The world didn't just break when Kade's body ruptured—it tore itself apart.
The explosion wasn't fire, wasn't light. It was heavier than that, darker, as if the air itself had soured. Shards of black glass screamed outward in every direction, piercing stone pillars, splitting ancient pews, shredding the last of the cathedral's stained windows into jagged rainbows. The ground convulsed under my boots, the kind of violent shudder that rattled teeth and snapped bone. Overhead, the vaulted roof groaned, the sound sharp and organic—like a ribcage being cracked open.
I hit the floor hard. Pain ripped through me, sharp and blinding, dragging a strangled gasp from my throat. My ears rang so loud I almost missed the blood rushing from my side, hot and fast where Kade's claw had torn me open. My vision blurred at the edges, little bursts of black dotting everything. For a second—just a second—I thought maybe this was it. Maybe the System had dragged me far enough only to let me bleed out in the ruins of a dead god's house.
But then the bond flared.
Lysander's hand closed over mine with bruising force, dragging me upright even as debris rained around us and fresh cracks spiderwebbed through the floor. His breath came ragged, each inhale like it might be the last, but his silver eyes burned with that same merciless fire. His grip shook, his body trembled, yet his presence pressed into me, overwhelming and unrelenting. Stand. Don't fall now.
I swallowed down blood and lifted my head. That's when I saw it—what Kade had become.
The ichor no longer clung to him. It was him. His body twisted into something that wasn't even pretending to be human anymore. Bones jutted at impossible angles, skin peeled away in ribbons, until all that remained was a hulking mass of shadow and fang. His once-cruel silver eyes had multiplied, fracturing into dozens that spread like infection across his warped skull. Each one blinked and swiveled independently, glowing with a light that didn't belong in this world. His claws stretched into scythe-like blades, long enough to drag gouges through the stone floor with every twitch.
The System's voice cracked across the air, like static in my skull:
[ Aberration: Designation "Rival Ascendant." ]
[ Threat Level: Cataclysm. ]
[ Objective: Terminate. ]
My lungs seized. Fear locked itself around my ribs, and yet I couldn't look away. Kade's grin lingered in the distortion of his face, stretched too wide, too broken. When he spoke, his voice came layered in too many echoes, warped until it no longer sounded like language at all.
"You wanted a Rival. Now you've made me something more."
He lunged.
The cathedral couldn't handle the force. Stone buckled beneath his weight, claws slicing through the altar like paper. Lysander yanked me aside, silver fire hissing as his blade collided with black ichor. The impact rattled through my bones, sparks hailing down like shooting stars as shard-fire and Aberration clashed.
I stumbled back, gripping my weapon—a thing that wasn't a crowbar anymore, not really. It had been reforged by the Claim, its edges vibrating with hunger. Strike. Cut. Feed. The whispers clawed at my skull, eager, demanding. My temples throbbed with the pounding of it, but I raised the blade anyway. Because if I didn't, I was dead. Simple as that.
Kade surged again, body twisting with bone-snapping violence as an entire new arm tore free from his side. He swung in two directions at once. Lysander caught the first strike, silver fire blazing bright, while I braced against the second. The force nearly shattered me, sending me sprawling, palms raw and bleeding against the grip of my weapon.
Dust poured from the cathedral ceiling in choking clouds, cracks splitting upward like lightning across the stone walls. Each blow wasn't just a strike—it was a promise of collapse.
[ Warning: Structural Collapse Imminent. ]
The System's warning barely registered beneath the roar of combat. My lungs burned with every breath. My wound screamed. But when Lysander let out a guttural roar and drove his blade forward, the bond ignited, dragging me with him whether I wanted it or not.
We moved. Together.
Lysander struck high, his silver blade carving an arc that seared across Kade's upper chest. I followed low, forcing my battered body into motion, my weapon biting into the Aberration's leg. Black ichor sprayed outward, sizzling as it touched stone, the hiss of acid filling the air.
