The earth trembled when the fourth artifact erged from underground like a geyser of corrupted flesh and twisted tal.
It had traveled scraping through the earth, accumulating organic mass during its journey, and now rose like a nightmare tower that curved toward the waiting scorpion-creature.
"NO!" Selphira roared from the wall’s remains, launching her power in a desperate ice attack.
Julius also used his complete fusion, his duplicated beast materializing in gigantic size as it hurled itself toward the fusion zone.
The impact of their combined assault was huge. Ice spears the size of buildings pierced through corrupted flesh, while Julius’s massive beast and earth attacks tore chunks from the erging flesh. For a mont, it seed they might prevent the fusion.
Yet, the wave of matter and the pseudo-scorpion were too large. Much of their matter was destroyed, but in the end...
The scorpion-creature’s eyes blazed with triumph as it prepared for the fusion that would make it unstoppable.
Ti seed to slow as Ren realized he had failed. His gamble had failed, and now the kingdom would pay the price.
The four artifacts connected, their energies resonating differently now that they had a new geotry. This fusion wasn’t the gradual process they had seen before. It was instantaneous, violent.
The resulting creature had three massive claws arranged around a central leg that, instead of being the support, remained supported by what were now "three legs".
Hundreds of small frenzied mutant creatures continued throwing themselves en masse toward the new abomination, their bodies fusing with the organic surface like living fuel. Each sacrifice added to its mass, its power, its hideous majesty.
And more kept coming.
It was as if every corrupted creature in the deep golden ring had received the sa call, converging toward this point from all directions like iron filings drawn to a magnet. The horizon writhed with approaching forms, a tide of corruption that seed to have no end.
With empty cores arriving at the lowest zone in the mana current and being reborn non-stop, their fuel was practically endless... now feeding a regeneration that surpassed anything they had faced before.
Ren, still paralyzed by the residual effects of the shriek, watched as the new creature turned toward him again. Its multiple eyes fixed on him with an intelligence that was both alien and uncomfortably familiar.
He knew he had to do sothing drastic.
The roots in his body pulsed, responding to his desperation. That’s when he understood.
Right... he had to overload himself with sensations again.
The regret and helplessness about Luna’s situation that he couldn’t correct, the fear of losing his parents if these creatures entered the city, and... Larissa hating him unjustly. How long would he have to carry all these responsibilities and decisions that were unfair to him?
His emotions exploded again.
But this ti he didn’t control them. This ti he fused completely with them, allowing the hybrid energy to transform not just his power, but his very essence... Indignant, furious, fed up, outraged.
He fused completely, instinctively.
The black patterns spread until they covered every centiter of his skin, and when the purple light faded, he no longer looked completely human.
His eyes blazed with the sa energy as the artifacts, but darker, uncontrolled. His hair floated as if he were subrged in water, and each movent left trails of elental energy in the air like living calligraphy written in power.
He extended his hands and channeled everything he had into a single attack.
It wasn’t one or two elents. It was all of them, fused into sothing completely new. A dark jade light that seed to contain the essence of perfect, and terrible balance.
The attack hit the four-artifact creature like the hamr of a god.
The impact created a shockwave that shattered the wall. A section of the abomination simply ceased to exist. The spherical bases of the artifacts were exposed, pulsing with violet light while the surrounding flesh regenerated desperately.
But Ren attacked again before the regeneration could complete.
Each strike was more precise than the last, targeting the connection points between artifacts and flesh. His movents were no longer human, each gesture flowing into ravenous attacks that carved away massive chunks of corrupted matter.
The artifacts and flesh tried to reunite, organic tendrils reaching toward the exposed spheres like desperate fingers. But again and again, the small enraged monster tore them apart with combinations of elents that shouldn’t have been possible.
For a mont, everyone thought Ren had won. The creature staggered, its massive form wavering as its power sources were repeatedly severed from their organic housing.
Until Ren’s negative energy began to wane again.
