Lassim’s chest heaved as he ran through the chaos, the ground beneath his feet trembling with the force of battle.
All around him, the sect’s disciples clashed with the grotesque, corrupted demons that had once been human Sun Sect’s disciples.
The world seemed to burn with abyss-tainted sunfire as the sky itself roiled with fury as sun and storm fought above them, Volten and Yuan locked in their titanic struggle overhead.
His spirit sense flared, guiding him toward the next closest portal. He needed to stop the invasion before it overwhelmed the Lightning Sect completely.
"[Lassim, keep going! You’re almost there!]" Zaphy’s voice crackled in his mind, her lightning energy surging through him, enhancing his speed as he dodged falling debris and leaped over the bodies of fallen demons and sect disciples alike.
Mari’s calming presence followed, her water mana cooling his overheated body as he pushed himself to the limit. "[We’re with you, Lassim. Focus on the portals while we’ve got your back.]"
He nodded silently, his grip tightening on his halberd as he rounded a corner and found himself in one of the sect’s main courtyards.
The scene was a nightmare.
The once-beautiful open space, lined with statues of past influential lightning beasts and former sect elders and flowing fountains of water infused with lightning mana, was now a warzone. Craters marred the ground, the fountains shattered, and the statues lay in ruins. Bodies of both disciples and demons littered the area, the air thick with the stench of burning flesh and goo.
And there, in the center of the courtyard, was another portal.
It pulsed with the same red, bubbling energy as the first, the threads of space around it twisted and torn apart.
Two abyssal demons stood guard, their grotesque forms towering over the scattered bodies of fallen disciples. Their eyes, glowing with that eerie white light, locked onto Lassim as he came to a halt.
Lassim didn’t hesitate. Channeling the void energy into his halberd once more, he surged forward, the blade crackling with the combined power of water, lightning, and spatial energy.
His progenitor marks flared to life, covering his hands and face once more as the spatial element responded to his will.
The demons lunged at him, their claws outstretched and their corrupted sunfire attacks sizzling through the air.
Lassim twisted his body, avoiding the first swipe and raising his halberd in a sweeping arc to meet the second.
The blade connected with the demon’s arm, severing it cleanly, and the creature howled in pain. But there was no time to celebrate. The other demon was already upon him, its jagged claws aiming for his throat.
Lassim ducked, rolling to the side just in time to avoid the attack, and retaliated with a powerful thrust of his halberd, the blade crackling with lightning as it pierced the demon’s chest.
"[Now, Lassim!]" Zaphy urged as Lassim used the moment of respite to focus on the portal.
In his spatial vision enhanced eyes, he saw the threads of space surrounding it, jagged and broken—yet fused. Pouring the void energy into his halberd, he willed the blade to become an extension of his power.
He raised the weapon, the void shimmering along its edge, and swung it in a wide arc, severing the first of the corrupted threads.
The portal flickered, its edges dimming slightly, but it was still open.
The demons roared, charging at him once more, but Lassim was ready. He thrust his halberd forward, a torrent of electrified water surging from the pointed tip and slamming into them, knocking them back as the spatial threads carried his attack through them. Their bodies beginning to shatter into pieces as the spatial element ravaged their bodies.
With another swing, he severed more threads. The portal pulsed, shrinking, but it still held.
Lassim could feel the strain of the spatial element’s void energy on his body as he poured more and more of his energy into the task.
His mana pathways burned, his heart raced, but he couldn’t stop now. He had to close it.
Finally, with one more desperate swing, the halberd sliced through the final thread.
The portal collapsed in on itself with a deafening crack, the red energy imploding and leaving nothing but empty space behind.
Lassim staggered back, his breath coming in ragged gasps, but there was no time to rest. His spirit sense flared again—another portal that had opened was nearby.
But as he prepared to move, a surge of energy from the heavens above made him freeze.
~~~
From high above, Grandmaster Volten’s eyes locked onto Yuan Zhen, who hovered across from him, the twisted sunfire and abyssal energy crackling around his body in a sickening display of power.
The battlefield beneath them raged, but Volten’s focus remained on the man who had once been a rival, now little more than a corrupted puppet of the abyss.
"You’ve damned your entire sect to destruction, Yuan," Volten growled, his voice low but carrying the weight of thunder. "This was never about power, was it? You’ve aligned yourself with the abyss for what? To corrupt everything?"
Yuan’s laughter echoed across the battlefield, manic and wild. His eyes, glowing like twin suns, gleamed with madness. "You still don’t understand, Volten! This was always my plan. The Endless Sun Sect was merely a vessel, a means to an end. We will bring the Southern Continent, and then the world, into the embrace of the Abyss.
It’s inevitable!"
Volten’s fists clenched, the lightning around him intensifying as his serpent companion coiled around his body, its eyes burning with fury. "I won’t let you do this."