Kade howled. The sound wasn't human—it shattered what was left of the cathedral's windows, vibrating through my skull until my teeth ached. My grip nearly faltered under the sheer pressure of it.
Then his claw lashed out. Too fast.
I didn't even see it until it was almost too late.
Lysander shoved me back, his body taking the full force of the strike. The claws raked across his arm, tearing through armor and flesh alike. Blood splattered bright against the ruined stone, steaming where it landed on shard-light. His breath hitched, silver fire flickering, but his grip on the blade never loosened.
"Lysander—!"
"Fight!" His voice wasn't just sound—it ripped through the bond itself, raw and jagged. Fight with me.
I staggered upright, every muscle screaming like I was carrying mountains, but I raised my weapon again. My heart thundered in my chest, so loud it drowned everything else. The shard-blood in my veins pulsed hot, roaring like a storm, and my memories slipped at the edges—faces dissolving, names gone. But the bond remained. Solid. Burning. Him. That was all that mattered.
We attacked again.
I lunged forward, weapon whistling as it clashed against one of Kade's claws. The shard-blade bit deep, ichor spraying hot across my cheek. Lysander followed, silver fire plunging into the Aberration's side. For a moment—just a moment—we forced him back, step by agonized step.
But every wound we carved knitted itself shut. The ichor didn't just heal him—it fed him. Each injury warped his body further, new bones cracking through skin, new arms tearing free. He was growing, changing, turning into something too vast for us to contain.
[ Aberration Stability: 98% ]
[ Full Manifestation Achieved. ]
The cathedral groaned, walls bowing inward, beams snapping overhead. The shards embedded in the ruins pulsed brighter, answering Kade's presence with violent resonance. I felt them in my bones, humming like a chorus of knives.
Then Kade slammed his claws into the ground.
The world split open beneath us. Black tendrils erupted from the cracks, writhing like living whips. They lashed pews into splinters, smashed stone into dust, and clawed at the very air. One coiled around my leg, burning through skin and cloth as it pulled me down. Panic shot through me—I hacked at it, ichor searing my skin, the stench of rot filling my lungs.
"Move!" Lysander roared, his silver fire slicing through another tendril. His face was pale, his arm dripping blood, but he didn't stop. Couldn't stop.
I could see it though—we weren't winning this fight. Not like this. Every second we stalled, the Aberration only grew stronger.
The bond pulsed hot, urgent, alive. Lysander's thought crashed into mine, jagged and desperate: One strike. Together.
The shards answered.
They rose from the shattered cathedral floor, trembling in the air, light splintering into streaks of silver and black. Our bond stretched taut, wrapping around us like a noose and a lifeline all at once. My weapon blazed brighter, reshaping itself, the edge lengthening into something sharper, hungrier. Lysander's blade ignited in silver fire, roaring higher than ever before.
We moved.
The world narrowed to a single heartbeat.
Kade surged forward, all claws and ichor and screaming mouths. We surged too, blades raised, steps in perfect sync, the bond pulling us together like two halves of one will. His claw arced down, black fire spilling. Ours arced up, silver and white light colliding.
The impact tore the cathedral apart.
Stone shattered outward in a storm of debris. Windows exploded. The roof caved in, and for one suspended moment the entire ruin screamed as light and shadow devoured each other. Our weapons struck deep into Kade's chest.
His howl split the air like the world itself was breaking.
Ichor erupted. Fire scorched. The Aberration convulsed, writhing, splitting, fracturing from within until the twisted body that had once been Kade finally ruptured. The explosion hurled us both back, the bond snapping wide as my body slammed hard against broken stone.
Silence followed. Dust. The heavy taste of blood.
And then the System's whisper, cold and final:
[ Rival Aberration: Neutralized. ]
[ Survivors: 2. ]
I dragged in a ragged gasp, lungs on fire, body broken. My eyes strained against the haze until I finally saw him—Lysander, barely upright, blade shattered to nothing in his hand, blood soaking his chest. His silver eyes met mine, their glow flickering faintly.
For a heartbeat—a single heartbeat—he smiled.
Then he collapsed.