Chapter 33 — Revenant's Emergence
The collapsed hive crater hissed with rising heat, cracks glowing faintly beneath drifting ash. The trio stood at the rim, scanning the destruction.
Something stirred inside the crater.
A shape—humanoid, around 9 feet tall, rippling with molten veins under charred black skin—stepped out from the dust. Its movements were deliberate, almost calm.
Alicia's breath hitched.
Shin tensed.
Vaibhav simply stared.
The creature lifted its head.
Two narrow violet slits opened—eyes locking directly onto Vaibhav as if it recognized him.
A Revenant.
But unlike anything they had ever fought.
It radiated an instinctive malice that ignored classification—Transcendent, Immortal, Mutated—none of those labels fit the thing standing before them.
Vaibhav didn't blink.
Neither did the Revenant.
For several seconds, the two simply regarded each other in a tense, silent standoff, the air vibrating faintly between them.
Shin clicked his tongue. "Nope. Nope. I don't like that. That thing is way too calm."
Without waiting, he summoned his Mutated Transcendent Sword-Type Beast Spirit.
The warped crimson blade snapped into existence, lines pulsing like hot magma.
The Revenant reacted immediately.
Its stance shifted—weight lowering, body angling, clawed hand spreading wide with pure animal instinct sharpening at the sight of danger.
Shin stepped forward.
The Revenant launched.
Dust exploded as it crossed the crater in a single bound.
Alicia met it first.
Her Mutated Transcendent Armor Spirit flared across her body—plates igniting with molten-orange light as she braced herself.
Impact.
The Revenant's claw struck her barrier. Sparks flew. Alicia skidded back several meters, boots carving trenches in the cracked ground.
Shin vanished behind the beast in a burst of speed.
"Lunaris Rift."
His sword carved a crescent of blinding silver light.
The arc cut through the air, disappearing—
then reappearing behind the Revenant.
The delayed slash detonated.
The Revenant twisted at the last moment—its instincts warning it—taking only a grazing wound across its ribs.
Shin clicked his tongue. "It felt that coming."
Vaibhav rushed in next.
He summoned his Mutated Transcendent Gauntlet Spirit, plates locking across his arm with molten glow.
"Heavenrend Impact!"
His palm strike erupted with condensed shockwaves that split the air.
The Revenant braced instinctively—dropping its weight, angling its torso, letting the blow push it back instead of breaking its chest.
It was learning them.
Their rhythms.
Their pressure.
Their intent.
Alicia charged again, armor spikes forming along her limbs as she slammed her shoulder into the creature's flank. The hit forced the Revenant sideways.
Shin appeared beside her with another crescent slash.
The Revenant ducked under it with animal precision—pure survival instinct, reacting to killing intent.
Vaibhav followed through on the opening.
His fist crashed into the Revenant's jaw—
—but the creature adjusted instantly, letting the blow slide along its cheek to reduce impact before striking Vaibhav with its knee.
Vaibhav blocked, sliding back.
Alicia breathed out sharply. "It's reading us."
Shin wiped sweat from his lip. "It's treating the three of us like prey packs… figuring out who hits hardest… who moves first… who hesitates."
The Revenant didn't roar.
Didn't snarl.
Didn't show emotion.
It simply looked at them—eyes shifting between the trio, predatory intelligence evaluating everything.
Then it moved again.
This time faster.
Sharper.
More precise.
It lunged for Shin, forcing him back with rapid swipes.
It pivoted toward Vaibhav, striking low—testing defenses.
It darted at Alicia, probing her armor for weak spots.
Every movement was an adjustment.
Every dodge was tighter than before.
Every attack was cleaner than the last.
Vaibhav stepped in, gauntlet blazing.
They clashed—shockwaves bursting outward.
Shin swung behind the creature with another Lunaris Rift.
Alicia flanked and struck from the opposite angle.
The Revenant endured all three—barely—its body trembling under the pressure.
For a moment—
They were pushing it back.
Dust rose around them.
Heat warped the air.
The crater shook under the force of their combined assault.
But the Revenant steadied.
Its breathing sharpened.
