The ground cracked and cratered under my fists. Each blow shook the battlefield, stone and soil flying skyward in jagged chunks.
The phantom’s armored shell caved under the relentless barrage, the sound of splintering echoing like brittle glass breaking again and again. My blood pumped faster, heat rising through my veins. This was it. I could feel it giving way.
Then, a shift.
I heard it whisper.
"Defying Death."
Beneath me, the mist churned in a way I hadn’t felt before. The spikes that had barely pierced my flesh before suddenly dissolved, retracted back into the black haze. The air thickened, choking, oppressive.
A low hum built inside the phantom’s body, its cracked armor glowing faintly with veins of deep black. Its form convulsed once, twice, then steadied.
Then it roared.
The sound wasn’t just noise, it was raw defiance, a vibration that rippled through the ground and into my chest. My fists slowed. The mist erupted upward, throwing me back, a cyclone of corruption and shadow flaring out with brutal force.
I landed hard, skidding across broken earth, and my eyes narrowed. Its domain hadn’t just returned, it had changed.
The phantom rose from the pit I’d buried it in, deathmist writhing around it like a living shroud. Its chestplate, though cracked, pulsed with new strength. Its lines burned brighter.
"Congratulations for forcing me to use this talent. I will kill you now."
It moved before I could fully process the sheer aura it was releasing. One step and it was in front of me. Its sword, now almost indistinguishable from the mist itself, turned into a giant sword as tall as me and it slashed down with terrifying speed.
I crossed my arms, Essence flaring, but the blade carried more than steel. It carried the laws of corruption, devouring, and raw power stacked atop it. The impact detonated like a mountain crashing down.
BOOM!!.
My arms buckled. The ground gave way beneath my feet, and I was driven into the stone like a nail through soft wood.
The phantom’s voice followed, calm yet soaked in fury. "You thought you could bury me?"
I barely rolled aside as its next strike split the ground where my chest had been. The black mist clung to the cut, and the earth didn’t just break—it decayed, rotting into nothing, leaving a scar of emptiness.
I staggered back, chest heaving.
I gritted my teeth. The beating I had given it had only made this thing angrier. And I was sure this talent gave it raw strength and maybe increased its stats. A direct boost.
It slashed again, the blade carving a crescent of mist that screamed through the air.
I swung my staff to intercept, but the ripple hit, just like before. This time, the staff vanished from my grip.
The shadow strike clipped my side, tearing through reinforced flesh, sizzling with corruption that ate at the wound.
And then my staff reappeared, right above my head, carrying the exact force I had poured into the swing.
It came down like a thunderbolt.
My knees buckled, skull ringing from the shock of my own strike, as the ground cracked beneath me.
BOOM!
The phantom appeared behind me, faster than before, and its sword aura erupted like a hammer.
It smashed into my back with the weight of a giant’s fist. My giant body staggered, knees buckling. A crater bloomed beneath my feet, dust and shards of stone rising in a choking wave.
"On your knees," the phantom hissed.
I snarled, forcing myself upright, swinging a fist backward. My blow met its blade in a thunderclap of sparks and mist. But this time, I wasn’t the one pressing forward. My arm shuddered, the impact sending sharp tremors through my shoulder.
It was stronger.
Another cut. Another smash. It wanted me to feel every bit of the pain I had made it feel moments ago.
The phantom stopped for a moment, then the deathmist around it boiled up, twisting and rising into the sky like a dark storm. I could feel the power inside it, all its laws combining into something huge and sharp.
Then a giant sword of dark mist appeared above us, so big it blocked out the violet light of my domain. It hummed like the world was rejecting it, and the air shook as it dropped.
"Oblivion," the phantom growled, and the sword came crashing down.
I tightened my grip on my staff, feeling every channel of Essence alive inside me. My Psynapse flared as I fused three of my laws together—Devour, Space, and Polarity.
"[Devouring Horizon]!" I shouted.
The ground ripped open beneath me, a wave of black and violet spreading out like a moving void. It wasn’t just gravity, it sucked in everything: Essence, matter, even light itself.
The sword hit my horizon.
The two powers collided in a burst of energy. Sparks flew, the ground shattered, and the air shook so hard I almost lost my balance. For a moment, it felt like the sword might pierce through.
But I pushed the last of my Essence into the skill. The horizon held for a few more heartbeats.
The phantom slammed harder. Its sword surged forward, the swirling mist around it roaring like it was alive. And then my horizon shattered.
"[Sovereign Reversal]."
Violet vortexes erupted around me, spinning violently, sucking in everything they could. I tried to hold it, to contain the force of the sword but the blade tore through, crashing into my giant form.
BOOM!!
The impact threw me backward. Sword lacerations ripped across my body, blood spraying in every direction. A massive gash opened from my shoulder down to my hip. My knees buckled, and I sank to one knee, chest heaving.
Blood dripped from every wound. I could feel my transformation nearing its end, Node 3 was almost complete. The energy I had just absorbed to fuel my Essence was being pulled into the node. Even my colossal frame was beginning to shrink. My body felt like it had only thirty seconds before I would return to my normal state, and the phantom was still standing.
I couldn’t waste a second.
"Ragnar, Lyrate." I called out, summoning both at once.