The ridge trembled with the weight of silence. Only the whisper of wind through warped trees broke it, and even that breeze carried a sour tang—like rusting iron and old blood.
Andy stepped forward first, his boots pressing into soil blackened by a corruption that breathed rather than lay still. The villagers who had followed stood several paces back, their courage tethered to his shadow. Nia kept close on his right, staff of Lumina faintly aglow, silver-white like a moon that refused to be eaten by night. Aurelia walked on his left, one dagger resting loosely in her hand, the other twirling in casual circles, though her eyes missed nothing.
Andy's breath frosted. Not from cold, but from something deeper: the land itself felt hollow, like it had forgotten how to belong to the world. And then—like a hand pressing cold against his spine—the system spoke.
[System Alert: Corruption Density Level II Detected]
[Recommended Form → Dragon Warrior Form Tier II]
The text flared across his vision. He exhaled, steady, but his pulse jumped once. He knew the truth already. They weren't facing beasts anymore. Something higher waited.
"Andy?" Nia's voice brushed him soft. "You feel it too."
He nodded once. Aurelia smirked, her lips curved like someone who'd been waiting for a fight worth her time. "About time something interesting crawled out."
Andy raised his hand. Oathblade didn't need summoning—its weight slid from nowhere into his palm, humming low. The blade no longer burned with a single color; fire, water, wind twisted around its edge like dragons circling a core. It wasn't just steel anymore. It was something alive.
His back tingled, heat and chill mingling. He whispered the words.
"Activate. Dragon Warrior Form — Tier II."
Aura roared out of him. Flame spiraled at one shoulder, water coiled along the other, wind pressed down like invisible wings. His silhouette stayed human, but his presence bent the ridge. Villagers gasped, stepping back as though mountains had grown legs.
Nia tightened her staff and the glyphs carved into her dress lit up like constellations. A ward shimmered across the ridge's edge, wrapping the villagers in a dome of silver. Aurelia's grin deepened, fangs of moonlight forming at the edge of her dagger.
A chime threaded through Andy's ears.
[Constellation Sync — Orion Active]
Nia: 76% | Aurelia: 70%
Orion Tier II Combined: 35%
The numbers pulsed, not cold but warm, like the bond was a second heartbeat in his chest. He caught Nia's glance—her quiet smile was both pride and promise. Aurelia winked; her loyalty always came dressed in mischief.
Then the sky ripped open.
A screech—so raw it shook marrow—shattered the ridge's silence. Out of the north clouds, a shape descended. Wings spread wide, but one was twisted, half-torn. Scales black and cracked with glowing seams. A wyvern, corrupted to its core. Its eyes were pits of oily void, its breath trailing smoke the color of dead stars.
And beneath it, standing on a stone like a throne carved from ruin, was a man. No, not a man anymore. His body twitched with scales budding from flesh, veins glowing black-red. His laugh was broken glass dragged across the ridge.
The Corrupter had arrived.
Villagers behind Andy staggered back. Some fell to their knees. One cried out a prayer. Nia's ward flickered as the pressure mounted.
Andy rolled his shoulders once. "Stay behind me."
His aura flared harder, as if the land itself dared him to prove he could keep his promise.
The corrupted wyvern shrieked again, folding its broken wing against its body, diving like a meteor of rot. Andy lifted the Oathblade, and the three elements swirled in answer.
The first true shadow of Tier II had stepped onto their path.
And Andy, wrapped in fire, water, and storm, stood ready to burn it back.