Leverage

The inherited instincts guided me further. I created crystalline mirrors that reflected and amplified my light attacks, turning single beams into devastating arrays. When the creature tried to close distance, crystal armor flowed across my skin, deflecting claws that should have torn me apart.

I was gaining ground. Each exchange left the creature more damaged, its form flickering between states as my combined powers tore through its defenses. But something weird was happening to me.

Time felt... slower. My body was moving before I consciously decided to move it. Like when I'd get lost in complex medical calculations, formulas flowing through my mind without conscious effort. Or how I'd read about boxers entering this zone - Muhammad Ali describing fights where he barely remembered throwing the punches that won him rounds.

Hell, there were documented cases of competitive boxers fighting entire rounds completely unconscious after taking head trauma, their bodies running on pure instinct and muscle memory.

But this was way beyond anything I'd ever experienced.

As I blocked another claw strike, I could suddenly feel Karin's training sessions in my bones. All those hours she'd beaten the crap out of me, drilling techniques until my body knew them better than my brain did. But underneath that, there were other memories stirring. Moves I'd never learned but somehow knew how to execute.

The memory keeper's whispers weren't just guidance anymore - they were becoming my instincts. Karin had given me the foundation, and now something ancient was building on top of it.

I stopped thinking and just... moved.

The creature's cocky expression started to crack as my attacks became completely unpredictable. One second I was fighting like Karin taught me, the next I was using techniques that were centuries old. It couldn't read me anymore because I wasn't planning anything - just reacting to openings that appeared and vanished in milliseconds.

A crystal spike erupted exactly where the creature was about to dodge. My light constructs started weaving patterns that made no logical sense but somehow worked perfectly.

The thing actually stumbled backward, its eyes wide with something that looked like fear.

"You're learning too quickly!" it snarled, backing toward the edge of the platform. "This isn't fair!"

I didn't bother responding. Words would break the flow, and right now, the flow was everything.

I advanced, twin crowbars of hard light spinning in complex patterns while crystal spikes erupted around the creature's feet. It was cornered, desperate, its manic laughter replaced by frustrated growls.

"Enough of this," it hissed, and suddenly its hand moved faster than I could track.

A blade of pure shadow materialized in its grip, thrusting toward my chest. I could have dodged, should have raised a barrier, but something in its movement made me hesitate.

The blade punched through my ribs, and immediately I knew I'd made a mistake.

The creature's pupils expanded until they consumed its entire eyes, becoming pools of absolute darkness. Pain shot through my skull as something alien invaded my thoughts, rifling through memories with casual violence.

"My, my, my," the creature whispered, its voice now layered with harmonics that hurt to hear. "There's so much love in your heart."

I tried to pull back, but the blade held me in place, acting as a conduit for its mental intrusion.

"Such devotion. Such fierce protection." The creature's face split into a grin that revealed too many teeth. "I see two ripe specimens I could corrupt and take away from you."

"Leave them alone," I screamed, struggling against the shadow blade. "You'll never get to them anyway!"

The creature laughed, its features twisting into something that barely resembled humanity. "I wonder about that."

It raised its free hand, and reality tore open beside us. A portal of swirling darkness materialized, large enough for the creature to reach through. Its arm disappeared into the void, groping for something on the other side.

"No," I whispered.

The creature's grin widened impossibly. "Oh yes."

It withdrew its hand, and clutched in its claws was a sphere of crystalline energy. Inside the translucent prison, I could see two familiar figures bound with chains of shadow.

Karin and Kaguya.

Karin was struggling against her bonds, flames flickering weakly around her gauntlets. Kaguya appeared unconscious, her head hanging forward, the Sun Quill nowhere to be seen.

"How?" I gasped.

"Time moves differently here," the creature explained, its voice sickeningly cheerful. "What seems like hours to you has been days outside this tower. Days for my influence to spread, for my servants to hunt." It held the sphere closer to my face. "They were so worried about you, dear Ken. So easy to track when they ventured beyond the dome to search."

"Let them go!"

"Oh, I don't think so." The creature's blade twisted in my chest, sending fresh waves of agony through my body. "But perhaps a demonstration of my power is in order?"

It gestured with its free hand, and the air beside us rippled. From the distortion stepped a familiar nightmare - the Sephis. The creature of light wrapped in black tendrils, exactly as Kaguya had described it ten years ago.

Inside the crystal prison, Kaguya's unconscious form suddenly convulsed. Her eyes snapped open, wide with primal terror as she saw the thing that had murdered her father. A strangled scream tried to escape her throat, but the sphere muted all sound.

