The explosion from Ethan's strike faded into a storm of drifting starlight. The Void Frontier—already fragile—groaned as reality bent and struggled to hold its shape. Entire islands of floating crystal terrain sank into the abyss below.
When the light finally cleared, Ethan stood at the center of a crater of swirling cosmic dust. His body still radiated the afterglow of the Silent Star's pulse.
Across from him, Vahl'Serath slowly straightened his massive form.
A chunk of shattered cosmic stone broke from his shoulder and fell into the void, melting into sparks.
The Harbinger of Entropy… was smiling.
A slow, resonant, terrifying smile.
"So the Silent Star's new vessel has teeth."
The air vibrated violently as he stepped forward, each footfall shaking the realm.
But Ethan didn't retreat this time. His aura, though flickering, held firm.
Eldric moved to Ethan's side, whispering:
"Don't overuse the pulse. Your body isn't shaped for it yet."
But Ethan's eyes stayed locked on the titan.
"I don't have a choice."
Vahl'Serath raised his hand.
The fractured sky rippled—then inverted.
The stars above twisted into spirals of collapsing light.
Entropy began to manifest in raw form:
a torrent of unmaking energy that devoured everything it touched.
Lyra gasped.
"He's preparing the Nullfall… the attack that erased an entire sector!"
Eldric's face hardened.
"We cannot withstand that."
Ethan tightened his fists.
A faint white resonance started to build around him—the pulse awakening on its own, responding not to fear, but to resolve.
But Vahl'Serath wasn't finished.
His voice boomed:
"Child of the Silent Star…
If you are truly its vessel,
survive this."
He plunged his hand into the air, tearing open a wound in reality.
A black sun ignited inside the rift, spinning violently.
The Nullfall was forming.
Everything around them—light, matter, space—was drawn toward it.
Lyra was nearly lifted off her feet.
Eldric held her, channeling stabilizing magic, but even he struggled.
Ethan felt his bones shake as the vacuum of entropy pulled at him.
Memories flashed—his past, his failures, his lost sense of identity, the weight of a destiny he never asked for.
He planted his foot forward.
"I'm not dying here."
The Silent Star answered.
A blinding pillar of white surged from Ethan's chest, wrapping around him like celestial armor. The symbol on his body expanded, forming a halo of constellations behind him.
Eldric's eyes widened.
"That's… the Prime Pulse. But that ability shouldn't awaken yet!"
Vahl'Serath froze for a moment, intrigued.
A heartbeat later, Ethan moved.
He shot upward, leaving a trail of starfire, and slammed his fist into the forming black sun.
The collision was cataclysmic.
A wave of entropy and star-pulse radiance exploded outward, tearing apart the entire battlefield. Space split like cloth, reality screamed, and the shockwave could be felt across multiple realms.
Ethan screamed as the power tore through his arm, burning him from inside.
But he didn't stop.
"BREAK—!"
The black sun cracked.
Vahl'Serath's eyes widened.
The black sun shattered.
Fragments of Nullfall collapsed into harmless dust, fading into the cosmic wind.
Silence followed—heavy, unreal.
Ethan hovered in the air, trembling, his arm glowing with raw starlight and fractures of overuse.
Vahl'Serath stepped forward, slowly… almost respectfully.
"You are stronger than the last Starbearer."
His tone was no longer mocking.
"No mortal has ever broken a Nullfall."
Ethan landed on the ground, struggling to stay standing.
The pulse dimmed around him.
Vahl'Serath lowered his head—not a bow, but an acknowledgment.
"The Trial is passed."
Eldric and Lyra exchanged confused looks.
"The… Trial?" Lyra whispered.
Vahl'Serath's molten eyes turned toward Ethan.
"I did not awaken to destroy you.
I awakened to test you.
The Silent Star is stirring—and you, vessel… are not ready for what approaches."
Ethan swallowed hard.
"What's coming?"
Vahl'Serath looked toward the horizon, where a new crack appeared in the cosmic sky—one deeper, darker, older than anything before.
His voice softened to a rumble:
"The Void Sovereign."
The realm grew cold.
Even Eldric stepped backward.
Lyra's breath froze.
Vahl'Serath faced Ethan one last time.
"Prepare yourself, Starbearer.
Your real enemy… has awakened."
The chapter closes as the crack widens, releasing a chilling light that begins to stain the entire sky.
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