Echo looked at Leyla and Mira—his bonded, his reason to fight. He felt their fear, their resolve, their love.
He made a choice.
He reached into the bond, not to take energy, but to give—to push his anomaly nature into them, fully, without restraint.
"Take my power! Use it!"
Leyla's eyes blazed silver-white. Mira's hands glowed with starfire. The bond between them became a conduit for something primal, something that was neither Order nor Corruption, but new.
They attacked as one.
Leyla became a streak of cutting moonlight, tearing through Vex'thal's tendrils. Mira folded space around the entity, compressing it. Echo used the Lockpick again, this time on Vex'thal itself.
The Dawn-Class entity screamed as its control frayed. It was not used to being harmed.
They planted the Star-Killer charge at its shimmering core.
"Detonate in ten! Go!"
They ran, Mira warping space to propel them. Behind, Vex'thal realized its fate and howled in rage, lashing out with one final beam of corrupting energy.
It struck Echo in the back.
He felt the corruption seep in, cold and hungry. His anomaly nature fought it, but it was a Dawn-Class's dying curse.
They reached the extraction point, the shuttle grabbing them as the charge detonated.
Vex'thal died in a silent, expanding ring of light.
They had won.
But as the shuttle jumped to safety, Echo collapsed, his skin pale, violet veins crawling up his neck.
Leyla held him, screaming his name. Mira tried to heal him, but the corruption was rooted deep.
Echo's vision darkened.
The last thing he felt was their hands on him, their voices pleading.
Then, nothing.