The two Commanders unleashed a relentless barrage.
Lak heated his blade until the room's temperature skyrocketed.
Beside him, Yui devastated the ranks with concentrated photon lasers.
Dozens of guards fell, but their numbers didn't dwindle.
The fallen guards were absorbing cold energy from the air.
They were stitching themselves back together.
"How are they doing this?" Lak grunted, parrying a strike.
"They're absorbing our heat!" Yui realized.
"Our own energy is feeding their regeneration!"
"I have to stop using heat," Lak said, tightening his grip.
"And I have to stop my lasers," Yui added.
"But we can't survive this cold for long without our internal heat."
"We have to end this with pure swordsmanship."
They suppressed their Solar Energy immediately.
The kingdom's lethal frost began to bite at their skin.
Shivering but determined, they charged into the fray.
Lak's blade cut through the guards like butter.
Yui struck directly at their frozen cores.
Finally, the hall fell silent, carpeted in dark, frozen blood.
They released their suppressed heat to warm their frozen limbs.
Suddenly, a crushing pressure slammed down on them.
It felt as if an invisible elephant was standing on their chests.
The throne room turned pitch black.
It was consumed by the Queen's suffocating Negative Energy.
In the dungeon, Elysia sensed the shift in the air.
With one fluid motion, she carved a slit through space.
She teleported directly into the throne room.
Elysia stumbled as she landed in the swirling black mist.
"Queen Sharley! Where are you?"
The mist parted to reveal the Queen, her head bowed.
Jagged streaks of dark energy pulsed around her.
"Stay back!" the Queen screamed. "I don't need protection!"
"Let the enemies come... I will teach them despair!"
The two stone wings on the throne detached.
They fused into the Queen's back with a sickening metallic sound.
Outside, Lak and Yui reached the grand entrance.
Kling was not far behind, stepping over the corpses of the guards.
Lak swung his blade in a massive arc, cleaving the doors apart.
He locked eyes with the Queen and the girl beside her.
"That's her," Lak narrowed his eyes.
"The girl who kidnapped Liuke. I'd recognize that face anywhere."
"Queen," Elysia stepped forward, "give me the order."
"Let me eliminate these threats to your castle."
"Don't you dare lay a finger on them, Elysia," Sharley commanded.
She suppressed her black aura and descended the steps.
"Why have you come here? Why bring such slaughter?"
"Your people invaded our city and kidnapped our own," Yui retorted.
"I am Sharley, Queen of the Eternal Freeze."
"I took Liuke because we needed him to heal my dying people."
"Then why didn't you just ask?" Yui challenged.
"Would you have given your greatest solar source to strangers?"
"You've already decided we are just mindless ice monsters."
"You lack the empathy to understand us."
"I will not let Liuke go until my people are healed."
Suddenly, Lak erupted into a fit of violent coughing.
Dark, smoky gas escaped his lips—Wysar's Gas Beast was feeding.
It was beginning to corrode his Solar Core.
"We don't care about your people," Lak hissed through the pain.
"Give us Liuke, and we leave in peace."
"Elysia!" the Queen called out. "Bring him here."
Elysia vanished and reappeared in the cell.
She grabbed the grieving boy firmly.
"Liuke, the Queen has ordered you to the throne room."
As they entered the hall, Liuke saw the two Commanders.
Queen Sharley walked toward him, her voice trembling.
"Look at them, Liuke. I won't let anyone take you away!"
Her black aura exploded with renewed intensity.
The atmospheric pressure became so heavy that Yui felt dizzy.
"Commander Yui, stay focused!" Lak shouted, bracing himself.
"We have to fight!"
Both sides stood ready, weapons drawn and energies clashing.
Standing helplessly in the center of the explosion was Liuke.