Second froze. His eyes snapped to Damien and green runes flooded the air before him, forming four rune circles between them. A column of sheer darkness leapt from Damien’s hand, obliterating three of the circles and slamming into the fourth without single noise.

The dim light faded, drawn into Damien’s empty eyes. What little warmth the city had followed it, instantly casting the area around Damien into an endless night.

“You,” Second breathed. “I remember you.”

It Who Heralds the End of all Light didn’t respond. Second flicked back just before the air around him imploded, shattering and falling away into a dark gap. Derrod threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding getting sucked in. The hole in reality snapped shut, swallowing everything that had fallen into it.

Sylph darted over to Aven and grabbed her, pulling the other girl away from the fight. Derrod retreated as well, heading in the other direction without taking his eyes off Second and Damien.

“You’re too late,” Second said. One of the other corrupted monsters paced toward Damien, salivating acid. "This will be the final Cycle."

Damien snapped. The top half of the monster disappeared. Its body crashed to the ground, already turned to stone. More light leeched out of his surroundings, vanishing into him.

“Kill as many of us as you want. This cannot be stopped. Not anymore. Not even by you,” Second said, letting out a crazed laugh. A bandage leapt at Damien, but a dark portal opened before it, devouring the tendril and snapping shut, severing it.

“The Cycle is already in the process of being restarted,” Damien said, his voice a discordant symphony like hundreds of people were speaking at once. “All that remains is to ensure that you do not slip through the cracks again.”

Second snarled. Green energy erupted from his body, illuminating the clearing for an instant. Everyone froze, stuck in time. A shell of black magic formed across Damien’s body and he raised a finger toward Second.

A mote of black energy leapt out and headed for the bandaged man. Second thrust his palm toward it and the air rippled, compressing and warping to change the spell’s path. It shot past him and popped, erupting in a massive explosion that destroyed half of the block behind him.

“Your magic is nothing but an evolution of that belonging to mortals,” Damien said. “Mine is perfected. You cannot defeat me in a fight, or you would have already tried. Instead, you attempt to worm your way into the flaws in this Plane to shatter it.”

“I fight for all those who you cast away,” Second hissed clapping his hands. When he pulled them apart, thick ropes of acid hung between them. He whipped them toward Damien, who flickered and vanished.

He reappeared directly in front of Second and reached out to touch the other man on the shoulder. Second moved faster, driving his knee into Damien’s chest. Magic rippled around where his knee touched Damien, absorbing the impact completely.

Second collapsed into a puddle of acid and slithered between Damien’s feet, stabbing up at him with a green spike. Dozens of miniature tears carved the attack into pieces before it could reach Damien.

“I have not even used Void yet. Even for you, this is substantially weaker than it should be,” Damien said. Second clawed the air and Damien’s lips slowed, as if he were trying to move through molasses. An instant later, the effect vanished and he returned to normal speed. “As I said. Weak.”

“Damn Moon. If you hadn’t destroyed my staff,” Second cursed, sending a barrage of magic at Damien.

Hundreds of openings into an endless darkness formed around Damien, absorbing the spells before they could touch him. Sweat started to trickle down Damien’s forehead. Three huge tentacles erupted from his back and swung at Second, nearly clipping Sylph and Aven as they filled the makeshift arena.

The ground erupted around Second, forming a dripping bone cage. It buckled under the weight of the attack as the tentacles slammed into it, but managed to hold strong. Damien staggered slightly, but didn’t fall.

Second’s eyes narrowed. “Running low on Ether, are we?”

A thrum rippled through the air as Second plucked a line of Ether beside him, ripping the magic out of it. He inhaled deeply, drawing the magic into himself with a laugh. “You can’t do this, can you?”

“You are a perversion of nature that will be blotted out,” Damien said, gathering a dozen black spears in the air around him. They fired as one and the bandaged man danced through them, cloth rippling in his wake. Several spells clipped him, drawing green acid forth, but none hit anything vital.

Second arrived before Damien and narrowly hopped back in time to avoid a collapsing ball of shadows. It ripped the ground between them up, shredding it into fine dust.

“How many more of those can you do?” Second asked. A green glaive formed between his hands and he pointed it at Sylph. “How much of the boy is still left? Or have you ripped his psyche apart already? Would he even care if I kill that girl?”

Lines of shadow stretched out from Damien’s feet, bursting free from the ground around Second and spearing him in a dozen spots. Second reared back and threw the glaive, ignoring the wounds riddling him.

A tendril shot out of Damien’s back, grabbing the glaive before it could strike Sylph. He whipped it around, bringing the huge blade down on Second’s shoulder. It splashed apart as soon as it touched him, turning to acid that burned Damien’s magic away.

“You can’t hurt me with my own weapon,” Second laughed, splashing into a puddle and gathering himself atop a building. “Now, I do wonder if you were protecting her. It Who Heralds the End of all Light, beholden to a mortal? Surely not.”

Second raised his hands and energy burst forth. A thick cloud of green magic formed over all of them, roiling and crackling with energy. Droplets of acid formed within it.

Damien snapped his fingers and a huge maw appeared above the cloud, snapping shut around it. More sweat built on Damien’s face and his hands started to tremble from exertion.

“Do you really have the Ether to be wasting like that?” Second asked, every word more confident than the last. “You showed yourself too early, didn’t you? You can’t defeat me. Especially not with the boy fighting you. No Void creature would ever waste effort over a few mortal souls. I’d know that, wouldn’t I?”

