"
Ashurael rose from the smoke first.
His wings unfurled. Not angelic feathers — but luminous blades made of condensed starfire. Each feather hummed like a hymn. Light pulsed through his veins in fractal circuits. His voice echoed with layered harmonics.
Ryozen's transformation followed. Darkness and radiance fused around him, forming a mantle shaped like a broken halo of rotating shards. His coat dissolved into black-gold armor, engraved with ancient Samsara runes.
Hex Inferno paused. Even the Shadows felt fear.
Ryozen whispered, "Ascension."
The void exploded.
Ashurael moved like a meteor, slamming Avarice so hard his body scattered into gold mist. Ryozen twisted his glaive, summoning a spiral of gravity that devoured Venom Vortex entirely. Diread swarmed him, but Ryozen snapped his fingers—hundreds of golden circles appeared, firing beams that vaporized the swarm.
Ashurael hovered above Ruin. His hand formed a blade of divine white. He swung once. Ruin fell in half — his monstrous heart shattering into dust.
The other Shadows tried to combine their powers, but Ashurael unleashed Heavenrend Nova, a blinding pillar of divinity that consumed them all.
Ryozen finished the survivors with Samsara Void Sever, cleaving space itself.
Nine shadows.
Nine corpses.
Nine echoes fading.
Meanwhile, Akira versus Ren reached catastrophic intensity. Akira's aura flickered between red and black. Ren descended deeper into madness.
Their duel struck the edge of a planet, shattering it.
In the final moments, a tremor ran through the void — Shade escaping unseen. Ren too fled, wounded but laughing hysterically.
The void crumbled as the chapter closed.