The valley quaked under the clash of Shadeclaw and Umbrakrell.
Every strike detonated shadow bursts. Every counter tore gouges in the obsidian earth. Shadeclaw fought with the frantic precision of a wolf who'd lost too much already. His claws glowed with shadow-chi, his breath steaming with effort, blood dripping from fresh wounds.
But for every wound Shadeclaw inflicted, Umbrakrell adapted.
He didn't fight with anger.
He fought with elegance.
With inevitability.
Shadeclaw lunged again, spinning into a vicious cross-slash. Umbrakrell parried with a single shadow-forged blade, the impact reverberating through the valley like a thunderclap.
"You are louder than your ancestors," Umbrakrell murmured, sliding sideways like mist. "More reckless. More heart."
Shadeclaw snarled, "I'll rip out your HEART!"
He slammed both claws into Umbrakrell's torso—
—but the Lord of Shadows dissolved before impact, reforming behind Shadeclaw and driving a palm strike into his spine.
Shadeclaw hit the ground hard enough to crater the valley floor.
Jade saw it from across the clearing and punched a shadow-beast so hard it burst like a balloon. "HEY! Stay on your feet! I didn't come all this way to watch you nap!"
Shadeclaw pushed himself upright, shaking uncontrollably.
His vision blurred. His chest burned. His instincts screamed at him to tear, to kill, to hunt. But Umbrakrell's calm presence suffocated his rage like wet ash on a fire.
"You are driven by emotion," Umbrakrell said as he walked toward him. "Effective against mortals. Ineffective against me."
Shadeclaw spat blood. "Then I'll stop being mortal."
He inhaled.
And the valley trembled.
Jade gasped from across the field. "Oh no. OHHH no—he's doing the glowy thing again!"
Shadeclaw's fur darkened—
then deepened—
then thickened until the shadows themselves clung to him.
A second set of fangs grew beneath the first.
His claws lengthened into blackened scythes.
His pupils split.
For a moment, Umbrakrell actually paused.
"You would risk losing yourself," he said. Not mocking. Not amused. Almost… impressed.
Shadeclaw roared.
A roar that shook mountains.
He blurred forward—faster than before, claws streaking with pure umbral fury—
and Umbrakrell blocked only just in time.
Shadeclaw's claws ripped through his forearm, drawing a spray of dark ichor.
Umbrakrell retreated instantly, expression sharpening.
Shadeclaw pounced again.
Umbrakrell parried the next strike—but only barely. His calm dissolved into something colder, heavier, and far more dangerous.
"This is no longer training," he said.
Shadeclaw's reply was a slash that nearly bisected him.
Umbrakrell flickered backward, shadows whipping violently around him.
"I see," he whispered. "You do not want a path to her."
Shadeclaw's breath came out ragged.
"I… want her BACK."
The shadows exploded around them—
and they collided again, harder than before.
At the same time, across the shattered starscape of the sigil ruins—
Team Alpha's battle escalated into catastrophe.
Danny blasted upward, creation-flame spiraling from his arms as he slammed into the distortion's central mass. The creature convulsed, absorbing the blow and morphing wildly. Its molten tendrils recoiled, knitting themselves into new weapons—blades of stone, whips of shadow, orbs of searing plasma.
It lashed out in a dozen directions at once.
Danny dodged the first three. Jake intercepted the fourth, blocking with crossed arms that sizzled under the heat.
Swift shouted over the com, "STOP TAKING HITS FOR HIM!"
Jake yelled back, "THEN HELP ME BE USEFUL!"
Danny didn't have time to scold either of them—
the distortion's core pulsed, then vomited a beam of raw elemental fusion.
Danny pushed Jake aside and took the hit dead on.
The beam struck him like a falling star, slamming him through three chunks of floating debris before he skidded across a cracked sigil slab.
"DANNY!!" Jake screamed, wings flaring as he dove.
Swift twisted the Switchblade hard, trying to stabilize before the overheating thrusters detonated.
"Danny, respond!" Swift shouted. "Danny—!"
A low groan crackled through the com.
Danny rose slowly from the rubble, smoke curling from burns across his arms and chest. Golden flame flickered beneath his skin—unstable, furious.
Jake landed beside him. "Dude, please, PLEASE stop tanking cosmic blasts with your FACE!"
Danny didn't answer.
His eyes were burning brighter.
The distortion—now towering like a half-formed titan—reeled back to unleash another beam.
Danny exhaled, steadying himself.
"Jake," he said quietly. "Flank it."
Jake nodded, swallowing his fear. "Got it."
Danny stepped forward, golden fire erupting from his shoulders.
"Swift."
"Yeah??" Swift's voice cracked.
"Bring the ship low."
Swift swore, twisted the controls, and dropped the Switchblade into a screaming descent.
Danny sprinted forward just as the distortion fired again.
Swift clipped the beam with the ship's wing, redirecting it.
Danny surged through the deflected blast—
and drove a creation-infused punch into the distortion's core.
The explosion swallowed half the ruins.
Jake was thrown backward. Swift fought to keep the Switchblade from flipping end-over-end.
Danny disappeared inside the blast.
"DANNY!!!" Jake screamed.
Silence.
Smoke.
Crackling flames.
The distortion's form flickered wildly, unraveling, torn open. It shrieked, collapsing into a spiral of elements tearing themselves apart.
Jake hovered anxiously. "Come on… come on… SAY SOMETHING—"
A hand burst from the smoke and grabbed the edge of a floating stone.
Danny pulled himself up, coughing hard.
"I'm fine," he rasped. "Let's keep moving."
Jake stared at him.
"You are absolutely NOT fine."
Danny wiped blood from his mouth. "Noted."
Jake pointed wildly. "NOTED IS NOT A STRATEGY!"
Swift appeared in the com. "Guys—guys! The distortion is dying, but it sent out a signal! I just picked it up—something FLEW through the Domain the moment your attack connected!"
Danny steadied himself. "Something? Or someone?"
"Someone," Swift said, dread in his voice. "And they're headed straight for us."
Jake's wings drooped. "Oh great. Another boss fight."
Before Danny could respond—
space warped.
A tear ripped open above them like a wound in reality.
Shapes emerged.
Not monsters.
Not distortions.
Elemental Sentinels.
Pure constructs forged by the Lords themselves.
Danny stepped forward despite the pain.
Jake whimpered. "Oh come on—why do they all look seven feet tall and angry?"
Swift swore. "Because they are!"
Danny's flames reignited.
"Then we'd better win fast."
Back in the valley—
Shadeclaw's and Umbrakrell's fight reached its own breaking point.
Umbrakrell slashed across Shadeclaw's ribs. Shadeclaw countered, biting into Umbrakrell's shoulder and ripping free a chunk of shadow-flesh. Both combatants staggered back, breathing hard.
"You… are becoming what you fear," Umbrakrell whispered.
Shadeclaw's chest heaved. His eyes glowed with dangerous hunger.
"I'm becoming what I need to be," he growled.
Umbrakrell tilted his head slightly.
"Then prove it."
He snapped his fingers.
Every shadow in the valley rose at once.
Jade froze mid-punch as dozens of shadow spears materialized inches from his throat.
Shadeclaw stumbled.
"No—Jade—!"
Umbrakrell smiled.
"You have one opportunity, Shadowchild."
Shadeclaw's heart hammered.
"Fight me alone."
The valley trembled.
"Win," Umbrakrell said softly, "and you reach her."
The shadows tightened around Jade.
Shadeclaw froze—caught between instinct, fury, and the impossible choice in front of him.
And that's where the scene cut—
two battles
two fronts
both spiraling into consequences no one could undo.