Chapter 67: Infiltrating the Heart of the Lighthouse and the Obsidian Shadow
That brief window of opportunity opened by Odyssey's desperate air support was the beginning of a life-or-death race for Kael, Aslan, and the Shadow Squad. The main entrance to Aethelburg's Lighthouse was protected by a massive, obsidian-armored Void commander and a wall of his elite, shadow-like creatures. The commander's sinister Void axe sucked away even the light around him, creating a deadly wave of energy with each swing. While Orion and the surviving Aethel warriors held off the main Void army outside, the fate of the Lighthouse now rested on the shoulders of this small, mixed team.
"Shadow Squad, hold off the commander!" Kael shouted, his voice barely audible over the din of battle. "Aslan, stay with me! That axe must have a weak spot!"
True to their name, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Shadow Squad quickly took up position against the shadow creatures surrounding the obsidian commander. The bullets from their energy rifles created small explosions in the creatures' dark bodies, but they had difficulty slowing them down. These creatures were much more agile and resilient than any they had encountered before.
Kael and Aslan focused directly on the obsidian commander. The commander had targeted Kael; he knew that he was an Echo Carrier and posed the greatest threat to the Lantern. When he swung his Void axe, Kael blocked the blow with a shield of Echo energy at the last moment, but the shield cracked, knocking Kael back. The commander's physical strength and the energy-absorbing properties of his axe made him an extremely dangerous foe.
"Your pale light is nothing compared to the raw power of the Void, Echo Carrier!" the obsidian commander roared as he lunged at Kael.
Kael was trying to stay afloat with the purified energy he had drawn from the Chitauri core and the Terra Crystal. With his perfect aim, he aimed for the joints and eye sockets of the commander's armor, but the obsidian armor absorbed most of the blows. Even the echo energy blasts left only small scratches on the dark armor.
The lion danced around him with incredible agility to distract the commander, trying to slip in between the armor with his blades. A few times, he managed to take advantage of the commander's moment of inattention and inflict minor wounds, but to this massive being, they were mere mosquito bites.
As the battle dragged on, the Shadow Squad began to suffer casualties. Although these elite soldiers fought bravely, they fell one by one under the ruthless attacks of the Void creatures and the commander. Even Dr. Aris Thorne was running from trench to trench with his experimental weapon, fighting and trying to analyze the commander's armor.
"Kael!" Dr. Thorne shouted over the radio. "That armor... is made of pure Void energy compressed obsidian! Normal energy weapons are useless against it! But... those bright lines in the armor... They must be energy streams! If you can hit those lines simultaneously and with high energy, you can overload the armor!"
This was Kael's opportunity. But those energy streams were constantly shifting with the commander's movements, and they were very small. It required near-impossible marksmanship and timing.
"Aslan! Shadow Squad! Buy me just a few seconds!" Kael shouted. He focused all his attention and energy on the Chitauri core. The core burned brighter, resonating with the Lantern's weak but still persistent life force. Kael turned his Echo senses to full power, trying to sense the commander's every movement, every vibration of those thin energy lines in his armor.
Aslan and the last surviving Shadow Squad soldier made a final effort to form a barricade against the commander and the remaining shadow creatures. It was a sacrifice.
And Kael caught that moment. In the commander's momentary pause, the three main energy lines in his armor aligned. Kael fired three separate, thin, and incredibly precise energy beams, powered by the Echo energy from the Chitauri core, at those three points simultaneously.
There was a moment of silence. Then, the obsidian commander's armor began to crackle. The energy lines were overloaded, the Void energy within the armor rippling uncontrollably. And finally, in a massive implosion, the obsidian commander's armor shattered, the dark entity within him vanishing with a screech of pain.
Only Kael, Aslan, and one last surviving Shadow Squad soldier remained. Dr. Thorne was also wounded but alive. The main entrance to the Lighthouse was now open.
"We did it," the surviving Shadow Squad soldier whispered in disbelief.
"Not yet," Kael said, his eyes fixed on the dark and sinister corridors of the Lighthouse. "The real battle begins now."
The inside of the Lighthouse was even worse than the outside. The walls were coated with the sticky organic matter of the Void, the corridors were dimly lit. The air smelled of rotting flesh and pure despair. The Lighthouse's life-giving song had been replaced by a groan of pain.
The Chitauri core and the Star Compass guided them toward the heart of the Lantern, the Echo Chamber. But their path was filled with countless Void creatures nesting within, ancient defenses built by the Creators but now taken over by the Void.
Each step was a new danger, a new challenge. Kael using all his abilities as the Echo Carrier, supported by Aslan and the last surviving S.H.I.E.L.D. soldier. The dim light of the Lantern was fading, their time was running out.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of struggle, they reached the vast, rune-engraved door of the Echo Chamber. But waiting outside was a vast, shapeless Void entity of pure darkness and chaos, unlike anything they had ever encountered before. It was the reflection of an ancient nightmare, tasked with contaminating the heart of the Lantern.
And in that moment, Kael understood. Rekindling the Lantern wasn't just a matter of walking into a room and pressing a button. This meant facing the Void in its purest and darkest form, using his own soul and his Echo as a shield against this bottomless evil. This would perhaps be his final battle.