With a roar, Volten surged forward, his fists wrapped in crackling lightning as he struck out at Yuan with a flurry of blows.
Each punch sent shockwaves through the air, bolts of lightning trailing his every movement. His attacks were a blur, faster than the eye could follow, and each strike was filled with enough power to level mountains.
Yuan blocked each blow with a series of sweeping strikes from his abyss-tainted claws, the sunfire and abyssal energy clashing violently with Volten’s lightning.
The two of them were evenly matched, their power shaking the very heavens as they exchanged blows.
But even as they fought, Volten’s sharp eyes caught sight of a figure on the ground below—a boy, racing from portal to portal, severing the abyssal threads with his halberd.
Lassim.
Volten’s heart swelled with a strange mix of emotions as he watched the young disciple he had once been so hard on.
He had kept a close eye on Lassim ever since he’d arrived at the sect, unsure of the boy’s potential, as he only had that boy Ferrum’s letter to go off of. But now, seeing him fight with such determination, and displaying a unique ability, Volten felt a flicker of pride.
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He smiled, despite the dire situation.
"That boy…" Volten muttered under his breath, his fists still crackling with lightning as he blocked another of Yuan’s strikes.
As Yuan lunged at him with a wild, sunfire-laced swipe, Volten deflected the blow with a sharp twist of his arm, sending a bolt of lightning toward the ground.
The bolt struck near Lassim, clearing a path through the horde of demons as the boy raced toward another portal.
But Yuan saw it too.
The corrupted Sun Sect master’s eyes narrowed as he spotted Lassim moving between the portals, closing them one by one.
His lips curled into a sneer, and he shifted his attention away from Volten, his gaze locking onto the young disciple below.
"So that’s your little trouble maker that’s been attacking us," Yuan hissed, his voice dripping with malice. "the fated harbinger. You know, some of my colleagues believe we should show him our path and bring his soul into redemption. However, I disagree. He’ll never be corrupted at this point I’ll make sure he dies before he closes another portal."
Before Volten could react, Yuan extended one hand, a ball of twisted sunfire and abyssal energy forming in his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the attack directly toward Lassim.
Volten’s eyes widened in alarm. "No!"
In an instant, Volten shot forward, his body a blur of lightning as he intercepted the attack midair. The sunfire collided with Volten’s outstretched hand, and for a moment, the sky was filled with a blinding light as the two forces clashed.
With a grunt of effort, Volten deflected the attack, sending it careening into the distance where it exploded harmlessly against the mountain range far beyond the sect.
Yuan laughed, the sound grating against Volten’s ears. "You can’t protect him forever, Volten. This battle will be the end of your precious sect. The abyss will consume everything, and that boy will die screaming."
Volten’s face hardened, his lightning serpent hissing in response to his fury. "Not while I draw breath."
But Yuan wasn’t finished. With a savage grin, he unleashed a barrage of attacks, each one aimed at Lassim.
Volten was forced to deflect them, his movements growing more frantic as the fight dragged on. Yuan was trying to keep him occupied, trying to stop him from protecting the boy.
And as the two masters clashed, their fight brought them closer and closer to where Lassim was racing between portals.
~~~
Lassim felt the pressure mounting as he closed another portal, his spirit sense screaming at him to move faster.
The energy in the air was thick with violence, and each new portal he sensed felt more stable than the last as time passed.
But even as he severed the threads of the latest portal, he could feel the overwhelming presence of the two battling titans drawing nearer.
Every time Volten’s lightning surged in the sky, he could sense it; every time Yuan’s corrupted sunfire lashed out, the air grew heavier with the abyssal taint and heat.
He gritted his teeth, focusing on his task. He couldn’t afford to be distracted now, not with so many portals still open.
But as he moved toward the next portal, his spirit sense flared with warning.
An attack—faster than anything he had ever felt—was coming straight for him.
His body tensed, his heart pounding as he prepared to react, but before he could even move, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, intercepting the attack and deflecting it away from him.
Lassim’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked up, catching a glimpse of Grandmaster Volten hovering in the sky above, his lightning serpent coiled protectively around him.
For a moment, their eyes met, and Lassim saw something in Volten’s gaze that he had never seen before—trust.
But the moment was short-lived.
Yuan Zhen’s corrupted form descended from the sky, his claws outstretched as he launched another attack, this one aimed directly at Lassim.
Volten intercepted it again, but the two masters were getting closer with each passing second.
And Lassim could feel the weight of their battle bearing down on him.
The pressure was building, the portals still open, and the abyssal demons still pouring through.
Lassim knew he couldn’t stop—not now. He had to keep going. But with the titanic battle drawing nearer, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold out.
And as the ground shook beneath him, and the air crackled with the energy bordering the line between gods and demons, and the rest of the "mortals" below.
Lassim could only hope to make this bit of difference and hope for the best.