The cold bit deeper here, gnawing at exposed skin like a rabid animal. Marya's breath clouded the air, her hands trembling as she stared at the faint star-shaped scar in the ice where Eternal Eclipse lay entombed. The blade's hum vibrated beneath her boots, a constant, insidious reminder of the void's patience. Vaughn paced nearby, his axe Light Bringer slung over his shoulder, its glow dimmed to a sullen ember. Charlie knelt in the snow, his cracked glasses fogged as he frantically flipped through his notebook—pages stained with crypt-sap and smeared ink.
"We need to go back," Marya said finally, her voice raw.
Vaughn stopped mid-stride, his dreads whipping in the wind. "Back? You're cracked. That crypt nearly turned you into a puppet for a thousand-year-old tantrum."
Charlie's finger jabbed at a page filled with hastily sketched Poneglyphic runes. "She's right. The notes I took—here, look. The crypt wasn't just a tomb. It was a lock. The Ancient Kingdom didn't just bury Yggdrasil; they built a failsafe." He tapped a series of symbols: a spiral intersecting a star, encircled by waves. "This sequence—it's repeated in three chambers we never reached. 'The Celestial Lock, thrice-bound, thrice-sealed.' But when we destabilized the core…"
"We broke the damn lock," Vaughn finished, scowling.
Marya crouched beside Charlie, her shadow stretching long in the twilight. The beetle mark on her brow pulsed faintly, still tender from the blade's corruption. "What else does it say?"
Charlie adjusted his glasses. "There's a… a reset mechanism. A way to re-anchor the seal. But it requires deciphering the original encryption—the same one the Ancient Kingdom used. It's not just symbols; it's a language. And we only have fragments." He flipped to another page, revealing charcoal rubbings of the mirrors' runes. "This one here—'Void's Bargain'—it's tied to the scale we saw. And this…" He pointed to a jagged rune resembling a key. "'The Warden's Hand.' I think it refers to a physical trigger. Maybe even…"
"The Eclipse Blade," Marya whispered.
Vaughn's axe thudded into the ice. "No. Absolutely not. That thing's in your head, Marya. You start waving it around again, and next time, we won't pull you back."
"It's not about the blade," she snapped. "It's about balance. The crypt's seal was tied to Yggdrasil's judgment—to weighing sins. We didn't close it; we just… paused it." Her gaze dropped to her hands, where faint black veins still lingered like scars. "If we don't reset the lock, the void will seep out another way. Through the mirrors. Through people."
A gust of wind howled across the tundra, carrying with it the distant echo of shattering glass. The stars above flickered, their light dimming momentarily as if smothered by an unseen hand.
Charlie swallowed. "There's another passage. 'The seal demands sacrifice: truth for lies, light for shadow, blood for memory.'" He hesitated. "I don't know what that means. But the symbols align with the chambers we missed. If we can reach them, reactivate the anchors…"
"We might trap the void for good," Marya said. "But we'll need the blade. It's part of the lock now."
Vaughn's jaw tightened. "And if it takes you over again?"
Marya met his glare. "Then you bury me with it."
Silence fell, heavy and cold. Somewhere beneath the ice, the blade hummed, a sound like distant thunder.
Charlie snapped his notebook shut. "The crypt's structure is still shifting. If we go back, the tunnels won't be the same. It'll be a maze—assuming the void doesn't crush us first."
"Then we move fast." Marya stood, her legs steadying. "Vaughn, you're our light. Charlie, navigate using the Poneglyph patterns. And I…" She glanced at the scar in the ice. "I'll handle the blade."
Vaughn cursed under his breath but hefted his axe. "You die, I'm selling your sword to the highest bidder."
As they trudged toward the crypt's grave, the ice groaned beneath them. Charlie muttered runic phrases under his breath, his breath fogging the pages. Marya's fingers brushed the edge of her kogatana, the memories it represents anchoring her to this world.
Unseen, the stars continued to dim—one by one—as the void stretched its claws.
