With a final, overwhelming surge, I forced my domain straight into the Core's heart.
Reality fractured.
The fleshy cathedral screamed.
Lydia and Vale poured everything they had into me — Lydia's stabilizing seals keeping my energy from collapsing, Vale's binding chains anchoring the Core so it couldn't escape or regenerate.
I reached the center.
There, suspended in a cage of crystallized time, was the true origin — the original fallen elder's soul, twisted and bloated into the Core's consciousness. It looked at me with a thousand eyes, some pleading, most raging.
I didn't hesitate.
My hand plunged into the Core, Infinity protecting me as I grasped the crystallized soul and crushed it.
The explosion of power was blinding.
---
When the light faded, the cavern was collapsing.
