As his energy slowly left his body, Liam felt Incursio's emotions and will growing increasingly unstable within him. It was as if his body was a prison that Incursio was desperately trying to break free from.
Liam's armor slowly began to crumble as he struggled to gain distance from the energy suctioning. The terrain beneath the Tyrant started to change, The green grass and trees withered, replaced by ice that spread out in all directions from the Tyrant's feet.
'I can't do anything! All the energy for spells is being sucked out of the circles before I can finish them,' he panicked. 'I can't even open a portal to go away.'
The ice expanded fast in all directions, consuming everything in its path. It chased Liam as he ran, and at first, he could outrun it. But as his armor disintegrated into dust, his speed began to slow down. Liam looked at Illyana, noticing that even her energy was being drained. As she, too, slowed down.
Liam turned back and saw the Tyrant, now standing at nearly 25 stories tall. His armor gave up entirely, crumbling to dust completely. The surroundings decayed around him, and the ice caught up. He stopped running and turned around, realizing the inevitable was about to happen to him.
A single spike shot out of the ground towards the unmoving Liam. Time seemed to slow as he processed the attack.
'I can't die here,' he thought desperately.
'I haven't lived the life I wanted. I haven't even said goodbye to my grandpa.'
Images of Illyana flashed in his mind. 'If I die, she'll be next. And then billions after her.'
'I don't want to die.' Went through Liam's mind. In that moment, a single primal instinct suppressed all other emotions, even suppressing the loud roaring coming from Incursio in his mind.
The ice spike pierced through his chest, impaling him. As the spike slowly retracted back into the ground, a large hole was left in Liam's chest.
Liam collapsed forwards, his vision blurred as he caught a final sight of Illyana. Her body was turning a dark black, horns grew from the front of her head, and a set of large wings appeared on her back.
His head hit the ground.
Then… silence.
It was as though something had broken inside him. Everything was silent.
'No. I can't die here,' echoed through his mind. He repeated over and over again.
Then something inside his mind snapped. Deep within his mind, a tiny flame reignited, flickering and slowly gaining more intensity.
Liam's entire body began to heat up as he repeated to himself: 'I cannot die. I will not die here.'
The flame grew brighter and hotter, and Liam saw a vision—a continuation of his earlier dream, but this time from an outsider's perspective.
He saw a giant black greatsword pierce through the Tyrant's back. The massive figure from the distance in his previous dream approached. But the Tyrant stood up again. Its entire body lit up in a golden light as it began to transform.
Back in reality, golden light radiated from Liam's body. His temperature skyrocketed as the large wound in his chest closed at an extraordinary speed.
A familiar silhouette appeared around Liam, roaring loud as it wrapped its arms around him.
Inside his body, something changed. His blood began to transform, his cells slowly started changing to a golden-white color, causing the cells to grow larger, stronger, and faster.
His eyes, slowly started changing next. His original brown eyes slowly started to turn into a pure red, followed by black crosses forming in both irises.
Liam slowly stood up. Over his body, a new layer of armor formed, pure white and gold in color. It began at his feet, growing upwards until it covered him entirely. Over his hands and fingers grew sets of razor-sharp claws.
His helmet was no longer the shape of standard armor but the image of a dragon's open mouth. Two horns grew from his head, curving backward as they grew longer.
His spear, Neontote appeared in his hand, evolving alongside him. The spear's blade grew thinner, larger, and a lot sharper. The central oval gem changed into an oval mark, with a cross etched inside it.
Deep inside, Liam felt a strange connection to something larger which he had never felt before. His energy was now a perfect mix: half his own yellow energy, half Incursio's white-gold colored energy.
Looking around, he noticed the ground beneath him was no longer ice—it was solid brown rock. Blue energy flew up from the cracks in the earth, and a nearby purple portal caught his attention.
Despite Incursio continuing to evolve and reshape his armor, Liam instinctively absorbed the strange energy flowing from the portal.
With this new energy, Liam connected to the strange feeling he had felt earlier. Raising his hand, he channeled energy through it, guided by instinct. A familiar white portal materialized before him, leading to a dimension he knew very well.
Closing his eyes, he fully synchronized with the dimension beyond the portal. The terrain around him transformed into a withered forest floor. Ruined buildings began appearing all around him, and the sky darkened with pure black clouds with golden beams of light shining through them.
Massive stone kingdom walls erupted from the ground in a four-mile radius, centering around Liam. The walls grew rapidly, starting at twenty-five stories before rising to sixty. The massive wall fully stopped the Tyrant's ice domain from expanding furthur.
The silhouette surrounding Liam vanished, releasing a final shockwave of energy.
'Without Incursio lending me this massive amount of energy, maintaining these walls would have been impossible,' Liam thought, his gaze snapping back to the Tyrant.
Illyana was still battling the colossal beast which had grown to around 40 stories now. The Tyrant, despite fighting her, kept one of its three remaining eyes on Liam. It roared furiously, remembering the silhouette it had seen earlier.
The loss of energy, coupled with her despair at seeing Liam impaled, had pushed Illyana into her Dark Chylde state earlier. Her horns and wings had grown as her body had transformed into that of a demon's.
In her Dark Chylde state, Illyana's mastery over dark magic increased immensely. She could warp reality itself, changing the terrain around her to mirror her domain in Limbo. Her soul armor, now pure black, covered her completely, and her soul sword had grown a lot larger.
Illyana flew to one of the Tyrant's arms, casting a spell that unleashed a purplish hellfire flame onto its skin. The flames melted parts of the Tyrant's arm, causing it to roar in pain.
As it tried to regenerate, it roared out of anger once more. Realizing it couldn't regenerate from this either, the Tyrant changed its approach and instead began adapting as much as it could to the flame.
The flames gradually lost their effectiveness as Illyana flew around the Tyrant, at first it started with failing to burn through its flesh, and soon it couldn't even burn the tips of its fur anymore.
'I need to get over there,' Liam thought, instantly starting to run towards the Tyrant.