The Chronophage surged forward, sand and energy swirling in a living cyclone. Juno felt the heat of it, though the air around her was cold and heavy like the last breath before a storm.
Milo darted left, swinging his Tempo Baton to slice through whirling sand streams. The baton's light cut through the shimmer, briefly revealing the creature's core: a swirling hourglass glowing with molten time.
Idris leapt high, twin temporal blades slashing through the creature's limbs only for the sand to ripple and close the wounds as if time itself was knitting flesh.
Juno gripped her Divider tighter. The vibrations inside it grew fierce, syncing with her heartbeat. She focused, letting the humming guide her steps as the sands warped around her.
"Find the core!" Milo shouted. "It's the anchor point of this anomaly!"
Juno nodded and sprinted forward, dodging spikes of crystallized time erupting from the ground.
The Chronophage shifted, and suddenly she was caught in a looped flicker her own past and future selves running alongside her, trapped in endless cycles of movement.
"No!" she yelled, pounding the Divider against the sand. The vibrations shattered the illusion, and her duplicates vanished.
At the core, the Chronophage's molten hourglass pulsed faster—time bleeding out in waves. Juno placed the Divider on the glowing surface.
The device hummed louder than ever, emitting a piercing tone that rippled through the Sands Below.
The Chronophage howled an invisible sound that rattled bones and shattered moments and its form began to crack, sand cascading like shattered glass.
Milo and Idris surged forward, striking with blades and baton in synchronized rhythm.
Finally, with one final pulse from Juno's Divider, the Chronophage collapsed. The hourglass shattered.
The Sands Below trembled, and for a fleeting moment, the black sky brightened with thousands of stars, each a trapped second freed.
Juno gasped for breath.
Milo clapped her on the shoulder. "You did it. We stopped the bleed."
Idris nodded, but her eyes remained wary. "For now."
Suddenly, the air rippled and a cold voice echoed through the empty desert:
"Time is only borrowed, Juno. And your debt has just begun."
The sky cracked open again.