The tendril touched Tharyx, and the world stuttered.
Not stopped. Not frozen. It stuttered, as reality itself had momentarily forgotten which frame came next.
Sound warped first. Zalivra's scream stretched into a distorted echo, buildings groaned in slow motion, and dust froze mid-air like stars trapped in glass. Tharyx felt pressure behind his eyes, a deep pull in his chest, as if something unseen had wrapped its fingers around his shadow and yanked.
Pain followed.
Not sharp. Not burning.
Hollow.
As if part of him had been scooped out and examined by something ancient and unimpressed.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Void Contact Confirmed.]
[WARNING: Unauthorized Entity Interaction.]
[Shadow Core exposed for 0.3 seconds.]
Tharyx clenched his jaw. His shadow screamed not aloud, but through him. It stretched violently along the ground, tearing itself free from his feet and lashing upward into the air like a living wound.
The tendril recoiled.
The rift shuddered.
And then it collapsed inward with a sound like a thousand bones snapping at once.
The sky sealed itself shut.
Everything dropped.
Debris slammed into the streets. The pressure vanished. Gravity reasserted dominance with brutal enthusiasm. Zalivra hit the ground face-first with a dramatic wheeze.
Silence followed.
Not peaceful silence.
The kind that waits.
Tharyx staggered once, then steadied himself. His breathing was controlled, but his pulse thundered. His entire body felt wrong, heavier, lighter, sharper. The world looked… clearer. He could see fine cracks in the stone from meters away. Hear Zalivra's panicked muttering beneath the rubble.
His shadow slowly retracted, coiling back at his feet like a beast reluctantly obeying a leash.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Void Exposure survived.]
[Hidden Parameter Updated: Shadow Affinity ↑]
[New Status: Void-Touched (Minor)]
"Minor," Tharyx muttered. "That's comforting."
Behind him, rubble shifted violently.
Zalivra exploded out from behind a broken wall, eyes wild, hair filled with dust. "I LIVED! " He froze, pointing at the street. "Oh, no. That's… that's not good."
The ground bulged.
Something pushed upward from beneath the cracked stone, distorting the street like a swelling tumor. Black fluid leaked from the fissures, steaming as it touched the air. A stench followed rotting meat mixed with burned metal and something… wrong.
Tharyx stepped forward instinctively.
The street split open.
A creature crawled out.
It was small, knee-high at most, but grotesque in a way that size didn't matter. Its body looked unfinished, like reality had abandoned it halfway through construction. Too many joints. Limbs bent at incorrect angles. Skin stretched thin and translucent, revealing pulsing black veins beneath.
Its head twitched, jaw unhinging far wider than anatomy allowed.
No eyes.
Just a vertical slit running down its face, glowing faintly violet.
It shrieked.
The sound punched straight into the skull.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Hostile Entity Detected.]
[Designation: Minor Void Beast.]
[Threat Level: Low.]
[Note: "Low" is relative. Do not get comfortable.]
Zalivra screamed immediately. "WHY IS IT ALWAYS UGLY?! HIT IT! NO WAIT, RUN! ACTUALLY HIT IT FIRST THEN RUN!"
The beast launched itself forward with shocking speed.
Tharyx moved without thinking.
His shadow surged.
Not consciously commanded, instinctively manipulated. It peeled off the ground, stretching into thick, tar-like strands that snapped upward and wrapped around the creature mid-leap.
The beast slammed into the invisible restraint and thrashed violently, shrieking as the shadow tightened.
Tharyx blinked.
He hadn't cast anything.
He hadn't activated a skill.
He had simply wanted it restrained.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Shadow Manipulation: Manual Control detected.]
[Efficiency: Unoptimized.]
[Potential: Concerning.]
"Concerning?" Tharyx echoed, tightening his grip.
The shadow was constricted. The beast convulsed, its limbs bending backward with wet, cracking sounds. Black fluid sprayed onto the stone, hissing where it landed.
Zalivra popped his head out from behind the rubble. "YES! LIKE THAT! SQUEEZE IT! WAIT NO WHAT IF IT EXPLODES?! STOP SQUEEZING! SQUEEZE GENTLY!"
