His rage didn't just echo; it fed him. Every heartbeat soaked in fury drew more strength to his limbs, more pressure into his core, more impossible energy that coiled around his body like a second skin.
He should have collapsed by now—his flesh was broken, his blood scattered across the earth—but instead, he stood taller; his spine straightened, his stance deepened, and his body trembled not from pain but from the sheer force crawling into him from somewhere far beyond this realm. It wasn't the system. It wasn't the goddesses. This power came from somewhere else; ancient, silent, watching. As if the world itself—or something buried far beneath it—had heard his cry and chosen to answer.
