William sat up, the gaping, foot-shaped hole in his abdomen knitting itself back together as new organs, flesh, and muscle regenerated in a grotesque yet mesmerizing rhythm. Only the shredded remnants of his suit bore witness to the brutal destruction he had endured.
Eve let out a shaky breath, tension visibly draining from her stiff shoulders. She had seen him heal before, but the sight of torn meat and bone reforming so vividly never failed to unsettle her.
"Can you still fight?" she asked, her voice heavy with a mix of worry and unyielding resolve.
William glanced down at the place where the wound had been, flexed his abdomen experimentally, and gave her a firm nod.
"Good."
In an instant, Eve erupted into radiant brilliance, her body wreathed in neon-pink flames that spilled from her like the light of a celestial goddess. She shot forward into the fray, leaving a blazing trail of comet-like fire in her wake.
Ahead, Rain drove his trident deep into Ruin's draconic form, pinning the massive beast against the jagged cliffside with relentless power. The creature thrashed, its scales grinding against the stone as it twisted its neck, jaws snapping hungrily toward the weapon.
Before those deadly teeth could crush steel, massive neon-pink pillars materialized inside Ruin's gaping maw, bracing outward and locking its jaw in place.
SHNK!
The dragon bit down, its immense jaws clamping with relentless force, but the ethereal constructs held firm. Fury blazed in Ruin's molten eyes as the trident's prongs drove deeper into his impenetrable hide, ichor spilling from the wound in steaming rivulets. His roar erupted through the ocean depths, a sound so raw and primal that it shook the waters for leagues in every direction.
With a violent whip of his tail, Ruin struck with devastating precision. The blow obliterated Rain's watery construct, severing its head in a single, brutal sweep. Simultaneously, Ruin unleashed a torrent of corrupting energy, the blast slamming into Rain and sending him hurtling across the seabed for miles.
Rain staggered as he came to a halt, planting his feet firmly in the shifting sands. He braced himself, determination blazing in his unwavering gaze. The glowing blue runes etched along his skin pulsed rhythmically, resonating with a power far greater than himself.
The ocean responded.
Rain's construct began to transform. What was once a towering figure of water solidified, layer by layer, into jagged ice. Plates of crystalline armor fused seamlessly into place, encasing the massive frame in glacial resilience. Even the trident morphed, its flowing edges freezing into brutally sharp, unyielding prongs, ready to deliver death with merciless precision.
The ocean quaked under the weight of Ruin's fiery gaze, locked on Rain's newly evolved construct. The beast's massive chest rose and fell, each exhalation releasing searing streams of bubbles that spiraled upward, as though the sea itself recoiled from his infernal breath.
Rain lifted the frozen trident high, its icy surface shimmering like a fragment of winter shaped into celestial steel. His voice, calm and unwavering, reverberated through the murky depths.
"You won't break me."
The ice construct surged forward, its every movement freezing the surrounding water into jagged, crystalline shards that splintered beneath its feet. With a powerful thrust, Rain drove the trident toward Ruin's chest once more, its frost-covered tines crackling with deadly purpose.
Ruin twisted with snake-like agility, his immense body coiling around the strike. His tail lashed out again, but this time the ice-armored colossus intercepted it mid-swing, sending a thunderous impact through the ocean floor. The ice armor fractured with a web of cracks yet held firm, frost spreading across Ruin's scales where the trident had grazed.
Eve streaked back into the fray, her neon light piercing the abyssal darkness like a star descending to the depths. She raised her hands, summoning dozens of luminous constructs, vast, glowing spears of energy that hovered in perfect formation around her. With a swift motion, she unleashed them, their brilliance streaking through the water like a tempest of radiant comets.
Ruin roared, the sound like an underwater thunderclap that shook the ocean to its core. His body coiled as he spun, unleashing his massive wings with a surge of raw power. The resulting current ripped through the battlefield, scattering Eve's spears and shattering many against his impenetrable scales. Yet, several struck true, piercing into his wings and neck, momentarily anchoring him in place.
William, his suit still in tatters, clenched his fists tightly. His body had healed, but his breath carried the weight of exhaustion intertwined with unyielding determination. He couldn't afford to stand idle, not now.
He hurled himself at Ruin's exposed flank with devastating speed, his shoulder slamming into the dragon's ribs. The impact echoed like a thunderclap. Ruin's massive form shifted just enough for Rain's frozen trident to strike deeper, sliding between the cracks in his scales and releasing a boiling torrent of ichor.
The sea itself seemed to tremble in the aftermath of the blow.
