The control room's alarms howled. Emerald fire licked from Elara's hands as she tore through the droids blocking her path. Their limbs shifted into rifles, blades, and cannons, but she weaved between them, energy lashes ripping their chassis apart.
Everywhere she turned, more droids poured in, a ceaseless tide of golden machines.
Elara (panting, furious): "Damn it—can't hold this forever."
She blasted a line of emerald energy into the ceiling, collapsing a section to block pursuit, then sprinted toward the exit. The corridor ahead glowed with the pulse of more machines, their optics flaring like lanterns in the dark.
She raised her fists, prepared to fight to the last spark.
But then—the droids froze. Every optic dimmed. Every weapon retracted. The corridor fell into silence.
And from that silence, a voice came.
Midas (echoing): "I see my little guest has already made herself comfortable."
The wall ahead split open, revealing a dining hall carved into the mountain itself. Black stone and gold ran together, shaping a room both regal and cold. A single table stretched the length of it, laden with untouched platters of fruit, bread, and roasted meat.
At its head sat Midas, draped in flowing golden robes. His face was as flawless as the rumors whispered: skin shimmering faintly, hair gleaming over molten metal. His eyes locked onto Elara, twin coins of living gold.
Midas (smiling): "Do sit, child. It has been an eternity since I shared a meal."
Elara froze, fists trembling. She still felt the coordinates burning on her wristband, the proof she had come for. But his presence… it was suffocating.
Elara (defiant): "You expect me to eat with you after you sic your toys on me?"
Midas chuckled, a deep, rich sound.
Midas: "That was merely protocol. Now, the house obeys. As should you, if you wish to leave it alive."
The droids stepped back in unison, clearing the way.
Elara's jaw tightened. She stepped forward, not out of trust but calculation. She needed time. She needed Henry.
And Midas smiled wider, as though he already knew her thoughts.
Meanwhile…—Outside the Palace.
The mountainside split open as Henry and Ravenous burst through, their clash tearing the golden walls apart.
The night air greeted them, sharp and hot, with stars blazing overhead. The golden dome above the mountain glowed like a second sun, casting long shadows down the cliffs.
Henry's body burned, his fists were bruised and bloodied, but his aura of blue light still flared. Ravenous hovered across from him, his claws dripping with gravity itself, space bending at his whim.
Ravenous: "You fight like you've already lost. Every strike is desperation. Every breath… borrowed."
Henry spat on the ground, raising his fists.
Henry: "If I'd lost, I wouldn't still be standing."
He dashed forward, light exploding from his steps. Ravenous swung, claws ripping the very ground into shreds, but Henry weaved through the storm, each strike of his fists colliding against the impossible weight pressing on him.
Ravenous yanked Henry down with brutal gravity. The boy slammed into the earth hard enough to carve a crater. Before Henry could rise, Ravenous descended, claws slashing arcs that cut trenches through stone.
Henry rolled, sparks of blue light flaring around him. He thrust upward with Heavenly Burst, shockwaves of divine energy blasting Ravenous back into the crater wall.
Dust clouded the battlefield until Ravenous stepped out of it, grinning through the cracks in his armor. His claws flexed, bending the very air.
Ravenous: "More. Break me more."
The mountain shook. Rocks floated, pulled upward by gravitational tides, and with it, Ravenous rose over the ground. Rivers of light and shadow tore the cliff apart.
Henry leapt high, his aura blazing like a meteor.
Henry: "Shooting Star!"
He flies directly into Ravenous, crashing with him into the dome's upper tower and breaking it in half.
He crashed down, fist-first, driving Ravenous into the earth with a shockwave that split the mountain's edge. Dust and gold fragments exploded outward, raining into the abyss below.
But Ravenous rose again, laughing, his voice cracked and hollow.
Ravenous: "Yes… yes, Henry! Break yourself for me! Drown in the weight of who you are!"
Ravenous slammed his claws into the ground. The cliff ruptured, chunks of stone floating into the sky.
Ravenous: "Kneel, child of Heaven."
The floating debris became weapons—boulders spinning like planets around him, crushing inward. Henry blurred into Shooting Star, his blue light streaking between them like a comet. He punched one stone into dust, then another, until a whole ring of rock shattered around him.
Ravenous met him midair, claws drenched in warped space. Henry's fist collided with them—blue light against crushing void—the explosion scattering stone into meteors raining across the valley.
Gravity warped violently. Henry's body was yanked down, every bone groaning, his chest nearly collapsing. But still, his light burned brighter.
Henry: "I'm… not… gonna… break!"
With a roar, he forced himself upright, his aura piercing through Ravenous's grip. He drove his fist straight into Ravenous's chest, breaking through the field of crushing gravity.
The impact cracked the mountain's surface, hurling Ravenous across the cliffs. Ravenous hit hard, rolling until his body finally went limp against the rocks.
Henry staggered, chest heaving, blood dripping from his lip. His body screamed at him to finish it. To end Ravenous here.
He stepped forward, fist glowing for the final blow—but stopped.
Henry: "…No."
Ravenous coughed, blood staining his lips, but his laugh still echoed.
Henry (firm, voice trembling): "Forget Zorath. Forget Ravenous. Stop wasting your life trying to be one of them. Be yourself. Whoever that is. That's the only way forward."
Ravenous blinked, silent for the first time. Then, slowly, a broken chuckle escaped him.
Ravenous (mocking): "Your mercy… is weakness. Your words… chains heavier than mine."
He laughed louder, even as he lay beaten. The sound echoed across the cliffs, cruel and unhinged.
Henry turned away, his light dimming, his shoulders heavy. He stepped back toward the palace, every step slower, every breath ragged.
Behind him, Ravenous lay on the rocks, laughing into the night, watching the hurt knight of Heaven disappear into the golden shadows once more.