The rain kept falling.
Heavy.
Constant.
Bharvan watched Brianna approach.
Slow steps.
Unhurried.
Without hesitation.
Silver hair swayed beneath the storm.
White eyes remained fixed on him.
For some reason.
That bothered him.
It wasn't fear.
But something inside him reacted.
Like an ancient instinct.
A small silence settled between them.
Bharvan soon broke it:
"Interesting... that woman wasn't the last one."
Brianna remained silent:
"Looks like you followed the same path as the others."
Bharvan's smile widened.
"You speak as if you know me."
The white eyes remained on him.
Motionless.
"I know enough."
"Do you really believe you're in control?"
Bharvan let out a brief laugh.
"I don't believe."
The marks spread across his body pulsed.
"I know."
Brianna's eyes did not move.
"How much of yourself can you still feel?"
His smile faded slightly.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
White eyes traveled across his body.
The marks.
The skin.
The alterations.
Like someone observing something they had already seen happen before.
"It means you're still able to ask that question."
Brianna's fingers moved slightly.
CRACK.
A lightning bolt answered above the clouds.
"Knowing the answer now won't change anything."
Her hand rose.
Pointing at Bharvan.
CRAAAAASH.
Lightning descended.
Swallowing Bharvan whole.
The street vanished beneath white light.
Stone exploded.
Water turned to vapor.
Debris was dragged away by the shockwave.
Bharvan crossed his arms before his face.
His muscles swelled.
The marks across his body pulsed.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
The lightning kept descending.
Without stopping.
Pushing him back.
His skin burned.
Black cracks spread across his arms.
Charred fragments peeled away from the flesh.
But new layers emerged beneath them almost instantly.
Rebuilding.
Closing.
Regenerating as fast as they were destroyed.
His feet carved deep trenches into the stone.
One meter.
Two.
Three.
But he did not fall.
His teeth ground together.
The body advanced.
One step.
Then another.
Forcing its way through the electric storm.
Brianna's eyes remained motionless.
Watching.
The colossal hand rose.
The palm opened toward her.
The marks spread across the arm glowed.
The air began to vibrate.
Something passed by Brianna.
So fast Bharvan barely noticed it.
BOOM.
The impact struck his face.
The giant spun across the rubble.
Dragging stone and mud.
Stopping dozens of meters away.
Typhoon landed in front of her.
"Finally."
"I was already starting to believe you intended to settle this just by talking."
His gaze returned to Bharvan.
"Which would've been a massive disappointment."
Brianna remained still.
"I don't intend to drag this out."
The wind swept across the ruined fields.
Typhoon tilted his head slightly.
"And how do you plan to deal with him?"
The silence lasted only an instant.
Brianna answered:
"He only needs to bleed."
A smile appeared on Typhoon's face.
Small.
Cruel.
"That request I can fulfill."
He started walking forward.
CRACK.
The sound came from his hands.
His fingers twisted.
Bones cracked beneath the skin.
CRACK.
CRACK.
The joints warped as blood ran down his knuckles.
The flesh seemed incapable of keeping up with the transformation.
Black tears appeared between the fingers.
The nails slowly lengthened.
First like blades.
Then like claws.
Long.
Curved.
Black.
Blood dripped onto the soaked ground.
The claws resembled the paws of a beast prepared to tear flesh apart.
The muscles in his arms swelled.
Dark veins spread beneath the skin.
The air around him became heavy.
Predatory.
As if something had just awakened.
Typhoon's eyes locked onto Bharvan.
And he smiled.
Bharvan moved first.
Far too fast for someone his size.
His feet crushed the rubble as the body tore through the rain.
The claws came in an upward arc.
Typhoon leaned his torso aside.
The claws passed within inches of his face.
Bharvan did not interrupt the motion.
He spun his entire body.
The second hand came right behind it.
Faster.
More violent.
Typhoon crossed his arms.
BOOM.
The impact shoved him several meters through the mud.
His feet carved deep furrows into the terrain.
Bharvan gave him no time.
