The battlefield stood frozen.
The air was thick—heavy, suffocating. The unnatural darkness that spilled from Maingan's form twisted like living tendrils, warping the space around him. His once-golden eyes were now pits of endless black, reflecting no light, no soul.
The Nephilim—this reborn giant that had survived destruction—stood still. Its third eye, so confident before, now flickered with something unfamiliar. Not anger. Not arrogance.
Hesitation.
Jeruca and Jason could barely breathe. The weight of Maingan's presence pressed against their chests, as if the very concept of existence warped around him. This wasn't mere shadow manipulation. This wasn't just another extension of his power.
This was something else entirely.
The Nephilim's jaw tightened. "What… are you?"
Maingan did not answer.
He moved.
Not teleported. Not dashed. He was simply there, closing the gap between them in an instant. The Nephilim barely raised a hand before Maingan's fingers pressed against its armored chest.
A pulse.
The Nephilim's body convulsed.
Black veins spread from where Maingan touched it, sinking into its flesh like a sickness. The sigils on its hands flared as it roared, trying to resist—trying to purge whatever had infected it.
But the corruption only spread faster.
"You called yourself beyond destruction," Maingan finally spoke. His voice was… different. Layered. Echoing. "Then let's test that."
The shadows at Maingan's feet erupted.
They swallowed the battlefield in an instant, pulling everything into an abyssal void. The ruins. The flames. The sky itself seemed to dim, as if being devoured.
For the first time since its rebirth, the Nephilim stepped back.
It swung. A fist aimed directly at Maingan's head, faster than before—
Maingan caught it.
One hand. Effortless.
The impact should have shattered bones. But Maingan didn't even flinch. He tightened his grip—
CRACK.
The Nephilim screamed. Its arm twisted, not broken by force, but by something else—something deeper, more fundamental.
Jeruca and Jason could only watch in horror.
"What the hell is he becoming?" Jason whispered.
Jeruca had no answer.
The Nephilim snarled, trying to pull back, but Maingan wouldn't let go. His abyssal shadows coiled around the Nephilim's body, sinking into its flesh, bypassing its new armor entirely.
"You adapted to my old power," Maingan said. "But this… this is something even I don't understand."
His fingers curled.
The Nephilim's third eye widened.
And then—
It began to dissolve.
---