Above, Nebula was running out of strength. His armor shattered piece by piece as the Archon pressed him down. His vision swam. His arms began to fail.
He caught a glimpse of Cain below, and a mad laugh escaped him. "You'd better… do something stupid… fast!"
Cain reached the base of the crater and extended his hand toward the Core.
The energy reacted instantly—wild, volatile, hungry.
His vision exploded in white. His body convulsed. Every ounce of mana he had left was being stripped away, pulled into the churning heart of the world.
He forced his will onto it, molding the chaos, shaping it through sheer refusal to die.
Metallic threads spread outward from his body like veins of light. They burrowed into the ground, up through the molten layers, connecting to every fragment of his remaining power.
Nebula felt it first.
The air around him changed—pressure, heat, and gravity twisting into something unnatural. The Archon turned sharply, scanning the fissure below.
