His body felt lighter, lighter than it ever had in the weeks spent being trapped in the ruins of the city.
He didn't know what was causing it.
But for once in his life, he didn't bother solving the mystery.
It helped him and that was enough.
His mind, previously clouded with a veil of misery and trauma parted, sharpened by a singular goal.
He wanted to kill this chimera. To enact revenge on its corrupted soul and make it wish it had never been born into existence.
His body moved with the grace of a dancer.
He jumped over a tail swipe, parried the thrust of a clawed hand and ducked under another.
His blade flashed, the longsword in his hands almost sang as it sliced through the air and cut through the tip of one of the curved horns on its head.
It lunged at him with its beak, a hateful glare in its singular eye.
The shadows beneath his feet twisted, and the chimera's target vanished.
It spun with all the strength its weakened muscles could grant it, the morning star whistling through the air as it lashed out with a clawed hand.
But Artorias wasn't standing behind it.
At the very least, he wasn't standing where it had assumed he would be.
"Oldest trick in the book," he whispered, almost hissing the words.
He reached forward, between the ridges of gold on its back, and grabbed the embedded horn from before. He twisted it, and ripped it out, before stepping back into the shadows.
The chimera screeched, its pained howl echoing through the street.
He was upon it not a moment later.
The vile thing lunged at him the moment its eye could find where he was.
He ducked under the wild thrust of the first set of claws, then dug his feet into the ground and swept the horn in his hand to clash with the second.
It only met air.
The chimera stumbled, its forward momentum working against it.
It crashed into the ground with a powerful tremor only a moment later.
He appeared above it, the shadows wrapping over his body as lightning began to surge in his chest.
Except, this time, there were no aches in his bones. No pains, weakening his already frail body. He moved as if his body had rested, he attacked as if this wasn't a terror he was trying to kill.
Because in his broken mind, it wasn't.
It was his prey.
A wretch that had stoked the embers of madness growing within him and was now suffering the consequences.
The horn sliced through scale as if it was no longer there. Tore through flesh as if it was paper, broke its bones as if it was glass.
His Ascended strength had never felt so powerful before.
It screeched in pain and then all but shrieked as he dragged the embedded horn through its body.
The chimera's tail swung through the air, the morning star gleaming with the nebulous gas inside of its centre, but all it did was hit air.
Artorias was gone again; the shadows having moved him to stand before the downed body of the abomination.
"I told you I was going to break you…" he began, looking down at the intelligent creature. "…Instead, you broke me."
The chimera growled at him, its singular eye narrowing as it began to push itself up on shaking limbs.
He let it.
Whatever had changed in the realm of shadows, it hadn't stayed limited to just itself. Something had fundamentally become different within himself too.
He just wasn't sure what it was yet.
His body no longer hurt, his wounds had closed and healed, his strength felt greater. His powers had grown too. They were quicker, subtly stronger, faster to respond and eager to listen to his commands.
The shadows moved faster, the lightning no longer hurt.
His mind, a shattered ruin of sanity and too many emotions, had changed with his body and soul. It had sharpened at the first sign of danger, changed to suit the mind of a killer, a predator, a slayer.
Towering over him, the abominations body shook with the force needed to breathe. He gazed up, his eyes trailing over broken and burnt scales before meeting its singular eye.
Twisted amber met sharpened gold.
The horn in his hand still dripped with the chimeras corrupted blood.
"They say you fallen spawn don't feel anything but anger and madness," The chimera stared at him, silent but with a glare that spoke of its loathing. "That your creatures born in the lowest bowels of Tartarus, with no concept of emotion or feeling."
He slowly raised his right arm, the pommel of his longsword still in hand, before tapping his head.
"But I know how smart you are, and I know your twisted intelligence makes you understand. So, I want you to know," he lowered his hand, hate burning through his chest. "That when I'm done with you, I will make you learn to regret."
The silence between them stretched, amber clashing with gold, before slowly, under his watchful eyes, the chimera lifted its clawed hands to its chest and laughed.
A mocking, vile, screeching sound that echoed through the street and threatened to make his ears bleed.
Finally, it stopped and made a show of turning its head, looking directly behind him.
Its body growing taunt was all the warning he got, before it rocked from where it stood and directly towards where Seirios was.
He turned at the same moment it moved, his eyes locking onto his cousin's shadow, and pulling on his powers.
Artorias made it just in time.
Grabbing Seirios' shoulders, he hauled him to his feet, pulling him behind his back with all the strength he could safely use.
Except, it was already too late.
Because the chimera hadn't been aiming for the wounded Seirios. But directly at what it had wanted his cousin to see, snapping its powerful beak over its created illusion.
A heartbroken scream echoed through the street.
"MAREN!"