A low rumble shook the air, like a reminder of the nightmare they were all trapped in. The monster was no longer a recognizable entity. It had become a shapeless mass, a cross between an abomination and fury, whose severed tentacles had only made it more aggressive. Five limbs were now missing, each leaving a raw wound, oozing a black fluid that seemed to vibrate with a harmful energy. Six arms remained—thicker, more tense, more precise.
The sky had turned a sickly gray. The smoking ruins of the city still emitted distant groans. At the center of the battlefield, twenty survivors stood.
They had all changed.
Their breaths were shorter, their gazes sharper. They did not yet carry the weight of war, but the awareness of being alive kept them standing tall and stubborn.
Oren was the first to advance. His steps caused slight tremors each time he struck the ground. His speed was no longer just movement but a compression of space around him. Kubira and Kohaku were by his side, Hiro just behind.
"Keep it down," said Oren. "It's not meant to be still."
"It's not meant to exist," corrected Kohaku.
They leapt forward.
The impact was lightning fast. Three tentacles slammed down, each aimed at a precise point. Kohaku opened a portal just in time, throwing Hiro onto the monster's left flank. Kubira unleashed a burst of lightning to force an opening. But even then, the monster did not back down. It bent, roared, but struck again and again.
Behind them, the awakened ones organized themselves. Keita, in the center, his eyes still pupil-less, led without commanding. His gaze hovered between rage and anxiety. His body was ready, but he knew... he knew he would never be Kael.
Yuna followed him with worried eyes.
"You're trembling," she said softly.
"I know. But I have to go."
"Come back alive. That's all I ask."
He nodded and left.
Keita sprang forward, followed by Malik, who thickened the air around one of the tentacles to slow its descent. Soojin extended a slowing field. In this suspended bubble, Keita plunged his fingers into the creature's slimy arm. Tobias, already in position, pressed his hands against it. The matter vibrated, cracked, decomposed.
But the monster struck back.
A tentacle swept the ground. Kwame intercepted the vibration with a focused sound wave. He absorbed the impact but was thrown backward. Ayra caught his body just in time with a wave of roots.
"We're holding," shouted Dayo. "Still holding!"
Izel, with hardened skin, climbed onto the monster's spine and drove two stone blades into its tissues. Rhan, at a distance, solidified the air to create a platform Keita used to leap higher. He struck—without force, but with hope.
Two tentacles were pinned to the ground, but not severed.
The monster roared, its breath tearing the air.
It tried to rise, but Lima froze the ground beneath it with a sudden ice field. Spikes shot up, trapping its base in a frozen cradle. Ezra spun around it so fast that only red shadows remained visible.
And yet, despite all that, the creature survived.
Better yet, it adapted.
Its remaining arms stretched, became thinner, more flexible. They were no longer crushing masses but whips designed to lacerate.
A strike shot straight at Soojin. She had no time to react. But Rhan blocked the arm by forming a cube of hardened air. The tentacle twisted, circumvented, but was trapped by Vahl's illusions.
They survived. Every second stolen from death.
Then Keita fell to his knees.
"I... I won't last long. I feel it coming back."
Yuna rushed to support him.
"Rest. You don't have to carry it all."
"It's here," murmured Keita. "It moves inside me. It wants... to take back control."
Oren approached, his gaze fixed on the monster.
"We'll have to touch it all together. A group attack. But not now. Not yet."
The beast roared. A streak of fire burst from its mouth—an unprecedented attack. Tenna threw herself in front to protect Tobias and was burned but alive. Her skin smoked. She was still healing.
They stepped back—not a retreat but a regrouping.
Because they knew: the next strike would be decisive. Not for victory. But to avoid death.
They would survive. No matter what.
And only then could they kill.