The shattered remnants of the Falzath enforcer dissolved into drifting void ash, the silence that followed ringing louder than battle cries. The obsidian walls groaned. Deep within the stronghold, something shifted.
"The core… It's collapsing," Shin muttered, his foxfire tails twitching with unease.
A deep pulse resonated from below, and the floor beneath them cracked. Fissures laced through the stone, and violet light burst through them like infected veins.
"We need to move!" Laverna shouted.
They turned back toward the spiraling stairwell, only to see it fracture and fall into an abyss of roiling void energy. Crystalline webs sprouted from the walls, and from them, creatures birthed from nightmares spilled forth.
Lesser voidspawn.
Spindly arachnids of black crystal, their too-many legs skittering across the stone, their whispers mimicking the trio's deepest fears in a cacophony of distorted voices. The ground trembled as dozens poured into the hall, their crystalline bodies reflecting the violet light in a kaleidoscope of horror.
Zera stepped forward, her blade glowing as if it fed on defiance. "I'll carve us a path."
She dashed forward, her sword a blazing arc of light. Each slash cleaved through a horde of voidlings, sending splinters of black crystal scattering like shrapnel.
The impacts shattered obsidian pillars, their fragments exploding outward and embedding into the walls. Tremors from her strikes loosened the ceiling, and massive chunks of stone crashed down, crushing voidspawn and sending shockwaves that cracked the floor further.
The hall became a gauntlet of falling debris and flickering violet light, the air thick with dust and the screech of dying creatures.
Shin vanished in a burst of violet foxfire, reappearing ahead in a blur of motion. His blade, Yoshimatsu, tore through enemies with surgical precision, each strike unleashing a shockwave that ripped up the floor, sending slabs of stone and crystal flying.
The sheer force of his attacks carved jagged trenches through the hall, exposing glowing void veins beneath that pulsed in rhythm with the collapsing core. He teleported again, his tails flaring as he sliced through a cluster of voidlings, their shattered remains igniting in bursts of violet flame that scorched the walls, leaving blackened scars.
Laverna followed, her jamadhars glowing with swirling air magic. A barrier of rotating wind blades enveloped her as she sprinted, the gusts tearing at the surrounding debris.
She twisted through narrow gaps in the rubble, launching wind blasts that shattered voidspawn like glass, their fragments raining down in a glittering storm. One powerful gust redirected a collapsing archway, hurling it into a swarm of voidlings.
The massive stone structure crashed with a thunderous boom, crushing the creatures beneath its weight and sending a shockwave that toppled nearby pillars, their collapse shaking the entire chamber.
Their route led them toward a giant arch lined with void crystals—the exit.
But then, the beast came.
It dropped from the ceiling with a roar that buckled the stone, the sound warping into a guttural scream: "Zera Dragonheart! You will not escape here, not while I draw breath!"
The force of its arrival shattered the ceiling above, sending massive chunks of obsidian raining down, each impact cratering the floor. Its form was vaguely serpentine, but grotesquely wrong—a writhing mass of limbs, void tendrils, and maws stitched together by nightmare.
Its body slithered and pulsed, trailing black ichor that melted the stone, leaving sizzling pits that glowed with violet light. The air grew thick with despair, the beast's presence amplifying the Falzath's corruption.
"Another one?" Zera growled.
"This one guards the heart," Shin muttered. "It's the last failsafe."
The creature shrieked and launched itself forward.
Shin went first. His blade flashed, severing one of its limbs, but the beast regenerated instantly. A void pulse erupted from its chest, sending Shin flying into a pillar, which exploded on impact.
Zera retaliated, slashing through two limbs, but they reformed, and tentacles whipped toward her. She parried, her blade skimming through the air, and leapt backward as the ground beneath her feet caved in.
"It feeds off despair," Laverna called. "We have to overwhelm it!"
She drew deeply from her well of Kitsune magic.
A spiral of wind formed at her feet. She leapt, spinning midair, her jamadhars drawing in elemental energy. She landed hard, unleashing a tornado burst.
It staggered the beast—but not for long.
A void rift tore open beneath her.
The beast lunged.
"LAVERNA!" Shin shouted, launching toward her.
But she didn't flinch. She threw her arms wide and unleashed all the energy she had left.
A gale-force explosion knocked the creature back, but the force sent her tumbling toward the rift.
Zera moved.
She grabbed Laverna's wrist at the last moment, anchoring herself with her blade driven into the stone. "I've got you!"
The wind howled. The void hissed. Crystals exploded in the walls as the entire stronghold began to collapse. Void energy surged from every direction, and the beast, though injured, readied one final charge.
Shin stood.
His tails flared, eight of them now, radiant with crimson-gold light.
"You want despair? I'll give you fury."
He dashed forward in a blur. Yoshimatsu activated, vibrating in high-frequency mode. Lightning crackled, carving deep into the floor. Each step destroyed everything behind him.
He clashed with the beast mid-charge.
Blade met the void. The resulting explosion vaporized the hall's upper levels. Zera and Laverna shielded themselves with overlapping magic barriers, the blast pushing them toward the exit.
Shin roared, unleashing Mangetsu again—his blade spinning in wide arcs, scattering moon-like slashes that tore through the creature.
Each cut destabilized its form.
Zera leapt in, plunging her sword into the creature's flank. Blue light poured through it, freezing segments of its void flesh.
Laverna, coughing, still managed to spin once more and hurl a final gust of compressed air that shattered its head.
The beast shrieked.
And died.
Its body imploded into ash, sucked into the collapsing void with a deafening roar. The shockwave from its destruction carved a deeper crater into the hall, the edges glowing with residual void energy.
The stronghold could take no more.
Everything began to fall. The walls crumbled, their obsidian surfaces dissolving into violet mist. The chasm below widened, swallowing the remaining debris as the core's collapse accelerated.
Shin grabbed both girls and vaulted upward through the crumbling arch. A cascade of falling debris followed them, but his tails shielded them like a dome of fire and light.
They reached the surface just as the stronghold gave out.
A dome of violet energy collapsed inward. Crystals shattered. Obsidian towers crumbled like sand. Then, a deafening silence.
A crater was all that remained.
The ground was scorched, blackened with void ash. Nothing stood where the stronghold once loomed. The skies cleared slightly, moonlight spilling over the battlefield.
Laverna collapsed, breath ragged. "We made it."
Zera sank beside her. "Barely."
Shin remained standing, eyes on the crater. "That was just one nest. And Voryn is still out there."
Laverna looked up at him. "We stopped the wave, Shin. You said it yourself: one step at a time."
He looked at them both. Their faces bloodied, clothes torn, but eyes still burning.
He nodded slowly.
"You're right. We lived. That matters. And next time, we strike first."
Rain began to fall, washing away the soot.
Three warriors stood at the edge of ruin, not as survivors.
But as a promise:
Essaterra would not fall.
Not while they were still standing.