The wind screamed like a living thing as Russ and Mira stood before the black monolith. The sky churned in unnatural spirals, the stars dimming as if the universe itself was holding its breath. The monolith pulsed with waves of dark energy, each beat heavier than the last, feeding off the Void's hunger.
"This is it," Mira whispered, her grip tightening on the hilt of her blade. "The seal is breaking."
Russ didn't answer. His eyes were locked on the jagged cracks that had begun to spread across the monolith's surface, each fissure leaking strands of inky black light. He could feel it—something immense, ancient, and hungry—pressing against the barrier from the other side.
A tremor split the ground, and an eruption of shadow burst upward, forming monstrous figures with glowing red maws. They moved with inhuman fluidity, their forms flickering like living nightmares.
"Voidborn," Russ muttered, raising his glaive. "Keep them off me. I need time to channel."
Mira gave a quick nod, then darted forward, her movements a blur. Her sword flashed, slicing through the first Voidborn, but it dissolved into black mist only to reform a heartbeat later.
"They're regenerating!" she shouted.
"That's fine," Russ growled, slamming his glaive into the ground. Runes flared beneath him, forming a circle of spiraling light. "I'm not aiming to kill them—I'm cutting the leash."
The Voidborn shrieked and swarmed, but Mira met them head-on, her strikes weaving in perfect rhythm with Russ's chanting. The air shimmered with conflicting energies—her silver arcs of light clashing against their shadowy tendrils. Every strike bought Russ a second more.
Then, a voice slithered through the air, deeper than the abyss.
"Little heirs… you cannot stop the tide."
Russ's jaw clenched. "Watch me."
The monolith convulsed, the cracks splitting wide as a colossal claw emerged, blacker than space itself. It raked across the sky, tearing apart clouds like paper. The seal's power faltered, and the Void poured out in streams of liquid darkness, turning the ground to obsidian.
"Mira!" Russ shouted.
She pivoted, cutting down three Voidborn in one sweeping arc. "Tell me you have a plan!"
"I'm going to overcharge the seal. But…" Russ's gaze flickered to her. "When I do, you run."
"Not happening."
"Mira, you'll—"
"Not. Happening." Her eyes burned with defiance.
Before he could argue, the claw slammed down where they stood. Russ tackled Mira aside, the impact sending them skidding across the blackened ground. The force tore a crater into the earth, and a wave of shadowfire surged outward.
Russ was on his feet instantly, glaive spinning in a defensive arc as he drew on the Void inside him—not as a servant, but as its heir. Black and silver light erupted from his body, the two forces colliding and merging into something unstable but alive.
"Then let's end this together," he said.
They moved as one. Mira's blade carved a path through the swarm, her strikes synchronized with the flare of Russ's runes. He channeled the energy into the monolith, forcing the cracks to reverse, the darkness shrieking in pain as the seal began to mend.
The claw slammed down again, but Mira leapt, spinning midair, her sword slicing across the massive limb. Void ichor sprayed, sizzling where it touched the ground. Russ roared, pushing every ounce of power he had into the runes.
The monolith exploded in a pillar of blinding light. The Voidborn screamed, disintegrating into dust as the claw was yanked back into the abyss. The crack sealed with a deafening boom.
Silence fell. The sky cleared. The stars returned.
Russ collapsed to one knee, gasping. Mira stood over him, offering a hand.
"Told you," she smirked. "We end it together."