Medical bay shuddered violently as the Aetherweave Shieldis dome fractured under the witch twins' relentless assault. Reality screamed where their chaos magic touched, sound materializing as physical waves that drew blood from Emma's nose. Her capacity meter held steady at thirty seven percent, but maintaining the shield burned pathways through her biology. Golden wings trembled with effort, luminous sparks cascading around her.
"They're breaking through," Gray's voice crackled over comms, strained by chaos negation permeating the fractured dominion. "Systems failing. Korrath's interference is too strong. We need to move."
Emma met her crew's eyes. Lucas stood bloodied but unbowed, Chloe lay barely conscious on the med-table, Aisha remained one-armed and resolute, Markus stabilized himself with Lumeheal. Their trust anchored her, but the shield couldn't hold. She released Aetherweave, golden light dissipating as the twins' chaos magic tore through the hull, forcing them to evacuate.
They stumbled onto a bone island outside, jagged surface grinding beneath their feet. The starless void of the witches' home world loomed above, prismatic tempests howling between floating bone shards. The vessel groaned behind them, systems sparking as Gray worked frantically.
Emma's Questmind interface pulsed urgently, its golden tree structure brightening in response to the heightened danger. A presence stirred within it, awakened by the proximity to chaos magic. "I am Lyrion, your Guide," a voice said, warm yet precise. "The witch twins amplify Korrath's power. Target them to weaken his battlefield influence." The interface displayed:
```
QUEST ACTIVE: FIND THE ARBITER
CAPACITY: 37 PERCENT
CHAOSFLUX RESISTANCE: PLUS 5 PERCENT
```
"What exactly are these twins doing to Korrath's power?" Emma asked mentally, focus split between Lyrion and the chaos unfolding around them.
"They synchronize their chaos magic, creating resonance that enhances Korrath's abilities. Disrupt their coordination, and his control will falter."
Emmaruxis plummeted from the hemorrhaging sky, necrotic wings leaving trails of un-light. She struck with a ten thousand ton impact, shattering the bone island like glass. Fissures spiderwebbed outward, black ichor flooding the cracks, not blood but primordial wrongness pulsing with Titan will.
Emma's wings, still more energy than matter, pulsed at 37 percent capacity. She hovered unsteadily, dodging debris, unable to sustain full flight. "She's trying to collapse the island," Gray reported, neural link faltering. "Her biology is..." Static consumed the rest.
Emma felt her double's power, a twisted mirror corrupted by Titan possession. As Emmaruxis launched upward, Emma met the charge, her wings providing a clumsy burst of speed. They collided mid-air, golden light against necrotic darkness. The impact cracked Emma's reinforced spine, bone fragments grinding against crystallized vertebrae. She locked hands around her double's throat, their momentum tearing holes in the Veilweavers' dominion as they spun violently.
"You could be this," Emmaruxis hissed through crushed vocal cords, black fluid leaking from her smile. "Unbound. Complete."
Emma slammed her forehead into her reflection's face, shattering the nasal bridge. Black gore splattered across golden wings, sizzling against radiant energy. "I'm already complete," she snarled, capacity surging to 38 percent.
Below, Lucas ripped through witches with Kineticvance, his six thousand ton strikes pulping organs and shattering ribcages into powder. A witch materialized inside his guard, chaos claws slicing through his shoulder. Blood cascaded in a crimson sheet, muscle fibers tearing with an audible snap as he roared. He caught the witch's skull, fingers sinking into obsidian flesh, and crushed it with a single squeeze. Bone fragments exploded outward, black ichor spraying in a pressurized jet. "Em!" he bellowed, voice raw with pain but unwavering.
Chloe fought despite her eviscerated abdomen, Markus's Lumeheal having stabilized her enough to stand. Her intestines threatened to spill with each movement, but she drove a four thousand ton roundhouse kick through a witch mid-teleport. The creature's head tore free, vertebrae snapping in sequence like a macabre musical scale, black ichor fountaining upward. "Can't hold position," she gasped, clutching her wound.
Witches blinked around Markus, who balanced on his partially healed stump. His arms swept in three thousand ton arcs, creating defensive perimeters that shattered bones. A witch appeared behind him, chaos magic coalescing around elongated fingers. "Markus!" Emma screamed, but her warning came too late.
The chaos spell melted through reality, negating his remaining leg. Flesh and bone dissolved into nothingness, leaving a perfect cross-section of muscle and marrow exposed. He howled as he collapsed, blood pooling beneath him. "Not yet," he roared, swinging wildly at approaching witches, tears streaming down his face.
Emmaruxis broke free, necrotic wings cutting through Emma's golden light. She dove toward fallen Markus, claws extended, each talon dripping with un-light that devoured air itself. Emma pursued, wings straining to near-relativistic speeds, air igniting around her in a blazing corona. "Your friends die while you soar," Emmaruxis taunted. "How much will you sacrifice for choice?"
