The column of light flickered—white bleeding into pitch black like ink spilled in water.
Seris's runes warped, edges curling as if eaten by fire. "No… no, no, no—" His voice cracked.
The ground shook violently. The Titan's claws dug trenches into the stone as his back arched. Armor peeled away in jagged shards, revealing molten sinew pulsing with gold and shadow.
And then the spell shattered.
The light collapsed inward, exploding outward in a silent shockwave.
---
Everyone was thrown. Nyra slammed into a wall of stone hard enough to crack it. Her ribs screamed in protest, but she forced herself up, eyes locking on Kiel.
He was… gone.
Or maybe more than gone.
The hybrid core had consumed everything human left in him. His silhouette was wreathed in flame and void, eyes a chaotic swirl of gold and crimson. His voice—if it could still be called that—was a deep, resonant growl that seemed to vibrate inside the skull.
The Alpha froze. For the first time since it appeared, it looked uncertain.
---
"Kiel!" Nyra's voice cut through the roaring storm. "It's me! You—"
He moved.
One moment he was ten paces away. The next, his claw was a blur aimed for her throat. She barely rolled aside, the strike tearing a gouge in the stone deep enough to hide in.
There was no hesitation now. No flicker of recognition.
He was hunting her.
---
Aeloria streaked in, her blades cutting deep across his ribs. The wounds closed before she even passed him. He caught one of her wings mid-flight and ripped. The scream that followed was pure agony. She tumbled, blood trailing in the air.
Seris snapped his hands forward, firing a volley of arcane spears—each one dissipating before touching him, absorbed into the maelstrom around the Titan's body.
"This is no longer binding magic!" Seris shouted. "He's drawing from the core directly—every strike will feed him!"
---
The Alpha decided it had waited long enough. It lunged at Kiel from behind, jaws opening impossibly wide, shadow-teeth poised to crush the neck and rip the core free.
But Kiel didn't move like prey.
He caught the Alpha's upper jaw in one hand, lower jaw in the other, and pulled.
The sound of tearing shadow-flesh was like wet parchment ripping in a hurricane. The Alpha shrieked, black ichor spraying in arcs.
---
Nyra ran toward them, ignoring Seris's scream to stay back. She slid under Kiel's guard, pressing the hilt of her dagger against a seam in his armor.
"Remember me!" she yelled, shoving it in deep.
For an instant, the gold in his eyes flared. His claw hovered above her head, trembling.
"…Nyra…" The voice was broken. Distant.
She grabbed his arm with both hands. "Fight it! You're not—"
The Alpha struck again, slamming into them both. The impact knocked Nyra free and sent her tumbling toward the edge of the battlefield—where the fissure yawned wide into a red-lit abyss.
---
Kiel and the Alpha went down together in a tangle of claws and fangs. The ground gave way under them, sending them both crashing into the chasm.
Nyra scrambled to the edge. "Kiel!"
She saw him, half-buried under rubble, the Alpha clawing toward his chest.
And then she saw the core—exposed, pulsing like a living sun and void all at once. The Alpha's talons reached for it.
---
Nyra didn't think. She leapt.
Her body collided with the Alpha's side, her dagger punching into the soft shadow beneath its ribs. The beast howled and twisted, but not before its claws raked across Kiel's chest.
The core began to unravel, light and darkness spilling into the air in tendrils.
Kiel's voice roared—not in pain, but in something primal, something ancient. His claws shot up, grabbing Nyra's arm before she could pull away.
---
Her eyes widened.
"...Kiel?"
But the look in his was not human anymore.
And he wasn't letting go.