"Lord Shi Hu! LORD SHI HU!" Li Ju's skeletal jaws clattered in terror.
From the crater's depths came a roar: "Cease your wailing, worm! I yet breathe!" The mangled husk of Shi Hu's body rocketed upward, trailing black ichor.
Li Ju's eye sockets flared with relief. "My liege! You li—"
"'Live'?" Shi Hu's spectral form seethed, fleshless jaws gaping. "Centuries spent reforging this vessel—reduced to carrion by insects!" A kick sent the skeletal vizier tumbling. His burning gaze locked on Zhao Rui and Dun Che. "Your souls shall scream in the Soulforge for eons!"
A black wraith erupted from his ruined flesh—a vortex of shadows devouring nearby undead. Skeletons collapsed as their soulfires vanished into the maelstrom.
"Soul Devour!" Mei Tian wheezed. "He mends himself by consuming lesser spirits! Stop him… or all is lost!"
Zhao Rui watched in horror as Shi Hu's spectral mass ballooned—a living storm blotting the sky. Dun Che staggered, bloodied from the earlier assault. Their window was closing.
"One more shot," Mei Tian gasped. "Channel… our qi… into the bow."
Zhao Rui hesitated. Merging foreign energies risked rupturing his meridians. Yet as Shi Hu's shadow loomed, he nodded.
Hands pressed against him—Dun Che's clawed grip, Mei Tian's trembling palm, a dozen demon spirits pouring their essence into his veins. Fire erupted in Zhao Rui's channels as conflicting energies clashed. He screamed, yet held the Raksha's Bow steady.
The azure arrow blazed brighter than dawn.
Shi Hu's hurricane-form dove, maw wide enough to swallow temples. "DIE, MORTAL!"
"NOW!" Dun Che roared.
Zhao Rui released.
The arrow tore reality—a comet of condensed souls. Shi Hu's howl shook the underworld as light pierced his core. The spectral storm imploded, compressing into a singularity…
*BOOM—*
The detonation hurled Zhao Rui backward. When the ash settled, only fading violet motes remained where the Wraith King had raged.
Li Ju's bones rattled in the silence. "…Impossible."
Dun Che collapsed, grinning through bloodied fangs. "Sister… avenged."
Mei Tian's breath rasped like parchment. "The bow… it worked. But…" His milky eyes narrowed at the lingering sparks. "Can darkness… truly die?"