The instant the singularities began vibrating with screeching tension, Denwen's instincts kicked in.
A primal survival urge surged through his body.
He didn't hesitate.
His arms raised instinctively to shield his face, even as his mind raced. The hum of incoming devastation crashed into his senses like a tidal wave.
Then, his innate ability stirred—Boundless.
Essence roared through his core, bursting from the seven key points in his body. It wasn't a stream. It was a flood.
Crystalline light erupted across his skin, starting from his arms and crawling like wildfire over his chest, neck, and face. Layer upon layer of hard, glassy armor wove itself across his flesh—a kaleidoscope of transparent fortitude. He became less man and more monument, a living diamond sculpture, glinting with an unholy radiance in the echoing cavern.
Even his blood began to thicken, harden, crystalize.
Then the world shattered.
BOOM!
The explosion was not a sound.
It was an event.
The singularities detonated all at once, a cascading cataclysm of piercing force. High-velocity crystal shards tore through the air like divine punishment. Denwen's armor was no longer armor—it was shrapnel bait.
Even with his 25% Crystal Immunity, the pressure was unbearable.
His right arm vanished in a flash of red and white, vaporized by the concentrated force. His left side caught the brunt—shoulder, ribs, thigh—riddled with razor-sharp crystals that embedded themselves deep into bone. His face burned, one eye barely shielded, the other stung and sliced. His lips cracked open as he screamed, but no sound emerged through the thunder.
The blast lifted him like a ragdoll, spinning through the air before he slammed into the floor in a heap. Crystal spikes tore into his back, pinning him like a wounded insect. Blood—thick, glittering, unnatural—pooled beneath him.
For a moment, everything was silence.
Then the Crystalvores began to roar.
RAAWWWRRRRR!
Victory.
The monstrous humanoids raised their arms, staggering in triumph. Several of them stumbled—blackened, cracked, but alive. To them, it was enough.
Then—a chime.
PING.
[System Notification]
Event: Your proficiency has risen.
You can do more than just coat your arms with crystals and create constructs. The Crystal Law is more than that. Even your very blood can now be crystalized under your control.
Result: ➤ Level 3 Crystal Manifestation unlocked.
Denwen lay motionless, one eye cracked open, half his body broken. Yet a tired smile pulled at the edge of his lips.
"Do I really need to die to level up a skill every time?" he muttered hoarsely.
From within the echoing void of his skull, Riven's voice crackled to life, grating as ever.
"Hmph. Don't think you're anything special. You're lucky you have me. A regular host would've been vaporized."
The dust was clearing.
Denwen exhaled slowly.
And then—he moved.
With a sound like cracking ice, the blood on his wounds began to transform. Gleaming blue crystal spread from the cuts, sealing torn flesh, reforming shattered bone. A glittering skeletal structure took shape where his right arm had been, slowly sculpting outward until fingers stretched and flexed anew. His thigh pulsed with light as his left leg was reforged with translucent, jagged brilliance.
Denwen rose, slow and deliberate, his body no longer flesh and blood, but something more.
Something terrifying.
He cracked his neck.
"You bastards... You nearly killed me."
His voice was low, but each word landed with the weight of thunder.
Riven floated out of his head, spinning slowly, almost cautiously.
"Okay... even I'm scared now."
Denwen took a step.
The floor beneath him fractured with the pressure.
He looked up.
The three surviving Crystalvores froze. Their glowing eyes wide with something Denwen hadn't seen from them before.
Panic.
They turned.
They ran.
Their movements were sluggish, broken. Their singularity attack had not only cost them power—it had drained them. Their crystalline forms splintered as they moved, limbs creaking under their own weight.
Denwen watched, walking with terrifying calm.
"Run, run little glass beasts..."
The Crystalvores scrambled toward the shattered corpses of their fallen kin. Their limbs extended with desperate hunger. Like wild animals, they devoured the dead, their grotesque mouths opening wide as they crunched down on crystal bones, siphoning essence.
"Interesting," Denwen said, his tone half amused, half cruel. "So disasters feel fear. They run out of essence. What else... what else do I need to know?"
He grinned, jagged crystal teeth gleaming like a predator.
Riven floated beside him, a smirk on his glowing eye.
"Whatever it is... you're going to enjoy finding out."
And Denwen walked forward.
Unstoppable.
Indestructible.
And very, very pissed off.
Denwen stood amidst the shattered remains of the Crystalvore horde, his dark blue aura still swirling around him like a silent inferno. His body—patched together with jagged crystalline armor—radiated an eerie, godlike stillness. The remaining disasters, four in total, stared at him with primal terror.
Without a word, Denwen raised his hand toward the closest.
His index and ring fingers lifted slowly as his middle finger folded against his thumb, focusing his essence. A faint hum pulsed through the air as a sharp crystal point materialized on the tip of his finger, shaped like a high-caliber bullet.
Then—
Flick.
BOOM!
The crystal shot out with a thunderous crack, moving faster than the eye could follow. It tore through the head of the first Crystalvore, shattering its core in an instant. Its body collapsed in place, a crystalline puppet with its strings severed.
Another disaster turned to flee.
Too late.
A second flick. Another blast. This time the crystal tore through its torso, exiting through its back in a fine mist of essence and pulverized shards. It fell without ceremony.
The last two locked eyes briefly.
Then roared.
They leapt at him, arms transforming mid-flight into massive crystalline hammers, glowing with chaotic essence. The ground cracked beneath them as they pushed off, launching their full weight forward.
But Denwen didn't move.
He didn't even blink.
He raised his hands with deadly calm.
As the two disasters neared, he caught them both by the face mid-air, the impact pushing him back slightly—but only slightly. The power difference was now undeniable. They flailed, struggling with all their might, but their limbs moved sluggishly, like broken toys.
"I can't believe I even struggled against you lot in the first place," he muttered coldly.
Then, from within his palms, crystal spikes erupted in all directions, impaling their heads from every angle. The two bodies convulsed, then went limp.
Their bodies fell to the ground with hollow thuds.
Then the system chimed.
PING.
[System Notification]
Event: 2 Essence Cores of Rank 2 Crystalvore Identified.
Similar laws found in previous core present. Crystal Law selected for assimilation.
Result: ➤ Crystal Law leveled up
➤ 50% Crystal Immunity
➤ Prism Shard Volley – Level 1 Unlocked
-- DO YOU WISH TO ASSIMILATE? -- YES or NO
Denwen smirked.
"Looks like that ridiculous crystal bullet barrage and the kamikaze moves of theirs was from Prism Shard Volley..." he muttered. "Figures."
He gave the command. "Assimilate."
The air shifted.
A low, vibrating hum rose from his core as his eyes flared, crystalline light shining from within his irises. The bodies of the two Crystalvores shrank, their forms crumbling into fragments of dull crystal as their cores were absorbed into Denwen's aura.
A wave of power rippled outward from him, shaking loose debris across the ruined battlefield. His aura pulsed brighter, thicker—his crystal armor hardening with new density. The Prism Shard Volley skill etched itself into his essence, his bones now capable of channeling it.
He exhaled.
The fatigue ebbed. Energy surged. His essence veins felt lighter, faster.
And then he heard it.
"What... the... actual... hell," a voice said, each word soaked in disbelief.
Denwen turned.
There stood Kop, the indomitable brawler, slayer of disasters, his straw hat hanging behind his head, his mouth slightly ajar, and his food half-chewed in one hand and in the other the massive body of the Prism Sovereign whose body still oozed a very oppressive force that Denwen felt could end him without blinking.