The crater was still smoking.
Ash and golden dust drifted through the air like snow — the aftermath of divine and frost power intertwined.
Liyana Lufinze stood at the edge of the pit, her silver hair flowing like silk, eyes glowing faintly gold.
Beside her, Sylus Varellis tightened her grip on her icy sword, her breath fogging the air.
And below them—
Something moved.
A crack split the earth, oozing black liquid mana that hissed like molten acid. The entire island shook again, louder than before.
From the chasm, a voice rose — neither man nor beast.
> "T̵h̶e̷r̷e̵ ̵i̵s̵ ̶n̵o̶ ̷l̵i̵g̷h̸t̵ ̵w̴i̷t̶h̶o̷u̷t̵ ̷t̵h̶e̸ ̶v̶o̴i̶d̴…"
Liyana's jaw clenched. "It's regenerating… it's not an entity. It's a fragment."
Sylus frowned. "A fragment of what?"
Liyana's tone dropped cold — almost divine. "Of the Void's Will. Something that shouldn't exist in this world."
The black liquid gathered, forming into a humanoid mass again — smaller now, but denser, its single eye gleaming red like a star collapsing.
---
🏫 Observation Hall – Academy
Panic flooded the room.
Mana screens crackled. Students gasped as the live feed distorted, colors warping.
Asfi clutched Chroma's arm. "Darling, that thing's power—it's beyond EX+. It's… evolving."
Chroma's expression hardened. "If it stabilizes, not even Alice could contain it."
Principal Alice Valefor's calm voice cut through the panic. "Contain it? No, dear Chroma… watch it."
Chroma turned sharply. "Principal—"
Alice smiled, eyes half-lidded. "This is the perfect test for the next generation. For your precious students… and for my apprentice's successor."
Asfi pouted. "You say that like you're not worried at all."
Alice smirked, gaze fixed on the screen. "Oh, I am. But if Liyana loses control, I'll just erase that thing from existence myself."
---
🌌 The Battlefield
The shadowy entity fully reformed, now leaner, sharper — its arms elongated into blades, its mana thick like tar.
Sylus raised her sword, frost condensing around her. "We're doing this together?"
Liyana nodded. "Together. I'll burn the sky, you freeze the ground."
Sylus grinned. "Sounds poetic."
The entity lunged forward — impossibly fast. The ground exploded under its step.
Liyana's wings of light burst open, golden feathers scattering through the air as she countered with a palm strike that sent shockwaves of starlight.
> [Celestial Art: Starlit Pulse!]
Sylus spun midair.
> [Royal Art: Frost Cyclone Blades!]
The island was split by two waves — fire and ice colliding, carving the horizon into colorless light.
The creature screamed, its body twisting, melting and reforming again.
It thrust its blade arm toward Liyana — she blocked it with her bare hand, starlight bleeding down her arm like liquid gold.
Then —
> "Li…yana…"
Her body froze.
That voice — that tone. It wasn't random. It said her name.
Sylus looked at her. "Did it just—say your name?"
The entity's single eye glowed brighter.
> "YoU… sHaLLeD mY KiNd…"
The world trembled. Liyana's expression darkened — her pupils turned into glowing draconic slits.
> [Celestial Suppression: 0.020% Released]
Her power burst outward — divine pressure crushing everything around her. The forest flattened. The sea recoiled.
Sylus staggered back, barely holding her stance. "Holy—Liyana, are you trying to destroy the island!?"
"I'm trying to protect what's left of it!"
She took a deep breath — the air around her shimmered like stars.
Then—
> [Celestial Breath: Starfire Burst!]
A beam of golden inferno roared from her mouth, swallowing the entire crater.
The explosion reached the clouds, painting the skies in gold and white.
Sylus raised both hands, casting frost domes to protect herself and Sho's unconscious body.
---
When the light faded, silence reigned.
Half the island was gone. The sea poured inward, turning into steam from residual heat.
Liyana panted heavily, kneeling, sweat dripping down her cheek.
Sylus lowered her barrier, coughing slightly. "You're insane."
Liyana smirked faintly. "You're welcome."
But before either could relax—
The earth pulsed again.
The black crystal veins spread wider, connecting like roots. In the center, a massive eye opened — larger than a castle.
> "ThE… eYe… oF tHe VoId… SeEs…"
Sylus fell silent. "It's not just regenerating… it's calling something."
Liyana's expression hardened. "Then we stop it now."
---
💫 Sho Awakens
Amid the chaos, a faint light flickered from Sho's chest. His system pulsed.
> [Warning: Catastrophic Mana Surge Detected.]
[Do you wish to awaken emergency synchronization mode?]
[YES] / [NO]
His eyes snapped open — golden with streaks of red.
"...What the hell… happened here?"
He sat up, clutching his head, looking at the two girls fighting the monstrous eye.
"Liyana?! Sylus?!"
Liyana looked back, relief washing through her expression for a second — then turned sharply, shouting,
"Sho! Don't move! That thing—"
But before she could finish, the massive eye focused on him.
> "HeIr… oF tHe ArDeNtHaL…"
Sho froze. "What… did it just say?"
The ground cracked beneath him.
Sylus cursed. "It knows you?!"
Liyana gritted her teeth. "Stay behind me!"
The shadow's tendrils surged toward them — endless, like the night sky coming alive.
Sylus raised her sword. Liyana flared her wings. Sho clenched his fists, mana crackling through his veins.
Three lights — gold, blue, and crimson — shone against the endless dark.
---
🕯 Observation Hall
Principal Alice finally stood, the air around her distorting slightly. "Well, this is escalating."
Asfi grabbed Chroma's sleeve. "Darling, that boy—his mana signature's changing!"
Chroma's eyes widened as the readings spiked.
"...That's not human synchronization. That's… something else."
Alice smiled faintly. "Ardenthal… huh. It seems fate likes to make things dramatic."
---
⚡ Back to the Field
The void creature screeched — its massive eye splitting into countless smaller ones.
> "ThE gAtE WiLL oPEn…"
The sky cracked open like shattered glass. Lightning poured down — reality bending, distorting into shadowed corridors.
Liyana's wings flared. "Not while I'm still breathing."
She turned to Sylus and Sho, her tone calm yet resolute.
"You two—when I give the signal, focus everything you have on the core beneath the eye. That's its heart."
Sylus nodded. "Got it."
Sho: "What about you?"
Liyana smiled softly — her divine glow intensifying.
"I'll keep it busy."
She took a step forward — the stars seemed to move with her.
Then, with a breath that shook the heavens—
> [Celestial Breath: Divine Starstorm!]
Golden meteors rained down from the heavens.
The void screamed.
And as Sylus and Sho charged, the light of destiny and darkness collided once more — a battle that would echo far beyond the island itself.
---
To Be Continued... 🌌