The Bone Reaper's second roar cracked the ground like thunder.
Its claws gleamed brighter, sharper, each strike carving trenches into the ash. The survivors scattered, their formation broken. Those who stayed behind were cut down without mercy. The smell of iron filled the air, sharp enough to sting Kai's throat.
Kai's shadow claws scraped the earth as he steadied himself. His vision flickered — half darkness, half madness. The Wraith's hunger had grown overwhelming, a tidal wave pressing against his mind.
Give in. Become us. We are stronger together. Strong enough to kill it.
"No…" His voice was hoarse, broken, but stubborn. "Not like this. Not yet."
The fire-wielder staggered to her feet beside him. Her wolf flickered in and out, unstable, its flames dying. She spat blood into the ash. "You're still standing… so fight, damn you."
Kai almost laughed. He was barely standing. But her words struck deep.
Fight, or die.
The Bone Reaper's claw descended toward them both. Kai's shadow shot upward, catching the strike just enough to redirect it. The claw smashed into the ground inches away, throwing shards of bone and ash into the air.
The fire-wielder screamed, summoning her last reserves. Flames surged around her, consuming her arms, her hair whipping in the storm of fire. She hurled herself at the Reaper like a comet.
The beast swatted her aside.
Her body slammed into a broken pillar with a sickening crack. She didn't rise. Her flames sputtered, barely alive.
"NO!"
The word ripped from Kai's throat like a knife. Something inside him snapped.
His vision flooded black. Shadows coiled tighter around his body, seeping into his veins, crawling into his bones. His claws elongated, jagged and monstrous, dripping with writhing darkness. His eyes burned violet, glowing through the ash.
[WARNING: Shadow Fusion – Critical Threshold Reached.][Sanity Loss: 72%.][Do you wish to proceed? Y/N]
Kai didn't answer. He didn't need to. The shadows made the choice for him.
They flooded into his core, fusing him with the Wraith. His body convulsed, torn apart and rebuilt in black fire. He roared, his voice layered with another — the Wraith's shrill, inhuman screech.
When the ash cleared, he stood taller, wrapped in living shadow. His hands ended in elongated claws, his veins glowing violet through his skin. His shadow wasn't a flat shape anymore — it writhed like a living beast beneath him, teeth and eyes forming in the darkness.
The Bone Reaper froze. For the first time, it hesitated.
Kai grinned, though it was more a snarl. "Yeah. Be afraid."
Then he lunged.
The battlefield blurred. One moment he was standing, the next he was carving through the Reaper's ribs, shadows exploding outward. His claws shredded bone like paper, leaving trails of violet fire.
The Reaper retaliated with a sweeping claw, but Kai's shadow intercepted it, jaws of darkness snapping shut and holding it in place. The shockwave of the clash split the ground wide open.
[Shadow Fusion (Stage One): Complete.][Skill Unlocked – Abyssal Rend.][Skill Unlocked – Devour Essence.]
The words burned in his mind, drowned by adrenaline. He raised his claws high, shadows spiraling around them, and slashed.
A crescent of black fire tore through the Reaper's torso, splitting it nearly in half. The monster shrieked, viridian fire spraying outward like blood.
Kai's chest heaved. His claws twitched, vibrating with hunger. Finish it. Tear it. Consume it.
The Wraith inside him screamed for more.
The Bone Reaper staggered, but it didn't fall. Its body convulsed, regenerating faster, its remaining arms stabbing into the ground to hold itself upright. Its socket-fires blazed with wrath.
Kai panted. His body was breaking. Blood seeped from his nose and eyes, dripping into the ash. His hands trembled from strain. But he didn't stop. He couldn't.
He launched himself again, claws carving, shadows devouring. Every strike weakened the Reaper further, but with each wound, Kai felt his own sanity slipping. The whispers grew louder, demanding more blood, more death.
And then betrayal struck.
One of the surviving Awakened — a man with steel-coated skin — sprinted toward Kai from behind. His eyes were wide, desperate.
"If we kill him, the monster dies too!" he shouted.
His blade gleamed as he aimed for Kai's back.
Kai twisted just in time. His claws slashed the man across the chest, shadows eating through the steel like it was nothing. The man screamed, crumpling to the ground, his body dissolving into ash.
The other survivors froze, horror in their eyes. They weren't sure which was the greater monster anymore — the Bone Reaper, or Kai.
The hesitation cost them their lives.
The Bone Reaper's claws scythed through them, cutting down a half-dozen at once. Blood sprayed across the battlefield. Screams filled the air.
Kai didn't flinch. His mind was a blur of hunger and violence. He launched upward, claws tearing into the Reaper's skull. Shadows flooded the cracks, writhing inside.
The Reaper convulsed, fire bursting from its sockets. It clawed at its own head, desperate to rip Kai free.
"DIE!" Kai roared, his voice distorted, layered with the Wraith's shriek.
He plunged both claws deep, shadows detonating inside the monster's skull.
The Bone Reaper let out one final scream. Its massive frame convulsed, then collapsed with earth-shaking force. Bone shattered, viridian fire exploding outward before fading into smoke.
Silence fell.
Kai stood atop the monster's corpse, drenched in blood and shadows, his chest heaving. His claws dripped with essence. The battlefield was littered with corpses. Only a handful of survivors remained, staring at him in silent terror.
[Boss Defeated: Bone Reaper.][You have devoured its essence.][Wraith Evolution Unlocked.][Choose Path: Shadow Stalker / Abyssal Tyrant.]
Kai swayed. The System's words blurred before his eyes. He could barely stand. His claws trembled, his body breaking apart. The fusion was ending.
The shadows screamed one last time. Choose… choose us…
Kai collapsed to his knees, clutching his head. His vision swirled, torn between reality and nightmare. He could feel the Wraith's hunger, its joy, its desire to consume everything.
But deep inside, a sliver of his own will burned. Weak, but unyielding.
"No…" he whispered, voice raw. "I'll… decide… not you."
He raised his head. His violet eyes burned through the darkness.
And then the world shifted.
The Bone Reaper's corpse dissolved into ash. The battlefield rippled like shattered glass. Chains of fire tore across the sky, dragging the survivors toward the next trial.
Kai's body collapsed into the void, shadows swirling around him.
The last thing he heard before darkness claimed him was the System's voice.
[Nightmare Trial – Stage Two Beginning.][Survivors: 17.]
And the whispers, faint and hungry.
You are ours now.