Then the creature began absorbing the small creatures again, even faster than before. Not just those that were nearby, but all those approaching from the horizon moved faster, drawn by so invisible signal. Its regeneration process accelerated until it beca ridiculous, new flesh growing faster than he could destroy it.
Each regeneration was more resistant than the last, as if the creature was evolving too, learning from each attack and adapting its defenses in real ti.
And when the regeneration was complete, the creature was larger than before. Not just in size, but in presence. It radiated an aura of malevolent intelligence that made the air feel thick and oppressive.
"Impossible," Julius murmured, feeling for the first ti that perhaps he had underestimated the magnitude of the problem.
Ren regained consciousness at the worst possible mont.
That’s when one of the giant claws moved faster than his jade eyes could follow.
The massive fingers closed around him like the bars of a living prison. The pressure was incredible, threatening to crush him like a small fruit. He could feel his ribs flexing dangerously, his breathing becoming desperate gasps and screams of pain as he tried to resist with all his enormous yet apparently insufficient strength.
The sound of his bones creaking was audible even over the creature’s roars. His enhanced durability, boosted by the fusion, was all that kept him from being instantly pulverized. But even that had limits, and he could feel them approaching rapidly.
The creature retracted the claw, bringing him toward what might have been its face, studying him with intellectual curiosity before destroying him.
But while he was trapped, while death seed inevitable, sothing changed... Or rather, increased.
The resentnt.
Was life really going to end like this after everything? This damn disgusting vermin, the destruction of intricate and interesting ecosystems, a senseless mistake was better than him?
The fury that filled him wasn’t just anger... it was existential rage. Rage at the unfairness of it all, at the cosmic joke that would let mindless corruption triumph over everything he had fought to protect.
So then, when the claw began to contract for the final crushing, Ren did sothing impossible.
Completely contrary to logic.
Instead of resisting the energies of the artifacts and creatures anymore...
He extended his consciousness through the roots and gave free passage to the energy flowing through the creature itself.
And began to steal it in ridiculous amounts.
It was like touching a high-voltage line with bare hands. The corrupted energy was, violent, alien... And more importantly, it was imnse.
His body expanded, transforming more and more into a single entity with his beasts. The boundaries between self and other began to blur as power beyond his comprehension flooded his system.
The fear, the imnse pain, the desperation, all fed the roots in his body in ways he had never experienced. Each emotion beca fuel, each sensation a conduit for more power.
The seed threatened more and more to break completely, but the roots in his system recognized the energy, transford it, made it their own. Cracks spider-webbed across its surface, but instead of shattering, they filled with liquid light that held it together through Ren’s sheer force of will.
It wasn’t easy. The amount of power was so vast that his body and the seed in his chest, now completely fractured, could barely withstand it. He felt like he was trying to contain an ocean in a cup, but he kept absorbing, kept transforming.
The stolen energy roared through Ren’s roots like liquid lava, threatening to disintegrate every cell of his body. The seed in his chest pulsed with violence that made his vision fragnt into different colors. He could feel how his very essence was expanding beyond the limits he could contain.
But still he didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. The power was too intoxicating, the need for revenge too overwhelming.
The light of the artifacts grew dimr and dimr, especially in the contact zone. Energy that should have been flowing into the creature’s regeneration was being siphoned away, redirected through the network connection into Ren’s system.
The creature roared as it realized what was happening. It tried to release him, but it was too late. The connection had been established, and Ren was draining its very essence like a parasite that had found the perfect host.
With each second that passed, the creature beca weaker while Ren beca stronger. The exchange was visible, corruption flowing out of the massive abomination and into the small figure ’trapped’ in its grasp.
The creature’s movents beca sluggish. Its roars lost their terrifying resonance. The constant regeneration that had made it seem invincible began to slow, then stutter, then stop entirely in so areas.
And when Ren had finally absorbed enough power that the claw could no longer keep him contained, he smiled.
It was a smile that held no humanity, only predatory satisfaction and the promise of terrible retribution.
The tables had turned.
It was now or never. It was ti to return the favor.
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