The black aura was now red and alive. Vibrant. Made of hatred, loss, pain... and instinct.
The eyes, black, carried burning pupils.The veins glowed like electric wires.The claws replaced the fingers.The roar that came from his throat silenced even the thunder.
Vilan smiled.
The number 1,602,322 shone like a living curse. His body was covered in a grotesque, organic, pulsating black armor, as if it had been forged in hell. In his hand, a colossal scythe appeared with a snap — made of bones and darkness.
Without another word, they collided.
The first impact shattered the air like glass.The second made the city's ground twist as if rejecting them both.The third went beyond sound. A red and purple flash swallowed everything.
Adrian moved like a beast straight from the underworld. Each blow of his blade — now alive, pulsating, writhing as if hungry — created cuts in the air that took seconds to close. The heat from his body distorted the surroundings. Black and electric fire rose in monstrous spirals. His frenzy was complete.
A BEAST, yes, but with something even more primal: guilt, vengeance, and emptiness.He didn't just roar — he cursed the world with every strike.
Vilan, in contrast, laughed. The face beneath the armor still let out a grotesque smile. His scythe was the opposite of Adrian's blade: slow, wide, meticulous. He didn't attack out of rage — but out of pleasure. Every successful defense, every cut that almost touched Adrian, was a hymn to evolution.
— "Yes... yes, that's it... it's truly you, Adrian Foster... the creature the world needs..."
A blow from the scythe came down like a deadly eclipse. Adrian dodged with a guttural roar, rolling through the rubble of a collapsed building, and appeared behind Vilan in less than half a second. The sword sank into the monster's flank.
Explosion.
Red light engulfed them both.
Vilan's armor gave in. A grotesque crack opened on his shoulder. But he laughed. Coughed blood — and still laughed.
— "You still think this fury is weakness?"
Adrian didn't answer. He jumped with open claws, plunging them into Vilan's chest and throwing him against the rubble. A concrete wall broke like cardboard.
— "Fury is the key!" — shouted Vilan, rising from the crater with blazing eyes. — "Only those who dive into the abyss without fear of losing their soul... only those evolve!"
Vilan's scythe spun. The released purple energy split the sky. But Adrian... didn't stop. His sword burst into black flames, and his bestial voice echoed across the battlefield:
— "I... WILL... NOT... STOP!"
What followed was a storm of flesh, steel, hatred, and smoke.There was no technique.Only destruction.
Vilan began to bleed. His once constant laughter gave way to heavy breathing.Adrian didn't hesitate. He struck. Cut. Tore.
— "This..." — murmured Vilan, kneeling, with half of his armor destroyed. — "You are... the rupture... you are... the end of humanity... and the beginning of what comes next..."
Adrian walked toward him, eyes burning.
— "My role..." — Vilan coughed blood. — "...was to sacrifice myself."
The sword was raised.
— "Let evolution continue..."
CRACK!
The final blow was not clean. It was brutal. Vilan's head was torn off with inhuman force. His scythe fell. His body, still smiling, collapsed without resistance.
Silence.
Adrian stood still. Breathing irregular. Muscles trembling. The Beast's aura flickered, as if still seeking another enemy.
And then...
— HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
A scream that echoed for kilometers. A roar that wasn't human.It was condensed fury.It was ancient pain.It was the release of a man who had lost everything.
Foster City.
Ashes, smoke, bodies.The streets where life once existed were now covered in ruins and rubble.
An armored vehicle descended with difficulty, parking near the crater that had once been the city center.
— "Ham!? Fos...ter Ci..ty..." — murmured Bruce, staring at the scene.
— "What kind of abomination passed through here?!" — said Alex, eyes wide, stepping out of the vehicle.
And the faceless Masked one stood frozen in his corner.
From above, the trails of destruction left by something far beyond human could be seen.Bent buildings. Towers split in half.Rivers of blood between broken streets.
At the center, standing among the mortal remains of Vilan... Adrian.Still on his feet.
And when they looked at his forehead, a huge searing red glow burned:
[3,201,527]
— "Ham!... S-sir?!"
The Beast still ruled him.
And the city... was no longer the same.
The last vestige of human sanity had been lost to the chaos.
And the world?
Perhaps it would never recover again.