The demon’s golden eyes blazed with unrestrained fury. His horns darkened, veins of crimson light crawling across his temples. The shadows around him writhed violently, lashing out at the crystal walls, shattering them into dust.

"Then you die together!" Etos roared, his voice echoing through the chamber, shaking the stone beneath their feet. He raised both arms, shadows and black flames swirling around him like a maelstrom. "NIGHTMARE WAVE!"

A wave of pure darkness erupted from his body, rushing toward Hope and Andrey like a tidal wave of annihilation.

Hope didn’t flinch. She planted her feet, her greatsword blazing with golden light. "RADIANT JUDGMENT!"

Golden energy exploded from her blade, meeting the darkness head-on. Light and shadow clashed in the center of the chamber, sending shockwaves rippling outward. Crystals along the walls fractured, their sickly light flickering and dying as shards rained down like broken glass. Deep fissures split the obsidian floor, glowing from the heat of the lava far below. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and scorched stone, and for a moment, the very fabric of the dimension seemed to shudder under the strain of their colliding powers.

Etos pressed forward, his dark energy intensifying. Hope gritted her teeth, her arms trembling, but she held her ground. The golden light pushed back, inch by inch.

"You’re strong, Valkyrie," Etos admitted, his voice strained. "But how much longer can you keep this up?"

Hope didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Every ounce of her concentration was focused on maintaining the golden barrier against the demon’s onslaught.

Etos’s lips curled into a cruel smile. He raised one hand, and from the shadows at his feet, new forms emerged. Demonic spirits—twisted, translucent shapes with hollow eyes and elongated limbs. They howled silently, their mouths opening wide, and launched themselves at Hope.

"Shadow Legion!"

Hope’s eyes widened. She couldn’t break her focus on the barrier—if she did, the dark wave would consume them both. But the spirits were closing in, their clawed hands reaching for her.

She tried to summon a secondary barrier with her free hand, but her mana sputtered, refusing to respond. Her reserves were empty.

’I’m going to die here,’ she thought. ’At least... at least Andrey might survive.’

The first spirit lunged.

A blade of blue-white light carved through its chest.

The spirit dissolved with a silent scream, its form scattering into mist.

Andrey stood beside Hope, his hand extended, Ki Blade flickering at his fingertips. His clothes were torn, his face was pale, and blood still trickled from his nose, but his eyes were sharp.

"You’re not alone," he said.

Hope stared at him. "Andrey!! your body.. you can barely stand—"

"I can still fight." He stepped in front of her, positioning himself between Hope and the oncoming spirits. "Focus on the demon. I’ll handle these."

Etos laughed, the sound echoing off the crumbling walls. "You? Handle my Shadow Legion? You can barely lift your arms, little human."

Andrey just stared at the demon silently. He raised both hands, Ki flowing from his core into his palms. The blue-white light intensified, forming twin blades of condensed energy.

"I’ve been training for moments like this," he said quietly. "Not to be the strongest. Not to be the hero. But to protect the people who matter to me."

The spirits charged.

Andrey met them head-on.

His Ki Blades carved through the first two in a single sweeping arc. He spun, dodging a claw swipe, and drove his blade into a third spirit’s chest. It dissolved. A fourth lunged at his back—he dropped low, swept its legs, and finished it with a downward stab.

But for every spirit that crumbled beneath his blades, three more emerged from the demon’s swelling shadow. The chamber was filling with them, a sea of hollow eyes and reaching claws.

Etos’s dark wave pressed against Hope’s golden barrier, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface. She poured everything she had into maintaining it, but her strength was fading.

"Andrey!" she shouted. "I can’t hold much longer!"

Andrey glanced back. The barrier was failing. The dark wave was inching closer. And the spirits kept coming, endless, relentless.

He made a decision.

"Phantom Step!"

He vanished from the spirit line, reappeared beside Hope, and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Trust me."

Before she could ask what he meant, Andrey closed his eyes and reached deep into his core.

’Lend me your strength,’ he thought. ’Just for a moment.’

The system, silent until now, flickered in his mind.

System: Synchronized Heart Mode cannot be activated. Affection Points cannot be transferred across dimensional barriers.

Andrey’s jaw tightened. ’I don’t need the mode. I just need... a spark.’

He reached deeper.

Andrey’s voice echoed in the void of his own mind, hoarse and desperate.

"Give me strength. Whatever it takes, I’ll pay the price."

System: Affection Points cannot be transferred across dimensional barriers. Synchronized Heart Mode cannot be activated. However... there is another way. A temporary amplification. But the cost is high.

Andrey didn’t hesitate. "I’ll pay it."

System: Request confirmed. Amplification engaged... please wait.

