The Sovereign's residual hook flared with Malevolent Precision—a final, cunning attempt to destabilize the Prime equation by attacking its key variable, Lira. Elara lunged, her Eclipse Grasp ready to sever the connection, but she recognized the danger: the hook was a Game Theory Trap, a shifting mystery lattice of probabilities that resisted simple severance.
"Fight it, Lira! Channel your Veil against the pull!" Elara commanded, even as Kairo anchored Lira physically with his shadows, protecting her from the centrifugal force of the Sovereign's drag.
Elara engaged her Ultimatum Veil, peeling the hook's layers. The Sovereign's whisper invaded their minds: "The thief's light is borrowed; your Prime's harmony crumbles with her scream." Visions of Lira's potential corrupted selves—a Syndicate Queen, a fractured hermit—assaulted Elara's consciousness, designed to erode her will and strategic focus.
Elara derived a counter-tension based on Hooke's Law (F = -k\Delta x), amplified by Dark Energy Scalars from her Eclipse Grasp. This physical counter-pull, combined with Lira's own Veiled Redemption shadows which were generating Deductive Loops to force the hook to question its own logic, caused the hook to yield.
The corruption was excised, the barbs retracting in a shower of void sparks. Elara absorbed the pure void essence left behind, integrating the chaotic energy into her system. The numbness from the void bite inverted, culminating in the final breakthrough for this realm: Unmade Echo.
Elara to Prime Reckoner Stage: Unlocked Unmade Echo—the ability to echo the Sovereign's corrupted logic back as a weapon, turning his veil of unmade mysteries against him.
Lira was stable, now at Sovereign Veil Stage, her shadows capable of unmaking cosmic lies. Their harmony was complete, but the Sovereign's fury erupted.
A Colossal Shadow Avatar detached from the forge heart, its eyes singularities of pure void. It ignored the allied fleet and speared forth, aiming straight for Elara's command craft.
The Sovereign's whisper boomed, amplified by the looming shadow: "Prime-bearer, your echoes amuse. The heart's anvil awaits—hammer the unmade truth into your core."
Elara rose, her Unmade Echo surging. She was alone, her fleet engaged with the Sovereign's defenses, Kairo pinned down by the residual chaos, and Lira still recovering. This was the final, isolated duel—the Prime Reckoner versus the Fracture Incarnate.