The Vane commander's order was the spark that turned the forest into a furnace.
"Engage!" Jean roared, her Pyrrion flames erupting in a violent white-hot burst, fueled by the proximity of Roy's radiant core.
But Roy didn't join the fray. He couldn't. He was doubled over, his ribs glowing so brightly they were visible through his combat suit. Every time he tried to summon a blade, the Pulsarite Seed flared, demanding his total focus just to keep from detonating.
"Roy's destabilizing!" Taro yelled, his visor displaying a map of Roy's internal systems in deep, alarming crimson. "His core temperature is hitting 4000°C. If we don't get him to the Vergo Lattice in ten minutes, he doesn't just die—he becomes a crater!"
"We aren't fighting today!" Kira commanded, slamming her shield into the ground to create a shockwave that staggered the approaching Vanes. "We're running! Formation Delta! Now!"
1. The Gauntlet of Shadows
The team shifted into a tight diamond around Roy. Lyra took the lead, her water-arts now refined into Astral Cascade. She didn't strike the Vanes; she turned the air around them into a slipstream, slicing through their formations like a hot wire through wax.
"Go! Go! Go!" Jean shouted, backpedaling while throwing spheres of compressed heat to create a wall of fire between them and the pursuers.
Roy staggered, his footsteps heavy. Every time his boots hit the ground, the grass beneath them withered and turned to ash from the sheer leakage of energy.
"My heart…" Roy gasped, his voice sounding like grinding metal. "It's… it's losing the rhythm. The Seed is taking over the beat!"
2. The Internal War
Inside Roy's mind, the world was a white void. The Zephros wind he was using to cool his core was beginning to fail; the shadows of his Umbryon containment were tearing like wet paper.
'Not yet,' Roy snarled internally, his hands clawing at the air. 'I am the Warden. I decide when the storm breaks!'
He forced his lungs to expand in a jagged Vergo Breath, pulling the ambient Flux of the forest into his body to act as a secondary coolant. It was agonizing—like swallowing liquid glass—but it bought them a few more minutes.
3. The Bridge of Sacrifice
They reached the Great Chasm—the final boundary before the Vergo Region. The living bridge of vines had been severed by the Vanes.
"It's gone!" Lyra cried out, skidding to a halt at the edge of the thousand-foot drop.
Behind them, the Vane commander emerged from the trees, his Neutron-blade humming. "There is nowhere left to run, Vessel. Give us the Seed, and we will grant you a quick end."
Roy looked at the chasm, then at his teammates. His skin was beginning to crack, white light leaking through the fissures like a breaking dam.
"Kira… Jean… hold hands," Roy whispered.
"Roy, what are you—"
"HARMONIC OVERDRIVE!" Roy screamed.
He didn't release the power at the enemy. He grabbed Kira and Lyra, acting as a living conduit. He pumped a massive, controlled surge of the Seed's energy into their propulsion systems.
"JUMP!"
Kira's shield expanded into a shimmering platform of solid light. With the Seed's power, they didn't just jump—they flew. They cleared the chasm in a single, desperate arc of white light, leaving the Vanes standing on the far side in stunned silence.
4. The Brink of Immolation
They slammed into the outskirts of Vergo. Roy hit the ground hard, the impact creating a small glass crater. He didn't get up.
The white light was no longer pulsing; it was constant. He was a humanoid star, the heat so intense that even Lyra couldn't get within five feet of him without her hair singeing.
"We're here! Roy, we're at the Great Hall!" Jean shouted, her voice breaking.
The Faelis were waiting. Thousands of them, their gray fur matted, their eyes dim with the virus. Seris sprinted forward, her face a mask of grief. "He's too far gone! If he releases it now, he'll vaporize everyone!"
Roy looked up, his eyes two suns. Through the agony, he saw the dying Faelis children. He saw the Elders.
"Taro…" Roy rasped, his hand reaching out, trembling. "The… the tuning band. Set it to… Inverse Polarity."
Taro's eyes widened. "Roy, that'll pull the energy inward before it explodes. It'll crush your core!"
"DO IT!"
5. The Great Release
Taro's fingers blurred over the controls. The tuning band on Roy's wrist turned a deep, obsidian black.
Roy stood up, one final time. He didn't scream. He simply opened his arms.
The Inverse Polarity held the explosion back for a microsecond—long enough for Roy to shape the energy into a billion tiny, needle-like threads of white light. Instead of a blast, it was a Rain of Reversal.
The light washed over the city. Every gray vine turned green in a heartbeat. Every dying child drew a sharp, clean breath. The Lattice Virus didn't just die; it was overwritten by the ancient purity of the Dendron.
As the light faded, the silence returned.
Roy fell. The Seed was gone, its energy spent to save the forest. He lay in the center of the Great Hall, his suit scorched, his skin pale and cold. His SS-rank core was silent.
Lyra reached him first, sliding into the ash on her knees. She pulled him into her lap, her hands shaking as she searched for a pulse.
"Roy? Roy, please. Wake up."
For a long, terrifying minute, there was nothing.
Then—a faint, rhythmic hum. Not a storm. Not a burst. Just a quiet, steady heartbeat, synchronized perfectly with the breathing of the forest.
Roy's eyes fluttered open. They were no longer white. They were his own—but deep in the center of his pupils, a tiny spark of ancient green light remained.
"Did it… work?" he whispered.
Seris stepped forward, her golden fur shining in the restored light of the city. She knelt and touched her forehead to his.
"You are the Warden, Roy Umbryon. Vergo lives because of you.