The Black Sun writhed.
Its voice was no longer words but a chorus of screams, a storm of fractured wills echoing across the battlefield. Chains snapped one after another, releasing shards of forbidden light that tore through the void. The ground melted. Space twisted.
And the Echo-Lord changed.
The cloak of shadowfire peeled away, revealing a body no longer bound to one form. Wings of broken glass fanned outward, each feather screaming like metal against metal. His face split into three, then four, shifting in endless flux, a thousand expressions of rage. His sword dissolved into his hand, reshaping into a living blade that pulsed with the heartbeat of the Black Sun.
Kaelen staggered backward, his instincts screaming. Even after everything he'd endured, this was something different—something wrong.
He's not just wielding the Sun anymore… he's becoming it.
Lyra's glow flickered, her knees buckling as the Seed fought to keep balance with the storm. Her breath came ragged, yet she lifted her chin, defiance burning in her eyes.
"This isn't power. It's corruption."
The Echo-Lord's new voice was a symphony of ruin.
"Corruption? No. This is truth. Unchained. Do you not feel it, Seedbearer? The freedom of surrendering self?"
He lunged. Faster than before, too fast for Kaelen to intercept. Lyra raised her hands, a golden wall forming—shattering instantly under the strike. She screamed, the force hurling her back into Kaelen's arms.
Kaelen's chest burned, his sword arm trembling. But he forced himself to rise, to face the abomination before him.
"You think freedom is obliterating who we are? Then I'll show you what strength looks like when you remember who you are."
The Echo-Lord laughed, a sound like a collapsing sun. He swung his blade again, and Kaelen met it—both men vanishing into a blur of light and shadow, every strike exploding like thunderclaps across the ruined plain.
Meanwhile, Lyra's vision blurred. Inside her, the Seed pulsed, whispering, pulling her toward the same surrender the Echo-Lord preached. She could feel the allure of it: a sea of infinite calm where there was no pain, no fear, no burden of choice.
But in that pull, she saw Kaelen. Bloody, broken, still standing.
No.
She dug her nails into her palms until they bled. I won't vanish into infinity. I'll fight for it.
And with that thought, her glow flared anew—sharper, steadier, a resonance that began to push back the storm.
The Echo-Lord snarled as his strike faltered, the first crack in his new monstrous form.
Kaelen grinned through bloodied teeth.
"She's not yours to break."
And for the first time, the Echo-Lord looked uncertain.