The collision of energies lit up the sky like a second sun. Miguel felt the force pushing him back, his golden nodes blazing with the effort to hold the blast at bay.
"Miguel!" his friends shouted below, and he felt their energy flowing into him—Lia's wind, Kiko's earth, Maya's water, Rene's stars, and the power of every Aswang fighting beside them. The Kristal ng Potensyal glowed brighter than ever, weaving all their different cultivation paths into a single, unified force.
"This isn't just my fight," Miguel said, his voice carrying across the battlefield. "It's ours—all of us, every kind of Aswang, every creature that calls this world home!"
The unified energy surged forward, pushing back the leader's corrupted blast. The stolen nodes on his body began to glow uncontrollably, their conflicting energies no longer able to be contained.
"What… what is this?" the leader gasped, stumbling backward. "I have more power than any single cultivator—how can you stand against me?"
"Because you stand alone," Miguel replied, moving forward with the combined strength of all his allies. "Power means nothing without purpose. Strength means nothing without compassion. You've taken everything and given nothing in return—and now the balance you've broken is coming for you."
He struck the leader with a fist wrapped in unified energy, and this time the blow landed true. The leader cried out as the stolen nodes began to separate, their energies trying to return to their rightful places.