The crater was silent.
Not the silence of peace, but the silence of a wound too deep to bleed. Dust still swirled in thin veils, heat shimmer bent the air, molten edges hissed where stone dripped into itself.
And at the center, a boy of ten stood grinning, blood down his chin, sparks orbiting faint and chaotic. His words—childish, absurd—still hung in the air:
"Our playdate's not over—feels just like my birthday!"
No one dared laugh. Not at first.
The crowd was frozen, jaws slack, eyes wide. Some had their hands clasped as if in prayer. Others bit their knuckles until blood ran. A mother clutched her child so tight the boy whimpered, eyes glassy. The silence pressed, a weight heavier than the dust.
Then a shiver cut through them all.
Draven hadn't moved. Not yet. His hunched silhouette was still, haze leaking in slow ribbons. His grin, grotesque and jagged, had stilled.
For one dreadful heartbeat, it seemed he had been silenced.
Then his chest jerked.
And laughter tore out.
Not human laughter. A rattle, a shriek, a sound that made the air itself shiver. It was like glass breaking underwater, like a saw drawn across bone. It echoed off the crater walls, rattling the ribs of everyone who heard it.
The haze thickened instantly, coiling back toward his body. The cracked armor groaned, seams pulsing. His frame shook as if the shadows themselves were too small a cage.
Code's eyes narrowed, his aura flaring despite himself. His voice was low, tight, a whisper only he could hear.
"…He's going to unchain himself."
The crowd stirred at the edges, panic rising. "Unchain? What does that mean?" "He's not done—oh gods, he's not done!"
Yullan screamed, straining against the guards again, hair wild, eyes wide with raw terror. "ORIN, GET OUT OF THERE!"
But Orin didn't move.
He tilted his head, sparks sputtering, grin still idiot-wide. He stared at Draven's trembling, laughing form like a kid staring at a birthday cake about to explode with fireworks.
"Cool," he muttered through bloodied teeth. "He's finally gonna get serious."
The storm and the abyss shivered in unison, and the crater's silence broke into madness.
Draven's laughter rattled into a guttural snarl. His haze armor split wide down the chest like cracked glass, and from the fissure poured chains.
They slithered outward, links glistening wet with shadow, writhing like serpents. The mouths at their ends gnashed, rows of jagged teeth biting at the air. For a heartbeat, they lashed free—then with a sickening snap they plunged back into Draven's body.
The monster shuddered, every muscle twitching as if he was tearing himself apart from the inside. Haze boiled, armor groaned, crimson veins erupted across his frame like fire veins in coal.
The transformation was grotesque.
His claws stretched until they curved like blackened scythes, edges humming with abyssal hiss. His right arm ballooned, armored plates overlapping into jagged ridges, while the left dissolved into semi-liquid haze, dripping shadows that splattered and hissed when they touched the ground. His torso warped, one half skeletal with ribs pressing sharp beneath the skin, the other encased in thick haze armor that pulsed like it was alive.
The voices in the haze rose again—no longer whispers but shrieks, howling from every link of chain that had been sucked into him. A thousand throats cried in unison, agony woven into his aura.
The crowd lost what little courage they had left.
"He's… changing!"
"That's not a man! That's not even a devil anymore!"
Some turned and fled outright, stumbling over rubble, shrieking into the dust. Others collapsed, hands over their ears, eyes squeezed shut. A few remained frozen, unable to tear their gaze away, hypnotized by horror.
At the railing, Yullan's face drained pale. "Gods above…"
Orin blinked at the sight, his grin twitching wider. Sparks flickered in jagged arcs around him, unstable.
"Whoa…" he breathed, almost childlike. "You got cooler. Ugly cooler. But still cooler."
Draven's crimson eyes snapped open, glowing through the haze, locked straight onto the boy. His voice dragged out of his throat like chains on stone.
"Storm child… let me eat you whole."
The crater pulsed, heat shimmering, sparks and haze bracing for the next storm.
The storm orbit that had once hummed steady now fractured.
Black sparks burst outward instead of clinging to his skin, streaks of shadow-fire exploding from his shoulders and elbows. Blue lightning cracked wide, jagged lines tearing the air, gouging trenches into the crater wall far from where he stood. White sparks shattered like broken glass, shards floating and spinning out of control before bursting in erratic flashes. Red pulses thundered out of rhythm, some weak as whispers, others booming like cannon blasts that cracked the stone under his feet.
The storm child grimaced—then laughed through bloody teeth.
"Hah! Feels like I'm holding fireworks inside my guts!"
His tiny frame shook, arms trembling under the sheer output. His skin darkened in streaks where sparks burned him raw, veins glowing faint beneath. Blood dripped, sizzling when it hit the ground.
From the stands, survivors screamed anew. "He's breaking apart!" "The storm child's going to explode!"
