Rowan barely had time to steady his breath before the Unchained Warden moved again. This time, it didn't just attack—it surged. Shadows erupted outward, swallowing the battlefield in a shifting nightmare of void and piercing amber eyes. The obelisks groaned beneath them, vibrating with an eerie resonance, as if they, too, were alive.
"We need a plan!" Jacob shouted over the rush of dark energy.
Rowan grimaced. "Working on it!"
Connor's fists clenched. "We can't take it head-on. We have to outmaneuver it!"
The Azure Strifelion reacted before they could even issue a command, banking sharply to avoid an incoming spear of darkness. It roared, releasing a burst of crystalline energy—but the attack simply phased through the Warden's form. It wasn't fully material. It flickered between existence and void, rendering traditional attacks useless.
Rowan's axe pulsed in his grip, faint embers of power licking at its edge. Instinct told him his teleportation could be the key, but if he miscalculated, he'd find himself stranded in the abyss. Still, hesitation wasn't an option.
He hurled his axe toward the base of a far obelisk. The moment it left his fingers, his body blurred—then reappeared at the weapon's location. Another throw, another teleport. He flickered across the battlefield like a phantom, forcing the Warden's focus to shift with every movement.
Jacob and Connor exchanged a glance.
"It's tracking him," Jacob murmured.
"Then let's use that," Connor replied, eyes glinting.
The Warden lashed out, summoning another barrage of shadow spears, but Rowan was already gone, forcing its gaze to follow his rapid movements.
Jacob gritted his teeth. Their abilities were still locked, but that didn't mean they were powerless. He reached into his inventory, fingers closing around a crystalline device pulsing with unstable energy.
"Connor!" He tossed it over.
Connor caught it, eyes widening in realization. "Oh, this is going to be messy."
"No choice," Jacob said. "Rowan's keeping it distracted. We hit it while it's focused on him."
—Hollow Craft Assimilation: 55%—
Rowan teleported once more, landing atop a crumbling obelisk. Below, the Warden loomed, shifting, reforming. It had stopped attacking.
It was waiting.
A trap.
Rowan's breath hitched. He had given it too much time to adapt.
The air warped around him. The darkness congealed, no longer just shadow but something real, something hungry.
Then, without warning, the warden struck.
Tendrils of void lashed out, faster than before. Rowan had no time to react. The attack slammed into him, crushing his torso and ripping the air from his lungs.
A deafening CRACK split the battlefield as the obelisk beneath him shattered.
He plummeted.
"ROWAN!" Jacob's and Connor's voices overlapped in horror.
The Unchained Warden's amber eyes gleamed in triumph.
—Hollow Craft Assimilation: 72%—
Then, the battlefield shifted.
A pulse of energy rippled outward. The shadows flickered, distorting. For the first time, the Unchained Warden hesitated.
Jacob's breath caught. "What the hell is happening?"
Connor clenched his jaw. "Something's waking up."
Beneath the abyss, where Rowan had fallen, a light began to rise—cold, blue, and unrelenting.
Then, a voice echoed through the void.
Deep. Resounding. Ancient.
"Assimilation nearing completion. Host designation: Reforged."
Silence fell. Even the warden recoiled slightly.
Jacob and Connor could only watch as the light intensified, bending the darkness, twisting reality itself.
And Rowan—no, whatever he was becoming—began to rise.
—Hollow Craft Assimilation: 85%—
—Hollow Craft Assimilation: 95%—
—Hollow Craft Assimilation: 100%—
Their hearts pounded. Anticipation surged.
Whatever was coming… it was going to turn the tide. It was going to help them destroy the Warden.
Then—
[Soul Link: Eternal Flame Acquired]
You can now control the Azure Strifelion remotely.
Jacob blinked.
"…What."
He tried activating his skill, expecting something—anything—world-altering.
Instead—
Error.
Error.
Error.
His interface glitched. His stomach dropped.
Connor stared at the notification, his expression flat. "You mean to tell me all that build-up… for a pet command?"
Jacob slowly dragged a hand down his face. "I hate this stupid system."
Damn. Jacob and Connor had to live with the consequences of their choices—merging 3 beasts together and creating a chimera, pushing themselves far beyond their limits. Now, standing in the wreckage of their own making, Jacob found himself at a loss.
What the hell were they supposed to do now?
Connor felt it just as deeply. How could he not? They shared one body, and even their souls were inextricably linked—woven together in ways that left no room for escape from the strain they had inflicted upon themselves.
The weight of their decision settled over them, heavier than the armor fused to their skin at the moment. Their breaths came in ragged gasps, muscles trembling, but this was more than exhaustion. It was something deeper. A fracture in their very being.
Jacob gritted his teeth, his hands balling into fists. The Voltrask's presence still lingered within them, though they knew they couldn't summon any of the creatures that made up its chimeric form—not now, not when they needed to most. Still, it wasn't just a beast they had merged together. It was something more, something unique that only the two of them could do. A force now embedded into the core of their existence, pulsing beneath their skin like a storm barely held at bay, but they couldn't use it right now.
Connor exhaled sharply, his voice tight with strain. "We can't undo this."
Jacob didn't answer immediately. He knew Connor was right. There was no going back. They had bound themselves to the Revenant Strifelion, and now its power was theirs to bear—whether they were ready for it or not.
The unmistakable indication of the soul-forged link they had made was a flare of blue fire wrapped around their fingertips. As though reality itself was adjusting to what they had become, the air shook in response to their presence.
The beast was theirs now, fully under their command. It would move as they willed. Obey as they demanded.
And yet, as Jacob stared at the flickering embers of their power, a single thought gnawed at the back of his mind.
But at what cost?