The beast's roar thundered across the chamber, its enormous body twisted, reforming chunks of frozen stone into more of the drowned, each lurching creation sliding from its claws like meat molded into shape. The battlefield was a storm of claws, shrieks, and the constant crack of splintering ice. Gray felt his chest ache with every breath, his vision swimming, but his legs still carried him forward.
The cavern rumbled with every strike, each blow between blade and claw shaking loose showers of ice from the ceiling. Gray and Aurelle fought shoulder to shoulder now, their movements clashing but somehow aligning, two very different storms colliding against the same beast. Aurelle's blade sang with eerie resonance, every arc humming like a bowstring loosed. Whenever his sword carved deep enough, the beast staggered, its drowned creations twitching as if a puppet's strings had been cut. Gray did not have time to wonder what it meant. He only knew Aurelle's strikes seemed to sever something unseen.
Gray swung his katana in a wide arc, shadows rippling from its edge. A ball of darkness snapped into being in his palm, heavy and cold, and he hurled it toward a cluster of drowned. The black flame clung to them, burning without heat, their bloated faces twisting as blindness overtook their eyes. They screeched, clawing wildly at nothing, stumbling into one another before Aurelle cleaved through them.
"Gray—what—" Aurelle began, but Gray cut him off with a growl, his chest heaving.
"Don't worry about it."
There was no time for more. The beast's remaining arm swung like a falling mountain, and the two of them split apart to avoid the impact. The blow cratered the ice floor, cracks spiderwebbing outward. Gray staggered, nearly losing his footing, but forced more Vyre into his legs. His veins burned as though molten tar surged through them. His vision blurred, edges darkening, yet his katana stayed steady.
The monster's torso split open with a hideous sound, ribs of ice prying apart to reveal the core within. Threads like glowing wires pulsed outward from it, anchoring into the drowned that clogged the chamber. Gray's eyes widened, Aurelle's sword had cut through those same threads before. Now, seeing them glow so brightly, the truth felt closer than ever.
Aurelle slashed again, his blade carving clean through one of the cords. The drowned attached to it convulsed and dropped to the ground, lifeless. But the cord reformed almost instantly, reweaving itself from the beast's chest. Aurelle's lips thinned. Sweat rolled down his cheek, but his hand did not falter.
Gray lunged again, darkness trailing his blade. He struck at the beast's knee, shadows flaring along the cut. The flesh there blackened, flames licking upward, and for the first time the monster let out a pained roar. It swung for him with staggering fury. Gray barely managed to duck, rolling under its blow. The claws scraped across the cavern wall, tearing gouges deep into the stone.
Behind them, Lira fought with her broken sword. The jagged half-blade flashed red with what little Vyre she had left, her movements slower, sloppier, as the drowned encircled her. Without a weapon worth the name, she looked cornered. Adel darted in and out at her side, her veil of mist covering them for precious seconds at a time, but her reserves were fading. Her feet dragged heavier with every step, and each breath rasped like a dying fire.
Gray saw it, felt the despair chewing at the edges of the fight, but forced it down. He had no luxury to stop. He spun and hurled another ball of darkness at the beast's chest. It exploded in a burst of shadow, blanketing its face. The monster roared, staggering blindly, its drowned thrashing in confusion. Aurelle seized the chance, his sword driving into the beast's side, carving another glowing seam across its torso.
Gray raised his head. His ash-gray hair, damp with sweat and blood, shimmered darker in the faint light. Strands were black now, streaks creeping through like ink bleeding into paper. His eyes, too, no longer dulled silver but shadowed, deeper, sharper. He didn't notice the change himself, only the way his breath came sharper, the darkness answering him faster, as if it had been waiting for this moment.
The drowned swarmed again, their numbers endless. Aurelle carved through them, slicing threads unseen. Gray hurled darkness, detonations of black flame ripping apart their coordination. Yet still they came, drawn by the glowing core beating within their master's chest.
Gray's vision spun. He fell against the cavern wall, forcing himself steady. He caught sight of Adel weaving a mist to hide herself from three drowned, her face pale, hair clinging to her cheeks. Desperation burned in him. He couldn't hold back anymore.
"Adel," he called, voice raw.
She barely turned, her eyes unfocused. "What?"
"Cloak me."
Her brows furrowed. "It won't work. Not on this thing—"
"Just do it!"
Something in his voice cut through her doubt. She snapped her fingers weakly, mist curling around his form. It was patchy, weak, nothing like before, but Gray didn't hesitate. He pulled shadows over himself, wrapping them tighter, merging them with her veil until he vanished entirely.