The crypt's entrance yawned open like a jagged maw, its edges rimmed with serrated ice that glinted like broken teeth. The air inside hung heavy with the stench of burnt pitch and ancient rot, the walls now veined with pulsing black sap that throbbed like a sickened heart. Marya led the way, Eternal Eclipse unsheathed, its edge catching the faint bioluminescent glow of the crypt's new growths—fungal blooms that clung to the walls, their caps etched with Poneglyphic runes.
"Stay close," Vaughn muttered, Light Bringer raised, its dim glow barely piercing the gloom. "This place reeks worse than last time."
Charlie trailed behind, his notebook clutched to his chest, eyes darting between the symbols on the walls and his scribbled translations. "The runes… they're different now. The crypt's rewriting itself."
Ahead, the tunnel branched into three paths, each lined with mirrors that no longer reflected—they absorbed, their surfaces swallowing the light. Marya hesitated, her eyes flickering faintly. "Charlie. Which way?"
He squinted at his notes. "The 'Warden's Hand' rune pointed to a central chamber, but the layout's—"
A low groan echoed from the leftmost tunnel, followed by the clatter of falling debris.
"Movement," Vaughn growled, axe flaring.
They edged forward, boots crunching on shattered glass and frozen clones. The tunnel opened into a collapsed chamber, its ceiling a jagged web of ice and twisted steel. At its center, half-buried under rubble, lay Reiju.
Her Poison Pink armor was cracked, one gauntlet shattered, her hair matted with blood and frost. She stirred weakly as they approached, her eyes fluttering open—a flicker of recognition, then wariness.
"You…" she rasped, voice raw. "Wandering rats."
"Charming," Vaughn said, though he offered a hand. "Up, princess. We're resetting this hellhole. You in or not?"
Reiju batted his hand away, hauling herself upright with a grimace. "Reset… the seal? You'll fail. Judge tried. The crypt adapts."
Marya stepped closer, Eternal Eclipse lowered but wary. "We have the Eclipse Blade. And the Poneglyphs' code. Your father's methods were brute force. Ours aren't."
Reiju's gaze lingered on Marya's hands—the faint black veins still visible. "That blade is a parasite. It'll consume you."
"Noted," Marya said flatly. "Now either help or stay buried."
Reiju hesitated, then nodded. "The central chamber. Germa's sensors mapped it before… before the collapse. Follow the sap veins. They lead to the lock."
The crypt fought them every step. Walls shifted, sealing off tunnels; clones—twisted by the void—lunged from shadows, their mirror-flesh reflecting distorted versions of the group. Reiju's poison dissolved them, but each kill cost her: her remaining gauntlet dripped corrosive ichor, her breaths growing labored.
Finally, they reached the Celestial Lock's chamber.
It was vast, domed, its ceiling a swirling mural of constellations etched in bioluminescent fungus. At its center stood three stone pillars, each carved with the spiral-star-wave symbol from Charlie's notes. Between them, embedded in the floor, was a circular slot—the size and shape of Eternal Eclipse's blade.
"The anchors," Charlie breathed, rushing to the pillars. "These runes—they're the encryption keys. We need to align them with the constellations."
Vaughn eyed the slot. "And that's where the blade goes, yeah? Let's hurry this up."
Marya unsheathed Eternal Eclipse, its obsidian edge humming hungrily. The void's whispers surged—"You return to me. You know you belong here."
She forced herself forward. "Charlie. What's the sequence?"
He traced the runes. "The spiral is past, the star is present, the wave is future. The mural—it's a star map. We need to rotate the pillars to match Orion's Belt as it was during the Ancient Kingdom's fall."
Reiju leaned against a pillar, her voice strained. "Germa's data banks had historical star charts. The alignment… it's three degrees off Polaris."
Charlie nodded, scribbling. "Vaughn—left pillar, turn it counterclockwise. Marya—right, clockwise. I'll handle the center."
As they worked, the crypt shuddered. The sap veins pulsed faster, the walls sweating black fluid that pooled toward the slot.
"You think you can cage me?" the void hissed through the blade. "I am the judge. The jury. The executioner."