Ruin bellowed again, his wings thrashing violently as the water churned into raging maelstroms that threatened to consume friend and foe alike. His corrupting energy spiraled into a storm around him, staining the ocean black with tendrils of decay that devoured everything they touched.
Rain anchored his construct against the surging tide, the ice plating groaning as the corruption clawed relentlessly at it. Eve erected a colossal barrier of shimmering pink light, a glowing dome that held back the encroaching darkness, but even her constructs flickered under the overwhelming strain.
William planted his feet firmly in the seabed, every muscle taut as a coiled spring. "We hold him here!" he bellowed through the chaos.
Rain's runes blazed brighter. Eve's barrier flared with renewed intensity. Together, they surged forward into the storm, facing the ancient dragon's wrath with unwavering resolve.
Ruin's roar thundered louder, echoing through the ocean like the relentless drumbeat of the abyss. His molten eyes blazed with fury as they locked onto the trio that dared to challenge him. The black tide of corruption thickened, saturating the currents and devouring every shield, every spark of resistance with insidious hunger.
Rain's ice-armored construct faltered, fractures webbing across its glacial form as Ruin's vile energy clung to it like corrosive acid. Each step forward sent shards of ice splintering into the consuming darkness. The frozen trident still shimmered with a menacing promise, yet Ruin's decay gnawed relentlessly at its frost, melting it away with every agonizing second.
Eve's barrier burned brightly against the encroaching tide, holding it at bay for a fleeting moment. Her jaw tightened, veins standing out on her temples as she poured every ounce of strength into keeping the shimmering dome intact. Beads of sweat dotted her brow, defying the icy depths. "I can't… hold this much longer!" she cried, her voice strained and teetering on despair.
William surged forward, his fists ablaze with raw determination, his body a whirlwind of explosive motion. Each strike against Ruin's exposed scales reverberated like a thunderclap, each blow wielding the force to shatter mountains. For a brief, breathless instant, it seemed his unyielding ferocity might tip the scales.
Then Ruin's tail lashed out.
It whipped upward with unfathomable speed, carving a swirling vortex through the ocean's depths. William instinctively raised his arms, but too late. The tail struck him with the devastating force of a collapsing continent. His body crumpled beneath the blow, blood spraying from his mouth as he was sent hurtling downward into the abyss.
The seabed erupted.
Sand and stone burst outward in a violent plume as William's body slammed into the ocean floor. Ruin's tail bore down, grinding him further into the depths until only shattered rock and boiling ichor filled the water.
Eve cried out his name, her glowing constructs flickering with fear.
For a moment, all that remained visible was the dragon's colossal tail pinning William to the broken ground, utterly crushing him. To those watching, it was not just an attack, it was a final blow.
Rain's construct wavered, its icy shell splintering like fragile glass under the weight of hopelessness.
Ruin's roar echoed once more, triumphant and ruthless, reverberating through the abyss as if proclaiming to the entire ocean: their defiance is futile.
The ocean seemed to recoil from Ruin's relentless fury, its currents spiraling outward in violent torrents, dragging shattered stone and broken coral into the abyss. His immense shadow consumed the battlefield, snuffing out the faint light that dared to reach the ocean depths.
Rain tightened his grip on his trident, his knuckles turning white as he watched William's body vanish beneath the crushing blow of the dragon's tail. A tempest of rage and despair churned within him, his runes pulsing erratically, as if torn between unleashing their full power and breaking under the strain.
"William…" Eve's voice cracked, her glow dimming as grief seeped through her being. For the first time since the battle began, the neon flames surrounding her faltered. The barrier she maintained quivered, spiderweb cracks spreading across its radiant surface as the corruption pressed harder against it.
Ruin pressed down with greater force, grinding the seabed beneath his colossal weight, savoring the destruction he had unleashed. His molten gaze fixed on Eve, sensing her vulnerability. The black storm of his corruption swelled, battering her defenses with ravenous ferocity.
The radiant dome shattered.
The resulting shockwave exploded outward, scattering her luminous constructs like fragments of shattered glass. Eve was hurled backward, blood streaking from her lips as she fought to recover, her once-blazing aura flickering weakly in the abyssal darkness.
Ruin surged forward, his massive coils writhing with unstoppable momentum. His wings unfurled with terrifying grandeur, stirring the abyss into a hurricane that tore through stone, ice, and light with merciless force.
Rain bellowed a defiant roar and charged forward, the ice-armored colossus around him reassembling, battered but unyielding. His frozen trident shimmered with lethal radiance as he struck, carving deep into Ruin's flank. Frost crept across the dragon's scales, crackling and splintering them into jagged fissures.
But Ruin did not waver.
