The chaos **escalated**.
One moment it was blades and spells—
The next, **monsters**.
A cultivator near the rear screamed as his body **twisted**, bones cracking audibly. His skin darkened and swelled, muscle piling upon muscle as coarse black fur erupted from his arms and back.
In the span of a single breath—
A **bear** stood where a man had been.
Eight feet tall.
Shoulders like boulders.
Eyes burning with feral qi.
It roared and **charged**, the earth shuddering beneath its weight as it slammed straight into another cultivator before they could even finish forming a spell. The impact sent both bodies crashing through undergrowth and into a tree with a thunderous *boom*.
"HE TRANSFORMED—!"
"DAMN IT, HE'S A DEMON BEAST—!"
That was the signal.
Others stopped holding back.
Another cultivator's outline blurred, qi flowing like liquid as a **wolf-form** burst forth—sleek and fast, jaws crackling with wind qi. It lunged, teeth tearing into a third cultivator's barrier, shredding it with brutal efficiency.
A **serpent-bodied** figure reared up nearby, scales gleaming as it spewed corrosive mist indiscriminately into the clearing.
The battlefield fractured completely.
No sides.
No formation.
Only survival.
Some cultivators turned their fury on the **earth snakes**, unleashing talismans and elemental techniques. Fire scorched stone scales. Lightning cracked against compacted earth. One snake's head was blown apart—only for its body to collapse and **reform**, stone grinding as qi flowed back into it.
"IT'S NOT DYING—!"
"CUT THE CORE—FIND THE CORE—!"
The lizard felt every impact through the ground.
*…They waste strength.*
Good.
It adjusted its control—one snake withdrew slightly, baiting pursuit, while the other coiled protectively near the rat-man's flank, forcing him and his guards to keep moving.
The rat-headed cultivator snarled, whiskers twitching violently.
"FOOLS!" he shouted. "You're tearing each other apart for scraps!"
His barrier flared again as a stray attack slammed into it from behind.
He spun.
"YOU—!"
Too late.
Another cultivator had already retreated, bloodied, clutching a broken arm as he fled into the trees.
That broke the last thread of unity.
More followed.
Others attacked wildly, hoping to kill *someone* and escape with something—anything.
The fox's illusion flickered briefly in the distance as it dodged a stray technique, tails flaring, spear flashing as it deflected an attack with theatrical force.
Loud.
Visible.
Dangerous.
Perfect bait.
And beneath it all, unseen, the lizard listened to the earth scream—mapping every footstep, every impact, every terrified heartbeat.
*…Now they're wild.*
Its tail twitched.
The lizard felt it immediately.
The strain.
Not pain—**resistance**.
The earth answered more slowly now, heavier, less precise. The snakes lurched instead of gliding, their coils cracking trees and gouging trenches as control slipped from finesse into raw force.
*…I can't control them well.*
The thought arrived cleanly.
Accepted.
No frustration followed.
Another thought replaced it.
*But that is better.*
Precision required sight.
Control required delicacy.
But **chaos**?
Chaos required only **power**.
The lizard stopped trying to guide.
Stopped shaping.
Stopped correcting.
Instead—
It **let go**.
Qi surged outward, not as a command, but as a **release**.
The earth snakes reacted instantly.
They **thrashed**.
One reared high and slammed down blindly, its body smashing through a cluster of trees, uprooting one cultivator mid-incantation and flinging him screaming through the air.
Another coiled too tightly—then exploded outward, stone scales shattering as fragments turned into shrapnel that tore through barriers and flesh alike.
The ground buckled.
Not in lines.
Not in patterns.
But in **waves**.
Cultivators stumbled as the forest floor betrayed them—roots snapping upward, stones rolling, balance lost at the worst possible moments.
A sword cultivator leapt back to avoid a lunging wolf—
—and landed on ground that **collapsed**, dropping him waist-deep into suddenly liquefied soil.
He screamed.
