The sky bled orange.
Matt stood at the edge of Hollow Sky's southern cliff, the Shadowsidian Blade resting in the stone beside him. Lava trembled in the cracks beneath the mountain. The earth was rumbling—not from the Void this time, but from something older.
Something angry.
Below the mountain, rivers of molten fire erupted. The Selvage Army had arrived—Thermuz's hellborn horde.
They marched with flame-burdened footsteps, each warrior a hybrid of scorched skeleton and magma-bound beasts. At their front, mounted on a massive Lava Ravager with four clawed arms and a furnace jaw, stood Thermuz, the Ash Tyrant.
"Let the Hollow Sky choke on its own courage," he roared. His voice rolled like an eruption. "Burn the resistance. Smother the flame."
The Ravagers howled.
Inside the mountain's core, Sam activated the Rift beacons. "They're coming in too fast. These things... they melt steel like butter."
Grey, covered in glyph ash, slammed another arc-charged barrier onto the floor. "Tell Matt we're gonna die with style!"
Mailane tightened her grip on the Shadowsidian Sword. The Soulflare mark on her neck shimmered faintly.
"I'll hold the Gate," she said. "Go. Help the others."
"No," Grey said. "We hold it together."
Matt descended the mountain like a comet.
He summoned the Void Mantle, partially transforming—his wings unfurling, eyes burning like collapsing stars.
Thermuz spotted him mid-air.
"Ahhh... the Flame Reborn. Come closer. I want to see how loud your bones scream when they melt."
Matt landed like a meteor, the stone floor cracking underfoot.
"No words," Matt said. "Just fire."
Their battle ignited.
Flame met Void.
Fist met blade.
Lava surged across the battlefield.
Thermuz struck with molten gauntlets that created volcano bursts on impact. Each punch carried a chain reaction—lava quakes, firestorms, and soul-burning heat.
Matt countered with Void phase steps, blinking between attacks, letting flame wash through him.
But it burned.
The fire wasn't just physical. It attacked memory.
He staggered, seeing flickers—his mother's face, Nyuga burning, Amiya's silence at his trial.
Thermuz laughed.
"This flame feeds on your regret. The more guilt you carry, the brighter it burns!"
Matt dropped to one knee.
And then—he whispered:
"Good. Let it burn everything I hate about myself."
He roared—Void + Flame igniting into a new fusion.
A new form: Ashen Celestial Mode.
Wings of blackened flame. Sigils scorched into skin. Void aura pulsing like a heartbeat of vengeance.
He stood.
And the mountain shook.
Mailane saw the light from above.
Sam whispered, "He's changing again."
Grey grinned. "If we live through this, I'm getting a tattoo of that glow."
Matt clashed with Thermuz one last time.
Their auras collided—lava and void exploding outward. The Hollow Sky cracked—but held.
Matt gripped Thermuz by the throat.
"I don't fear fire."
He drove the Shadowsidian Blade through Thermuz's core.
The Ash Tyrant screamed—and exploded in a storm of molten dust.
The battlefield went quiet.
Thermuz was gone.
But from the shadows behind the lava gate, a voice emerged:
"He was only the first."
An Eternal, cloaked in ash-black robes, stepped forward. Eyes twisted by Void corruption.
"Balance is broken. You have no idea what you've awakened."
Matt raised his blade.
"I do. I woke up myself."