Julian closed the distance with explosive speed, Lightning crackling along his limbs, Boost amplifying every muscle fiber. The mutant's too-many limbs swept toward him in a devastating arc—claws, spines, appendages that should not exist.
He didn't dodge.
'Now.'
Shadow and Lightning screamed into existence around his blade, forcing themselves together with raw, concentrated will. The fusion sparked, spat, strained—and for a single, crystalline moment, held.
Julian's eyes widened.
'It's working. The balance is—'
The fusion detonated.
The unstable energies collapsed, feeding back through his blade, his arm, his soul. Julian's body locked, electricity dancing across his skin in wild, uncontrolled arcs. Shadows clawed at him from within, trying to drag him into depths that didn't exist.
His swing, meant to cleave the mutant in half, became a spasming, uncontrolled slash that barely scratched the creature's hide.