Power flooded through Andrey’s body. It burned as it traveled down his arm, but he didn’t let go of Hope’s shoulder. He pushed the energy into her, a desperate transfer of power meant for Magical Girls flowing into a Valkyrie.

Hope gasped. Her blue eyes flew wide as golden light erupted from her body, brighter than anything she had ever produced. Her cracked armor began to glow, the dents smoothing, the scratches sealing. New patterns etched themselves across the silver surface runes that pulsed with warmth.

"What... is this...?" she whispered, staring at her own hands as golden light cascaded from her palms.

The demon’s golden eyes went wide. "Impossible... you can use that power?!"

System: Warning! Channeling Magical Girl energy into a non-candidate carries significant risk. Physical strain. Mana instability. Possible rejection. Do you accept the consequences?

A holographic screen materialized in front of Hope pink and sparkly, utterly incongruous in the hellish chamber. She stared at it for a heartbeat, then met Andrey’s eyes.

"Do it," she said.

System: Risk acknowledged. Initiating temporary synchronization.

Andrey’s voice was steady despite the strain. "Good. Now let’s take this demon down together."

The runes on Hope’s armor blazed brighter. Her greatsword, still planted in the ground, began to hum a deep, resonant sound that vibrated through the chamber. Golden light crawled up the blade, transforming it. The metal grew longer, sleeker, edges sharpening to impossible thinness. When the light faded, the greatsword had become something else, a radiant zweihander, its crossguard shaped like spreading wings, its pommel set with a glowing crystal.

Hope lifted it effortlessly, the weight somehow perfect.

"What did you do to me?" she asked, her voice carrying new resonance.

"I gave you a boost," Andrey said, Ki Blades still flickering at his fingertips. "Now let’s use it before it runs out."

System: Warning! Due to connection instability and dimensional interference, temporary synchronization duration will be shortened. Additionally—Laplace soul fragment detected within the demon’s core. Exercise extreme caution.

Etos’s face twisted in fury—a sheer, undisguised rage that cracked his composed demeanor. His golden eyes burned with the humiliation of being wounded by lesser beings. Yet beneath that fury, a flicker of genuine fear surfaced, the first he had felt in centuries. He realized, perhaps for the first time, that he might not be in control.

"You think a borrowed power-up will save you?" He raised his arms, shadows coalescing around him. "I’ll show you true darkness! SHADOW—"

Andrey didn’t let him finish.

"Hope! Now!"

Hope moved.

Her new zweihander carved through the air, golden light trailing behind it like a comet’s tail. The blade struck Etos’s shadow barrier, and this time, the barrier didn’t hold. It cracked, shattered, and Hope drove the sword into the demon’s shoulder.

Etos roared—a sound of genuine pain, not just fury. Golden ichor sprayed from the wound, sizzling where it touched the ground. He stumbled back, clutching his shoulder, his golden eyes wide.

"How... how is this possible?!"

Hope didn’t answer. She pressed her advantage, her zweihander swinging in wide, devastating arcs. Each strike pushed Etos further back, his shadow defenses crumbling against the radiant blade.

Andrey moved to support her, Ki Blades flashing. He couldn’t match her power, but he could cover her flanks, intercept the shadow tendrils that tried to strike at her exposed back.

"His core!" Andrey shouted, parrying a tendril. "The system said there’s a Laplace fragment in his core! That’s what we need to destroy!"

Hope’s eyes locked onto Etos’s chest, where a faint, pulsing light shone through his crimson skin. "I see it."

Etos’s hand moved to cover his chest, his expression shifting from fury to desperation. "You will not—"

"I will."

Hope raised her zweihander high. Golden light gathered at its tip, brighter than the sun, brighter than anything she’d ever summoned.

"HALO.... EXECUTION!"

The blade came down.

The impact shook the chamber. Golden light exploded outward, consuming the shadows, consuming the darkness, consuming everything. Andrey threw up an arm to shield his face, but the light wasn’t harsh, it was warm, almost gentle, like standing in sunlight after years in the dark.

When it faded, Etos was on his knees.

His crimson skin was cracked, ichor seeping from a dozen wounds. His golden eyes were dim, barely glowing. His horns had crumbled. And in the center of his chest, a small, dark crystal pulsed weakly, the Laplace fragment.

Hope stood over him, zweihander raised for the final blow.

"Wait," Andrey said.

Hope paused, looking back at him.

Andrey walked toward the demon, his steps slow but steady. He stopped in front of Etos, looking down at the broken creature.

"You said the system is not on my side," Andrey said quietly. "Is that true?"

Etos’s cracked lips curled into a bloody smile. "Does it matter? You’re going to kill me anyway."

"It matters to me."