The confrontation was swift and brutal. Mark, fueled by a rage so profound it threatened to shatter his very being, plunged into Celestial Mode. The chamber became a vortex of elemental fury. He attacked Dr. Voss, not just with power, but with the full, unbridled force of his soul's agony. Voss, anticipating his wrath, activated her own defenses: energy shields powered by the core itself, and a cohort of Aurora-enhanced Vanguard super-soldiers who surged forward, acting as meat shields, empowered by siphoned energy.
Elias Crowe, revealing his own latent, albeit weaker, Awakened abilities, joined the fray, launching coordinated attacks designed to disorient Mark. But Mark was beyond distraction. He was a storm incarnate, moving with impossible speed, striking with earth-shattering force. He wasn't just fighting for survival; he was fighting for the desecrated memory of his parents, for his stolen childhood, for the broken world that had allowed this horror to flourish.
Lira, meanwhile, focused on the "god engine" itself. She battled against the energy siphoning from the core, using her Emotion Resonance to overwhelm the minds of the Vanguard soldiers, turning them against each other, creating diversions so Mark could focus. She knew the core was the key – not just to Dr. Voss's power, but to Mark's parents.
As Mark battled through layers of defenses, he reached Dr. Voss. Her cold, calculated cruelty, her unwavering belief in her own twisted vision, finally met its match. With a scream of fury, Mark brought down the full force of his elemental dominion, overwhelming her shields, shattering her will. Voss collapsed, her body wracked with pain, her eyes wide with a mixture of terror and grudging respect for the power she had unleashed.
Elias Crowe, seeing his empire crumble, made a desperate last stand, but he was no match for the enraged god before him. Mark disarmed him, lifted him effortlessly, and slammed him against the wall of the chamber, his golden eyes burning with judgment. "You betrayed them," Mark's voice thundered, raw with emotion. "You tortured me. You are the rot."
But as he stood, poised to deliver the killing blow, a new presence emerged from the pulsing energy core. The luminous forms of Atlas Storm and Seraphina Vale solidified, not physically, but as projections of pure consciousness. They radiated an immense, gentle power, laced with sorrow and profound love.
"Son," Atlas's voice resonated in Mark's mind, a familiar echo from stories, now real, filled with an ancient strength. "Do not let their darkness consume you."
"Our sacrifice… it was for hope, Mark," Seraphina's voice, soft as a lullaby, reached him, brimming with a mother's boundless compassion. "Not for vengeance."
They showed him, not in words, but in a surge of pure information, the full scope of his options. The core, still teeming with their harvested energy, offered a choice. He could channel its immense power, combined with his own Divine Regeneration, to fully resurrect them, bringing them back to physical life. It would be an act of unparalleled creation, a personal redemption, but it would require an immense expenditure of his own being, potentially draining his Celestial Mode, tying him back to the burdens of humanity.
Or, he could unleash the core's power, fusing it with his own Celestial Mode, to create an apocalyptic surge that would eradicate the entire corrupt global infrastructure, plunging the world into a new dark age, effectively destroying the "corrupted world" forever, cleansing it by fire and ruin. It was the ultimate act of vengeance, a total triumph over his tormentors, but it would ensure his permanent transformation into an emotionless god, his humanity utterly lost, and his parents' sacrifice rendered meaningless.
The chamber vibrated with the weight of the decision. Mark stood between two abysses: personal redemption through a profound act of creation, or absolute annihilation in a glorious, vengeful destruction. The golden light in his eyes pulsed, warring with the nascent grey, his soul torn between love and an all-consuming rage.