The next moment, Shun's body began to change.
A grinding crack erupted from deep within his chest, like stone splitting under immense pressure. His skin shimmered as liquid silver flowed beneath it, the glow intensifying until it bled into the air, enveloping him in a haze of molten light. Veins of ether snaked across his arms and neck, branching like living lightning, pulsing with a rhythm that echoed the heartbeat of something ancient and monstrous.
His bones warped, stretching longer and thicker, each shift accompanied by a sickening snap that reverberated through the battlefield. Muscles bulged and reshaped, rippling under his skin like molten iron. His fingers fused, elongating into clawed talons that gleamed with a predatory edge. His spine extended, tearing through the back of his armor with a piercing shriek of metal. Segmented plates erupted from his flesh, each forged in silver so pure it reflected the pale, sickly light of the battlefield, casting warped shadows that danced like specters.
His head stretched forward, his jaw widening into a maw lined with serrated teeth that glinted with the same molten glow as his transformation. Horns spiraled back from his skull, twisting like polished blades, their tips sharp enough to rend the air itself. Silver scales slid over every inch of his body, each no larger than a coin but interlocking so tightly no blade could find a seam. The scales shimmered with an unnatural density, bending light at their edges as if they consumed the very essence of the world around them.
Wings burst forth with a sound like a hundred banners snapping in a hurricane, their translucent steel membranes catching the light in a way that made them appear spun from molten glass. A row of razor-sharp spines emerged along the ridge of his back, extending to a tail that ended in a crescent blade capable of shearing through stone. The air around him grew heavy, as if the weight of his new form pulled gravity itself toward him.
A low, rumbling growl rolled from his throat, deep and resonant, shaking the ground beneath him. The sound carried a primal menace, a promise of annihilation that silenced the battlefield for a heartbeat.
Shun was no longer a man.
He stood as a silver wyvern, his massive frame towering over the shattered landscape. His eyes burned with a molten gold glare, their intensity forcing even the beastmen twins, Lira and Toren, to pause, their fur bristling as they sensed the raw power radiating from him.
The Black theatre's suppression clamped down like invisible chains, robbing him of the talents that once defined him. His ability to weave ether into devastating strikes, to bend the elements to his will, was gone, sealed away by the tower's malevolent force. What remained was the raw strength of his transformed body, the crushing force of his claws and teeth, and the one gift that could not be stripped from him: the silver scales. Each scale was now so dense that light warped at its surface, and a blade could strike them thousands of times without leaving a mark.
The monster moved first.
Tendrils erupted from the ground, hundreds at once, each lashing out faster than a whip's crack. They surged from every angle, a writhing wall of black bone and sinew, their tips glistening with a venomous sheen that dripped onto the earth, sizzling as it burned through rock. The air filled with a rancid stench, like decay mixed with molten tar, as the tendrils closed in, their movements erratic and unnatural, as if guided by a mind that delighted in chaos.
Shun did not dodge.
He planted his claws into the ground, his massive frame unyielding, and let the tendrils come. The first wave smashed against his scales with a deafening clang, the impact sending sparks of ether into the air like dying stars. The tendrils recoiled, leaving only shallow dents that smoothed themselves out in seconds, the silver scales repairing themselves with an eerie, organic precision. More tendrils struck, faster and harder, wrapping around his limbs and torso, their tips burrowing into the ground to anchor him. They tightened, straining to crush him, their surfaces pulsing with a sickly green light that seemed to drink in the surrounding ether.
Shun flexed his muscles, the power in his limbs surging like a tidal wave. The cords strained, their surfaces cracking under the pressure, but his scales held firm, unmarred. His tail lashed out, the crescent blade at its tip cleaving through a tendril with a wet, crunching sound. Black ichor sprayed from the severed limb, hissing as it burned holes through the rock, releasing a noxious vapor that stung the air.
The shadow, the monstrous entity at the heart of the tendrils, raised another finger. Tendrils thick as tree trunks lunged for Shun's wings, their tips splitting into barbed claws that dripped with a corrosive sludge. The air screamed as they tore toward him, their speed blurring the boundaries between motion and nightmare.
Shun dropped his head and charged. The ground split beneath his claws, shards of stone flying as he surged forward. His shoulder smashed through the incoming tendrils, snapping them like rotten wood. He leapt, his wings snapping open in a single, massive beat that hurled debris into the air, the shockwave flattening nearby vanguards. He landed on the monster's left flank, his claws carving trenches in the earth, each impact shaking the ground like an earthquake.
