The tower shook.
The Eclipse Engine screamed a sound like a million dying stars and the door at its heart began to open. Not physically. Conceptually. Reality itself cracked, revealing a darkness beyond darkness, a void beyond void.
And from that void, something reached.
Lee saw it a hand made of shadow and hunger, fingers longer than mountains, nails sharper than despair. It reached through the door, through the engine, through the tower, and closed around Inyocha's throat.
"You..." the Hollow King whispered. Its voice was the sound of universes ending. "You promised me a feast. You promised me souls. But you hesitate. You feel. You care."
"I changed my mind," Inyocha gasped, clawing at the shadow hand. "I made a mistake."
"Mistakes have consequences, little key." The hand tightened. "You opened the door. Now I will walk through it. And everything you love will burn."
"No!" Lee swung Onyx Tempest at the shadow hand. The blade passed through it like smoke but the golden light burned, searing the darkness, making the Hollow King hiss.
"Light Bringer," the King said, turning its attention to Lee. "I know you. I've been waiting for you. Your soul... it's the brightest I've ever seen. It will taste glorious."
"You're not going to taste anything," Lee said. "You're going back to wherever you came from. And you're never coming back."
The Hollow King laughed a sound that made the tower tremble and the souls in the engine scream.
"You cannot defeat me, child. I am older than your suns. I have consumed galaxies. I have watched civilizations rise and fall like mayflies. You are nothing. Nothing."
"Maybe," Lee said. "But I'm not alone."
He looked at his friends.
Kira stepped forward, fire blazing from her hands. "Not alone."
Taro stepped forward, his body coiling like a spring. "Not alone."
Ren stepped forward, his shadow form towering behind him. "Not alone."
And Inyocha choking, dying, but freeing raised his hand and pointed at the Hollow King.
"Not alone," he whispered.
The golden light in Lee's chest exploded.
It filled the tower. It filled the engine. It filled the door to the void beyond the stars. And for one shining moment, the Hollow King screamed not in anger, but in pain.
"THIS ISN'T OVER!" the King roared, retreating back through the door. "I WILL RETURN! I WILL CONSUME EVERYTHING! I WILL "
The door slammed shut.
The engine went dark.
And Inyocha Han collapsed.