Emma caught her double just before she reached Markus, slamming into her with enough force to crack Emmaruxis's spine. The sound thundered, vertebrae splintering like brittle stone, black gore erupting from her mouth. Her necrotic wings flared, darkness cutting into Emma's light, leaving trails of negation. "I'll sacrifice everything," Emma hissed, squeezing her double's throat with fifteen thousand tons of Fluxion-amplified force, fingers sinking into corrupted flesh. "But not my humanity."
The bone island trembled as Sylvara engaged Korrath and the witch twins, her golden star-magic flaring against their shadow-stuff. Reality bent around the twins' elongated fingers, synchronized attacks amplifying Korrath's power. Sylvara wove protective patterns, countering chaos with ordered light, star-eyes blazing.
A witch teleported behind Aisha, chaos claws reaching for her face. Sylvara's voice cut through the cacophony. "Aisha wields Ideaflex, manipulating abstract concepts, here sharpness. Focus your will to enhance its effect."
Lyrion clarified in Emma's mind. "Ideaflex reshapes her blade's essence. She must channel intent to counter chaos negation, making it sharp enough to sever magic." Emma relayed this, shouting, "Aisha, focus your blade's sharpness!"
Aisha spun, eye blazing with fury, but the claws connected. Her right eye dissolved in a burst of negation, tissue unraveling into nothingness, leaving a perfect hemispherical wound. Blood fountained from the socket, streaming down her face in a crimson mask. She screamed as pain seared through her, but beneath it flickered fear, how much more could she lose before nothing remained? Her Ideaflex blade flashed, now sharper than any natural edge, and she drove it through the witch's heart. The blade split obsidian flesh and sternum with a wet crack, black ichor bubbling up as the witch convulsed. "Logic may die," she gasped through gritted teeth, "but so do you."
Sylvara's star-eyes shifted to Korrath. "He wields Fateweave alongside Chaos Magic, manipulating probabilities. He's altering battlefield odds, ensuring witch strikes find their marks."
Lyrion spoke in Emma's mind. "Fateweave shifts event likelihood. The twins strengthen his ability. Disrupt them, and odds shift in your favor."
"How do I disrupt them?" Emma asked urgently, grappling with Emmaruxis.
"Strike one twin to break their rhythm. A concentrated Fluxion attack should suffice. I'll guide your aim."
Emma felt her wings pulse stronger, 39 percent now, as she wrestled Emmaruxis through bone-dust clouds. Her double's necrotic wings slashed her face, opening cuts that healed almost instantly, golden light knitting flesh. They crashed through a floating bone shard the size of a skyscraper, reducing it to powder. "Still thinking like a human," Emmaruxis whispered, black fluid bubbling between teeth. "Titans think in eternities."
"Is that why you're losing?" Emma snarled, driving her knee into her double's sternum with sixteen thousand tons of impact. Emmaruxis's ribcage shattered, bone fragments tearing through necrotic flesh, piercing organs with wet pops as black ichor rained down.
Yet her double smiled, eyes leaking darkness that swallowed light. "I cannot lose. I've already won. Choice is a cage, I broke free." Her hands shot up, grasping Emma's face with iron grip. Images flooded Emma's mind: star systems collapsing, realities negated, Titans walking between worlds with existence-shattering steps. Voices whispered of power beyond comprehension, freedom from morality's constraints. Emma's breath caught, temptation stirring within. What if she could end this fight, save her crew, by embracing that power? The thought sent fear through her. the cost would be her humanity, her crew's trust.
"Lyrion," Emma gasped mentally. "These visions. How do I stop them?"
"The Titans project their will through Emmaruxis, tempting you. Focus on your choice, your humanity. Channel Fluxion through your wings to break her hold. I'll help stabilize the energy."
Emma screamed, golden wings flaring at 39 percent as she channeled Fluxion into a radiant burst. Golden light surged, shattering Emmaruxis's grip. She tore free from the vision. "Choice makes us human," she gasped, blood leaking from her eyes. "And I choose to fight."
Emmaruxis's smile widened, jaw unhinging like a serpent's, revealing rows of jagged teeth. "Then you choose extinction."
Below, Lucas looked up at the battling reflections, face streaked with blood and ichor. "We're with you, Em!" he bellowed, a rallying cry echoed by Chloe, Aisha, and Markus with determined nods.
Gray's voice cut through comms. "Recalibrated vessel sensors with Techsynth. Lyrion's right, the twins' energy signatures amplify Korrath's Fateweave. Target them to shift odds."
Following Lyrion's guidance, Emma locked onto one witch twin, wings flaring as she prepared a Fluxion strike. "Aim for the left twin," Lyrion directed. "Her energy signature is weaker. Strike now."
Emma dove, wings propelling her in a clumsy arc, and unleashed a ten thousand ton Fluxion blast. Golden energy slammed into the witch, shattering her form into obsidian fragments, disrupting synchronization. The remaining twin faltered, and Korrath's Fateweave weakened, battlefield odds shifting in the crew's favor.
Emmaruxis's necrotic wings wrapped around them both, darkness against gold, as they tumbled through air. "Choice lost me," she whispered against Emma's ear. "It will lose you too."