The ground split wide.
Not like an earthquake—more like a wound tearing open in the skin of the world. Molten blood poured from the fissures, steaming and hissing as it flooded the battlefield. The crimson eye in the distance blinked once, and every drop of blood in Russ's body trembled in response.
Ravien's voice was tight. "It's awake."
The air thickened, so heavy with qi it crushed their lungs. The creature began to rise—not the shadow from before, but its true body. A giant, half-flesh, half-shadow monstrosity, with veins like rivers of molten scarlet and a torso that bled endlessly into the earth. Its face—or what passed for one—was a mask of bone fused with shadow, and from its mouth spilled an unending stream of whispers that gnawed at the mind.
Russ gritted his teeth. "That thing… is inside me?"
"No," Ravien said grimly, "it's what your Seal was meant to contain. And you've been feeding it since birth."
---
The First Strike
The monster didn't walk—it appeared above them, a black blur splitting the air. Russ barely dodged before its claw slammed into the ground, shattering it into floating slabs of rock and crimson streams.
Russ countered with Bloodshadow Overdrive, blood blades erupting from the ground while tendrils of shadow twisted around the monster's limbs, trying to bind it. The creature didn't even flinch—its body liquefied, shadows melting through the bindings before reforming behind Russ.
He felt claws pierce his back—only for Ravien to intercept, his Abyss Severance slicing the arm clean off. The limb dissolved, and another grew instantly from the blood-mist.
---
Blood vs. Blood
Russ's Seal cracked again, another sliver of its power bleeding into him. His veins burned, shadows crawling along his arms and pooling into his scythe.
Blood Dominion.
The blood flooding the battlefield obeyed him. It surged upward into massive spears, a storm of crimson that rained down with relentless force. The monster roared—not in pain, but recognition—and the blood reversed mid-air, twisting to obey its command instead.
The battlefield became a tug-of-war of pure willpower—Russ forcing the blood toward it, the monster forcing it toward Russ. The air sizzled with qi as the two powers clashed.
Ravien struck during the stalemate, opening a void rift beneath the monster's chest. The tear in reality collapsed inward, trying to consume it—but the monster planted its claws into the ground and ripped the rift apart with its bare hands.
---
The Qi Storm
The creature inhaled, and the world's qi vanished. Trees withered. The air thinned. Even the shadows recoiled.
Russ gasped. "It's… draining the planet."
The Seal flared violently, flooding Russ with enough power to feel like he'd tear apart from the inside. His eyes bled crimson, shadows boiling around him.
"Ravien!" Russ roared. "Hit it with everything!"
They moved together—Russ's scythe cleaving through the air in a crescent of black-red destruction, Ravien's void blade creating a seam in the world itself. The two attacks crossed through the monster's core.
The explosion ripped the sky open. Clouds spiraled away. Blood and shadow erupted in a column that reached the heavens.
---
The Last Glare
The monster staggered, the crimson eye flickering like a dying flame. Then it smiled.
"You cannot kill what was before death."
Its body collapsed into a whirlpool of blood, vanishing into the crack it had come from. The fissures sealed—but the crimson eye remained in Russ's vision, even with his eyes closed.
Ravien turned to him, breathing heavily. "It's not gone. It's inside you now."
Russ didn't answer. He could still hear the whisper in his mind.
Soon… we feed together.