The black storm group resistance was like a drop of water falling onto the sun. Kael'than's energy hand was still descending, slowly, unstoppably. The perfect order it carried was about to erase everything that made them who they were.
"if only... this isn't enough," Ember whispered, her voice full of bitterness. She knew there was only one last chance. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the Sun-Core - the solar core, an essence containing the entire heat attribute of a sun, something she always carried with her as a reminder of her sin. It was blazing hot and vibrating in her hand like a miniature heart.
"Teron! Catch it!" Ember screamed, throwing the Sun-Core towards the spider-boy.
Teron, struggling against being "formatted," startled, caught it. Immediately, the screen on his face lit up: WARNING: CRITICAL_ENERGY_OVERLOAD! But Ember had no other choice.
"Absorb it! And channel ALL the energy into me! NOW!" She commanded, her eyes fixed on the colossal hand approaching.
Teron understood. He clenched the Sun-Core, letting the pure, destructive solar energy flood his system. The circuits on his body glowed brightly, smoke rising from his joints.
Then he pointed his hand towards Ember, releasing a beam of bright, golden light, hot as the core of a miniature sun, piercing directly into her chest.
ARRRGGGHHH!
Ember screamed in agony. Her body ignited. Her bright red hair transformed into a plasma halo. The protective suit on her body melted away, revealing skin shimmering with fire. Her eyes, both blue and violet, now blazed with the white-yellow light of the sun. She had become an Inferno Entity, a living torch bearing the power of a star.
She shot into the air, leaving a long trail of fire across the sky, charging straight into the palm of Kael'than's energy hand.
A terrifying explosion occurred. The solar light from Ember tore through the perfect order of the energy hand. The golden lines were shattered, mathematical equations dissolved. For a moment, it seemed she had succeeded.
But only for a moment.
The energy hand trembled slightly. Then, the broken lines began to automatically repair themselves. They rearranged themselves thousands of times faster than Ember's destructive speed. Her solar power was analyzed, understood, and neutralized instantly. It was absorbed completely, without a single spark remaining, like a drop of water falling into a desert.
Ember, with all her energy depleted, fell like a moth drawn to flame, smoke billowing from her body. She had failed completely.
"Ember!" Celeste screamed.
Kael'than's hand, now unobstructed, continued its descent. The perfect order was about to consume them.
In that moment of despair, Celeste suddenly jolted. Her galaxy eyes widened. A voice, both familiar and distant, echoed in her mind, not from the present, but from the future.
"Celeste... it's time." It was Stella's voice.
Memories of her encounter in the parallel universe, where she accidentally swallowed the wormhole and met the adult version of herself, came flooding back. She remembered Stella saying: "I will leave a gift... a small gate hidden deep within you. When the time comes, open it."
"Stella...?" Celeste whispered.
"Yes. He, Kael'than, is the enemy of all free entities. He wants to turn everything into perfect puppets. You cannot fight him. But I can. Relax... and SWALLOW the gate in your heart!"
Celeste didn't hesitate. Deep within her body, at her central core, a small "candy" she had always felt but never been able to touch, was now vibrating. She focused all her will, not trying to spit it out, but swallowing it down deeper.
A miniature wormhole, hidden by Stella within Celeste's very being from their last meeting, was activated.
The space in front of Celeste twisted violently. A space-time running countless times faster than the present. A tear of pitch black, completely different from Kael'than's pure white, opened up. From within it, an entity stepped out.
It was Stella.
But not the Stella, Celeste had met before. She was taller, more majestic. Her skin was transparent like black glass, inside which a whole galaxy swirled destructively, stars constantly exploding and dying. Her long white hair flowed like rivers of meteor showers. Her eyes were two deep black holes, emanating a primitive and ruthless power.
Stella, the complete version, the true Cosmic Catastrophe.