They charged together because separated meant dead. Alexander's obsidian formed spears. Vazroth caught them mid-flight, crushed volcanic glass like paper. Ivy came low with poison coating both hands now, no blade left, just toxins concentrated enough to kill on contact. He breathed them in and smiled.
Noel's barriers layered in geometric patterns, trying to contain rather than stop. Vazroth's obsidian fist punched through three at once. Lisa's thorns surged despite her reluctance, and his fire burned them screaming. Maeve's temporal manipulation aged her another two years for five seconds of slowed time.
And Astra rained starlight from above, each beam precisely aimed, each strike calculated to exploit the microseconds of opportunity the others created. None of it worked.
Vazroth moved through their coordination like it was choreography he'd written himself. Because Johann had written it. Had trained with them, studied them, understood how they thought and moved and compensated for each other's weaknesses. Every pattern they'd developed, every strategy they'd refined, all of it his to predict and counter.
Alexander pressed forward despite frost spreading across his entire torso now. Each breath visible, each movement slower as cold ate through muscle and bone. His obsidian kept forming and shattering and forming again, each manifestation weaker than the last.
Ivy struck from behind. Vazroth's thorns - Lisa's thorns - wrapped around her ankle and slammed her into the ground hard enough to crater earth. She came up bleeding from a gash across her forehead, poison still coating her hands, still refusing to stop.
Noel manifested barriers between Vazroth and Maeve, trying to protect her from reflecting her own temporal manipulation back. The barriers lasted three seconds before Vazroth's fire melted through them. Noel's hands were shaking now, feedback from too many shattered constructs taking toll on whatever connection linked will to reality.
Lisa knelt in dying earth, trying to coax life from soil that Vazroth had drained with every step. Her thorns responded reluctantly, confused by commands that contradicted their nature, torn between her will and their instinct to help things grow.
Maeve's hair was more gray than brown now. Lines around her eyes that hadn't been there an hour ago. Her hands moved through temporal patterns with increasing desperation, trading years for seconds, aging herself toward irrelevance while buying time that accomplished nothing except prolonging defeat.
And Astra watched from above, saw everything with her artist's eye, catalogued every failing strategy and doomed assault. Saw Alexander's obsidian growing weaker. Saw Ivy's movements slowing from accumulated damage. Saw Noel's barriers manifesting thinner. Saw Lisa's connection fraying. Saw Maeve destroying herself second by second.
Saw Johann's face on the body doing this to them.
Her starlight formed lances, spears, arrows of compressed light. They struck Vazroth's barriers and shattered. She created nets to restrain him. His fire burned through them. She tried illuminating different angles, finding weaknesses, exploiting gaps in his defense.
There were no gaps. No weaknesses. Just ancient consciousness wearing stolen flesh, wielding copied powers with mastery they'd never achieve.
Alexander charged again. Got close enough to land a hit that cracked Vazroth's jaw, drew blood that looked too dark. Vazroth's counter broke three of Alexander's ribs. The sound carried across the battlefield like breaking branches.
Ivy's poison finally found skin, ate through Vazroth's forearm deep enough to expose bone. He looked at it with mild interest, then grabbed her throat with the damaged hand, lifted her off the ground, watched her struggle against grip that didn't weaken even as his flesh dissolved.
Noel's barrier slammed between them. Vazroth threw Ivy through it hard enough to shatter both the barrier and several of Ivy's bones. She hit the ground and didn't get up immediately.
Lisa's thorns finally turned fully traitor, surging toward Vazroth with eagerness, wanting to help the copied flesh grow. She yanked them back screaming, fighting her own power, tears streaming down her face from the betrayal.
Maeve aged another three years buying seconds for Ivy to recover. Her hands were shaking now, skin looser, energy that used to come naturally now requiring visible effort.
And through it all, Vazroth wore Johann's face. Smiled Johann's smile. Moved with Johann's body while something ancient puppeted him from inside.
Astra saw it. Saw the person she cared about being used as a weapon against everyone he'd ever trained with. Saw her friends breaking themselves against an enemy they couldn't defeat. Saw hope dying in real-time, measured in shattered barriers and aging flesh and frost-locked lungs.
Saw Johann's eyes flicker for just a moment when her starlight touched his face. Saw recognition, saw awareness, saw someone trapped inside screaming silently for help that couldn't reach him.
Her platforms dissolved. She descended slowly, starlight fading around her hands because maintaining it felt pointless when it couldn't touch him, couldn't reach him, couldn't do anything except illuminate their failure.
She landed between Alexander and Noel, watching Vazroth examine damage that was already healing. Watched him wear her friend's face like it was his right. Watched him prepare to continue destroying people she cared about with powers copied from their best friend.
And something inside her broke.
Not dramatically. Not with sound or visible manifestation. Just a quiet fracture in whatever part of her had believed they could actually save him, that starlight could illuminate truth strongly enough to break through centuries of ancient consciousness, that wanting something desperately enough made it possible.
A single tear traced down her cheek.
She didn't wipe it away. Didn't acknowledge it. Just let it fall while starlight flickered weakly around her fingers and Vazroth smiled and her friends prepared to charge again into defeat they couldn't prevent. Just one tear. That was all.