"Emotions are human's weakness. They fall when their loved ones fall. They tremble when they meet higher power.
They are weak, blind to the world they live in. I thought these little rats had given up long ago, but no… even with the power I hold, they still dare come forward.
You've destroyed yourselves. Death is more fitting, and at last, you've earned it."
The Void walked out of the explosion almost untouched. Only the edges of his cloak were burned.
The ground around him was scorched black and cracked open, glowing with streams of molten lava. Above, the sky was choked in smoke and ash, the fumes rising endlessly as if the heavens themselves were burning.
He had barely taken a few steps away from the crater when his chest cracked open faintly, light flickering inside it.
He paused, knowing this body didn't have much time left, he still needed a vessel.
"This shell is reaching its limit… Those children. How dare they, I will…"
His words trailed off as he turned toward the smoke.
A faint green light was glowing within it. The Void narrowed his eyes, but before he could process what it was, something shot out of the haze, fast, unseen, and violent. Dorothy's fist, charged with her glowing rings, smashed into his chest.
The strike hurled him across the field, his body digging a long trench in the ground before skidding to a halt.
But Dorothy was already upon him. She flung two of her rings to the ground, and they expanded into enormous rune circles, glowing with sharp, jagged power. They clamped shut around the Void, locking him in place.
Dorothy floated in the air above him, her hair flowing upward as if caught in a storm, her eyes blazing green. She held her stance, steady, like a judge waiting for the verdict.
"What is this power? It's… different."
The Void strained but couldn't break free. His confusion deepened when he saw Belle, John, and Sofia step out of the smoke behind her. He froze at the sight of Sofia, her markings alive, her body wrapped in radiant purple cosmic energy, her eyes burning like a star.
"So… it's the girl."
Just before the explosion, Sofia had awakened. She shielded the others in her energy, sparing them from the blast. Now, her power overflowed, and with a sudden burst of speed, she launched herself at the Void.
Energy swirled into her fist, and when she struck, the sealed rings amplified the force, driving him straight into the ground. The seal pinned him while Sofia continued the assault.
She dodged his blasts midair with fluid precision, striking again and again. Each blow carried shockwaves that shattered the earth. Finally, she descended like a meteor, her heel smashing into his chest, the impact cracking the ground wide open.
The Void spat blood. The fractures across his chest widened, glowing ominously, but he pushed out one last desperate wave of energy. The air around them warped, reality bending with the sheer force, and Sofia was blasted away.
Staggering, the Void emerged from the crater. His body trembled, his steps heavy, but he still fought.
Jagged rocks and molten streams lifted at his command, hurling toward Dorothy. She blocked with a barrier, but the impact shoved her back through the air.
He was failing, drained, but still dangerous. His skin cracked further, steam hissing from his body. His breaths were sharp and ragged, his very frame threatening to collapse.
Belle surged forward, conjuring a massive wall of ice that crashed toward him. The Void slashed it apart with raw energy, but frost clung to his limbs, slowing him down.
His arms froze solid just as John appeared from behind, his metallic gauntlet glowing. John slammed a punch across the Void's face, snapping his head sideways and staggering him. More cracks spread across his body.
John raised his fist for another strike, but the Void caught it mid-swing. He clenched, crushing the metal, until he realized too late that his own hand had been severed.
He turned, stunned, and saw Dorothy on one knee, her hand still extended, a blade of green energy fading from her rings.
He looked to his other arm, still encased in ice, then down at his legs, which had also frozen to the ground without his notice. Helpless.
Sofia appeared again, cosmic power blazing in her palm. She slammed him with a strike that sent him hurtling faster than the eye could follow. He crashed, bounced, and skidded violently across the battlefield until his body finally smashed against a massive boulder.
The Void slumped against the rock, broken. His chest split wider, light leaking through. He was finished. He gazed up at the sky, smiling through blood.
"Such… pitiable children. Full of fire, but blind. Death is not my end. I… transition. Humanity still has much to teach me."
From his chest he pulled the shard of strange glass he had carried, an artifact said to connect parallel realities. He had never fully understood it, but now, even broken, he knew it could save him.
Sofia charged from above, her energy so dense it warped the air, the sheer force breaking the sound barrier. But before her strike landed, the Void's body shattered. A pillar of purple light shot upward, streaking into the heavens and vanishing.
Sofia couldn't stop. She hit the boulder instead, splitting it in two, the fragments scattering. She collapsed to her knees, pain wracking her body, her muscles seizing violently as if her very organs rejected her own power.
Belle and Dorothy were already down, too drained to rise. John sat heavily on the ground, his eyes locked on the fading trail of light in the sky.
"What… the hell just happened?"