The sphere pulsed with a malevolent light as we closed the distance, every beat sending shockwaves through the ruined chamber.
The closer we came, the harder it became to move.
As if unseen hands grasped at our limbs, pulling us back.
Finn fired another bolt, shattering the skull of a charging husk.
He reloaded with practiced efficiency, but I could see the strain in his movements.
We could not hold this pace forever.
"Almost there!" I shouted, slicing through another twisted figure.
The shattered crystal floated just a few strides away, bleeding streams of corrupted energy that splashed across the broken ground.
As I reached the base of the sphere, the shadows thickened.
The cloaked figure reappeared before us, its form more solid, its aura heavier.
"You cling to dying embers," it said, voice vibrating through the stone.
"You resist what cannot be stopped."
I leveled my sword at it, the relic-light dancing along the blade's edge.
"You fear what cannot be chained," I answered.
The figure's hood tilted slightly, as if amused.
"Fear? No," it whispered.
"We are inevitable. You are the aberration."
Without warning, it lifted its hand.
The crystal sphere cracked further, and from within emerged something grotesque.
A creature of jagged crystal and shadow, its form constantly shifting, a monstrous fusion of broken oaths and corrupted relics.
Where its heart should have been, the sphere's core throbbed, spilling darkness into its veins.
Finn took a step back, eyes wide.
"What in all the hells is that?"
"The Heart Warden," I said grimly.
The final guardian.
Or perhaps, the first victim.
It roared, a soundless blast that shattered the ground beneath our feet.
Debris rained from above as the creature charged.
I met its assault head-on.
The first blow nearly took me off my feet, the sheer force sending cracks spiderwebbing through the stone beneath me.
I gritted my teeth and retaliated, driving my blade into its side.
The sword bit deep but found no purchase.
The creature's body reformed around the wound, the crystal flesh knitting itself back together.
"Great," Finn muttered.
"It heals."
The Heart Warden swung a massive fist at him.
Finn dodged narrowly, rolling to the side and firing a bolt into its exposed joint.
The shot cracked the crystal, slowing the limb momentarily.
An idea sparked.
"Target the joints!" I shouted.
"Slow it down!"
Finn nodded and loosed another shot.
I focused on the creature's rhythm, waiting for the next swing.
When it came, I sidestepped and drove my blade into the creature's elbow.
The relic-light surged, burning through the corrupted crystal.
The arm spasmed, its movements jerky and disjointed.
But the creature did not slow.
It fought with blind, relentless fury.
The cloaked figure watched silently from the edge of the battlefield, a silent conductor to the chaos.
The Heart Warden slammed both fists into the ground, sending out a shockwave that threw Finn across the chamber.
He hit the ground hard, skidding across the broken floor.
"Finn!" I shouted.
He groaned but lifted a shaky thumb.
Still alive.
Barely.
I turned back to the creature, heart pounding.
I could not afford to fight defensively.
We had to end this.
I called upon the Gauntlet's full power.
The Oath of Deliverance burned bright, pushing back the suffocating darkness.
A second Oath, dormant until now, awakened within me.
The Oath of Defiance.
It surged through my veins, sharpening my mind, strengthening my limbs.
A memory flickered in my mind.
The ancient Wardens standing against impossible odds.
Their strength was my strength.
Their will, my will.
I charged.
Dodging the Heart Warden's wild swings, I closed the distance and struck with precision.
Each blow targeted weak points, exploiting the fractures in its crystalline form.
Light flared with every impact, searing away the corruption.
The creature roared in silent agony, its body shuddering.
Finn, regaining his footing, added his firepower.
Bolt after bolt shattered exposed crystal, slowing the Heart Warden's regeneration.
We drove it back, step by brutal step, toward the bleeding sphere.
The cloaked figure watched impassively, its shadowy form flickering like a dying flame.
The Heart Warden swung in desperation.
I ducked beneath the strike and plunged my sword deep into the creature's core.
The blade met resistance.
The Gauntlet blazed with power.
And then, with a sound like shattering glass, the Heart Warden's body exploded outward in a burst of blinding light.
I staggered back, shielding my eyes.
When the brilliance faded, only the cracked sphere remained, hovering unsteadily.
The cloaked figure stepped forward.
"You have undone the seal," it said.
"Fool."
The sphere cracked one final time, a deep fracture splitting its surface.
A torrent of pure, unfiltered essence poured forth, a storm of light and shadow.
Reality buckled.
The chamber crumbled.
The ground beneath our feet gave way.
I saw Finn shouting something, but the roar of collapsing stone drowned him out.
Then the world fell apart.
I tumbled through darkness, through light, through something that defied all understanding.
For a heartbeat, I glimpsed a vast expanse beyond comprehension.
Cities floating in void.
Mountains that wept rivers of flame.
Stars devoured by things that should not exist.
And at the center of it all, a throne.
Empty.
Waiting.
A voice, older than time, whispered in my mind.
"Ascend, or be forgotten."
Then the world snapped back into place.
I landed hard, the impact driving the air from my lungs.
Gasping, I struggled to my feet.
I was no longer in the Sanctum.
Around me stretched a barren, shattered landscape under a black sky filled with unfamiliar stars.
Finn landed a few meters away, groaning.
We had crossed into another realm.
The true battlefield.
The real test.
And somewhere in this broken world, the enemy waited.
No longer shadows.
No longer whispers.
But something vast.
Something awake.
And it knew we were coming.