Marya's hands shook as she turned the pillar. "Almost… there…"
The constellations above shifted, the fungal stars glowing brighter. The pillars locked into place with a resonant click.
"Now!" Charlie yelled.
The moment Eternal Eclipse plunged into the slot, the crypt screamed. Light erupted in a blinding nova, searing the air with the stench of smoke and decay. Marya's arms trembled as the blade's corruption surged up her veins, black tendrils coiling around her like serpents. The floor beneath her split, jagged fissures vomiting shadowy tendrils that lashed at the group.
"Void's Bargain!" Charlie shouted, clutching his notes. "The pillars—align them to the mural's constellations! Vaughn, left pillar! Reiju, right! Marya—hold the blade!"
Vaughn lunged for the left pillar, Light Bringer's glow flaring as he wrenched the stone spiral into position. Reiju darted to the right, her Poison Pink gauntlets hissing as she gripped the star-carved monolith. Above them, the fungal constellations pulsed, Orion's Belt twisting into alignment.
But the crypt fought back.
Mirror shards rained from the ceiling, slicing at their exposed skin. The walls wept black sap, pooling into grotesque clones that shambled forward. From the shadows, a voice rasped—"You… fools… cannot… win."
Yonji emerged, half-crushed under a slab of ice, his Winch Green arm sparking, face bloodied but defiant. "Reiju?! What the hell are you doing here?!"
"Saving your ungrateful hide," Reiju snapped, poison dissolving a clone's head. "Get up. We need your strength."
Yonji snarled but pried himself free, his leg dragging. "Where's Father?!"
"Dead or fleeing," Vaughn growled. "Focus on not dying!"
As the pillars groaned into alignment, the chamber trembled. Then—laughter.
The air grew thick with static, the crypt's walls trembling as if recoiling from the figures emerging from the shadows. Ichiji and Niji stepped forward, their once-pristine Raid Suits now grotesque amalgamations of Germa engineering and the void's corruption. Jagged crystalline spikes erupted from their limbs like fractured bone, glinting wetly under the chamber's bioluminescent haze. Their eyes—no longer the cold, calculated gaze of Vinsmokes—burned with void-black fire, pupils replaced by pulsating shards of the titan's core. Their skin had taken on a sickly, translucent sheen, veins glowing with the same obsidian rot that infested the crypt.
"Imperfections… must be purged," they intoned, their voices a dissonant chorus—Ichiji's metallic snarl layered over Niji's lightning-crack rasp, both warped by the static of the void. The words vibrated the air, sending shivers through the fungal growths clinging to the walls.
Yonji smirked, rolling his shoulders as he stepped forward, his Winch Green arm whirring menacingly. "Oh, this'll be fun," he spat, cracking his neck with a snap that echoed like a gunshot. His remaining eye, bloodshot and fierce, locked onto Ichiji. "Missed you too, big brother."
Reiju said nothing, her Poison Pink gauntlets already dripping venom. Her gaze flickered to Niji's corrupted form—his Dengeki Blue armor now fused with jagged black crystal, lightning arcing erratically between the spikes. For a heartbeat, her mask of icy detachment faltered. Sora's sons. What Father made us.
Reiju struck first. A whip of viridian poison lashed toward Niji, splattering across his chest. The corrosive liquid hissed, eating through the crystalline armor like acid through parchment. Niji staggered, the void's static screeching as his exposed flesh smoldered—but the corruption surged, tendrils of black energy knitting the damage shut, the crystals regrowing thicker, sharper.
"You… should have… joined us!" Niji snarled, his voice glitching between his own and the titan's guttural growl. Lightning erupted from his fists, jagged bolts ricocheting off Reiju's gauntlets. She pivoted, slamming a shard of broken mirror into his side—only for the void's tendrils to slither around the wound, sealing it with a wet, organic squelch.
Across the chamber, Yonji's winch arm snapped around Ichiji's throat, hurling him into a stone pillar. The impact sent cracks spiderwebbing through the ancient carvings, dust raining down as Ichiji's Sparking Red lenses splintered.
"Remember when I broke your nose, brother?!" Yonji taunted, ducking a searing plasma blast that scorched the wall behind him. "Bet the void doesn't fix your ugly face!"
