Kiel screamed as the evolution began.
It wasn't just pain—it was annihilation. His muscles tore themselves apart. His bones splintered, then reformed. Blood boiled, then chilled into something more primal. A violet aura surrounded him, thick with energy that made the very ground recoil.
Sura stepped back, shielding her eyes as arcs of lightning-like energy surged from his body. The nearby trees wilted. Stones cracked. The Shadowmanes that had survived fled into the distance, howling in terror.
> [Evolution in Progress…]
[Apex Form II: Predator's Ascendancy – Unlocking]
[Physical Limits Removed | Skill Capacity Expanded | Hunger Threshold Increased]
[New Trait Developed: Predatory Instinct (Passive)]
[System Upgrade: Neural Combat Integration Online]
Kiel dropped to his knees, gasping. His hair had grown slightly longer, now streaked with silver at the tips. His skin had a faint, unnatural sheen—like metal hidden beneath flesh. His eyes, once merely amber, now glowed like twin suns.
Sura took a hesitant step forward. "Kiel?"
He slowly stood up, stretching his arms, testing his limbs. "I'm… stronger."
"You don't look human," she said cautiously.
"I'm not," he replied, not with regret, but cold certainty.
---
Later, at a safe cave away from the rift zone, Sura treated his shallow wounds, though he barely seemed to notice them anymore.
"You don't sleep. You barely eat. You heal from things that should be fatal. You're starting to look more like the things we hunt," she said.
Kiel didn't answer right away. He stared into the fire, lost in the shifting flames.
"This system... it doesn't just evolve me," he said. "It rewrites me. Every time I grow stronger, I lose something. A memory. A fear. A limit."
Sura went silent.
He looked at her. "Do you still trust me?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "But I haven't left."
That meant more than she could ever understand.
---
The next day, they moved toward their true goal: the Rift Core buried deep within the Valley of Ash. The Rift Core was said to be the heart of the instability—a gem-like structure that bled dimensional energy. Destroying it would close the rift and stop the beasts from spilling into their world.
But it was guarded.
As they crept closer, Kiel felt it: a monstrous presence. His instincts screamed, his heart raced not in fear, but anticipation.
> [Warning: Entity Detected – Rift Sovereign: Vorath, the Flesh Eater]
[Threat Level: A-Class – Cataclysmic]
The landscape changed—ashen soil, petrified trees, air thick with decay. The Rift Core hovered in the distance, pulsing like a dark heart. Guarding it was Vorath.
The beast was titanic—ten feet tall, armor made of bone, jaws filled with a rotating spiral of teeth, limbs like twisted steel. Its roar shattered the air.
Sura froze. "That's not just a beast—that's a war crime."
Kiel stepped forward.
"I'm the punishment."
---
The battle began without words.
Vorath charged with the force of an avalanche. Kiel blinked—Phase Step—and appeared above the monster mid-air, claws extended. He struck its neck, but his claws only scraped the surface.
Vorath retaliated, slamming Kiel with a massive tail. He flew into a boulder, cracking it in two.
> [Warning: Internal Damage – Rib Fracture Detected]
Kiel coughed blood but grinned. "Finally, a real fight."
He activated Predatory Instinct—time slowed, his senses expanded. Every twitch of Vorath's muscles, every breath—it was all readable.
They clashed again. Lightning-fast. Brutal. Sura fired support shots, keeping minions at bay, while Kiel adapted with every second, his body remembering each attack.
> [Analyzing Combat Pattern… Complete]
He anticipated the next lunge and teleported behind the Sovereign. With both hands, he plunged his claws into its exposed spine.
> [Critical Hit]
Vorath screamed, collapsing to one knee.
> [Beast Core Acquired: Rift Sovereign – Vorath]
[New Trait Unlocked: Sovereign Regeneration]
[System Overload: Upgrade Locked Until Stabilization]
As Vorath fell, the Rift Core cracked—and a tremor shook the land.
Something was waking up.
Kiel's victory was just the beginning.