The snake crushed down.
Silence.
The rat-man snarled as one of his subordinates was nearly flattened by a wild coil, forced to burn a talisman just to avoid being pulped.
"DAMN IT—!" he roared. "WHO'S DOING THIS—?!"
No answer came.
Because there was none to give.
The lizard was no longer *controlling*.
It was **flooding** the area with intent.
Earth responded like a storm-tossed sea—violent, directionless, lethal.
*…This is enough.*
The lizard moved.
Invisible.
Low.
Silent.
It slipped between panicking cultivators, guided by scent and vibration. A heartbeat too fast. A breath hitching in fear. The metallic tang of fresh blood in the air.
A third-layer cultivator spun, sensing something—
Too slow.
The lizard lunged.
Claws and fangs punched through a back already exposed by panic. Ribs cracked under sudden force. Yin essence spilled warm and thick.
The lizard fed.
Quick.
Efficient.
No roar.
No pause.
The body fell before it even hit the ground.
The lizard melted back into motion.
Nearby, the fox laughed aloud as another attack whiffed past its illusion, spear sweeping wide, forcing three cultivators to scatter.
"Careful now!" the fox called mockingly. "You'll hit each other before you hit me!"
And they did.
Blades crossed.
Spells collided.
Trust disintegrated completely.
The earth snakes continued to rage, smashing indiscriminately—drawing attacks, soaking damage, forcing everyone to react instead of think.
*…Wild is good,* the lizard thought calmly.
*The chaos hides me.*
Another scent caught its attention.
Stronger.
Sharper.
Fourth layer.
The lizard angled toward it, body low, breath silent, letting the chaos cover its approach as the forest tore itself apart around them.
This was no longer a fight.
It was a **collapse**.
And the lizard moved through it like a ghost, letting the world burn itself down while it took exactly what it needed.
---
The third-layer cultivator stumbled back, blood soaking into his sleeve, breath ragged.
*Get out—just get out—*
The forest was no longer a battlefield.
It was a **disaster**.
Qi collisions rippled without pattern. Screams cut off mid-cry. The ground itself no longer felt trustworthy beneath his feet.
Then—
**WHAM.**
A black spear tore through the air behind him.
His instincts screamed.
He spun, slamming both palms down.
"**EARTH—**"
A thick wall surged up just as the spear struck.
**CRACK.**
The impact blasted a crater through the stone, the spear burying itself halfway in. The force still threw him backward, boots skidding through dirt as he barely kept his balance.
Heart pounding, he leapt away, eyes wild.
"Who's there?!" he shouted. "Show yourself!"
No answer.
Only silence.
Then he saw the spear.
Black.
Matte.
Faintly familiar.
His pupils shrank.
"…Fox—"
Too late.
A **massive maw** snapped into existence at his side.
Not ahead.
Not behind.
*Beside him.*
He caught it only in the corner of his vision—jaws wide, fur rippling with distorted light, eyes burning with predatory amusement.
Pain exploded.
Fangs sank deep into his shoulder and neck, crushing muscle, severing meridians in one brutal bite.
"AA—!"
He reacted on instinct, qi flaring wildly.
"EARTH SPIKES—!"
The ground answered.
Spikes erupted upward in every direction—
—and shattered.
A translucent **defensive barrier** flared around the fox's body, the earth spikes slamming into it and breaking apart like glass.
The cultivator thrashed, clawing at the jaws, blood spraying as he tried to form another seal.
Too slow.
The fox's jaws **tightened**.
Not tearing.
Not rushing.
Just pressure.
Relentless.
Bones creaked.
The cultivator's struggle weakened, movements turning jerky and uncoordinated. His qi sputtered, circulation collapsing as the bite disrupted everything at once.
His vision blurred.
The last thing he felt was the ground rushing up as the jaws **snapped shut completely**—
—and then nothing.
The fox stood there now, returned to its normal size.
The body hit the forest floor with a dull, final thud.