The sky bled orange.
Matt stood at the edge of Hollow Sky's southern cliff, Shadowsidian Blade embedded in stone beside him. Lava pulsed in the cracks below—an ancient anger rising from the deep.
This wasn't the Void.
This was older.
This was wrath.
---
Molten rivers burst from the earth.
The Selvage Army had arrived.
Each soldier was a fusion of scorched bone and living magma, marching in sync with the rhythm of destruction. At their front, mounted atop a four-armed Lava Ravager with a furnace for a jaw, rode the warlord:
Thermuz, the Ash Tyrant.
"Let the Hollow Sky choke on its courage," he bellowed. "Burn the resistance. Smother the flame."
The Ravagers screamed into the sky.
---
Inside the mountain's core, Sam activated Rift beacons.
"They're melting steel," he hissed. "They're melting time."
Grey, covered in glyph soot, slammed a barrier down. "Tell Matt we're dying—but at least it'll look awesome."
Mailane gripped the Shadowsidian Sword, Soulflare mark glowing at her throat.
"I'll hold the Gate," she said.
Grey glanced at her.
"No. We hold it together."
---
Matt descended like a meteor.
Void Mantle: Engaged.
Wings unfurled. His eyes flared—collapsed stars reborn in flame.
Thermuz grinned.
"Come closer, Flameborn. I want to hear your bones scream when they melt."
Matt landed. The ground shattered.
"No words," he said.
"Just fire."
---
Boss Battle: Matt vs. Thermuz, the Ash Tyrant
Thermuz struck with gauntlets that triggered volcano bursts on contact. Every punch detonated with a chain of lava quakes and soul-burning heat.
Matt blinked through the inferno—Void-stepping, phase-shifting.
Still, it burned.
The fire wasn't physical.
It seared memory.
---
Visions struck him—his mother's scream, Nyuga's ashes, Amiya's silence at his trial.
Thermuz laughed, voice like a furnace.
"This fire feeds on guilt. The more regret you carry, the hotter it burns!"
Matt collapsed to one knee.
He whispered:
"Good. Let it burn everything I hate about myself."
And then—he rose.
---
New Form Unlocked: Ashen Celestial Mode
Wings of blackened flame.
Sigils scorched into skin.
Void and fire pulsing like a single, vengeful heartbeat.
Above, Mailane saw the light.
Sam whispered, "He's evolving again."
Grey grinned. "If I live, I'm tattooing that glow on my face."
---
Matt surged forward.
A final clash—Thermuz and Matt collided in a cataclysm of magma and darkness. Hollow Sky trembled—but did not fall.
Matt seized Thermuz by the throat.
"I don't fear fire."
He drove the blade through Thermuz's molten core.
The Ash Tyrant screamed—then exploded in a storm of molten dust and soul ash.
---
Silence fell.
Thermuz was gone.
Then—a voice from behind the lava gate:
"He was only the first."
An Eternal, cloaked in ash-black robes, emerged. Void corruption twisted his eyes.
"Balance is broken. You've awakened more than you understand."
Matt raised his blade, unwavering.
"I know.
I woke up myself."