As Kael ascended into the core of the spiraling storm, the skies burned violet. Gravity bent so violently that the air screamed. Up here, above the collapsing leyline, it felt like the entire world hung by a single, fraying thread.
"You've always feared your own potential," Nex called down, his voice like thunder cracking open the soul. "But now, you either embrace it—or die with everyone else."
Kael raised his staff. It pulsed, reacting to the broken leyline beneath.
"This isn't about fear," Kael growled. "It's about control."
He hurled the staff downward, and the ground beneath Nex trembled as Kael amplified the pull of the leyline—trying to draw Nex into the collapsing core.
But Nex flared with energy, his hands weaving gravitational sigils in the air.
"You think you can out-pull me? I am the pull!"
A massive ripple surged through the city, warping time briefly. Buildings distorted like rubber, and screams echoed from miles away.
Kael could barely hold on to his focus. Blood trickled from his nose. His mind strained against the density of the field.
He reached inward.
Back to the very origin of his power.
>Remember why you fight.
He remembered Aeris, his friends, the pain of awakening. The long path to this moment.
And suddenly, a second pulse surged from Kael's core—not destructive, but stabilizing.
The staff responded, floating to his hand.
"You forgot, Nex... power isn't meant to chain the world. It's meant to protect it."
Kael dove.
This time, he wasn't holding back.
He slammed into Nex with full force.
A singularity wrapped around them both—two echoes of the same soul clashing within a vortex of reality and chaos.
And somewhere in the chaos, the leyline began to settle.
Not collapse.
But reform.