Khael raised his head, scales flickering across his jaw, wings tearing wider with a snap of green flame. His voice cut like steel, low but unshakable.
"Then it's my turn."
His eyes met Shigeo's.
"SHIGEO…NOW!"
The shout was not loud, but it carried weight older than his thirteen years a command born of every path that had led to this moment.
Shigeo's palms clapped together. The Thousand Way lattice burst into being one final time white lightning etching a blueprint in the open air. Infinite futures spun outward, twisting, collapsing, until only one filament remained. One crimson thread pulsed with inevitability: the future where Sloth's fractured souls could be forced into a single blade.
"Protect Khael!" Shigeo barked. "This is the only thread!"
The veterans struck as one.
Zeke's magma erupted, walls of molten fire cutting off Sloth's reach.
Raiden's thunder lashed chains of lightning across the monster's arms, pinning them in place.