"Ah, recognition!" the creature clapped its hands in delight. "Yes, little analyst, this is my dear pet. My extension into your world." It stroked the Sephis like a beloved animal. "It's grown so much since our last encounter with your family."

Kaguya was hyperventilating now, her analytical composure completely shattered. She pressed herself against the far side of the crystal sphere, as far from the Sephis as possible, her whole body shaking.

"Your father thought he was so clever with his fire vial trick," the creature continued conversationally. "But he tasted of desperation and false hope - quite the delicacy. I do hope you'll have more... substance to you."

Something shifted in Kaguya's expression. The terror was still there, but underneath it, I saw something else building. Her hands slowly curled into fists, and though tears streamed down her face, her jaw set with grim determination.

Karin's eyes found mine through the crystal prison. Even bound and helpless, her gaze burned with defiant fury. She was trying to speak, but no sound escaped the sphere. When the creature mentioned "the clever one" while looking at Kaguya, Karin's expression shifted to outrage. Her flames flickered more intensely despite her bonds, and she glared at me as if this were somehow my fault for giving the creature that impression.

"What do you want?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Simple. Surrender to me willingly, and I'll make their corruption quick and relatively painless." The creature's free hand caressed the sphere's surface. "Resist, and I'll make it last centuries. I have so much time to be creative."

"You're lying. You need me for something."

"Perceptive! Yes, I do need you intact. The sleeping god below requires a very specific type of sacrifice." The creature's grin became predatory. "You've reeked of that wench goddess since you came to my tower."

"The goddess?" I asked. "What do you want with her?"

The creature's laughter turned vicious, hysterical. "You're going to defend that wench? Oh, this is rich! This is absolutely delicious!" It wiped tears from its eyes, still giggling maniacally. "But your little friends don't require such elaborate purposes. They're just... insurance."

I looked at the sphere again, at Karin's helpless rage and Kaguya's growing determination in the face of her worst nightmare.

"Choose quickly," the creature advised. "Corruption works faster on those who fight it. Your fierce little flame-wielder won't last much longer at this rate."

Grace had been silent throughout the exchange, but now she burst into song. Not her usual melodies, but something sharp and urgent. A warning about the creature's lies, about the trap it was weaving.

But what choice did I have?

"I surrender," I said quietly.

"Excellent!" The creature's blade dissolved, freeing me from its mental intrusion. "But first, a small demonstration of good faith. Dispel your crystal armor. Dismiss your weapons. Show me you're truly committed to cooperation."

I let the hard light crowbars fade. The crystal armor flowed away from my skin, leaving me defenseless on the platform. The creature nodded approvingly.

"Much better. Now, shall we discuss the terms of your surrender?"

But as the creature began to speak, I felt something the memory keeper had been whispering since the blade first touched me. A technique buried deep in the inherited knowledge, something Elara's ancestors had developed for exactly this situation.

The crystal sphere could be turned against its creator if approached correctly. And the creature had made one crucial mistake.

It had shown me exactly where my family was being held.

Grace's song changed, becoming the melody she'd used to unlock my cell door. The same frequency that had resonated with metal could resonate with crystal, given the right approach.

I just had to get close enough to touch the sphere without the creature realizing what I was planning.

"Tell me about this sleeping god," I said, taking a careful step forward. "What does it want with someone like me?"

The creature's eyes gleamed with fanatic fervor. "Oh, you'll understand once you meet it. The transformation it offers, the power, the purpose beyond mortal comprehension."

Another step. The sphere was almost within reach.

"And my friends?"

"Will serve as witnesses to your glorious metamorphosis. Before their own, of course."

One more step. My fingers were inches from the crystal surface.

The creature's expression shifted suddenly, suspicion replacing enthusiasm. "What are you—"

I lunged forward, pressing both palms against the sphere just as Grace's song reached its crescendo. The crystal prison resonated, its harmonic frequency matching the canary's voice perfectly.

Cracks spread across the sphere's surface as the inherited knowledge showed me exactly where to apply pressure. The creature shrieked, trying to pull the prison away, but it was too late.

The crystal shattered, releasing Karin and Kaguya onto the platform. They collapsed, gasping, their bonds of shadow dissolving in the presence of Grace's purifying song.

"You little—" the creature snarled, but Karin was already moving.

Flames roared around her gauntlets as she launched herself at our captor. "You made the mistake of threatening my family!"