"Do you see now?" Elysia panted.
Her voice was trembling with a fanatic devotion.
"The Queen remains untouched by the blast. She is beyond your reach."
"She is absolute."
Lak turned to Yui, his breath ragged and uneven.
"What do we do now, Yui?"
"I... I don't know," Yui admitted.
Her eyes were fixed on the black monstrosity standing before them.
"How do we even begin to fight a monster like this?"
The frozen battlefield suddenly groaned.
A massive tremor shook the very foundation of the earth.
Within the black field surrounding the Queen, the darkness began to take shape.
A gargantuan Obsidian Manifestation emerged.
It was a towering, ancient female demon born from the Queen's concentrated Negative Energy.
The creature wore a jagged crown that stretched from its brow to its jaw.
Only its nose and mouth remained exposed.
Its entire torso was encased in midnight-black armor.
Beneath this towering phantom, Queen Sharley stood motionless.
Her eyes were vacant, staring into a void.
Inside her mind, the faces of Wysar and Liuke flickered like dying embers.
"You look exactly like him," she whispered to the shadows of her soul.
"I have nothing left to save. Everything is ruined."
"I no longer care for this kingdom... or anything else."
"I will destroy it all. Liuke... for you..."
The Black Manifestation raised its colossal hands.
It formed two spheres of pure, swirling void energy.
Elysia smiled, sensing the end was near.
The monster hurled the right sphere toward Lak and Yui.
They dove out of the way just in time.
But the ball didn't stop.
It tore through the ruins where the surviving civilians were hiding.
Screams cut through the cold air as the innocent were erased by the blast.
"She's killing her own people," Liuke thought.
His eyes were wide with pure horror. "Why?"
The left sphere followed, curving in mid-air to chase the Commanders.
They leapt across icy rooftops, flipping through the air.
The void sphere leveled every building in its path behind them.
"What am I doing?" Liuke's voice cracked.
"I was a Solar Soldier... and yet, people are dying right in front of me."
He looked at the wreckage of a nearby shop.
Beneath a slab of ice lay the body of a small child.
It was the same boy he had bumped into while speaking with the Queen.
"No... no! I can't let this happen!"
Liuke lowered his head, taking a deep, shuddering breath.
Suddenly, a spark flickered in the palm of his hand.
The neutralization seal Elysia had placed on him was gone.
His Solar Power had returned with a vengeance.
Noticing Elysia was distracted, Liuke didn't hesitate.
He channeled every ounce of energy into his left fist.
He launched a devastating punch that caught Elysia off guard.
The impact sent her tumbling back across the jagged ice.
Liuke sprinted toward Lak and Yui.
As the void spheres closed in, Liuke reached Lak.
He pressed his fingers against Lak's throat, surging a torrent of pure Solar Energy into him.
The Gas Beast lurking within Lak's core shrieked.
It recoiled from the sudden, intense heat, though it wasn't destroyed.
The influx of energy transformed Lak completely.
His hair ignited into a flowing mane of White Fire.
Bracers of shimmering white light formed on his arms.
They stretched from his palms to his elbows, trailing wisps of celestial flame.
With eyes glowing a blinding white, Lak swung a punch into the air.
A wave of White Fire erupted, slicing both void spheres in half.
They were incinerated instantly.
"Liuke... what did you just do?" Lak asked, breathless.
"Whatever it was... thanks."
The trio moved toward the Queen, but their path was blocked again.
Elysia stood before them, mounted atop the snarling Lunara.
"Forgive me, Queen Sharley," Elysia whispered.
"I am breaking your orders, and I will accept any punishment..."
"But I must protect you."
"Yui, stay back," Lak commanded, stepping forward. "I'll handle this."
The battle was mesmerizing and brutal.
Elysia and Lunara launched a combined dash to end Lak in one strike.
But Lak didn't even move; the shockwave from his punch sent Lunara reeling back.
Lunara began a lethal zig-zag approach.
But Lak's footwork was perfect, reading every movement.
Elysia unleashed waves of Frost-Fire from her Silver Ice sword.
Lak met them head-on, his white-hot punches vaporizing the cold flames.
Elysia leapt from her mount, and they attacked from opposite flanks.
Lunara launched a barrage of ice spikes which Lak shattered.
But he couldn't dodge Elysia's Space Cutting Slash.
A deep gash opened on his waist. He stumbled but quickly regained his footing.
Slamming his fists together, Lak released circular thermal shockwaves.
The sheer heat forced Elysia and Lunara to retreat.
Lak then slammed his palms into the frozen ground.
The earth shattered.
Lak physically uprooted a massive slab of the kingdom and flipped it over.
Hidden reservoirs of water burst forth, flooding the area.
Elysia was thrown off balance.
She leapt onto Lunara, soaring into the air.
With a slash of her sword, she instantly froze the water, stabilizing the ground.
They charged at each other again.
Yui provided cover fire, her Photon Lasers hounding the flying Lunara.
Lak and Elysia engaged in a high-speed combat exchange.
Her sword moved in a blur, striking from every angle.
But Lak parried, ducked, and jumped with impossible precision.
High above, Yui's laser finally connected with Lunara's throat.
It pierced the Negative Core, sending the beast crashing down.
In the opening, Lak landed a punch directly on Elysia's face.
For 0.001 seconds, the point of impact released the energy of a Supernova.
Due to the concentrated radius, the blast was contained.
But it was enough.
Elysia was knocked unconscious instantly, her power flickering out.
"We're in control now," Lak panted.
"But Yui, how do we get inside that field?"
"I have a way," Yui said, her eyes fixed on the Queen.
"The manifestation is just a puppet now, and the field is fluctuating."
"I'll travel at 60% the speed of light and carry you inside."
"You have to destroy the core with one punch."
"But Yui... your body—the G-force—"
"I don't care!" Yui shouted.
"We've already lost too much. This is our last chance to win!"
Lak placed his hands on her shoulders.
Yui began charging her core, electricity arcing around her body.
Then, in a flash of pure speed, they broke through the black field.
Lak's fist was already cocked back.
He drove it straight into Sharley's throat.
Nothing.
Not a single scratch appeared on her skin.
Instead, the gravitational vortex of the black field took hold of Lak.
At an atomic level, his body began to vaporize.
His molecules were spinning toward the infinite center.
But the Gas Beast... it wasn't dead.
Sensing its host was being destroyed, the gas escaped Lak's body.
It surged forward, disappearing straight down Queen Sharley's throat.