The black mouth from the Mist Queen's staff was still chewing as the glowing cores clattered at her feet. A split second later, the unstable energy inside them ignited.
Kaito braced himself. He was standing close enough that even being at the fringe of the blast, it could still injure him. He planted his blades into the marble floor, crossed them in front of him, and activated Elemental Guard.
A shield of swirling elemental energy enveloped him just as the explosion erupted.
BOOM!
Ten violent bursts of lightning and fire swallowed the mist queen and the big mouth. The throne shook violently as the blasts overlapped, growing into a chain of deafening eruptions. Black mist was torn apart by crackling thunder. Flames surged high into the air, licking the crystal chandeliers until they shattered and rained shards across the hall.
Even from behind his Elemental Guard, Kaito felt the force. His barrier strained, ripples spreading across its surface as arcs of lightning cracked against it and fire scorched the floor at his feet. The blast wave knocked him back a step, sparks flying around his body.
When the flames cleared, everything was shrouded in smoke, and the air itself trembled from the aftermath of the explosion.
Kaito's eyes stayed locked forward.
…..
The explosion was so massive that even the Abyssal Wraith Royal Guards and Kaito's teammates stopped what they were doing and turned their eyes toward the explosion. The roar of thunder and fire still echoed through the throne room, smoke and ash swirling in heavy clouds. Everyone held their breath, their attention fixed on the source of the blast.
Kaito's body tensed as the flames and lightning finally faded, revealing what had survived.
Through the haze, a towering figure stood. At first glance, it was the Mist Queen Demon, but her body was no longer the same. She had changed.
The right half of her body had twisted into something monstrous. Bulging muscle rippled beneath blackened skin, purple veins glowing faintly as if filled with molten blood. One arm had become the claw of an Abyssal Demon, larger and more brutal than anything she had wielded before. Her shoulder had sprouted ragged wings, one of them bigger than her body, stretching wide across the room. Her eye on that side had turned into a black gem, gleaming with cruel light.
The left half still carried her old form. The flowing red gown clung to her frame, shredded but regal, and her crimson eye burned like fire. Her pale skin remained smooth, her silver hair still cascading down, though now it was streaked with strands of black mist that coiled and hissed in the air. Together, both halves looked fused by some grotesque force, an unnatural blend of sorceress and abyssal monster.
Kaito immediately understood. The Cyro Core orbs he had thrown earlier had interrupted the Queen's Devour skill, leaving it incomplete. Instead of fully consuming the two Abyssal Demons, she had fused with them, creating this abomination that was half Queen and half Abyssal Demon.
The Queen glanced down at her own warped body. A guttural roar tore from her throat, shaking the very air. She tilted her head back and howled like a monster, her cry laced with psychic abyssal energy.
The sound slammed into the throne room like a tidal wave. Kaito's chest tightened as the vibration rattled his bones. Without hesitation, he sprinted behind the nearest pillar, shielding himself from the brunt of the psychic energy. He shouted across the hall for Hiroto and the others to do the same.
"Behind the pillars! Now!"
They obeyed instantly, ducking behind the heavy marble supports.
The Abyssal roar tore through everything. Pillars cracked, walls splintered, and fragments of stone rained down from the ceiling. Even the Abyssal Wraith Royal Guards were not spared. Their HP bars dipped steadily as the roar gnawed away at them, but still, they knelt like fanatics, eyes glowing with blind devotion. To them, even this monstrous transformation was divine.
Finally, the roar ended. The room fell silent except for the groaning of stone as cracks widened. The Mist Queen Demon's head lowered, and her twisted eyes locked onto Kaito, who crouched behind the fractured pillar.
"You damnable human insect," her voice thundered, half regal, half beastly. "What have you done?"
"You will have to pay the price now."
She spread her massive wings. The right one, swollen and abyssal, stretched even larger than the Queen's original form. With a single powerful flap, her body blurred forward.
The claw of her monstrous arm swung down. The air whistled as it descended with crushing force, like a mountain collapsing.
Kaito had only a moment to react. He leapt aside, but the claw still struck his side before he could fully dodge. The impact launched him across the hall, his body smashing through the pillar he had used as cover. Marble shattered, dust exploding in every direction as he was hurled to the far end of the throne room.
He landed heavily, sliding across the cracked floor, coughing blood. His health bar dropped like a stone, leaving only a sliver barely one hundred points.
Gritting his teeth, Kaito pulled himself up, using the jagged remains of another pillar for support. His body shook, but his eyes never left the monstrous Queen. He quickly downed another Minor Regeneration Potion, the faint warmth of its healing spreading through his battered body.
But he had no time to recover.
The Mist Queen Demon was already moving. Her wings beat once, and she darted forward with terrifying speed. The massive abyssal claw swung again, this time descending from above like a hammer.
Kaito tried to dodge, but this strike was unlike the clumsy blows of the Abyssal Demons before. This carried crushing force, empowered by her new form.
The blow connected, slamming him down into the ground. The marble beneath him shattered, spiderweb cracks spreading outward. Dust and stone fragments burst into the air.
Pinned, Kaito gritted his teeth and thrust both the Solstice Blade and Dragon Fang upward, locking them against the descending claw. Sparks flew as steel bit against abyssal flesh.
The Queen pressed down, her monstrous strength pushing him deeper into the shattered floor. Kaito's arms trembled under the weight, his muscles straining as he tried to hold her claw back.
The palace shook around them as man and monster clashed in raw strength.
Pinned beneath the monstrous claw of the Mist Queen Demon, Kaito's mind raced at inhuman speed. Every second felt like an eternity. His gaze flicked to the corner of his vision where the system timer glowed.
Overlord's Rage: 5 minutes remaining.
Half the duration was already gone. Five minutes had already passed since the Queen's demonification began. The blood in his veins ran cold. He knew what this meant. If his Overlord's Rage expired, the weakened state that followed would leave him crippled. He wouldn't even have the strength to fend off an ordinary Wraith soldier, let alone this half-Queen, half-monster abomination.
He clenched his teeth. I can't waste another second. I have to finish this fast.
Summoning every ounce of strength in his body, Kaito bent low, his muscles straining against the crushing palm. Then, with a sudden surge, he pushed upward and launched himself into the air. The unexpected force made the Queen's claw rise involuntarily. Her balance faltered, forcing her to take two staggering steps back, her heels cracking the marble tiles beneath her.
Kaito didn't hesitate. He flicked his wrist, once again pulling five Intermediate Cyro Core Orbs from his inventory, their unstable glow flickering dangerously. With one sweeping motion, he hurled all five at her chest.
The Mist Queen Demon narrowed her crimson eye, already anticipating the trick. "Not again, insect," she hissed. Raising her left hand the one that still retained its human-like form she channeled abyssal energy through her staff. A translucent black sphere flared into existence around the incoming orbs.
The Cyro Core Orbs struck the shield and exploded violently. Lightning and fire surged within the sphere, but the barrier simply swelled outward before snapping back in place. The explosion dissipated harmlessly, contained entirely within the abyssal shield.
When the smoke cleared, the Queen still stood, unharmed, her lips twisted into a mocking snarl.
Kaito's eyes hardened. So, that trick won't work again.