The monster's main body moved now, its cloak of writhing limbs parting to reveal a core that pulsed with an oily, black light. A maw unfolded where no mouth should be, ringed with teeth that spun slowly, grinding against each other with a sound like tortured metal. The air around it grew colder, the light dimming as if the monster's presence consumed all warmth and hope.
Shun struck with his foreclaws, raking them down the monster's chest. His scales met resistance unlike anything he had felt before, a dense, unnatural hardness that vibrated through his bones. The blow sent a shockwave through the air, forcing the tendrils back in a wide circle, their tips writhing in agony. The monster retaliated, a spear-like limb shooting from its chest with blinding speed. It slammed into Shun's sternum with enough force to crater the ground beneath him, the impact reverberating through the cliffs.
The spear shattered.
Fragments clanged harmlessly off his silver armor, skittering across the battlefield like broken glass. The monster's core pulsed faster, its black light flickering in uneven spasms, as though something deep inside it writhed in pain. Shun's Azure eyes narrowed, his gaze cutting through the haze of ether like a hunter tracking wounded prey.
He roared.
The sound split the world open. It rolled over the battlefield like mountains tearing themselves apart, shaking dust loose from the cliffs and ripping fissures through the already-broken ground. The vanguards covered their ears, their knuckles white, faces pale in the presence of something that felt older than their fears. Lira's grip tightened on the silver Jian, her gaze locked on the wyvern's towering form. The Beastmen twins, Bahari and Habari, grinned with fanged delight, rushing in beside him, their weapons and shield hacking and bashing at stray tendrils that thrashed like snakes freshly torn from their burrows.
The monster raised both hands.
The ground convulsed.
Tendrils erupted in numbers that defied reason, the air thickening until it felt like they were breathing inside the creature's lungs. They writhed overhead, blotting out the fractured sky. Dozens coiled around Shun's legs and tail, each pull heavy enough to crack the earth under his claws. More climbed up his torso, barbs unfolding into needle-like spines that scraped against his scales with an ear-splitting screech, seeking the soft meat beneath. The stench of rot thickened until every breath tasted like grave soil, and the ground pulsed with a heartbeat not his own.
Shun crouched low, muscles tightening beneath his plates of living steel. He exploded upward with a force that split the bindings apart, the tendrils snapping like soaked rope under a smith's hammer. Severed ends recoiled, screaming in shrill, inhuman voices, spraying ichor that hissed and bubbled on the ground like acid rain.
He lunged forward, clamping his jaws onto a thicker cord. His serrated teeth pierced through its hide, and the flesh beneath pulsed wetly as it tore away. The ichor burst from it in a pressurized geyser, splattering across his silver hide and leaving faint, smoking scorch marks that sealed again as his scales hardened.
The monster reeled, its core flickering like a dying star. Shun surged toward it, his claws raining down like executioner's blows. Each strike shredded overlapping limbs into glistening chunks, driving the creature back step by step. The shadow that lingered at the battlefield's edge watched in silence, its featureless face turned toward them, unmoving yet impossibly present.
The tendrils began to change. Their tips split open into jagged, tooth-lined maws that gnashed hungrily. They lashed at him with renewed desperation, biting against his scales, grinding teeth until sparks flew. Shun's tail swept through them in a wide arc, severing a dozen in one swing, their halves thrashing on the ground before curling in on themselves like burning paper.
He lunged, his claws plunging into the monster's chest and raking across its core. The touch released a black surge of energy that rippled outward, warping the air into twisted mirages. The monster's scream came next—an unholy chorus that rang in the skull and made teeth ache, a sound that felt like something reaching through their ears to claw at their thoughts.
Shun's wings snapped wide, a single beat lifting his bulk into the air. He hovered above the monster, molten gold eyes fixed on its core, every movement deliberate and lethal. Then he dove, his body streaking down like a silver spear.
He struck.
His claws sank deep, driving the creature into the ground. The earth shattered outward, stone rising and falling like the surface of a storm-tossed sea. The tendrils lashed wildly, smashing into his armor, wrapping his limbs until the plates groaned from the pressure. Cracks appeared faintly across the edges of his scales.
Then one shot upward—thicker than the rest, lined with barbed hooks—and locked around his neck. The hooks sank deep, scraping across scale and finding seams. It tightened.
The tendril forced his head upward.
And the monster's core flared, light spilling out until it bled across the world.
Shun's vision burned white as he was made to look directly at it.
Something inside that black light moved.
And it was looking back at him.