Ren closed his eyes, concentrating all the corrupted energy he had absorbed into a single point at the center of his chest.
The pressure was unbearable.
His ribs flexed, his lungs compressed, each heartbeat sounded like a war drum in his ears.
The energy coiled inside him like a living thing, fighting against containment, demanding release.
So he released it.
It wasn't an instantaneous explosion. It was an implosion within the creature network followed by a slow explosion, as if the universe itself had taken a deep breath and then screamed.
The four-artifact creature, which had been desperately trying to free itself from the energetic connection Ren had established, froze for a fraction of a second. Its eyes widened as it comprehended what was happening.
The stolen energy was being weaponized, turned back against the very network that had shared it.
Then its body simply came apart.
