The Ape King stared into the sky, its massive chest heaving. Each breath grew faster, sharper, until the air itself felt heavy.
Erenyx and Loretta exchanged a wary glance. Then it hit them.
An overwhelming wave of malice crashed over the area, thick and suffocating. Both covered their noses as their senses went haywire. Loretta activated his Evil Eye, scanning frantically for the source— until he saw it.
A dark mist was seeping from the Ape King's slightly open mouth, spilling out like smoke from a dying flame.
"What the hell...?" Loretta muttered, stepping back fast. Erenyx did the same.
The beast's body began to twist and contort, bones cracking, muscles ballooning beneath its hide. Its fangs lengthened into jagged spears, and its frame swelled — doubling in size within moments.
With a deafening roar, the King Ape slammed its fists against its chest, the flames that engulfed them now black with veins of crimson. It charged.
Loretta barely rolled aside as the ground cratered where he'd stood. Erenyx was already on the move, twin axes gleaming as she dashed in low and buried both blades into the monster's ankle. Sparks flew— she'd barely broken through.
"What—?" Her eyes widened in disbelief.
Loretta shot into the air, hands clasped together like a hammer, and brought them crashing down toward the Ape's skull.
But the beast was faster.
Its massive arm whipped up and punched him out of the sky, sending him hurtling through the forest canopy.
"Cirrus! Catch him!" Erenyx shouted.
The thunderbird shrieked and darted through the trees, wings crackling with lightning. It caught Loretta mid-fall, talons gripping tight before swooping back toward the clearing.
Below, Erenyx was a blur—axes flashing, strikes landing in rapid succession—but every blow only drew thin cuts, nothing deep enough to slow the beast.
"Drop me," Loretta commanded.
Cirrus obeyed. Loretta fell fast, a steam-like aura venting from his boots before he crashed a heel into the back of the Ape King's head. The impact staggered the creature, sending shockwaves through the dirt.
"Shit, mate," he hissed, blood on his teeth. He spun, driving a fist into the back of its skull—finally forcing the King Ape to collapse with a thunderous slam.
Loretta landed beside Erenyx, panting. "Could you make me a pole?"
Erenyx nodded and stomped the ground. A pillar of hardened earth chi shot up beside them, clean and solid. Loretta caught it midair, spinning it once before planting its end against the earth.
He exhaled slowly, eyes fixed on the still-twitching monster.
A cold unease crept up his spine.
Loretta moved faster than ever—each strike blurring, vanishing between impacts.
"Stir up a storm cloud for me!" he shouted, voice cutting through the chaos.
Erenyx nodded, her focus sharp as she channeled all her chi into Cirrus. The thunderbird shrieked overhead, wings carving through the sky as a storm began to brew, dark clouds twisting into a swirling mass.
Loretta glanced upward, gauging its progress—not enough yet.
The Ape King roared and slammed both fiery fists toward him. For a split second, the world turned red.
Loretta inhaled sharply, drawing in the fire itself.
Then—he spat it back out, a blazing torrent straight into the monster's face.
"I thought you couldn't use chi?!" Erenyx yelled through the thunder.
"I can't!" he shouted back, dropping like a meteor. "That's just something I can do!"
He hit the ground hard, staff in hand, and slammed it into the beast's skull with enough force to crack the earth. The Ape King stumbled, dazed.
Loretta pointed the pole skyward. His expression went cold.
The air shifted.
Wind howled.
Rain poured.
The sky turned black as the storm reached its peak.
First came the thunder.
A deep, world-shaking rumble.
Then came the lightning.
"Disappear."
The word was barely a whisper—but the heavens obeyed.
An enormous bolt of lightning crashed down, obliterating the ground and swallowing the grotesque King Ape in blinding light. When it cleared, all that remained was a burnt husk, smoking amid the rain.
Erenyx dropped to her knees, her chi completely drained. Loretta fell beside her, panting as the pole disintegrated to dust in his hands.
For a moment, silence.
Then—its aura shifted.
The air turned cold as the dark energy twisted, no longer demonic but something... ancient. The husk began to move. Its eyes flickered to life, glowing a deep shamrock green.
Erenyx froze, terror gripping her body.
Loretta looked up, his vision hazy.
The charred ape shambled toward him, each step deliberate, heavy. It reached down and lifted him effortlessly, raising him toward its gaping mouth.
The mouth... kept opening.
Further and further—until only a void remained, endless and black.
Three spiraling cosmic lights emerged from the abyss, swirling like stars with great speed.
Loretta's gaze met them—and his body went limp. His eyes rolled back.
The ape stopped moving, its body still as stone.
Loretta floated in front of its mouth as a voice—ancient, echoing, divine—spoke through the rain.
"You have brought my eye back to Conravia.
Son of the Dragon... you will be mine."
The beast went still, the lights fading.
Loretta fell to the earth — unconscious, motionless, rain pouring down around him.
...
The gales howled like screaming glass. Rui's remaining wing began to fracture — splintering into countless translucent shards that scattered through the wind. Wherever they drifted, life withered.
Trees collapsed.
Grass turned to ash.
Chunks of the Demon Rhino's flesh flaked away into dust.
Heartz sprinted back, deeper into the forest—he knew what was coming. Rui stood her ground, unwavering, her eyes locked on the beast.
Her voice was cold.
Controlled.
Final.
"Glass Wind Storm."
She swung her blade downward, and the air itself turned to razors. The shards converged, spiraling into a blinding storm that tore into the Rhino. The creature's roars were drowned beneath the sound of shredding wind and cracking bone.
The three heads began to split apart — ripped from each other as the storm consumed them.
One by one, they fell, until only a single, mangled body remained.
The tempest faded. Rui dropped from the air, her energy spent, her sword dissolving back into the wind. She hit the ground hard, breath ragged, eyes dim.
Only one head still lived.
The last Rhino let out a guttural roar and charged — its horn gleaming with azure chi. Rui's body tensed, but she couldn't move.
Then—
SHATTER!
A deafening crack echoed through the forest.
Heartz stood before her, his massive blade blocking the charge — until the horn pierced straight through it, shattering the weapon.
Rui's eyes widened in horror as the horn punched through steel—
—and through Heartz's arm.
Blood splattered across the ruined earth.