The dust cleared slowly.
What emerged from it was not a serpent.
It was tall, bipedal, built in a way that the Corruptors we had encountered before were not. This one had a more defined shape. Arms, legs, a body that moved with intention, and two points of green light burned from its shoulders like something had been embedded in the flesh there.
It wasn't as large as King Emi. But it felt wrong in a different way.
"What is that?" Coco asked, very quietly.
"A Corruptor." Kira said, but her voice carried the same uncertainty his did.
"It created black fire." Finn said. "That exists? And they can do that?"
"I can feel its murderous vibes from here." Phinyx said, and he was the only one who sounded genuinely troubled rather than just surprised. "I would not like to feel those vibes from closer."
Coll was just looking at it. His face froze.
"Wip." Said Wip, on Kira's shoulder, both ears fully forward and not moving.
Before anyone said anything else, something else happened.