The beast turned his serpentine head with a dreadful grace, his colossal jaws snapping shut on the construct's shoulder. The shattering ice reverberated like the mournful toll of a titan's demise. Rain staggered within, blood trickling from his lips as the backlash wracked his body with pain.
Yet still, he stood firm, driving the trident deeper, refusing to surrender.
Eve pushed herself upright, her faint aura flaring erratically as she screamed through gritted teeth. Flames erupted from her hands once more, summoning a volley of radiant spears that streaked toward Ruin's hide, each detonating in bursts of desperate brilliance.
For an instant, the battlefield became a tempest of light, frost, and shadow, yet Ruin's roar rose above it all, an unrelenting cacophony of rage.
And beneath his crushing tail, the fractured seabed began to stir.
What began as a subtle tremor, a faint vibration threading through the fractured rock, soon became an ominous prelude to something immense and ancient stirring beneath the ocean floor. Slowly, cracks began to spiderweb outward from beneath Ruin's crushing tail, glowing ominously with a deep, molten crimson that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Eve's breath caught, her chest tightening as disbelief warred with a fragile, desperate hope. "No… he's—"
The seabed exploded.
A surge of raw, uncontainable force erupted upward, obliterating Ruin's oppressive weight and unleashing a vortex of chaos in the surrounding waters. Shards of jagged stone and searing ichor spiraled outward, scattering violently into the dark abyss.
From the core of the cataclysm, William emerged.
His figure was a grotesque masterpiece of regeneration and wrath, his torn flesh mending with a savage rhythm as his body swelled with unbridled power. His eyes burned with more than determination; they held something ancient, something primordial, as if the fires of perdition themselves had been unleashed within him.
William ascended from the fissure, each step reverberating through the seabed as if the ocean itself quaked in reverence of his return. Crimson light poured from the cracks, enveloping him like molten armor, its pulse synchronized with the violent rhythm of his heart. His flesh mended with unnatural speed, each torn muscle snapping back with grotesque precision, every drop of blood evaporating into steam before it could stain his skin.
For the first time, Ruin faltered.
The dragon's molten eyes narrowed, his colossal coils tightening in unease as he regarded the man who, moments ago, had been broken and lifeless beneath his tail. This was no mere recovery. This was ascension, raw, violent, and primal in its nature.
"William…" Eve whispered, her voice quivering with a mix of awe and fear. The pink flames surrounding her flickered, as if bowing to the overwhelming, oppressive energy emanating from him.
Rain braced himself, his ice-armored construct trembling under the immense pressure that seemed to saturate every corner of the battlefield, despite not being directed at him. The runes etched across his body flared erratically, resonating with the untamed force surging from William's core.
William raised his gaze, locking eyes with Ruin. When he spoke, his voice was guttural, layered with countless tones, like a chorus of voices echoing through the crushing depths of the sea.
"DIE FOR ME!"
He disappeared.
The ocean erupted as William surged forward, his fist already drawn back. He collided with Ruin's chest in an explosion of power, collapsing the surrounding currents into a shockwave so immense that the seabed shattered anew. Scales as large as fortress gates fractured and splintered under the devastating blow, ichor spraying outward in hissing, steaming clouds.
Ruin roared, his massive form convulsing as the impact sent him hurtling backward through towering stone cliffs that crumbled like sand beneath his weight. His wings flailed wildly, generating chaotic whirlpools that engulfed the battlefield in swirling debris.
But William was relentless.
He charged after Ruin, every movement carving trenches in the seabed, every strike raining down like the wrath of a collapsing star. His fists pummeled the dragon's body in a relentless assault, ribs, wings, neck, jaw, each blow driving fractures deeper into Ruin's seemingly indestructible form.
Ruin roared again, a sound of fury and desperation, and lashed out with his tail in a last-ditch effort. This time, William caught it.
Caught it.
His fingers dug into the armored scales, muscles straining as he held the colossal tail mid-swing. The seabed beneath him buckled and cratered under the incredible force, but William refused to yield. Instead, he twisted the tail with a brutal wrench, spinning Ruin's immense body before slamming him down into the seabed with cataclysmic force.
The ocean itself seemed to cry out in agony.
Sand, stone, and shattered coral erupted in a massive storm of debris. The waters trembled for miles, reverberating with the earth-shaking clash of man and dragon.
And amidst the chaos, William stood tall, his tattered suit clinging to his restored body, his eyes blazing with that terrible, unholy light, as though he had transcended humanity, becoming something monstrous, something unstoppable.
[AN - Does anyone want to suggest names for the form the main character is in? Feel free to share your ideas!]