The Thunder-Drill Harrier was a streak of shiny light. It crossed the clearing in the blink of an eye, a living arrow aimed at the very heart of the corruption.

CRACK!

The sound was sharp and final, like a giant bone snapping under immense pressure. The Harrier's hardened beak, humming with intense power, pierced through the thick, regenerating bark of the Blight-Heart Tree. Deep inside the twisted wood, the small crystal vial at the tip of the beak shattered, releasing its golden content.

The Harrier, its purpose fulfilled, dissolved into motes of glowing light, its unstable created form finally giving out.

And then… nothing.

For a long, terrible moment, an absolute silence descended upon the clearing. It was broken only by the struggling gasps of the exhausted fighters. The whirlwind of thorns that had been tearing at their shields weakened for a second, and then began to slowly reform. The Thorned Horrors, briefly stunned by the Harrier's sonic boom, began to stir, their harsh screams once again filling the air.

High above, sitting on his branch, Dr. Aris Thorne stared down at the small hole in his creation's trunk. A slow, mocking smile spread across his face. He started to laugh. It was a dry sound that really annoyed them.

"Was that it?" he called, sounding overly disappointed, like an actor. "Your master plan? A tiny, fleeting bird? You barely pricked a god! I expected more from a fellow creator like you."

He shook his head, looking down at them with a mixture of pity and contempt. "Your pathetic hope has failed."

But as he spoke, something changed.

It started as a low hum, a deep vibration that seemed to rise from the very roots of the massive tree.

*HUMMMMMMM.*

Thorne's arrogant laughter faded. His smile twitched.

The sickly purple light pulsing from the Blight-Heart's core began to flicker, like a dying candle in a strong wind. Then, with a violent jolt, it shifted. The malevolent purple gave way to a furious gold.

It was not the gentle, healing glow of Sylva. This was a wild, furious light. It was like a fever breaking, or poison being violently forced from a sick body.

"What… what is this?" Thorne stammered, his calmness finally shattering into a thousand pieces of confusion and fear.

Cracks of pure, golden light began to spiderweb across the tree's twisted, black bark. The tree itself let out a psychic scream—not a sound, but a wave of pure pain that slammed into everyone's minds with the force of a physical blow.

Vanessa cried out, her last remaining runic shields shattering into a thousand pieces of fading light. Draven staggered back, clutching his head, his greatsword falling from his numb fingers.

Only Master Fen, his eyes wide with a manic mixture of horror and scientific delight, seemed to understand.

"Oh, my word!" he screamed, rushing to pull out his notebook and quickly write in it. "I've made a terrible miscalculation!"

"What did you do?!" Vanessa yelled, struggling to her feet, the psychic scream making her vision swim.

"The catalyst! It's perfect! Too perfect!" Fen laughed loudly, a wild, crazy sound. He pointed a trembling finger at the convulsing tree. "I created a perfect counter-agent to neutralize the blight's mutagenic magic! But I didn't account for the sheer volume of corrupted energy! That tree is packed with decades of powerful, weaponized blight! We haven't just introduced an antidote; we've lit a match in a room filled with magical gunpowder!"

The catalyst didn't just reverse the change. It exploded with the blight's bad energy. This started a huge chain reaction of cleaning that kept going on its own..

The psychic scream got super loud, and then the Blight-Heart Tree blew up.

WHOOOOOOSH!

A massive pillar of golden fire shot into the sky, purifying the clearing and the heavens with its powerful light. It was not a destructive flame; it felt clean and impossibly pure. There was no smoke, only the clean scent of ozone and freshly turned earth.

The Thorned Horrors closest to the tree were consumed in the blaze. They didn't burn in the usual way. They didn't scream in pain. For a moment, their twisted, suffering forms seemed to relax. The burning hatred in their glowing purple eyes faded, replaced by a look of peaceful release. Then, they simply dissolved, their corrupted bodies breaking down into harmless motes of golden light that were reabsorbed into the cleansing fire.

The team was shielded from the initial blast by a combination of Vanessa's last barrier and Sylva's calming, protective aura. They could only watch in stunned silence as the cleansing fire raged around their small, safe bubble.

It was a beautiful and scary sight. The pillar of light pulsed, and with each pulse, a wave of golden energy washed outwards from the clearing. It didn't burn the forest; it cleansed it.

Like a gentle wave washing over a blackened shore, the fire spread, and wherever it touched, the corruption vanished. The grey, thorny vines turned into a fine, grey ash. The skeletal trees shed their dead bark, revealing healthy wood beneath. The cracked soil turned to a rich, dark brown, covered in a fine layer of ash that glowed like embers.

They watched as the fire burned away decades of blight in a matter of minutes, leaving a healthy world in its wake. The oppressive silence of the corrupted forest was gone, replaced by the gentle crackle of the purifying flame and the hesitant chirps of insects returning to their homes.

The screaming sound of the forest had finally fallen silent, replaced by a buzzing peace.

The team stood in their small, protected bubble, their faces illuminated by the golden light. Draven's sword hung loosely in his hand, his jaw agape in wonder. Lira had tears streaming down her face, but for the first time since they had arrived, they were tears of joy. Vanessa, completely drained of mana, leaned against Jonah for support, her eyes wide with a scientist's awe.

They had done it. The solution had been scientific, a chemical and magical counter-agent. But the result was a miracle.