The Veil of Echoes exploded into chaos.
Shadow-forms poured from the rift like an endless tide, twisting and reshaping into monstrous shapes—serpents of smoke, talons of living night. The Harbinger stood at their center, unmoving, as if the slaughter to come was beneath his notice.
"Form a perimeter!" Kaelen shouted. His blade ignited with blue fire as he charged, slashing through the first wave. Ceyra and Rhyss fell in beside him, weapons spitting plasma and kinetic rounds into the darkness.
The silver-eyed beings moved like living lightning—vanishing and reappearing in flashes of white, tearing shadow apart with bare hands that glowed like stars.
And at the center of it all, Lyra ascended.
The Seed's energy wrapped around her in spiraling rings of light. When she raised her hand, towers of crystal erupted from the ground, impaling shadow-creatures in bursts of radiance. Her voice echoed in the minds of everyone present:
"The Veil will hold. I will make it hold."
"Impressive," the Harbinger finally said. With a lazy flick of his hand, a wave of pure void-energy tore through the battlefield, hurling silver-eyed warriors like ragdolls. Kaelen barely held his ground, shield flaring against the impact.
Lyra turned to face him, her eyes no longer human. "You cannot have this world," she said.
"I don't want this world," the Harbinger replied softly. "I want all of them."
Above them, the rift widened, showing glimpses of alien worlds far beyond—cities of glass shattering, moons aflame, fleets of unknown factions mobilizing in response to a single cosmic signal: the Seed has awakened.
From one of those distant worlds, Admiral Veyric's fleet altered course. From another, Seer Azhira opened her blind eyes and whispered to unseen followers: "The war begins."
Back in the Veil, the Harbinger drew his weapon—a blade of living night, pulsing like a heartbeat. "Come then, little sparks," he said, raising it. "Burn for me."
Kaelen's pulse thundered. "Stay behind me," he told Lyra.
Her luminous gaze fixed on the Harbinger. "No," she whispered. "This time, we burn him."
And the battlefield erupted as she unleashed the full power of the Infinity Seed.