He leapt.
Like a beast chasing prey.
Both hands came down together.
Typhoon rolled aside.
The impact destroyed the ground.
Stone was hurled upward.
Brianna's fingers moved slightly.
A gust of wind swept through the wreckage.
The fragments changed direction.
Closing off Bharvan's advance.
He was forced to adjust his footing.
For an instant.
It was all Typhoon needed.
He appeared again inside Bharvan's guard.
The black claws traced three rapid movements.
The first struck the shoulder.
A dark groove appeared across the skin.
The second slashed the flank.
The rain carried small dark droplets down the side of Bharvan's body.
The third rose toward the torso.
Bharvan reacted immediately.
Spinning on his own axis.
The colossal hand cut through the rain.
Trying to intercept him before the strike dug deeper.
Too late.
The marks across the shoulder pulsed.
For an instant, the cut remained visible.
Soon the flesh sealed itself before Typhoon's eyes.
As if the wound had never existed.
Typhoon smiled.
"Interesting."
Bharvan did not answer.
He advanced.
The claws shot forward.
Trying to seize his throat.
Typhoon slipped aside.
But Bharvan had already predicted it.
The second hand came right behind.
Faster.
Closer.
Typhoon crossed his arms.
BOOM.
The impact launched him backward.
Mud exploded beneath his feet.
Bharvan kept advancing.
Giving no space.
Giving no time.
Like an avalanche.
Brianna's fingers moved again.
The water gathered among the wreckage rose.
Like dozens of translucent threads.
Slithering through the battlefield.
Bharvan tore through the first.
Then the second.
On the third.
He felt resistance.
For an instant.
His advance lost rhythm.
Typhoon appeared immediately.
The claws found the forearm.
A dark line appeared across the skin.
The regeneration answered almost at once.
The marks pulsed.
The dark line disappeared.
Bharvan spun violently.
The colossal hand tore through the rain.
Typhoon was no longer there.
The blow struck only stone.
BOOM.
The wreckage exploded.
Typhoon reappeared at his flank.
The black claws descended again.
This time finding the ribs.
A new groove appeared.
The rain carried small dark droplets down the side of Bharvan's body.
The marks pulsed again.
The wound vanished.
Bharvan advanced.
Ignoring the cut.
Both hands came in sequence.
First the right.
Then the left.
Without pause.
Without predictable rhythm.
Typhoon stepped back.
Twisted his body.
The first blow passed by his shoulder.
The second struck the ground.
Opening a crater in the mud.
Water exploded in every direction.
Brianna's fingers moved once more.
The water suspended by the collision did not fall.
It remained in the air.
For an instant.
Then it fired.
Like dozens of translucent needles.
Bharvan raised his arm before his face.
The projectiles shattered against his skin.
Water streamed across the marks spread over his arm and chest.
His vision vanished for a fraction of a second.
It was enough.
Typhoon entered again.
The black claws slashed the shoulder.
Then the forearm.
Then the flank.
Three quick cuts.
Three pulses of the marks.
Three wounds disappearing beneath the rain.
Bharvan's eyes moved.
Toward Brianna.
She remained motionless.
Silver hair swayed beneath the storm.
Only her fingers kept moving.
Bharvan advanced toward her.
The ground exploded beneath his feet.
Brianna reacted.
Fragments of stone rose from the rubble.
Launching toward him.
Bharvan tore through the first.
Then the second.
Then the third.
Without reducing speed.
The stones shattered against his body.
Like rain against a wall.
The white eyes remained motionless.
But the fingers moved again.
Currents of water wrapped around Bharvan's legs.
Only for an instant.
He broke through everything.
Typhoon vanished.
Appearing between Bharvan and Brianna.
The black claws lunged.
Straight for his throat.
Bharvan smiled.
A small smile.
Predatory.
At the last instant.
The advance changed.
The body spun.
The claws tore through the rain.
Typhoon realized too late.
BOOM.
The impact struck him.
His body was hurled backward.
Dragging mud.
Stone.
Rubble.