The cavern shifted. He was gone from their sight. The drowned flailed blindly, clawing at the mist but hitting nothing. Gray felt his chest thunder, his heart hammering against his ribs. It was more than just stealth. It was like something inside him was breaking open, some wall within his core cracking. Every beat of his heart felt like it rattled that unseen barrier, threatening to tear it down.
As Gray blurred through the cavern, nothing felt real anymore. His feet barely touched the ground, his body nothing more than a streak of shadow darting between drowned, his katana trailing black fire. Each heartbeat thundered louder than the last, so sharp it hurt. It was as though something inside him, something buried deep in his chest, was straining against unseen chains. A wall he could not see, only feel. Every pulse was a hammer blow against it, threatening to shatter. The sensation was intoxicating, terrifying, and for a fleeting moment he savored it, drunk on the rush of power, on the possibility that something greater waited just beyond.
But the moment cracked like thin ice. A claw lashed from the dark, faster than he could dodge, and caught him mid-step. The shadows around him scattered as he was slammed against the cavern wall, stone biting into his back. The beast's talons pinned him in place, grinding into his armor until it splintered under the force. The wall within him had not broken, but the body outside it was moments from being crushed.
He screamed, straining, shadows writhing around him as he tried to force the monster back. But it pressed harder, fury shaking its body. The darkness armor cracked, thin lines spreading across it like splintering glass.
'Dammit!'
"Gray!" Aurelle's voice was hoarse now. His sword dragged slower, his body bent with exhaustion. Adel stumbled, her mist dissolving into wisps. Lira's half-sword shattered completely under a drowned's blow, and she was forced to wrestle with her bare fists, her body bleeding. Korr was still frozen in his metallic prison, unmoving.
The beast roared, driving its claw deeper. The armor cracked wider, fragments breaking away.
And then Renn screamed.
He leapt onto the beast's back, scrambling up its shoulders. He planted himself atop its head and drew with everything left in him. His seven orifices bled, nose, eyes, ears, mouth, streams of red running down his face.
"Die!" he roared, channeling all of the Vyre, every drop, into its head.
The monster froze. Paralyzed.
Then Renn fell limp, his body collapsing from its head.
Gray saw his chance. With a roar he forced himself upward, his katana snapping back to his hand. He drove it into the gaping wound in the beast's chest, plunging his arm deeper until his fingers wrapped around the slick, metallic heart.
The Vyre core pulsed against his grip. It was smooth, impossibly cold, lines like glowing circuits running across its surface. It expanded and contracted like lungs, inhaling and exhaling. Threads like veins extended from it, connecting back into the monster's body, tying it together.
Gray ripped it free with a furious cry. The beast staggered, howling, but the threads still clung to it, refusing to let it die.
He hit the ground running, the core clutched against his chest. He poured Vyre into his arms, forcing cracks to spread across its surface. Thin lines splintered across the glowing metal. The drowned screeched in unison, turning on him, charging with feral rage. The beast staggered but still lurched after him, threads dragging behind like a grotesque tether.
Adel, Aurelle, and Lira tried to intercept, but the monster swatted them aside like insects, sending them crashing against the cavern walls. Gray kept running, his lungs burning, eyes wild. The core expanded in his hand, breathing, lines flaring brighter as cracks deepened.
The beast reached him. It crashed down, smashing him into the floor with its claw. His armor shattered completely, darkness splintering away. He screamed as pain tore through his chest, bones creaking. The core slipped from his grasp, bouncing across the floor.
It didn't break.
Gray's hope disintegrated as he realized why, its surface was too dense, too alien, only sheer inhuman strength could shatter it. His eyes widened as the beast bore down, its face twisting with rage. He tried to push back, but nothing answered him. His body was spent.
Then the core rolled to a stop. Against a bloody shoe.
He froze.
The pressure on his chest vanished. He turned his head, vision blurring, and saw a figure bending to pick up the core. Orrin. His body was ruined, cuts and frost covering him, blood soaking every inch of him, but his hand was steady as it closed around the pulsing heart.
He smiled faintly, eyes meeting Gray's. "Sorry… took me a while."
Gray's throat closed. "Orrin—wait—!"
Cracking filled the chamber. The sound was sharp, grating, but it wasn't the core breaking. It was something else, something deeper. The drowned howled and lurched forward, the beast roaring as it lunged, threads snapping taut as it clawed toward Orrin.
But Orrin only smiled, quietly, almost peacefully.
The last thing Gray saw before everything was swallowed in white was that smile.
That calm, yet pitiful smile.