For a moment, there was only silence. Then a shadow moved.
The Krell Alpha stepped out of the crater, his armor scorched but intact, his eyes glowing brighter than before. And now... he was smiling.
The ground beneath him darkened—not just from his shadow, but from something deeper.
A second layer of shadow peeled away from his feet, expanding like an oil slick, swallowing light as it spread across the battlefield.
Then it rose. Dozens of shadow arms burst from the pool, each one shaped like a weapon glaives, chains, whips, sickles morphing in real time.
The magus narrowed his eyes under the hood. His cloak billowed as the pressure thickened. "Oh? So you can do this too?"
The Krell Alpha didn't answer with words. He charged.
The wave of shadow surged ahead of him like a living tide. Blades lashed out from every angle—coming from walls, floor, even mid-air.
The magus raised one hand.
