The Super Undead was on Serthar in the blink of an eye, and its razor-sharp claws tore deep purple gashes through his armor. Serthar growled in pain as its tentacles twisted desperately, trying to shake off its deadly grip. But it was all in vain; the Super Undead had locked him in an iron grip.

Meanwhile, Marshmallow was panting heavily. The sweat continued pouring down his forehead as he shared his life force with the Super Undead.

He could not stand by and watch as the Super Undead struck at Serthar with the power of a titan. This was his chance to subdue Serthar. It was now or never.

He focused all his power into the Supernova Titan Hammer and channeled the power of Lumokinesis into it. It leaped forward with such force that it shattered the ground on which it rested and began to hurl the Supernova Titan Hammer at Serthar.

The abomination was now besieged from two sides. On one side was Marshmallow with his Titan Hammer, and on the other was the Super Undead with his purple claws.

SBAM!

With a series of deadly blows, the Supernova Titan Hammer delivered the coup de grace, finally shattering Serthar's defenses and exposing the monster's molten, corrupted core.

Balor watched from afar with a concentrated frown. "Impressive... this worm is proving to be much more hostile than I had expected."

Serthar let out a growl that seemed to shake the entire existential plane. He could no longer rebuild his now shattered armor, but countless tentacles of dark energy sprouted from the core, moving as swiftly as snakes on the attack and trapping the Super Undead in a thick web of slimy bonds.

"What do you think you're doing?" Marshmallow growled in a threatening tone. He watched the scene with some curiosity, but there was no trace of fear or tension between his eye sockets.

"What's wrong with him? Serthar has immobilized his creation..." Balor the Immortal interjected doubtfully. "If he can vanquish him, he will turn the situation around in no time. Marshmallow doesn't have the power to create another one."

The Super Undead roared, making the air tremble. Then, with an amazing act of will, he opened a dimensional warp and slipped out of that organic prison, reappearing next to Marshmallow. His hollow orbs glowed crimson as he unleashed a powerful beam of Lumokinesis that knocked Serthar unconscious and forced him back.

"By the Flames of Oblivion!" Balor exclaimed with a hint of astonishment in his hoarse voice. "This creature is much more powerful than it looks..."

Yep. The Super Undead was indeed very powerful. Its true power did not lie in its purple claws, which could have torn through the flesh of even a demigod. The Super Undead had inherited the entire arsenal that Marshmallow had. He could use Spatiokinesis, and then he could also use Lumokinesis and Stasis Shock.

Maybe he could also create new undeads?

Then Marshmallow and the Super Undead attacked from multiple angles, in a whirlwind of blinding flashes and thunderous explosions that ripped through the air. Both unleashed endless beams of light through the power of Lumokinesis. Machine guns of cleansing beams of light struck Serthar repeatedly at every weak point, slowly tearing through the exposed core.

But the clock ticked relentlessly. Would they make it in time?

Time remaining: 00:00:54

Balor bit his lip and his impenetrable gaze shifted from the Super Undead to Marshmallow. "Every second counts, mortal! We cannot afford any mistakes!"

Serthar was practically at the end of his rope but had not yet lost. He still held all the cards to turn the tide. And so he gave it his all. The giant horizontal mouth opened like a dimensional rift. It out poured a tangle of dark rays that moved like mortar blows toward Marshmallow and the Super Undead. Still, the latter took full advantage of Lumokinesis's abilities, erecting spherical barriers of solid light that would not let a single ray through.

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Marshmallow's insides seemed to have turned into a glowing crucible of pure rage. He remembered again the sacrifice of the Goat Horse and its explosion into a cloud of flesh and blood. A new wave of rage swept through him.

"You damned bastard! I will not let his deed be in vain! I will avenge his death!"

The game system display flashed in his mind:

Time Remaining: 00:00:19

"Marshmallow, we are almost at the end! You must hurry!" Balor's warning added a new urgency, increasing the pressure for the final blow.

With an angry gasp, Marshmallow focused everything he had left into the Supernova Titan Hammer, causing all of his remaining supply of Lumokinesis to flow back into it. The hammer glowed with such blinding energy that it refracted into Balor's eyes like a second miniature sun.

Then, with a scream that seemed to shatter reality itself, Marshmallow delivered the final blow, hurling the Supernova Titan Hammer at Serthar's core with every ounce of strength in his body.

SCATUSH!

The impact was terrifying. The core suffered devastating damage, with fluorescent cracks branching across its surface as it began to crack with an unnatural murmur. Purple offshoots of distorted energy spewed from all sides like spider webs of now collapsing space-time tension.

But Serthar would not go like this. If he had to go, he would take everyone with him, at the cost of self-destructing and exploding, consuming the entire existence of Vesuvietna. In an instant, an entropic implosion of cosmic proportions began to emerge from Serthar's warped essence, as if something much larger than itself were beginning to suck itself into the abyss.

Balor felt a shiver of pure terror run through his veins. "This... this force..." His voice echoed ghostly. "It cannot be... the implosion of the third dimension..."

Even a great king like him was frightened by such a possibility. If Serthar had really exploded, it would have sucked everything into oblivion, even neighboring realities. Even his immortality would not be enough to survive such an event.

Marshmallow did not even have time to think; his body reacted instinctively. As a wave of foaming adrenaline poured through him, the ultimate certainty exploded in his heart: he would never lose.

"SPATIOKINESIS OVERDRIVE!" Marshmallow's cry was like a thunderous vibration that tore through reality itself. With a decisive gesture of his arms, a crimson vortex opened before him, a dimensional rift of pure energy that became a containment rift capable of containing Serthar's growing entropic collapse.

"VOID-CLEAVER!"

Balor could only watch in horror at this unthinkable phenomenon. At that moment, the essence of Serthar was sucked into a kind of distorted bubble where the very laws of time and space appeared as something that made no sense.

This space-time prison contained the cosmic implosion as a crescendo of visual and sonic distortions began to saturate the air with multicolored glows and a deafening rumble of deep hues.

Then, inside the bubble, Serthar finally blew himself up in a whirlwind of blinding light. That was the end.

Time Remaining: 00:00:01

The timer was definitively stopped.

Marshmallow had won. Adrenaline exploded from his veins, leaving him exhausted and shaking. He fell to his knees, his legs buckling under the weight of the incredible effort he had just made.

With a hoarse gasp, he said. "I did it - I did it, Goat Horse. This victory is yours."

He dedicated this triumph to his lost friend, whose last words of defiance had given him the strength he needed never to give up.

Marshmallow saw a figure materialize before him out of the corner of his eye. It was a strange satyr with blue curls, staring at him with an expression of approval and almost... familiarity.

Balor staggered closer, shaken by what he had just seen. "I never imagined that a mere mortal like you could possess such disturbing power..." His cavernous voice echoed in an almost reverent tone.

The satyr cast an amused glance at the fire giant and shook his head as if he understood something the others could not. Then he turned back to Marshmallow and his smile widened, filled with pride.

At that moment, exhaustion overcame him and Marshmallow lost consciousness, collapsing to the ground exhausted. The last thing he saw was the dense patterns of the Ashenwood grass, the digital realm where it all began.