The barrier shattered.
Light broke apart in shimmering shards, dissipating into thin air.
The Hollow Man roared, a sound of pure, unbridled fury, and surged forward, claws tearing up stone as its void-like gaze locked onto Kael with absolute bloodlust.
"Now!" Kael shouted, his voice hoarse.
Niko slammed both palms into the floor. Stone rippled like water beneath his feet, and jagged platforms began to rise—one after another, spiraling like a crooked staircase up toward the beast's back.
Kael immediately darted forward. But not toward the first platform.
"Rylen!"
"Right, right! Don't get eaten!" Rylen replied with unsettling enthusiasm.
He shot past Kael in a blur, drawing a short twin blade and launching himself directly into the Hollow's line of sight. "Hey, ugly!" he yelled, flipping through the air. "Come on then, let's dance!"
The Hollow twisted toward him, screeching, its massive maw stretching wide in a silent roar.
Rylen landed lightly on one leg and immediately darted sideways, slashing at the beast's front limb—not to hurt it, just to get its attention.
And It worked.
The Hollow turned in anger and gave chase, its massive limbs pounding the ground.
"Now, Kael!" Theo barked, his voice cutting through the din.
Kael took off.
His boots slammed against the first stone platform, then the next.
The wind bit at his face, the height climbing fast.
Below, Rylen ran in wide arcs, ducking and weaving with surprising agility as the Hollow lunged, a maddening, unpredictable blur.
He was surprisingly good at running away.
Theo cast barrier pulses to deflect stray strikes that came close to Rylen, while Liri threw out bursts of protective magic whenever Kael faltered or slipped on the rapidly rising path.
"Kael! Watch out!" Niko suddenly shouted, his voice strained from the effort of mana exhaustion.
Before Kael could react, a section of the rising path crumbled just ahead.
But he didn't stop.
He leapt forward with everything he had, reaching desperately for the next section.
But it wasn't enough. The next thing he knew, he was falling.
Shit.
He braced himself for impact on the ground, but before he could fall too low, another platform suddenly shot up and caught him mid-air, a last-second rescue from Niko.
Not wasting any time, he scrambled back to his feet and shot forward again, now tantalizingly close to the top.
The Hollow spun again, confused by the lack of impact from Rylen's latest feint—and its empty eye sockets caught movement in the air.
It shrieked, a sound of pure, concentrated rage.
The beast reared back on its hind limbs, its front arms carving into the stone.
"It's going to throw something!" Theo yelled, his voice strained.
A massive chunk of earth—clawed free by the Hollow itself—was hurled toward Kael like a missile.
Kael braced for impact, but Theo was faster.
A translucent shield of shimmering mana formed mid-air, the rock crashing into it and splitting apart with a loud crack.
The air shivered with the impact, but Kael was untouched.
"Go!" Theo shouted again.
Kael climbed to the very top.
The Hollow's back was a twisted ridge—bone and armored plates fused with glowing veins of black-red energy.
And at its very center, embedded between two spine-like protrusions… was a shard.
A jagged, obsidian crystal pulsing with the same hateful, oppressive aura as the Hollow itself.
Kael narrowed his eyes. "That has to be it."
He immediately grabbed the sword at his side. Raised it.
And—
CRACK.
The Hollow jerked suddenly, its body spasming.
Kael lost his footing, slipped sideways, slamming into its armored back.
The beast was bucking now, thrashing wildly, trying to throw him off.
"No you don't!" Kael snarled, holding on with one hand and stabbing downward with the other—planting the blade between two bone ridges just for grip.
The shard glowed brighter, pulsing malevolently.
He struck it again and again, but for some reason, it wasn't breaking apart.
And the Hollow was clearly not liking the company on its back causing it to thrash around wildly, determined to get rid of whatever was clinging to it.
It rushed towards the nearby walls and slammed its hardened corners against them, hoping to scrape Kael off.
But Kael stubbornly held on, grimacing, and kept smashing at the crystal with everything he had.
He quickly realized, however, that the crystal needed way more strength than he could currently muster.
"There's something up here, but I can't seem to break it!" Kael yelled down to the others, barely holding on for his life.
"What does it look like?" Theo shouted back.
"A crystal!"
"And you can't break it?"
"That's what I said!"
"Wait, I think I have something that can help!" Rylen suddenly screamed, his voice edged with a strange excitement as he reached his hand into a small pouch tied to his waist.
He pulled out some kind of wired mechanism and without warning shot it into the air. "Catch!"
Kael gritted his teeth as he let go of his sword, stretching a hand into the air to catch the mechanism mid-air.
The moment it touched his hands, it immediately began twisting and moving with an eerie, mechanical fluidity, molding itself to his grip.
The next thing he knew, there was a sleek, mechanical glove attached to his hand.
'A gauntlet?'
He didn't waste any time.
The Hollow was growing madder with every second that passed, crashing against the walls with increased violence.
Kael immediately struck the crystal with the newly equipped gauntlet.
And the results this time were totally different.
With one powerful strike, the crystal shattered, scattering into thousands of shimmering, beautiful lights that dissipated into the air.
The Hollow screeched again, louder than anything before, but this one lacked any power, filled instead with a dying agony.
It gradually began a slow, shuddering descent to the ground.