Scarlet mist swirled violently around the five-ringed seal before the throne. The team stood in formation — Lacolone at the front, katana drawn, his aura spiraling upward like a storm. Maya's tears shimmered as her healing lattice trembled, threatening collapse. Jessica steadied her pistols; Valgor and Salah lifted their Pillars, light and gravity bending under their combined power. Behind them, Eden watched wide-eyed, powerless but steadfast.
Every grievance, every loss, every death converged on this moment.
Lacolone raised his blade toward Elito. "You took everything from me. Twice. That's a heavy price to pay."
Elito's eyes glowed like twin vertical suns. "Then it's cheaper than I thought."
His words alone bent the realm — scarlet vibrations rippling through the chamber like thunder made of glass.
The King's tongue was a blade.
Lightning split the air as Lacolone lunged, Thunderbrand's strikes shaking the void. Elito lifted a single finger, and a wall of crystal-red force emerged, swallowing the assault whole. Sparks detonated like falling stars. Valgor hurled Riftquake shockwaves into the barrier, but the throne didn't even tremble. The ground dissolved into a whirlpool of screaming data. Their combined might barely scratched the surface.
Maya thrust her hands outward, spreading her healing aura across the floor, weaving every soul to the realm's fragile frame. The red storm clawed at them, but her anchor held. Jessica whispered, "If she drops, we're dead."
Salah's Whispercall mapped invisible attack vectors across the air.
Eden held the glowing glyph to his chest. "It's like holding a star."
Hope became a tether.
Then Elito struck back. He slammed the black tuning-fork staff onto the ground, and the world convulsed. Pillars of scarlet light erupted like spears. Jessica spun, firing Driftform bullets — but they evaporated against his aura. Valgor's arm cracked under the backlash of his own counter.
He unmade their attacks like chalk dissolving in rain.
For an instant, the storm froze. Lacolone saw something impossible — Elito, once human, crowned among thirty-three Saints. A younger version of himself stood beside him, kneeling, bound by the same scarlet light.
Elito's voice echoed, almost tender. "You were always going to crawl back."
Lacolone's grip tightened. His veins glowed blue.
The wound of history opened mid-battle.
He gathered the Five Pillars at once — lightning, shield, awareness, disruption, and motion — until his body hummed with unstable radiance. Jessica synchronized with him, her Driftform merging with Thunderbrand. Maya infused her healing with Riftquake's chaotic energy. Salah's Whispercall detected a microscopic seam in Elito's aura.
Valgor struck through it.
A single shard of scarlet light spilled from the King's shoulder.
A first wound — too small, but real.
Elito lifted his staff. Behind him, a vortex of screaming Saint-souls twisted into motion. Jessica's voice broke. "He's feeding on them!"
Maya's tears rose upward, burning white-hot.
"Then we cut his link," Lacolone said.
Eden shielded his eyes from the blinding light, whispering prayers.
He turned saints into fuel.
Elito moved his hand, drawing fractal geometry in the air — hexagons folding into chains of light. The chains lashed outward, tearing through Valgor's Veilward shield. Jessica dodged, but one chain grazed her arm, leaving sparks of blood. Salah's Thunderbrand, guided by Whispercall, severed a chain midflight. Lacolone's katana shimmered scarlet-blue.
Every movement risked annihilation.
Maya's eyes widened. She recognized the pattern in the energy. "It's the same scarlet current from the door between worlds…"
Her voice cracked. "This is what separated us!"
She turned to Lacolone, crying out, "I remember everything!"
Her healing erupted into scarlet-white fire, merging with Riftquake's destructive rhythm.
Eden gasped. "She's transcending the Pillars."
Memory became weapon.
Lacolone roared. His aura surged into a half-fusion state, lightning and blood-light spiraling together. He struck in a wide arc — a spiral cut that cracked the very air. The throne split slightly, scarlet sparks scattering like rain.
Elito tilted his head, smiling faintly. "Good. Hate is evolution."
The Scarlet King smiled at the edge of his wound.
Jessica's pistols overheated, glowing red-hot. Valgor collapsed to one knee, blood on his lips. Salah's vision blurred, but he continued mapping the chaos. Maya spread her arms, wings of scarlet-white energy forming around the team.
"We're not yours anymore!" Lacolone shouted.
Refusal became strength.
Elito lifted his staff again, nine scarlet spheres orbiting him. Each sphere birthed a phantom Saint — their forms translucent, eyes hollow. "I own what I create," he intoned.
The phantoms charged. Jessica fired point-blank, bullets shredding through illusions. Salah deflected the rest with whisper-guided precision.
He turned their history against them.
Then Eden stepped forward. His glyph blazed, every pulse a scream of defiance. "I may not fight," he said, voice steady, "but I can hold the door."
Light erupted, forming a radiant barrier that stopped the phantom wave in its tracks.
Lacolone shouted, "Good — buy me time!"
Even the powerless had power.
Lacolone's body fractured into streams of blue-white and scarlet-black energy. Maya's flames poured into him, fusing their souls. His katana elongated into a cosmic blade, its edge singing with two realities.
Jessica stared in awe. "What are you becoming?"
"What he fears," Lacolone answered.
Soul and spirit crossed the threshold.
He and Elito collided midair — blade versus staff — the explosion ripping the phantoms apart. Sparks of miniature universes scattered across the chamber.
"Still cheaper than I thought," Elito said quietly.
"Then pay in full," Lacolone replied.
The first true wound opened in the Scarlet King.
But the fusion drained them both. Maya's body wavered, bleeding light. Jessica collapsed, Valgor clutching broken ribs. Salah's voice shook. "They're burning their souls!"
Eden braced the barrier as cracks spidered across it. Behind them, Elito's throne finally shattered.
Every gain had its price.
Lacolone rose within a storm of radiance — a towering form of blue, white, and scarlet. His katana burned like a comet, and across from him, Elito stood smiling through the cracks in his crystal body, his staff broken in two, eyes brighter than ever.
Maya floated behind Lacolone, her hands outstretched, bleeding light that shimmered like dawn.
On the edge of ruin,
One soul dared to rival the Scarlet King.