Kenji thought that surviving the first dive into this ruined dimension was their biggest problem.
He'd never thought that merely existing here would turn out to be a very, very bad problem.
The air, thick and metallic, felt like sandpaper in his lungs. Each breath felt like a struggle. It was a battle against the deep corruption that seemed to seep into his bones.
His System screamed, a relentless cacophony of red alerts:
[Corruption Influence: CRITICAL! Sustained exposure degrades vessel integrity. Caution Advised!]
"This is awesome," Kaito wheezed, his hoverboard a useless chunk of shattered metal.
He was limping, favoring his left leg, his usual agility hampered by the unstable ground.
"Just what I always wanted. A vacation spot where the ground tries to eat you and the air tastes like rust. My sensors are still fried, by the way. Can't see a damn thing, literally. Just endless gloom and… that."
He waved his arms at a tall, throbbing spire of black bone. It looked like it was bleeding a thick, green liquid.
Elara's face was pale, her Lumina light barely a flicker around her, flickering weakly against the oppressive gloom.
"My light… It's being suffocated. It feels like trying to breathe through mud. I can't even heal a simple cut properly here."
Her voice was tight with despair, a stark contrast to her usual calming presence.
"We're… truly lost."
They had been running for what felt like hours, a desperate, frantic scramble through this alien hellscape.
The corrupted creatures here were relentless. Quicker, more numerous, and strangely silent, they moved with a chilling fluidity.
This suggested a deeper link to the Blight itself. Kenji, despite the pain from his Shadow Brand, fought fiercely.
He pushed his body and control to the limit. He used more raw power than Eldrin would have liked.
He unleashed stronger Dark Slashes and wider Void Blasts to cut through the endless hordes.
His Corruption Influence meter constantly skirted the red line, a blaring siren in his mind.
He struck a tough, corrupted beast. Its hide was like sharp obsidian. The raw power from the Heart of the Eclipse surged.
It was intoxicating and nearly overwhelming. He wanted to unleash Death's Embrace.
He aimed to obliterate everything and end the constant pressure and endless chase.
He pictured Eldrin's serene, disappointed face. He forced the desire down, focusing on the terrified gasps of Elara and Kaito behind him.
Suddenly, his system gave a faint, almost imperceptible ping amidst the chaos. Not a red alert.
A soft, pulsing blue dot appeared on his otherwise blank map. [Anomaly Detected: Reality Anchor – Weak Signature. Proximity: Unknown.]
"Wait," Kenji gasped, holding up a hand and forcing himself to breathe and focus.
The relentless pursuit was still there, but the anomaly was… different. Hope, a fragile, desperate thing, sparked within him.
"My system… it picked up something. A… a reality anchor. A stable point."
Kaito limped over, trying to peer at Kenji's system. "
A what now? Is that some kind of coffee shop? Because I could use a triple espresso right about now."
Elara, however, seemed to sense it. Her light, though weak, focused, stretching towards the direction Kenji was pointing.
"It's… there! A fragile point! Like a tiny, pure song in this chaos! But it's further that way… through that… blighted ravine."
Her voice, though still strained, held a new, fragile note of hope.
"Then that's where we're going!"
Kenji declared, pushing himself forward, ignoring the throbbing pain in his Shadow Brand.
"Kaito, can you still move? Elara, focus everything you've got on guiding us."
The journey to the Reality Anchor was a descent into a deeper hell.
The ruined ravine Elara mentioned was a nightmare. It had organic bridges made of thick blight, unstable ground that shifted like a creature, and patches of corrosive mist.
They were constantly ambushed by new, grotesque, corrupted entities. Some were barely recognisable as life, while others looked like warped, multi-eyed predators.
Kenji fought on, his trench coat torn and his body sore. His Corruption Influence meter stayed stuck in the critical zone.
He could feel the Heart of the Eclipserejoicing in this environment, almost as if it were home.
The whispers of power were a constant, seductive roar. He had to force himself to hold back, to not give in, to not become the very thing he fought.
"They're… they're getting too many!" Kaito yelled as he shot energy blasts from a makeshift device.
His usual confident tone was gone, replaced by a frantic shout. He tripped, nearly falling into a chasm filled with glowing, corrosive sludge.
Elara screamed and released a desperate burst of Lumina light. For a brief moment, it pushed back a swarm of flying, razor-winged creatures.
"We're not going to make it! There are too many!"
As they felt overwhelmed, a shimmering, nearly invisible barrier appeared around a small crystal growth in front of them.
The pursuing corrupted entities recoiled, snarling, unable to pass the unseen wall.
Within the barrier, a figure stood.
It was ancient and otherworldly. It shone with a shimmering, translucent light, almost hidden in the ruined landscape.
It held a staff that pulsed with a faint, steady glow.
"More shadows?" The guardian's voice echoed, old and tired, but still full of strong defiance.
Its eyes, pure points of light, fixed on Kenji.
"Have you come to finish what your master started? This sliver of reality will not fall!"
Kenji dropped to one knee, panting, his body screaming in protest. He pulled down his mask, showing the guardian his tired, human face.
He raised his hand, the Shadow Brand pulsing, yet still under control.
"We're not with Noxius! We were pulled in! We're fighting him! We need your help! To get back! To stop this… this plague!"
Elara rushed forward, her own light flaring, desperate.
"We are of the Lumina! I am a healer! We seek to purify this Blight, not spread it!"
Kaito, though wary, nodded, holstering his makeshift weapon.
"Yeah! We're the good guys, pal! He's a bit of a brooding shadow, and she's a bit too saintly. But we're definitely not siding with the giant glowing monster!"
The guardian, its light flickering, regarded them with ancient, cautious wisdom. It seemed to see through Kenji's words, into the core of his struggle.
"I feel the containment within you, Shadow-Vessel. A fragile prison. And your companion… her light is pure, if diminished. You speak of… returning. Of fighting. This domain… it permits no escape. No resistance."
"There's always a way," Kenji rasped, forcing himself to stand, despite the overwhelming ache.
"We don't know what you are, but you've held this place. This… reality anchor. It means there's hope. We just need to know how to use it. How to get back. "Or how do we hit that monster?"
He pointed to the far-off core of the Blight, "Hard enough to make it open a path for us?"
The ancient guardian, a being of shimmering light, barely held its shape. It looked at them with tired eyes.
"To return... You would need to disrupt the very threads of this domain. It requires focusing on raw reality, in places where the Blight's hold is weakest. There are a few such points, and they are well-guarded."
Kaito slammed a fist onto a nearby blighted rock, frustrated.
"So, we find these 'reality anchors,' then what? Play hopscotch back to our dimension?!"
Elara knelt down. She looked closely at a small, glowing plant.
The guardian seemed to protect it within its barrier. It was a tiny spark of life amid the overwhelming death. "It's a way. A desperate one."
Kenji looked at his System. The Corruption Influence meter was still high.
However, a faint second blue
"Reality Anchor" dot appeared much further away. He met the guardian's gaze, a grim, determined fire in his eyes.
"Show us the way," Kenji said, his voice hard, resolute.
"We'll find them. We have to. We're not dying in this hellhole. We're getting out, and we're taking this damn Blight with us."