Until he vanished through the curtain of rain.
Brianna did not move.
The white eyes remained on Bharvan.
Motionless.
"Looks like you're still reasoning."
Bharvan did not answer.
His muscles remained tense.
The claws dripped rainwater.
In the distance.
Amid the wreckage.
Typhoon planted one hand on the ground.
Slowly rising.
The smile was gone.
For an instant.
His breathing grew heavier.
But only for an instant.
Bharvan was already advancing again.
Like a beast that had finally found an opening.
Brianna's fingers moved.
The water spread across the street rose.
Forming a translucent wall before her.
Bharvan tore through it.
BOOM.
The barrier exploded in every direction.
He kept going.
The claws came first.
Brianna slid aside.
The movement short.
Precise.
Without wasting energy.
The claws passed where she had stood an instant before.
Brianna's left hand rose.
Two fragments of stone fired from the rubble.
Straight toward Bharvan's eyes.
To break his line of sight.
Bharvan tore through the projectiles without even slowing down.
Brianna's fingers were already drawing another movement.
The water that had exploded behind him did not fall.
It slithered across the battlefield.
Wrapping around one of his arms.
Trying to lock his next movement.
Bharvan pulled his arm.
His muscles swelled.
The liquid restraint began to give way.
At that same instant.
Brianna's fingers moved.
The rain answered.
Hundreds of droplets suspended themselves around Bharvan.
For an instant.
The world seemed to slow down.
Soon the droplets elongated.
Becoming translucent needles.
And fired.
From every direction.
Chest.
Shoulders.
Back.
Arms.
Like a storm inside the storm.
Bharvan raised his free arm before his face.
The impacts exploded against his skin.
Small.
Constant.
Countless.
Water streamed across the black marks spread over his body.
For an instant.
Some of them seemed to absorb the water.
Others pulsed out of rhythm.
Bharvan shattered the water with a violent snap.
The street trembled.
His feet crushed stone.
Straight toward Brianna.
She stepped back.
Only one step.
Her hand rose.
A block of stone tore itself free from the rubble.
Launching toward Bharvan's face.
The impact exploded into fragments.
It did not slow him.
Bharvan smiled.
The claws came.
And then...
In the distance.
A furrow opened across the ground.
Like something crossing the battlefield at absurd speed.
Bharvan noticed.
Too late.
Typhoon appeared from the flank.
Water exploded beneath his feet.
The black claws tore through the rain.
Bharvan swung his arm.
Trying to intercept him.
But Brianna's fingers moved at the same instant.
"Impedio."
The word came out low.
The water spread across the street rose.
Wrapping around Bharvan's arm.
Not enough to stop him.
But enough to delay him.
For a single instant.
It was all Typhoon needed.
The claws found his chest.
A dark gash opened across the marks.
Bharvan staggered half a step back.
The rain carried dark droplets across the shattered stone.
The marks pulsed.
But not immediately.
For an instant.
The wound remained there.
Typhoon saw it.
Brianna too.
The white eyes narrowed.
Very slightly.
Almost imperceptibly.
The marks pulsed again.
The flesh began to close.
More slowly than before.
Then stopped.
The cut opened again.
A dark line crossed Bharvan's chest.
The marks pulsed once more.
Violent.
Disordered.
The wound closed.
Opened.
Closed.
Opened again.
As if two opposing forces were fighting over the same body.
Bharvan staggered.
A single step.
Red eyes moved slowly.
Finding Brianna through the storm.
"Wh—"
His voice failed.
For an instant.
His breathing locked.
A sharp pain tore through his chest.
Deep.
Wrong.
Black blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Mixing with the rain.
His hand clutched at his own chest.
His muscles contracted involuntarily.
His eyes narrowed.
Confused.
Trying to understand what was happening.
"What..."
The voice came out hoarse.
Lower than before.
"What did you do?"
No answer came.
The rain kept falling.
Heavy.
Constant.
And for the first time since the marks had appeared...
Bharvan did not understand what was happening to his own body.