Ichiji's response was a hollow, digitized roar. His corrupted arm morphed, crystalline spikes elongating into a serrated blade. He swung wildly, the void's energy distorting the air around the strike. Yonji barely dodged, the blade grazing his ribs and drawing a line of neon-blue blood.
"You… are… obsolete!" Ichiji's voice stuttered, his movements jerky, as if the titan's will fought against Germa's programming.
Reiju danced backward, her breath ragged. Niji's lightning strikes were slower now, less precise—his body's rejecting the corruption, she realized. But the void's grip was relentless. She feinted left, then drove a poison-coated shard into the gap between his chest plates.
"This… is for Sora!" she hissed, her voice trembling with a fury she hadn't known she harbored.
Niji convulsed, black ichor spewing from his mouth as the venom coursed through him. For a moment, his glowing eyes flickered—back to blue, back to human. "Rei…ju…?" he choked, before the void's static drowned him again.
The crypt shuddered, the Celestial Lock's light intensifying as Marya and the others fought to seal the void. But the siblings' battle was far from won. The air reeked of charred flesh and rot, the floor slick with ichor and poison. Above, the fungal constellations pulsed, their light waxing and waning like a dying heartbeat.
Yonji roared, slamming Ichiji into the ground hard enough to crater the stone. "Stay… DOWN!"
But the void always rose.
Always hungry.
Always judging.
At the chamber's heart, Marya fought to keep Eternal Eclipse anchored. The void's whispers roared in her mind: "You cannot seal me. I am your truth. Your legacy."
"Charlie—now!" Vaughn barked, heaving the final pillar into place.
Charlie slammed his notebook onto the slot, the pages alight with decrypted runes. "By the Warden's Hand—past, present, future—be bound!"
The pillars blazed, their light fusing with the blade's darkness. The crypt convulsed, the ceiling collapsing as the void's tendrils recoiled.
But Ichiji and Niji broke free, lunging at Marya.
"No… seal…!" Ichiji roared, crystalline claws aimed at her throat.
Yonji intercepted, his winch arm snapping Ichiji's wrist. "Stay… DOWN!"
Reiju tackled Niji, pinning him with a vial of poison to his corrupted core. "This… is for our brother!"
The siblings' screams melded with the void's as the chamber erupted in light.
The crypt fell silent.
Eternal Eclipse lay dormant, its runes dimmed. The pillars were scorched, the constellations above frozen in alignment. Ichiji and Niji collapsed, their Raid Suits inert, eyes vacant.
Reiju staggered back, gauntlets shattered. Yonji slumped against a pillar, breath ragged. "Did we… win?"
Marya wrenched the blade free, her arms now etched with permanent black veins. "For now."
Above them, the stars through the cracked ceiling dimmed—a warning.
The crypt exhaled a breath of decay as Charlie and Vaughn staggered into the mist-choked night, their boots crunching over shattered stone. Behind them, the ancient structure groaned, its walls spiderwebbed with cracks from the battle within. Charlie's whisper cut through the silence like a blade. "The void's still out there. Watching." His eyes flicked upward, where the stars seemed smothered by an oily, shifting darkness. Vaughn spat blood, his grip tightening on the haft of his axe. "Let it watch," he growled, the weapon's edge glinting with a faint, unnatural phosphorescence. "We'll be waiting."
Back at the vessel, Judge Vinsmoke's face was a mask of ice as he surveyed his ruined fleet. The once-impervious clone soldiers of Germa 66 now littered the deck like marionettes with severed strings. Moments ago, their eyes had burned with the void's spectral glow, moving in eerie unison. Now, their bodies spasmed—some clawing at their helmets as if drowning in air, others collapsing mid-stride with metallic shrieks. A few met Judge's gaze, their pupils flickering back to cold, familiar blue before their enhancements short-circuited entirely, smoke curling from their armor joints. "Uselesssss," Judge hissed, crushing a discarded helmet underfoot. Yet his jaw twitched—a barely perceptible tremor—as a clone stumbled past him, murmuring "My king…" before its voice fizzled into silence.
