Zane spat blood onto the cracked stone, the coppery taste flooding his mouth. His vision swam, and his ribs screamed with every breath.
"What the hell..." he groaned, forcing himself to stand. "One hit... took 100 HP?"
His Shadow Armor flickered briefly, damaged but holding. The Endblade trembled in his grip, pulsing with dark energy like it was itching to move.
Then he looked up—and froze.
The Phoenix hovered high above, wings stretched impossibly wide, eclipsing the sky like a living eclipse. Its obsidian feathers shimmered with unnatural light.
Thousands of feathers—razor-sharp and glowing with Voidfire—rained from the sky like a bladed storm.
"VOIDWALK!" Zane roared.
His body shimmered and blinked out, moving faster than the eye could follow. He weaved through the falling death storm, teleporting from shadow to shadow mid-air, dodging the deadly rain—
A feather grazed his shoulder, searing through his armor.
Another clipped his leg as he twisted mid-flip, too slow to avoid it entirely.
He grunted, skidding backward across the ground as he reappeared.
The Phoenix was still up there, watching him through the fading rain of blades, like a god studying an ant.
But Zane wasn't done.