The beast let out a high-pitched shriek and then its body split.
Not burst.
Split.
Down the center.
The shadow restraints tore apart as the creature divided cleanly into two identical copies, each landing on the ground with sickening wet sounds.
Both turned toward Tharyx.
Both screamed.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Alert: Void Beast Trait identified.]
[Ability: Binary Division.]
[Warning: Repeated division possible.]
Zalivra's voice cracked. "IT MULTIPLIES?! THAT'S CHEATING! THAT'S ILLEGAL!"
The two beasts charged.
Tharyx exhaled slowly.
So this was how rift-spawn fought.
He stepped forward instead of back.
The first beast leapt. He ducked beneath its claws and slammed his palm into the ground. His shadow surged upward like a tidal wave, forming a jagged spike that impaled the creature mid-air and pinned it against a collapsed wall.
The second beast tried to flank him.
His shadow twitched, anticipating the movement before his mind fully processed it. A thin tendril snapped out, wrapping around the creature's leg and yanking it off balance.
It hit the ground hard.
Tharyx stepped on its head.
The stone cracked.
The beast shrieked and then split again.
Now there were three.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Tactical Suggestion: Repeated division indicates core instability.]
[Optional Objective: Identify Core.]
Tharyx frowned. "You could've led with that."
Zalivra crawled farther behind cover. "YES! FIND THE CORE! EVERYTHING HAS A CORE! EVEN BAD BUSINESS DECISIONS!"
The three beasts circled.
They were learning.
One feinted left. Another charged head-on. The third stayed back, body pulsing, preparing to divide again.
Tharyx felt a sharp thrill cut through the tension.
This wasn't overwhelming.
This was… interesting.
His shadow expanded, spreading across the ground like ink. He focused not on the beasts but on the space beneath them. The shadow thickened, rising slightly, altering the terrain.
The charging beast stumbled as its footing vanished.
Tharyx seized the opening.
He lunged, shadow wrapping around his arm like living armor, hardening instantly. His punch landed squarely in the creature's torso.
The impact didn't feel like flesh.
It felt like hitting compressed darkness.
The beast exploded into black fragments.
Not split.
Destroyed.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Void Beast eliminated.]
[Experience Gained: 2,300.]
[Shadow Control proficiency increased.]
The remaining two shrieked in unison.
They lunged together.
Tharyx twisted aside, shadows weaving between them, tangling limbs, slowing movements. He could feel the strain now that his control wasn't limitless. The shadow obeyed, but imperfectly, like a muscle he'd never trained being pushed too hard.
One beast broke free.
Its slit-face widened.
Something glowed inside.
Tharyx's instincts screamed.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[WARNING: Internal Void Reaction detected.]
"MOVE!" Zalivra yelled, pointing dramatically in the wrong direction.
Too late.
The beast split again.
Four.
Then eight.
The street was filled with shrieking, twitching voidspawn, all converging on him at once.
Tharyx smiled.
Not wide.
Not sane.
"Okay," he murmured. "Now we're testing limits."
His shadow surged violently outward, expanding far beyond his body, swallowing the ground in darkness. The beasts hesitated just for a fraction of a second.
Enough.
Tharyx raised his hand.
The shadow rose.
Walls of darkness snapped upward, forming jagged cages, impaling some beasts, crushing others, and dragging the rest screaming into the ground as if the city itself had decided to eat them.
The air vibrated.
The street cracked.
Silence followed.
Breathing hard, Tharyx stood amid dissolving void residue, his shadow slowly retracting, twitching with residual hunger.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[Combat Analysis Complete.]
[Shadow Manipulation: Early-stage proficiency achieved.]
[Hidden Metric Updated: Instinct-Based Casting unlocked.]
Zalivra emerged slowly, staring at the devastation. "…I would like to formally apologize for every time I doubted you."
Tharyx didn't respond.
His gaze was fixed on the remaining void residue.
It was moving.
Coiling.
Reforming.
The black fragments began pulling together again—faster this time.
Too fast.
The air darkened.
The ground vibrated.
SYSTEM MESSAGE:
[WARNING.]
[Void Beast evolution detected.]
The mass surged upward.
And split into something larger.
Something that smiled.