Valius did not attack in bursts.
He moved like liquid gold spilled into zero gravity, smooth, continuous, without a single wasted motion. Every step, every turn, every strike was part of an endless, perfectly measured dance. The spear in his hand did not merely stab or slash. It carved thin glowing cuts through the fabric of reality itself. Beyond those fractures shimmered the pure white noise of the System, an infinite torrent of zeros and ones, cold, sterile, absolute.
"Your Thanatos is the death of matter," Valius said, his voice once again grinding like ancient stone slabs. "Chaos. Decay. The end. But I am the will of the Architect. I am the law that allows matter to exist at all. You cannot defeat the foundation upon which you stand, girl."
He unleashed a series of lightning-fast strikes.
The spear became a blurred golden storm.
Astra barely managed to react. Every block rang through her bones with the heavy toll of cathedral bells, as if some invisible giant hammered directly against her skeleton. The violet threads wrapped around her shoulders and arms began to dim. They trembled and curled inward like living creatures slowly being burned alive by acid.
She realized Valius was doing something far more terrifying than merely injuring her body.
He was cutting her off.
With every strike of the spear, he surgically severed the delicate channels connecting her Spark to the accumulated agony of the Vault. The Archon's golden light functioned like a perfect insulator. The harder Astra tried to call upon the rage of the millions who had been erased, the faster Valius smothered the signal.
"You are weakening, defective," he stated calmly.
Valius feinted.
The spear snapped left as if aimed for her throat, but at the final instant he twisted the shaft and delivered a devastating blow directly into the center of her chest.
Not with the blade.
With the full weight of the weapon.
The air exploded from Astra's lungs.
The world vanished in a burst of white.
Her body tore away from the floor and flew backward like a rag doll. She smashed through the first black column of the Vault, then the second, then the third. Fragments of ancient stone and twisted digital reinforcement erupted in every direction. The pain was so sharp that for a moment Astra could not even hear her own scream.
She crashed into the fourth pillar and slid down onto the floor, leaving a streak of blood behind her.
The sword, the System Destroyer, slipped from her weakened fingers and clattered across the black tiles with a metallic cry. The blade still glowed violet, but only faintly now, uncertainly, as though even it had begun to doubt its wielder.
Astra tried to stand.
Her legs betrayed her immediately.
Something cracked inside her chest with every breath. Gold and violet stains drifted across her vision like broken stars.
Valius walked toward her slowly.
The mechanical raven perched upon his shoulder tilted its head and released a low, almost satisfied croak. The Archon's golden armor remained utterly untouched, not even scratched.
"A beautiful dance," he said, stopping several steps away. "But every dance upon a blade ends the same way."
He lowered the spear slightly.
"With blood."
Astra lifted her head.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, but violet fire still burned in her eyes, dimmer now, yet stubborn. Furious. Refusing to die.
She reached a trembling hand toward the fallen sword.
"It's… not over yet…" she rasped.
Valius merely smirked and raised the spear once more, preparing the final strike.