Kael stepped through the portal, his senses exploding with sensation as the void gave way to reality. The pressure that had crushed him moments before vanished, replaced by the familiar cold air of the battlefield.
He was back.
Lyra was the first thing he saw. She stood at the edge of the rift, her eyes wide with a mix of relief and uncertainty. The golden-armored warrior still watched from a distance, his greatsword planted in the ground. But something was different now they were no longer enemies.
Kael took a breath, feeling his body, his power. Everything had changed.
The Abyss still pulsed within him, but now, there was more. A second energy one that hummed in perfect balance with the darkness. It wasn't just shadow anymore; it was something greater, something deeper.
And then, he felt it—
A presence in the distance. Faint but growing stronger. The very air shuddered at its approach.
The warrior noticed it too. His head tilted slightly as he regarded Kael, as if testing him one last time. "You sense it now, don't you?"
Kael clenched his fists. "The one corrupting the Abyss."
A slow nod. "Now you understand."
Lyra looked between them, her grip tightening on her weapon. "Then what the hell are we waiting for?"
Kael met her gaze, his lips curling into a smirk.
"We end this."
Without another word, he turned toward the horizon, where the storm of chaos was beginning to rise.
And for the first time since his rebirth he felt unstoppable.