Elira's blades descended like falling stars.
Russ didn't flinch.
At the last moment, the Codex pulsed. A veil of pure void formed around him, absorbing the impact like a sponge to fire. Her blades stopped inches from his heart, suspended in stasis. Her eyes widened—not with fear, but fascination.
"You've truly become something else," she whispered.
"I became what you forced me to be," Russ replied. His voice echoed unnaturally, layered with a thousand fragments of himself across countless timelines.
Elira twisted, flipping backward, landing like a predator ready to pounce again. "Good. That means you're finally worth killing."
From behind, Layla hurled a sphere of compressed kinetic force. Elira sidestepped, barely grazed, and spun into a lunge. Minx appeared behind her mid-strike, daggers flashing—only to be met with Elira's counter-kick that sent her flying across the plateau.
Geo shouted, "We're losing ground—everywhere!"
Below the plateau, Dominion troops pushed forward like a red tide. Juggernauts tore through rock, war mages scorched the air. Though Layla, Minx, and the rebels fought with fury, their numbers were thin—and thinning.
But above all, it was Russ who held their hope.
The Gate behind him was no longer just a portal. It had evolved. Grown. Wings of pure void extended from its apex, reaching into the stars. Lines of ancient script flowed along its surface like rivers of light and shadow.
And Russ… he had stopped speaking entirely.
His eyes were gone—replaced by swirling galaxies. His body hovered several feet off the ground, limbs outstretched. Runes glowed from beneath his skin. He was no longer controlling the Codex.
He was merging with it.
Elira sensed it too.
"No," she snarled. "You will not ascend beyond me."
She leapt again, faster this time. Layla and Geo both intercepted, but she bent time around herself—arriving behind Russ in a flash.
Her blade rose.
Then it shattered.
A single word echoed through the air:
"No."
Russ hadn't spoken it. The Gate had.
A tendril of nothingness lashed out from the structure and wrapped around Elira, flinging her across the battlefield like a doll. She screamed as she hit the ground, the blood-armor around her fracturing.
Russ turned slowly.
Not with anger.
Not with fear.
But with divine clarity.
He spoke not to Elira… but to the sky.
"This world has bled long enough," he declared. "Let it be rewritten."
With a thought, the Codex burst.
Thousands of particles soared from his spine, scattering across the sky like meteors. Each one struck the battlefield—and each one rewrote a single law of nature.
Gravity twisted.
Time unraveled.
Flames froze.
Stone breathed.
The Dominion forces faltered in confusion. Some turned to run. Others dropped their weapons, screaming in terror. A Juggernaut turned to dust. A war mage's spell looped endlessly before exploding in his face.
And in the eye of the storm—Russ floated, still rising.
Layla looked up, eyes filled with awe. "He's becoming… something more than a Veilbearer."
Geo shook his head. "He's becoming the Void's Warden."
Elira stood, bruised, bloodied, and furious. "I won't let you take my crown, brother!"
Russ finally looked at her.
"I don't want your crown," he said calmly. "I want your end."
The ground split beneath her.
And the Gate began to devour everything she had built.