The golden ichor of Inquisitor Vultar was coating the Space-Time fabric, turning Zane's untouchable shadow-form into brittle obsidian glass. Zane felt his "Quantum-Phase" failing; the more he was "painted" by the Inquisitor's mana, the more he became a target that could be crushed.
"Your Void is a flaw!" Vultar shrieked, his twelve eyes glowing with a sickening golden light. He raised his remaining claw, condensing a sphere of Absolute Mass. "I will solidify your existence and then shatter it into a trillion shards!"
Through the soul-link, Fang Yuan felt Zane's essence flickering. He was at the final stage of weaving the First Sequence with Eron. The Star-Core was beginning to pulsate with a dark, negative gravity that hungered for more fuel.
"Zane," Fang Yuan's voice echoed directly in the sentinel's mind, cold and devoid of pity. "Detonate the Void-Anchor I placed in your core. Close the path. Deny the Abyss its prize."
Zane didn't hesitate. He was a puppet whose only purpose was the Master's ascension. He lunged at Vultar, wrapping his failing shadow-arms around the Inquisitor's chitinous neck.
"FORBIDDEN ART: VOID-COLLAPSE IMPLOSION!"
Inside Zane's chest, the Indigo Thread that bound him to Fang Yuan snapped. The concentrated Void-Essence he had consumed from the Rock-Demons reached critical mass.
A blinding, silent explosion of violet-black light erupted. It didn't expand outward; it imploded inward. The Space-Time in the tunnel distorted, folding in on itself. Vultar's golden ichor, his bone-armor, and his twelve eyes were all sucked into a localized black hole created by Zane's dying essence.
The tunnel behind Fang Yuan collapsed into a solid wall of non-existence. The way back was gone. Zane was gone.
Back at the Star-Core, the shockwave of the implosion hit the ritual circle. Fang Yuan's green robes tore, and blood seeped from his eyes, but he held the weave. The sacrifice of Zane's entire being provided the massive surge of energy needed to stabilize the Rank 3: Galactic Overlord sequence.
"It is done," Eron whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of awe and terror. "The path is closed. The sacrifice is accepted. Look, Pilgrim... the Core is opening for you."