The First Exchange: A Clash of Monsters
The underground garage trembled as the Blood-Eyed Corpse Demon unleashed a roar so deep it vibrated through the concrete floor like an earthquake. Its massive body, already a grotesque monument to unnatural strength, swelled further, muscles bulging and writhing beneath its gray-green hide like serpents trapped beneath its skin.
Ethan didn't retreat.
Instead, he shifted his stance, his body moving with the eerie precision of a predator that had long since abandoned fear. The Corpse Demon's fist—a hammer-blow capable of crumpling steel plating—smashed into the space where he had stood a fraction of a second earlier. The displaced air ripped through Ethan's clothing, shredding fabric and exposing the lean, corded muscle beneath.
But Ethan was alreadycountering.
The Half-Step Shattering Fist—a technique designed not just to break bones, but to shatter the very structure of an enemy's body.
His right arm coiled like a steel spring, every muscle fiber in his body aligning in perfect synchronization. Then—
CRACK!
His fist punched clean through the Corpse Demon's throat, spiral force ripping flesh apart in a corkscrew motion. A gaping, fist-sized hole erupted from the back of the Entity's neck, silencing its roar in a wet, choking gurgle.
Ethan didn't stop there.
His fingers morphed into rigid blades, aiming to plunge into the Corpse Demon's milky-white, sightless eyes—
—when the counterstrike came.
The Entity's left arm, thick as a telephone pole, scythed upward in a brutal uppercut, catching Ethan square in the ribs. The impact launched him like a human cannonball, sending him crashing through three layers of concrete wall before embedding him in the fourth, dust and debris exploding outward in a choking cloud.
For a moment, silence.
Then—retribution.
The Bloodprice Curse activated.
BOOM.
The Corpse Demon's own chest imploded violently, a 1.5-times-magnified reflection of the damage it had just inflicted. The force of the rebound catapulted the Entity backward, sending it plowing through six reinforced concrete pillars before it finally skidded to a stop, its massive frame half-buried in rubble.
The Surface Reacts: A Quake of Terror
Outside, the ground bucked violently beneath the feet of Sophia, Lucian, and the assembled Bureau operatives.
"Earthquake?!" a rookie agent shouted, stumbling as another seismic tremor rippled through the abandoned high-rise.
Lucian's face drained of all color.
"No." His voice was hollow, his grip tightening on his weapon. "That's not tectonic. That's something inside the building."
Then came the sound—a bestial, guttural howl that bypassed the ears entirely and vibrated directly in the bones of everyone present.
Every Awakener in the perimeter instinctively reached for their weapons, fingers tightening around triggers and hilts.
Sophia's breath caught in her throat.
Ethan was still in there.
The Blood Eye Opens: A Demon Reborn
Deep underground, the Blood-Eyed Corpse Demon hauled itself from the wreckage, its body already knitting back together with horrifying speed.
Shattered ribs snapped back into place with audible cracks.
Torn muscle fibers slithered like living things, reweaving themselves.
The gaping wound in its throat sealed shut with a wet, sucking noise.
Then—its forehead split open.
The Blood Eye, now fully unveiled, pulsed with a hellish crimson glow.
The transformation that followed was nothing short of grotesque:
Its height ballooned to over three meters, its frame swelling with unnatural, tumorous muscle.
Bone spurs erupted from its forearms, forming jagged, sword-like protrusions.
The stench of burning flesh filled the air as the Entity consumed its own body mass for power.
C+ Rank Achieved.
Now, it would only grow stronger—until it had burned itself to cinders.
The Straw Reaper: A Nightmare Given Form
From the settling dust, a new silhouette emerged.
Ethan's human form had dissolved entirely, replaced by a 7-foot-tall construct of woven golden straw.
His face was now a smooth, featureless plane, save for two abyssal hollows where eyes should be.
His fingers had elongated into scythe-like talons, each edge honed to monomolecular sharpness.
His chest cavity—where the Corpse Demon's blow had landed—was already reknitting, individual straw strands swarming like angry insects to repair the damage.
[Strawskin Manifestation: Complete Assimilation]
For the first time, the Blood-Eyed Corpse Demon hesitated.
This was no longer prey.
This was something else.
Something like itself.
Ethan's straw jaws parted in a grin that split his face horizontally, revealing a black void within.
"Let's see how much you can burn," he whispered, his voice the sound of dry stalks rubbing together in the wind.
The Harvest Begins: A Symphony of Pain
Then—he exploded.
Thousands of razor-edged straw filaments erupted outward, each one:
Impaling the Corpse Demon's regenerating flesh like hyper-velocity needles.
Burrowing deeper, seeking veins, organs, and marrow like parasitic roots.
Draining its burning vitality, converting stolen biomass into fuel for Ethan's own regeneration.
The Entity screamed—a sound so abyssal it shattered the garage's remaining glass and sent cracks spiderwebbing up the walls.
Every wound Ethan's straw form "suffered" reflected back 1.5-fold—
—while the embedded straws siphoned its life force like a swarm of vampiric leeches.
The Blood-Eyed Corpse Demon was strong.
But Ethan?
He was hungry.
And he had only just begun to feed.