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Chapter 8: When the Tide Rises
The first roar shattered the night.
It came from the eastern wilds — deep, guttural, and laced with primal fury. The ground trembled. Then another roar followed, and another, until the forest itself erupted with monstrous voices.
The Beast Tide had begun.
From the black line of trees surged an endless tide of fangs and claws. Wolves twisted with bone armor, serpents with wings of shadow, boars with tusks like blades. Second-tier beasts by the dozens. First-tier beasts by the hundreds. And among them… hulking silhouettes that shook the earth with every step.
The city's bells tolled in alarm. Guards scrambled, mages lit the skies with fire and lightning. Chaos reigned.
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In the heart of that chaos, Malik stood bloodied and broken, his body pinned beneath the claw of a mutated bear the size of a carriage. His ribs were crushed, tendrils spasming, his vision fading.
The beast roared in victory, its jaws descending—
⚡ CRACK!
Time slowed. Lightning surged, his body exploding with violet radiance. Tendrils lanced upward, piercing through the beast's skull, its roar dying in a choking gurgle.
Malik rose, gasping, his body trembling as wounds knitted and bones reforged. His aura flared violently — Second Order, First Tier.
The leap was agony, but also liberation. His speed sharpened further, his control over biomass refined. Lightning arcs danced more viciously, his virus evolving to devour essence faster than ever.
Covered in blood, Malik looked at the endless tide, his eyes glowing like twin amethysts.
"…I can't fight them all. Not yet."
He vanished into the shadows, moving like a phantom between battles, striking only when unseen, feeding on fallen beasts, and evolving without drawing the eyes of nobles or soldiers. He was the unseen predator in the chaos, the storm beneath the storm.
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Elsewhere, under the shattered moonlight, Najima stumbled outside the academy.
Her hands still stung from training, her breath ragged. She had run, driven by a voice she could not explain, to a forgotten corner near the old stone walls.
There, half-buried in the dirt, lay a blackened ring etched with alien runes. It pulsed faintly, as though alive.
Drawn by something beyond reason, she picked it up. The moment her blood from a training wound touched the surface, the world around her shattered.
Darkness swallowed her.
She fell into a void where stars bled and beasts writhed. There, waiting in the abyss, was a figure vast and terrible — a beast of shadow with a form both wolf and dragon, its body tattered like smoke. Its eyes glowed red, burning with hunger and hatred.
"…So. A child touched the seal." The voice was deep, echoing, half-growl, half-thunder.
Najima trembled. "W-what are you…?"
The beast lowered its head, a grin splitting its monstrous maw.
"I am Knull. Once a Transcendent of the Second Order. Now a remnant… waiting for rebirth."
The void shuddered. Shadows coiled around Najima's body like chains.
"You are mine now. Blood has bound you to me. In time, I will rise again… through you."
Najima gasped, terror in her eyes — yet in the pit of her heart, something else stirred. Power. The promise of being more than just the shadow of Nabila.
Knull's voice rumbled, patient yet sinister.
"Train. Grow. Become strong enough to carry me. When you are ready, child… I will grant you everything. And in return… your body will be my throne."
Najima screamed as the darkness seared into her, but when she opened her eyes again, she stood back in the courtyard — the ring pulsing faintly on her finger.
Her body quivered with new strength, whispers echoing in her mind.
"…I will not be forgotten," she whispered to herself, clutching her hand to her chest.
"Even if I must burn the world to be seen."
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The city burned.
From the palace walls, Dick looked down at the chaos, his aura flaring violently. The sight of Nabila fighting alongside Nyx only fanned his fury.
Malik. If you still live, I'll find you. I'll crush you. And Nabila… you will kneel.
As for Malik, hidden among shadows, feeding, growing, watching… he whispered to himself.
"This is only the beginning."
The Beast Tide had risen.
And in its waves, monsters — both human and beast — were born anew.
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