The battlefield trembled as the Void Knight lifted its weapon, a blade of obsidian fire that cut the sky in half. Each swing birthed shockwaves that shredded the ground, tearing the labyrinth's remnants into drifting shards.
Kaelen charged first, his phaseblade igniting in a storm of light. The clash was like thunder made flesh—steel against starless flame. The impact hurled him back, skidding across the fractured plain. His arm shook, nearly shattered from the force.
"Kaelen!" Lyra cried, raising her hands. Her aura flared, golden light spiraling upward into a shield that caught the Knight's follow-up strike. The shield cracked but held, sparks raining like molten stars.
"Together," Kaelen growled, forcing himself to stand.
They moved in perfect rhythm—Kaelen striking low and fast, Lyra weaving light to deflect the killing blows. Each attack chipped fragments of shadow-armor from the Knight's massive frame. But the entity adapted. Its next roar sent a storm of phantoms spilling from its body, hundreds of shrieking forms clawing toward them.
Rhyss leapt into the fray, his cannons blazing arcs of blue plasma. "Don't think you're dancing without me!" He tore through swathes of phantoms, though each one dissolved only to reform seconds later.
Ceyra's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and furious. "Its core is in the chest—strike when I give the opening!" Her gauntlet glowed as she fired a stream of crystalline shards, burrowing into the Knight's armor and exposing cracks of molten void beneath.
Kaelen didn't hesitate. He sprinted up the length of the Knight's leg, phaseblade sparking as he climbed toward the weak point. The colossal hand swung to crush him, but Lyra's light surged—blinding, radiant—forcing the giant back just long enough.
Kaelen drove his blade into the glowing fissure. The Knight screamed, a sound that tore the void itself, and its massive body faltered.
But instead of falling, it split open—its chest becoming a gateway, a swirling rift of pure black sunfire.
The Echo-Lord's voice resonated through the collapse, deeper and closer than ever:
"You have opened the gate yourselves. Now, step into my heart… and be consumed."
The Knight disintegrated, leaving only the yawning rift. Its pull was irresistible, dragging dust, stone, and even the fractured pieces of labyrinth into its maw.
Kaelen braced himself, grabbing Lyra's hand. She met his eyes, determination burning hotter than fear.
"Then we go," she whispered.
And together, with Rhyss and Ceyra diving after them, they hurled themselves into the rift—straight into the black sun's heart.