The explosion cleared and both fighters still stood. Impossible, but there they were—Jacob wreathed in light that pushed back the shadows, Verons coated in darkness that absorbed the illumination around him. The ground between them had been carved into a crater fifty feet deep.Neither spoke. They just attacked again, resuming the battle without pause as if the reality-breaking explosion had been nothing more than catching their breath.Time became meaningless. The fight could have lasted minutes or hours or days—Jacob had no way to measure it anymore. His perception had shifted into something that experienced combat differently, each exchange of blows containing infinite complexity that unfolded across microseconds.The temple's upper levels collapsed. They fought through the falling debris, neither bothering to dodge when massive stones the size of houses crashed down around them. Jacob's light-blade carved through obstacles while Verons's shadow simply dissolved anything that touch

Jacob broke the blade-lock and stumbled backward, his transformed body finally showing signs of strain it should not have been capable of feeling. The merged artifacts' power was infinite in theory but channeling that infinity through flesh—even modified flesh—had limits that were now approaching faster than he wanted to admit.Verons pressed forward immediately. He had been waiting for this, watching for the moment when Jacob's control started slipping. Shadow-blade carved through Jacob's guard and scored a deep cut across his ribs that did not heal as fast as previous wounds.The artifacts' power was depleting. Not gone but no longer flowing at the rate needed to maintain the transformation at full strength. Jacob's semi-translucent form was becoming more solid again, divine fire in his eyes dimming to something closer to normal human intensity."There it is," Verons said, driving another strike home that Jacob only partially deflected. "The moment when unlimited power reveals its l

The Darkness coiled around Jacob like a living thing, tendrils searching for entry points while he struggled to maintain the merged artifact's protective aura. Anna's anchor helped but was not enough—the entity was too strong and Jacob too depleted to hold it back indefinitely.Then he realized the Darkness was not actually trying very hard to possess him.It was distracted. Still reaching toward Anna with the bulk of its attention, using Jacob as an obstacle to navigate around rather than a target worth consuming. The entity wanted her specifically, wanted the guardian bloodline for reasons Jacob could not begin to guess.He channeled power through the merged artifact despite having nothing left to channel. Drew on reserves that did not exist, pulled energy from places that should have been empty. The weapon blazed with light that was more will than actual power, bright enough to hurt looking at but lacking the substance to truly repel the Darkness.It was enough. Barely.The shadow

The light from the artifact spread through Jacob's chest like water soaking into cloth. It touched the wound where Verons's blade had pierced his heart and instead of burning or cutting or doing any of the violent things mystical energy usually did, it simply *mended*.Flesh knitted back together. Damaged cardiac muscle reformed. Blood vessels that had been severed reconnected as if they had never been cut. The blade itself was pushed out of the wound by tissue that was healing faster than should be possible, falling to the ground with a clatter that sounded impossibly loud in the sudden silence.Jacob's heart beat. Once. Twice. Rhythm catching and stabilizing into something strong and steady.He breathed. Air filled lungs that had been collapsing, oxygen flooding his system and clearing the gray from his vision. The world snapped back into focus with painful clarity.Anna was still pressed against his chest, her body shaking with sobs. She had not noticed yet that he was breathing ag

The separation was not clean. The Darkness had been merged with Verons for too long, its essence woven through his nervous system and circulatory system and possibly his soul if he still had one. Pulling it free was like unraveling a tapestry thread by thread while the tapestry fought to stay whole.Verons screamed as shadow was torn from his flesh. Not metaphorical pain but actual agony as parts of himself that had been corrupted by the entity were being purged. His veins showed black beneath skin that was becoming translucent, the Darkness visible as it tried to maintain its hold."Stop!" he shouted at Jacob and Anna, though whether he was commanding them or begging was unclear. "You do not understand what you are doing!""We understand perfectly," Jacob said. His voice was calm despite the strain of channeling so much creative energy. "The Darkness cannot exist where love creates space for nothing else. It requires corruption to survive. We are removing the corruption."More shadow