Yullan shrieked, struggling harder against the guards restraining her. "Orin! Stop! You're hurting yourself, you idiot!"
Code stepped forward, aura tightening sharp, his voice slicing across the chaos. "CONTROL IT! FOCUS!"
Orin turned his head up, white eyes blazing with manic light. His grin widened, absurd and unstoppable.
"Focus?!" he shouted back, sparks detonating from his shoulders. "I'm already focused—on punching harder!"
The unstable orbit howled, each flicker brighter, each crack sharper. The ground around him fractured, debris lifting into the air, orbiting his tiny frame.
Draven's grin widened to mirror the madness. His voice dragged low, guttural and hungry.
"Yes… yes. Break yourself. Feed me your storm."
The crater boiled with pressure, storm and abyss pressing toward each other again, ready to collide.
Draven lunged first, haze scythe claws carving the air with a shriek like steel dragged across bone. The force split stone, leaving deep gashes in the crater floor as if the earth itself had been cleaved.
Orin blurred forward, sparks bursting erratically. BLUR—CRACK! One moment he was crouched, the next he flashed ten paces closer, his unstable orbit tearing lines of light into the dust.
CLASH!
Orin's fist, wrapped in black sparks and jagged blue arcs, met Draven's claw. The impact detonated, white sparks flashing so bright the stands turned away, red pulses booming with each heartbeat. The force flung both back, trenches carved where their feet skidded.
Draven twisted, his left haze-arm melting into liquid shadow, whipping like a tentacle. It lashed out, mouths opening along its length, gnashing.
Orin snarled, grin crooked. "Storm Slap!"
He swatted with a hand burning in unstable arcs, black sparks exploding outward. The shadow-tentacle burst in half, shrieking before dissolving. But the recoil seared his own skin, black burns streaking his palm. He hissed in pain—then laughed.
"Hot! Hah! Better than soup!"
Draven's crimson eyes gleamed. He crouched, then lunged, both scythe-claws sweeping down in an X meant to bisect the child.
Orin's unstable storm orbit flared wild. White shards shattered, red pulses thumped like war drums. He blurred sideways, one step covering ten paces, sparks ripping behind him. His small fist shot up, colliding with Draven's chin.
CRACK-BOOM!
The devil's head snapped back, haze armor fracturing across his jaw.
Draven roared, haze chains bursting free from his back, whipping around like serpents. They lashed at Orin from every angle.
The boy tilted his head, eyes blazing white. "Chains again?!"
He spread both arms, unstable sparks detonating in a sphere. Blue lightning zigzagged outward, black bursts crackled, red pulses hammered. The chains screamed, shattering link by link before dissolving into ash.
The crowd above shrieked as the shockwave reached them, throwing rubble and dust into their faces.
Code's jaw clenched. His body can't take this. He's pushing too far.
But Orin was grinning wider, blood dripping down his chin.
Draven lunged again, claws a blur of black haze and crimson veins. Orin answered, fists blazing with unstable sparks.
CLASH. CLASH. CLASH.
Every blow split the crater deeper. Every impact threw debris into the air. Sparks bit haze, haze devoured sparks, each trying to smother the other.
The storm child and the abyss monster tore at each other, two beasts in human skins, ripping the world apart around them.
The crater floor was no longer stone—it was rubble and fire. Every strike broke more of the earth, molten cracks glowing like veins of a wounded heart.
Orin staggered after the last clash, his small chest heaving. Sparks sputtered wildly, more out than in. His arms trembled, skin blackened in streaks where his own aura had burned him. Lightning crawled across his shoulders, leaving smoking trails. Blood spilled from his nose, his ears, even the corners of his eyes.
Yet his grin was wider than ever.
"Heh… feels like my body's yelling louder than you are, ugly."
Draven only laughed, a sound like rattling chains inside a hollow cavern. His partial form pulsed, haze chains writhing out of his back again. His claws lengthened further, scythe-edges humming low. His chest split with another crack, revealing more mouths inside the armor, each one whispering in a different voice. His crimson eyes glowed brighter, more than two now—four, six, blinking across his face.
The crowd recoiled, screams tearing the silence. "He's… multiplying!" "That's no man, that's an abyss!"
Yullan shook against the guards holding her back, face twisted with rage and fear. "ORIN! Stop! You're breaking yourself!"
Code's aura bristled at the edge of control, his teeth clenched. He can't sustain this. Every second is carving pieces out of him. But he won't stop. He'll never stop.
In the crater, sparks and haze circled. Two monsters, one small and laughing, one vast and grinning.
Orin spat blood, sparks flickering faint around him. His grin split wide as he raised his fists again, even as his knees buckled.
"Wow," he wheezed, voice cracked but gleeful. "You got cooler. Guess I gotta get stupider to match that."
The storm orbit shrieked, the abyss armor pulsed, and the world braced for another detonation.