Yonji's boots sank into the mud as he hauled Ichiji's limp form over his shoulder, the red-haired prince's once-pristine suit now charred and slick with blood. Beside him, Reiju cradled Niji, her usually immaculate posture bent under his weight. "Move," she barked at a straggling soldier, her voice sharp but fraying. The crypt's shadow clung to them, its doorway now a jagged maw exhaling whispers. Above, the void's presence hung like a lidless eye, the air thick enough to choke on.
Yonji's forearm scanner beeped—a weak, stuttering pulse. "Reiju! The fleet's transponder—"
"Quiet." She tilted her head, rain sliding down the curve of her respirator. A louder chime cut through the static, and Judge's snarling voice crackled over their comms: "Regroup at Sector Gamma. Now."
Reiju's lips thinned. The coordinates flashed—a jagged island chain to the west, where the Germa armada's remnants lurked like wounded sea kings. She glanced at Ichiji's ashen face, then at the horizon where the void's darkness gnawed at the edges of the sky. "Run," she ordered, and the survivors broke into a ragged sprint, their shadows stretching long behind them, as if something hungry trailed just beyond the light.
The crypt groaned like a dying leviathan, its walls shuddering as ice and steel rained down in jagged shards. Reiju stood at the threshold, Niji's limp body slung over her shoulder, dangling like a broken pendulum. Blood—neon-blue and viscous—dripped from his wounds, staining the snow in glowing streaks. Behind her, Marya, Vaughn, and Charlie sprinted toward their submarine half-buried in the ice, its hull groaning under the strain of the crypt's death throes.
Reiju hesitated. Her eyes locked with Marya's across the chaos—amber meeting violet in a flicker of unspoken understanding. For a heartbeat, the world narrowed: the rogue swordswoman, her hands still trembling from wielding the Eclipse Blade, and the Germa princess, her loyalty fractured but unbroken.
"Go!" Vaughn roared, shoving Charlie into the sub's hatch. "Move your ass, Marya!"
Marya didn't turn. Her kogatana, glinted in the fading light as she shouted over the din, "You're welcome to come with us, you know!"
Reiju's lips twitched—almost a smile. "And trade one prison for another?" She adjusted Niji's weight, her Poison Pink gauntlets sparking faintly. "We have… unfinished business."
A fissure split the ground between them, vomiting tendrils of black sap. The void's voice echoed through the crypt's corpse: "The seal is temporary. The stars… will realign…"
Marya's jaw tightened. "Then we'll be ready."
Reiju turned, her cape whipping in the arctic wind. "Don't die before then," she called, vanishing into the blizzard with Yonji.
Inside the sub, Vaughn slammed the hatch shut, sealing out the crypt's final screams. The sub's interior was a claustrophobic maze of rusted pipes and flickering monitors, frost creeping across the viewport. Charlie collapsed into the navigator's chair, his hands shaking as he activated the bubble porter.
"Coordinates set for the Consortium," he muttered, voice hoarse. "If the crypt's collapse didn't scramble the nav systems…"
"No 'ifs,'" Vaughn snapped, wrenching the throttle. "Hold on!"
The sub lurched forward, grinding against the ice as the crypt's gravity well imploded behind them. Marya braced against the wall, her arms still etched with the Eclipse Blade's black veins. Through the viewport, she watched the crypt's scar collapse inward, the star-shaped seal glowing faintly before vanishing under layers of permafrost.
"Did we… did we really trap it?" Charlie whispered, adjusting his cracked glasses.
"For now," Marya said, her voice hollow. "But the void's right. The stars will shift again."
The sub plunged into the frigid depths, leaving the surface world behind. On the ocean floor, bioluminescent jellyfish pulsed like fallen constellations, their light glinting off the sub's battered hull. As they descended, a single star in the sky above flickered—then winked out.
"Rest… while you can," the void sighed, its voice carried on the currents. "Your victory… is my beginning."
As the sub vanished into the abyss, Marya traced the black veins on her wrist. "Next time," she vowed, "we end this."