Standing in the center of the barrier was a silhouette. A figure of pure shadow with a terrifying smile was responsible for the breach. Nocturnis's voice echoed from the clone. "Did you really think…" He stepped forward. "…that your true body was safe within this bubble you created? So long as shadows exist, there is no place impossible for me to breach..." Gustav's face drained of color. His original body was dying. The ritual was ruined. And the shadow clone smiled wider. "Checkmate, Outworldly." Space vibrated as the glow of the ritual platform dimmed beneath Gustav's broken body. His torso was ripped open, displaying a gaping hole where cosmic heat still steamed. His right arm was gone from the shoulder down, the left severed at the elbow. His lower body twitched, mangled and torn. His blood which was an unnatural mix of crimson, silver, and cosmic particles, floated in globules around him like a dying constellation. Yet… he was still alive. Barely. But alive. Gustav never died easily. Not even when death was the only reasonable outcome. Not even when entire cosmic beings willed it. But that didn't mean this wasn't catastrophic especially when the damage came from a deity. A brutal shudder rippled through Gustav's secondary form, the avatar battling the Overseer. His duplicate flickered, occasionaly as translucent patches broke out across his arms and chest, as if the very idea of him was dissolving. Endric saw it immediately. "No!" his voice tore through space with pure telepathic force. Endric's body vanished from its position in an instantly as he blinked and he reappeared directly in front of the Nocturnis clone that had dealt the blow to Gustav's real body. His eyes blazed with green and gold. CRRRAAAAACKKKK!!! Endric released a telekinetic burst so condensed it bent the vacuum, sending forth shockwave dense enough to shove celestial fragments aside. The force slammed into Nocturnis' clone like a divine hammer. The clone staggered backward, turning into a streak of black distortion that blasted through what was left of the barrier. Endric followed his path as he tumbled through space. For an instant, Endric seemed to have bought Gustav another second of life. Because if the ritual should resume, there was no doubt that Gustav's broken body would be fixed. But that clone was not an ordinary opponent. Even though it was weakened... despite it being a fragment of the true Nocturnis, he radiated cosmic malice. Black runes crawled across his skin like writhing shadows. His smile curled faintly, suggesting he had already imagined one thousand ways to kill his opponent. He recovered mid-spin, exhaled once, then lunged back toward Endric. Endric gritted his teeth as the greenish mark on his forehead began to glow, brighter, brighter, until the hue spilled across his entire face. "Husarius lend me your power," Endric commanded inwardly. "Gladly," Husarius responded with a tone if ancient pride. Endric's body emitted a new scale of power as his bones creaked and his muscles contracted. His aura burst forth like a supernova, swirling green-tinted waves rolling from his body. The clash resumed instantly. Endric met the Nocturnis clone head-on, slamming a telekinetic fist shaped from compressed space into the clone's chest. Nocturnis did not block, letting it strike him full-force. Black smoke hissed from the impact point, but he did not flinch. He retaliated with a swipe of darkness that carved through space, tearing off kilometers of celestial debris. Endric twisted, bending physics to dodge the attack by a hair, then retaliated with a time-folding kick empowered by Husarius— BOOOOMMMMM!!! The blow reverberated across the battlefield, sending the clone spiraling backward. But he came back again. Again. Again. Unrelenting. Endric kept pushing, kept striking, every motion laced with telekinetic reinforcement amplified tenfold by Husarius. His attacks became a barrage of relentless wave intended to keep the clone from advancing an inch toward Gustav's body. And for a while… it worked. But Nocturnis' clone grew faster. Hungrier. More chaotic. He adapted faster than Endric could shift tactics. So Endric escalated. He stretched out his hand toward a distant moon with a cratered surface cracked like eggshell from previous cosmic clashes. Telekinetic chains wrapped around it. He crushed the entire moon in seconds. It imploded into a field of molten fragments, then Endric hurled the pieces at Nocturnis like a thousand meteorites. The space between them lit up with streaks of fire and molten stone. The clone raised his hand and black flames erupted. BWHOOOOOOOOM!!! Meteor after meteor exploded before reaching him but Endric seized the opportunity. He folded space, appearing above the clone with both