The Scorpio poison felt like liquid glass crawling through Solan's veins. Every heartbeat sent a rhythmic throb of violet agony toward his chest.
[WARNING: TOXIN PROGRESSION – 82%] [CARDIAC ARREST IMMINENT IN: 03:42]
The Scorpio knight, a woman with emerald eyes and a cruel smile, spun her mechanical crossbow. "Do you feel it, Null-Born? That's the sting of the Great Scorpion. Your blood is turning into acid as we speak."
Beside her, the Leo knight didn't wait for a conversation. He raised his golden claymore, the solar energy radiating from it so intense that the grey sand beneath him turned into glass.
"Enough talk, Lyra," the Leo knight roared. "Solar Flare: Lion's Roar!"
He swung the massive blade. A wave of golden fire, shaped like a charging lion, tore through the iron-wood trees, incinerating everything in its path.
Solan didn't dodge. He couldn't—the poison had slowed his nerves. Instead, he slammed the Fang of Ophiuchus into the ground.
"Astral Void Style, Second Form: Gravitational Sinkhole."
A sphere of absolute blackness erupted around Solan. The golden fire didn't hit him; it was sucked into the darkness, bending around his body like light around a black hole. The heat was immense, but the Void was hungrier.
[ABSORPTION SUCCESSFUL: SOLAR ENERGY REFINED] [TOXIN SUPPRESSION INITIATED]
The refined solar energy didn't just power his blade; Solan forced it into his own bloodstream. The heat of the Leo's fire began to "burn" the Scorpio's poison from the inside out.
"Gah!" Solan coughed, a cloud of violet steam escaping his lungs. It hurt—it felt like his internal organs were being forged in a furnace—but his vision cleared. The orange ember in his left eye flared with a predatory light.
"My turn," Solan hissed.
He moved. Without the Ring of the Faded Star, he wasn't just fast; he was a blur of crimson lightning.
The Scorpio knight, Lyra, fired three bolts in rapid succession. "Viper's Nest!" The bolts split in mid-air, turning into twenty glowing purple needles. Solan didn't stop. He spun the Fang of Ophiuchus in a vertical circle, the black glass blade humming.
Clink-clink-clink-clink!
The needles were deflected, but Solan used the momentum to close the gap. He appeared inches from Lyra's face. Her eyes widened. She tried to draw a dagger, but Solan's hand—glowing with crimson runes—clamped onto her throat.
"You like poison?" Solan's voice was a dual-toned growl. "Try the Void."
[INITIATING REVERSE-DEVOURING]
Instead of taking her energy, Solan injected a pulse of raw, unrefined Void energy into her mana circuit. It was like pouring ink into a clear stream. Lyra screamed as her purple Scorpio aura turned a sickly, bruised black. Her connection to her constellation shattered.
"LYRA!" the Leo knight screamed, charging forward with his claymore held high.
Solan tossed the unconscious woman aside like a broken doll. He turned to face the golden giant, the Fang of Ophiuchus vibrating so hard the air around it was tearing.
"You're the last one," Solan said, the crimson plasma extending from his blade until it was ten feet long. "Give me your sun."
The Leo knight didn't back down. He ignited his life force, his armor turning into a suit of molten gold. "FOR ATHEROS! FINAL RADIANCE!"
The two warriors collided in the center of the Iron-Wood Forest. A shockwave of red and gold light leveled every tree for half a mile.
When the dust settled, only one man was standing.
Solan stood over the charred remains of the Leo knight's armor. The golden claymore lay snapped in two. Solan was covered in burns and blood, but in his hand, he held a Golden Leo Core—the size of a grapefruit.
[MAJOR BOSS ESSENCE ACQUIRED: LEO SENTINEL] [LEVEL UP: VOID DISCIPLE (STAGE 2)] [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: CRIMSON AEGIS]
Solan looked at the sky. The golden dawn was fully bright now, but for the first time, the stars felt small. He looked down at his hand—it was shaking, and the skin was blackened by the Void's corruption.
"The more I eat..." he whispered, remembering the old librarian's words. "...the less human I become."
He turned and began to walk deeper into the valley, leaving the three defeated Sentinels behind. He didn't kill them—he had taken their "stars," which in this world, was a fate worse than death.