The battle twisted into chaos.
The Prophetess of Ash spun through the air like a comet, hurling columns of black fire that scarred the walls and shattered pillars. Her voice echoed with ancient fury, and every word cast a curse into the stone.
"Balance is weakness. Purity comes only through destruction!"
But Kai stood firm, the awakened orb now flowing over his arms like golden vines. Each time she struck, the orb responded—not by lashing out, but by redirecting. Her power was absorbed, redirected, and scattered into light.
Ren shot upward with a cyclone, blades of air spinning around him as he slashed through her fire defenses. She shrieked and staggered back, robes torn, her eyes burning brighter.
Ayaka summoned a wall of frozen mirrors, each one reflecting the Prophetess's form, confusing her, boxing her in.
"You fight with harmony," the Prophetess snarled. "You were never meant to wield the Root!"
Kai's voice echoed through the shifting energy, low and certain.
"I wasn't meant to. I chose to."
And then—he moved.
With speed beyond sight, he closed the gap. The Prophetess tried to retreat, but the orb pulsed in rhythm with his strike.
One punch—imbued with fire, frost, and fate—landed against her chest.
The Prophetess of Ash screamed as cracks split across her body like broken glass. From those cracks, instead of blood, came ash—and beneath the ash, a glow of life.
She fell, trembling, her madness draining into the floor like smoke.
Kai knelt beside her.
"What did you see?" he asked quietly.
Tears slipped from her eyes. "A world… that didn't need me. So I tried to burn it."
She collapsed—alive, but spent.
The orb dimmed, folding back into its seed-like form.
Ayaka placed a hand on Kai's shoulder. "Is it over?"
He looked up.
"No… now we rebuild."