Rui stood frozen in the mental battlefield, the awful choice crystallizing before her: save her father and unleash this ancient evil, or leave him to suffer as its eternal jailer.
Rui opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a word, the corruption surged forward with unexpected force.
Tendrils of darkness pierced through her mental defenses, wrapping around her limbs and throat.
"Your choice is irrelevant," the shadow-Rui hissed, its form expanding, consuming the faint light surrounding them.
Rui struggled against the suffocating darkness, her sword dissolving into motes of light.
The corruption invaded her cores, celestial and chaos energies flickering desperately against the onslaught.
In the physical world, Shen watched in horror as Rui's body convulsed in his arms.
Her eyes snapped open, revealing nothing but bottomless black voids where her vibrant blue irises had been.
"Rui!" Kee Kee shrieked, leaping onto her chest. "Fight it!"
