the first time since the storm, Ronak — Ignis — felt truly human again.
Broken.
But deep within that pain, something stirred.
Not rage. Not guilt.
A spark.
A promise.
The phoenix may have fallen...
...but the ashes still glowed.