Vlad turned back to face Danny as the three teenagers reluctantly left the camber. The boy wouldn't stop screaming. The walls were cracking and crumbling, debris and boulders dropping into the fires and slamming down onto the thin bridge, cracking it, along with the walls.
Vlad marched forward, fighting the powerful energy coming from Daniel that was continually forcing him back. "Daniel!" he shouted, his throat stinging with how loud he had to shout. "Control it! You have to stop!"
It didn't look like Daniel heard him. He continued to scream, the green ecto rings of power flowing from his voice growing thicker and brighter. The flames below flared and wavered as if they were writhing in pain. The ceiling cracked loudly, and a large boulder was dislodged, falling down towards Vlad. He dove forward, dodging it. The rock crashed onto the bridge and shattered, the newly-formed pebbles spilling over the edges of it. The bridge couldn't take the sudden weight and snapped, a large piece in the center dropping down into the fires and disappearing.
Plasmius turned back towards Danny. The stone orb of the obelisk suddenly cracked like someone had taken a knife to it. Just a little bit further and Danny would shatter the orb, releasing the rest of his soul and getting his memory back. But it didn't seem like the chamber would be able to hold together that long.
Vlad took step after step towards Daniel. It was clear that he couldn't control it. The only chance the boy had was for Vlad to protect the boy when the castle finally collapsed. A sudden, stabbing pain from his core made him cry out and drop to one knee. Daniel's scream must be draining the ecto energy from him. He had to get out of its direct path.
Vlad dragged himself forward, ducking down out of the main path. It was still a struggle to move, but eventually, he made it to where the obelisk used to stand and rolled off to the side, backing up closer to Danny. The pressure on his core lessened, and he watched the orb intently. It cracked more and more as if Daniel was repeatedly stabbing it. The red coating crumbled away bit by bit, gradually revealing the bright green and glowing Ectoranium. Just a little more.
All at once, the Ectoranium cracked, and then it exploded, sending out a massive wave of energy that pressed Vlad further into the wall. The energy burned him as if he was dipped in acid. He lost hold on his ghost form, the black rings changing him into his human form as he dropped to the floor. Vlad looked over at Daniel, finding him on the ground, human and apparently unconscious.
The deafening sounds of destruction grew impossibly loud. Vlad glanced up at the ceiling and barely had time to process that the entire place was collapsing in on itself like a dying star about to explode before his instinct took over. He dove on top of Danny, raising a protective dome of ecto energy around them. He flinched with every impact. There seemed to be no end to the collapse. The light gradually disappeared, sealing them away. Vlad could barely see Daniel's unconscious face in the light from the glowing, pink dome that surrounded them. He didn't know how long they waited there, and part of him didn't think that they would make it out alive.