The air grew heavier.
The sky—once a blend of violet and crimson—darkened as an unseen force crept over the horizon. The floating river beside them cracked and splintered, its frozen surface distorting like a shattered mirror.
He could feel it now—a presence.
A vast, crushing will pressing down on reality itself.
Elya's posture shifted. The casual grace she carried before was gone, replaced by something sharper—battle-ready. Her violet eyes gleamed with intensity as she lifted a hand.
"Do not move," she said.
He swallowed, watching as the figure in the distance came closer.
At first, it was just a silhouette against the dying light. Then—details emerged.
A towering humanoid, at least four meters tall, its body wrapped in a dark, shifting mist. Its face was obscured, save for three burning eyes arranged in a triangle across its featureless head. Its arms were long, unnaturally so, each ending in blade-like fingers that hummed with an eerie energy.
It stopped a short distance away, staring at them.
Elya's fingers twitched, and a silver energy coiled around her like living threads of light.
The being spoke.
Its voice was not one, but many, layered upon each other like overlapping echoes from a thousand different worlds.
"The anomaly has arrived."
His heart pounded. He knew—it was talking about him.
Elya stepped forward, placing herself slightly in front of him. "And what does a Hollow Sentinel want with my guest?"
The creature tilted its head, those three burning eyes locking onto him.
"It does not belong. It must be erased."
His breath caught.
Elya exhaled softly. "I disagree."
Without warning—the Sentinel moved.
A blur of darkness. A streak of bladed fingers aimed directly at his heart.
He had no time to react.
But Elya did.
In an instant, she vanished. A flash of silver light, and suddenly—she was above the Sentinel, her palm glowing with an overwhelming radiance.
Then—she struck.
The impact rippled through space itself. A shockwave of silver light exploded outward, sending the towering being crashing backward across the glowing plains.
The ground beneath them fractured from the force.
He could only stare.
Elya landed gracefully, not even winded. She turned her head slightly, her expression unreadable.
"You," she said. "Do you want to live?"
The Sentinel wasn't dead. It was already rising, its bladed limbs twisting unnaturally as its eyes burned even brighter.
This time—it was aiming for both of them.
He clenched his fists. His body still felt strange, heavy with some unknown energy. But in this moment, one thing was clear.
He couldn't just stand there.
"...Yeah," he said, his voice steady. "I do."
Elya smiled.
"Then prove it."
The battle had begun.