Vale's POV
"All the pieces are in place," the Emptiness said in its voice that destroyed sound.
The moment those words reached my ears, I felt something break inside my chest.
The incomplete bond where Ryker used to be suddenly flared with pain. Like a wound that wouldn't heal, it began draining my power faster than I could replace it.
"Vale!" Dante caught me as I stumbled.
Around us, chaos exploded. The Emptiness didn't attack directly - it just existed, and that existence began unmaking everything near it. The ground cracked. The air itself started to thin. Reality bent away from the void-figure like it was afraid to touch it.
"We have to close the rift!" I gasped, pouring what strength I had left into the dimensional anchor.
But with only four bonds instead of five, my magic felt like trying to hold water in a broken cup. Power kept leaking out through the missing connection.