Kael stood, cloak whipping in the rising wind of unstable gravity, facing the storm that was Nex.
> "He has your power," Liora whispered, awe and terror mixing in her voice. "But it's... raw. Amplified."
"Because he doesn't hold back," Kael said. "No fear. No rules."
Nex laughed, drifting higher into the air like the gravity obeyed him now. Around his hands, micro-singularities danced.
"You always restrained yourself," Nex said. "Always doubted. Me? I just let go."
A flash. Kael barely dodged as a compact gravity blast slammed into the cathedral ruins behind him, folding steel beams into crushed knots.
"You were born to destroy the false balance of this world," Nex continued, voice echoing with harmonic distortion. "But you got soft."
Kael raised his staff. His eyes pulsed deep blue.
"No," he said. "I got strong enough to choose."
The ground between them cracked open as the two gravitational fields clashed.
Clash of the Echoes
Sera darted left, blades singing, trying to flank Nex—but the boy anticipated her, flicking a finger to send a pulse that shattered the stone beneath her.
Darius roared, sending a seismic shockwave through the plaza. Nex absorbed it mid-air, twisting it into a spiraling vortex and launching it back.
Kael gritted his teeth.
"Everyone fall back! He's not like the others. I need to face him alone."
Sera hesitated but nodded. "Don't die."
"Wouldn't dream of it."
Kael stepped forward. Nex did the same.
They met in the air, gravity crashing around them like two black stars colliding. Fists clashed, staff met singularity, and the sky screamed.
Mirror of Madness
As they fought, Kael felt fragments of memory trying to slip into his mind—not his own, but Nex's. Visions of destruction. Chaos. A world where Kael never hesitated, never cared, never stopped.
"You see it, don't you?" Nex whispered during a grapple. "That version of you—the one that wins."
"No. The one that forgets."
Kael unleashed a burst of controlled gravity, snapping Nex out of the sky.
"And I won't forget who I am. Not for power. Not for you."
Nex crashed into the plaza, smoldering.
He rose slowly, grin still wide.
"Good," he hissed. "Make this fun."