Raith chokes, his face turning purple as black veins begin to spread from where the siphon touches him. The mark on his hand sputters and then dims. Pyrin lets out an inhuman screech, flickering like a candle in a storm.

I struggle to fight past the void lion and reach him, thrashing with my dagger and screaming in outrage as the siphon continues to squeeze Raith's neck, choking him and draining him. The lion slaps Typhon away, sending the water dragon crashing into a wall in a tumble of stones and debris.

I can feel how hurt he is through the tether, and it breaks my heart, but all I can do is keep trying to push past the beast to reach Raith. To save him.

The lion doesn't try to kill me, but it doesn't let me pass.

"I'll fucking kill you!" I shout through clenched teeth as I slash at the lion and try to get to the siphon.

And then the temperature in the room drops dramatically.

"That's quite enough," a familiar voice says from the doorway.

Rector Voss stands there, his elegant robes billowing around him despite the absence of wind. His silver-streaked hair is immaculate as always, his posture relaxed. There's nothing visibly different about him, yet the siphon recoils as if struck.

Raith falls to the ground, curling in on himself and still gasping like he's choking. I run past the void lion and slide to my knees beside him, cradling his head in my lap.

"What's wrong with him? Why isn't it stopping?" I ask Typhon through the tether.

"He was touched. The void corruption will continue to spread." Typhon is getting back to his feet at the edge of the room and shaking off rubble and dust from his wings and back. He's hurt, but okay. Thank gods.

But Raith...

"No," I whisper, a hot tear rolling down my cheek. "No." I barely even notice the siphon or void lion as they continue to back away from Voss.

Voss glides into the room, still staring down the siphon. "You will be leaving now, siphon."

The siphon takes another faltering step backward.

Why is it afraid of him? Voss isn't even a primal.

Voss smiles, the expression never reaching his eyes.

He makes no recognizable gesture, speaks no words of power. Yet the air around the siphon seems to compress, crushing inward. The creature struggles against some invisible force, its body contorting unnaturally.

"Why..." the siphon gasps, its voice strained.

"Tell your master that Confluence remains protected," Voss says pleasantly.

The siphon shrinks in on itself, its form twisting and diminishing until it resembles a malformed human shadow. The void beast whimpers and fades like mist in sunlight.

With a sound like tearing fabric, the shadow and the remnants of the void lion vanishes. The oppressive energy that had filled the room dissipates, leaving only the smell of ozone, decay, and smoke.