The Phantom Knight charged first, its massive blade cleaving through air like thunder. Matt sidestepped, barely evading the impact crater it left behind. Sparks of void-shadow rippled across the ground.
Matt's eyes glowed now—no longer just void, but laced with crackling red. The Whisper Rift unlocked more than memory. It unlocked reflexes his body once knew.
Void Technique: Blink Slash.
He vanished from view.
Then reappeared mid-strike behind the Knight, cutting through its armor like molten steel. Shadow screamed from the wound.
But it wasn't enough.
The Knight spun with fury, flames coating its greatblade—flame not from Hell, but from Thermuz.
The lava edge struck Matt full force, sending him flying against the far wall of the tomb. His shoulder shattered stone.
Pain.
But deeper than pain—rage.
"Do you remember now?" the Knight taunted, voice grinding like metal. "Do you remember how they burned?"
Matt coughed blood, then stood. He did remember.
His mother, screaming as flames swallowed their home.
His father, shielding him in the pit.
Thermuz's lava soldiers… torching everything.
The Knight raised its blade for the final blow.
"I remember."
Matt's voice was deeper now. Layered. Echoing.
His hand surged with shadow. The Shadowsidian Sword screamed.
Void Technique: Rift Counter.
As the blade came down, Matt vanished again—then reappeared inside the Knight's guard, sword already thrusting through the creature's chest.
This time, the Phantom didn't dissolve. It collapsed, convulsing, void energy ripping through its frame until it imploded.
Ash and echoes.
Matt dropped to one knee, the floor around him glowing with new symbols. Glyphs from the old world—the Nitine language.
A sigil circle burned beneath his hand.
New memory fragment unlocked: Realm Gate — Nyuga Ruins.
Suddenly, from the collapsing body, a whisper emerged:
"The Nayron Kings… awaken…"
Matt stood in the silence.
He now knew Thermuz had led the burning.
He now knew the war never ended.
And he now knew the sealed door behind the altar… was a gateway to Nyuga.
To his real past.