The strike connected.
The void exploded into silence. Not light. Not sound. Just silence—as though every law of existence had been shattered at once.
Vemy's fist tore straight through the entity's core. For an instant, the infinite rings around it froze, then shattered into fragments of dying stars. The beast's body cracked open, its galaxy-forged form breaking apart into rivers of light.
The spectral fire on Vemy's back surged higher, wings stretching beyond the horizon. He stood, chest heaving, skin scorched and bleeding—but his grin remained.
"It's over."
The entity looked down at the hole in its chest. For the first time, its voice trembled.
"You broke me… you broke infinity itself…"
Its massive form collapsed, disintegrating into shards of light that scattered into the void like glowing snow.
But as the fragments faded, a whisper reached Vemy's ears:
"Foolish mortal. You think rings end with ten? You think fire is enough to reach beyond eternity?"
The words sank deep, and with them came something else—one of the broken rings did not fade. Instead, it floated toward him, glowing with an unfamiliar hue. Not Aetherion Blue. Not azure. Not any flame he'd seen.
This one burned black.
A void-ring, pulsing with a rhythm older than creation.
Vemy reached out instinctively. His hand hovered over it, flame clashing against shadow. The spectral wings flickered as though warning him. Yet… he touched it.
The ring sank into his skin, embedding itself into his very bones. His body convulsed. The Aetherion fire roared, but the new energy didn't submit—it fused, creating something unstable, wild. His eyes flickered between blue and abyssal black.
Then the silence broke.
From beyond the ruined void, a new presence stirred. Larger. Older. Watching. A voice deeper than infinity itself whispered:
"So the successor has chosen the Forbidden Ring…"
Vemy staggered, gripping his chest where the black ring now pulsed like a second heart. "Successor? Of what?"
But there was no answer. The void began to collapse around him, dragging him into another dimension entirely.
The last thing he saw before being consumed was the spectral figure that had always followed him—smiling for the first time.
And then everything went dark.