The transformation settled into Damien's bones like it had always been there.
He felt... complete. Like he'd been operating at half capacity his entire life and only now understood what full power meant.
The Second Core pulsed in his chest alongside the first, their rhythms synchronizing, amplifying each other. Shadows coiled around him like living things, eager, hungry, waiting for direction.
A demon lieutenant noticed the change. Noticed Damien standing perfectly still in the middle of chaos, darkness bleeding from him like smoke.
It charged.
Damien moved.
Not shadow-transit. Just pure speed.
He crossed twenty feet in the time it took the demon to blink. His fist connected with its chest plate – it was no shadow-enhanced strike, just pure physical impact.
The armor crumpled. Ribs shattered. The demon flew backward, slamming through three of its companions before hitting the wall hard enough to crater stone.