More magic gathered around Second’s hand. He brought it down, casting a huge crescent moon of green energy down upon the people standing below. Black lightning leapt from Damien’s hands, obliterating Second’s spell and carrying through to him.

Second screamed in pain as the magic ravaged his body, following him even as he collapsed into a puddle to try to escape.

Damien staggered, the magic falling from his fingertips. Second reformed, his bandages blackened and smoke rising up from his body. He braced himself against the wall as portions of his wrapping fell off, revealing charred gray skin.

“You… can’t kill me,” Second wheezed. He jumped down from the building and paced toward Damien. “I exist because you do, and you are weak within this form. It’s over. This Cycle will not restart, no matter what you do. The rest of the Void is sealed or in hiding. You are alone, as you always are. This time, I win.”

Damien struggled upright, his body fighting for breath. He raised a shaking hand, but Second batted it away and grabbed him by the collar.

“I’m not,” Damien hissed.

His Mage Armor turned jet black. Tendrils erupted from behind it, wrapping around Second and piercing into the other man’s back. Second stiffened, then his eyes widened in horror. “How? You have no power over the Corruption. How are you stopping my magic?”

Sylph let out a relieved breath from behind them. Her brows were furrowed in concentration and her hands shaking with exertion, but she walked up to stand behind Damien.

“Get shit on, asshole,” Henry said, his blobby form emerging from behind Sylph. “Now, if I were you, I’d be getting out of here as fast as possible before I find out just how unkillable you are.”

The tendrils started to pull, tearing Second’s body apart. He roared in pain, but no magic formed around him. Sylph gritted her teeth, focusing all her energy.

A tendril whipped out from Second’s foot, striking Sylph in the leg. She staggered but didn’t fall, and the wound started to seal.

“Impossible,” Second stammered. “I didn’t make you.”

“That’s because I did,” Henry said cheerfully, still pulling Second apart. A large hole formed in the Corrupted man’s chest, but he seemed to be beyond pain.

“The Void cannot do anything new,” Second insisted. “You are an echo. A repetition of a forgotten age. I am more. I am evolved!”

“You’re dead,” Henry corrected, ripping him in half.

The two pieces of Second crumpled to the ground. Then one of their eyes turned, focusing up at Damien.

“I already told you this. You cannot kill what is not alive.”

A tendril shot out from his body. Sylph twisted, managing to avoid taking the blow through the throat and instead catching it with her shoulder. She flew back, bouncing once on the ground before slamming into a building. It collapsed around her with a rumble.

Strands of acid shot out, reconnecting Second’s halves. He pulled himself back together with a snarl, then rose up before Damien while Henry’s tendrils carved at him fruitlessly. Without Sylph, every wound just healed a few seconds later.

“How curious,” Second breathed. “Damien Vale. I wonder if you’ll remain after this Cycle finally ends. Is any part of you even left?”

A flicker of anger washed over Damien’s face.

“Ah. There is some,” Second said. “But fading fast, it looks. It Who Heralds the End of all Light is devouring you. If you can hear me, know that I respect your attempt to sacrifice yourself for your friends. It was pointless, of course, but such things can only be learned through experience. If only you could have known what I did, perhaps you would have chosen your side better. You see their mortal live, but I fight for their eternity.”

The dark void behind Damien’s eyes grew deeper. Damien’s mage armor turned back blue and Sylph froze in place as Henry shot back into Damien.

Magic flickered behind his eyes. Second cocked an eyebrow and took a step back.

“Damien!” Henry yelled within the boy’s mind. “Come on! Use the artifact!”

Damien’s hand twitched, but nothing else happened. Henry snarled, reaching for the mental controls of the boy. It Who Heralds the End of all Light fought back, and the two Void creatures locked in a violent fight.

Outside, Second watched them with undisguised curiosity. “Truly fascinating. However, I’m afraid I can’t let this play out. If you lose, Damien, I might have some trouble. I’ll find your soul if it survives what is to come and make this all up to you.”

He extended his hand and a glaive formed within it. He raised it into the air and brought it down toward Damien’s neck. It slammed to a stop with a loud clang.

Sylph stood between them, trembling from exertion. Her open palm, covered in the black gauntlet, had stopped Second’s blow right before it could connect.

“You can move?” Second asked, blinking.

A scythe split his head from his shoulders. Sylph kicked him in the chest and he fell back, dropping into a roll and rising back to his feet, grabbing his head along the way. Second put it back in its proper place and let out an aggravated sigh. “Impeded by a perversion of my own form. You cannot stop me, girl.”

“I won’t let you kill him,” Sylph said, her second scythe rising up from behind her back.

“You can move? Impressive. Such conviction,” Second said. “Very well. I see myself in your eyes, girl. Let us try our convictions against each other, then.”

They dashed at each other while Damien stood before them, helpless. The inside of his mind was a warzone. It was impossible to tell what was Henry, what was Herald, and what was him. Fragments of his mind spun in a violent vortex that crackled with furious energy.

If his soul hadn’t already been damaged so many times, it probably would have been snuffed out by the fight. Instead, it teetered on the edge of extinction, the stands of his desire stretching and twisting in a last-ditch attempt to maintain his hold on life.

Metal sparked on stone all around him, but Damien was barely aware of it. Flashes of the fight trickled into his struggling consciousness, but he could do nothing to help her. It was all he could do to keep his fraying consciousness together.