palms pressed together. A beam of compressed kinetic energy erupted like a green star detonating point-blank. The clone blocked with his forearm. The force still hurled him backward a full hundred kilometers. Endric panted heavily as blood streamed down the side of his nose. Husarius whispered caution, but Endric ignored it. This wasn't about survival. This was about keeping his brother alive. Even if he died doing it. Meanwhile, Gustav's other form, the luminous avatar battling the Overseer, flickered again. His vision doubled. His senses blared static. His limbs trembled with failing connection to his dying core body. The Overseer saw it and seized the opening instantly. Pure incandescent creation-light—shot from the Overseer's palms, striking Gustav in the stomach. BLAAAAAAMMM! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞 Gustav's avatar skidded through space, carving through several collapsing asteroids. Before he could stabilize— WHAM!!! Another blast struck him. Then another. Then a beam of cosmic light pierced him and sent him spiraling. "Pathetic," the Overseer hissed while appearing behind Gustav in a burst of golden glare. "Even now you cling to weakness." He drove a foot into Gustav's back, blasting him downward into a drifting tectonic slab the size of a continent. Gustav crashed, carving a crater deep enough to swallow cities. The Overseer hovered above him with starlight eyes. "You should never have created bonds. Your mortal connections will be your undoing." The final word echoed like a sentence across all the realms. "Watch them perish." Gustav's breath hitched. Through his fragmenting sight, he saw Endric surrounded by explosions of dark energy, struggling to fend off Nocturnis clone. Husarius' boost gave him enough to kept up but his body was tearing apart. His shields flickered like dying lanterns. Gustav felt a spark of horror. 'No… Endric…' He tried to move but the Overseer grabbed his throat and pinned him to the shattered earth. "Struggle," the Overseer whispered, cold and ruthless. "It changes nothing." The Nocturnis clone finally gathered dark energy into a single fist, causing it to swirl like a compressed singularity. He slammed it into the transparent ritual platform beneath him. KA-THOOOOOOM!!! The blast was cataclysmic, sending out a wave of intense dark energy. Endric's created ten layers of telekinetic shields but they shattered instantly. His chest caved in slightly as he was hammered backward by the concussive force with blood exploding from his mouth. His lungs nearly collapsed. His body spun into space as his bloodline energy flickered like a dying spark. He tried to breathe but there was no air. There was only agony. And then his body descended from the sky and landed back onto the ritual platform with a loud thud. The clone advanced slowly began to advance but this time, Endric couldn't rise. Husarius screamed warnings inside his mind, but Endric's limbs wouldn't move. He was finished. And beyond him… The Nocturnis clone gathered a swirling bomb of dark energy which happened to be a massive attack broad enough to wipe out everything in a ten-thousand-kilometer radius. The ritual stone. Endric. Ria and Sersi who hid nearby. And Gustav's broken, bleeding body. All would be disintegrated the moment Nocturnis clone launched this attack. Gustav saw the attack forming. Saw Endric bleeding, floating helplessly, unable to raise even a finger. Saw the glowing black sphere expanding. And something inside Gustav snapped. The Overseer tightened his grip, holding Gustav un place so he could witness their ruin but Gustav did something unexpected. He relaxed causing his body to go limp for a half-second and then he twisted. Using one of the oldest, strangest techniques he possessed, his avatar slipped from the Overseer's grasp like liquid light. Before the Overseer could comprehend it— FZZZTTT!!! Gustav blasted backward toward Endric... toward the ritual site. The Overseer roared and followed but Gustav already had a headstart. He thrust one palm forward and a beam of white-gold energy erupted, enveloping Endric's body. Endric's eyes widened in silent disbelief as light wrapped around him. "Not today," Gustav whispered. SHWOOOOOM!!! Endric vanished just in time. The dark explosion unleashed by the clone struck the ritual stone and the world ended. A shockwave ripped through the transparent planet where the ritual was ongoing and the entire platform turned to dust. The space around it shattered and Gustav's broken body— BOOOOM!!! —was blasted apart. His severed head drifted one way... His mangled torso drifted in another direction... Blood scattered like a crimson nebula. And with that… The other Gustav began flickering as cracks appeared along his form.