Its motions refined.
Its instincts adapted.
Shin's grip tightened. "It's getting harder to hit."
Alicia nodded. "It's predicting impact angles."
Vaibhav narrowed his eyes.
"…It's evolving its instincts mid-fight."
The Revenant took a step forward.
The trio instinctively stepped back.
Not from fear—
but because something about the Revenant's stance had changed again.
More prepared.
More dangerous.
The fight was only beginning.
And the Revenant was only getting started.
The Revenant shifted its stance again—lower, tighter, more animal than humanoid now. Its violet eyes narrowed, reading the trio's spacing, their breathing, their tension as if mapping out the next ten seconds of combat.
Then it blurred.
One heartbeat—
and it was in front of Shin.
Shin barely reacted in time. The impact sent a shock running down his arms. The Revenant's strength had doubled since the first exchange.
"Damn—this thing is ramping up fast!"
It kicked off the ground, spinning midair with unnatural precision, tailing its own momentum exactly where Shin stumbled back. Shin vanished in a flicker—
Voidstride Step.
The Revenant's claws sliced through the afterimage but twisted instantly, reading the displacement from the rush of air behind it.
It pivoted—
straight toward Vaibhav.
Vaibhav's gauntlet flared, molten veins tightening across his forearm.
"Heavenrend Impact—!"
The Revenant ducked under the strike before it finished forming, its instincts sensing the buildup. Vaibhav's blow skimmed past its shoulder, carving a shockwave into the crater wall instead.
The Revenant countered with a rising knee.
Vaibhav braced, blocking with both forearms, sliding back across the fractured ground. Heat scraped across his skin despite the beast spirit armor.
Alicia crashed into the Revenant's flank before it could press the advantage.
Her Mutated Transcendent Armor Spirit roared with molten orange light.
"Packbreaker Shell!"
A spiked dome manifested instantly.
The Revenant struck it—
and recoiled for the first time.
Blood hissed from its knuckles where spikes pierced deep.
But instead of retreating, it adjusted.
It angled its next strike downward—
testing the structure of Alicia's barrier.
The second blow almost slipped through the thinnest point.
Alicia gritted her teeth. "It's finding weak spots too fast."
Shin reappeared high above, blade gleaming with condensed energy.
"Try dodging this!"
"Lunaris Rift!!"
He vanished mid-fall.
Reappeared behind the Revenant.
A crescent of blinding silver carved through the air—
The Revenant twisted violently, dropping to its knees as the moon-shaped arc sliced cleanly over its neck instead of through it.
Only a shallow cut appeared across its upper back.
Shin landed with a curse. "It FELT that. Not saw. FELT."
The Revenant answered with a sudden roar—
low, rumbling, not animal but ancient.
Its body shifted.
Muscles tightened.
Limbs rebalanced.
Feet spread.
Spine curved forward like a predator lowering for the kill.
Vaibhav took a step back.
"…It's entering a new state."
Alicia's armor brightened. "Get ready."
The Revenant lunged.
Not at one of them—
but at all three in a rapid sequence.
It struck Shin first—testing speed.
Shin blocked, barely.
It spun into Alicia—testing force.
Her shield absorbed it, but she slid back ten meters.
It crashed into Vaibhav last—testing durability.
Vaibhav braced, his gauntlet cracking under the pressure. The impact cratered the ground beneath him.
The Revenant leapt back, observing.
Learning.
Adapting.
Then it struck again—faster.
Shin's eyes widened. "It's predicting our patterns!"
He dashed forward anyway, blade flashing.
"Lunaris Rift!"
But the Revenant shifted before he vanished, already stepping out of the slash's future arc. Shin reappeared mid-swing, his blade slicing through nothing but hot air.
Alicia lunged, spikes flaring on her forearms. She slammed her shield into the Revenant's torso—
The Revenant twisted, letting the impact slide off its shoulder, redirecting her momentum into the ground.
Alicia gasped as she fell to one knee. "Its counters are too clean—!"
Vaibhav charged in, gauntlet smoking from strain.
"Heavenrend impact—!"
The Revenant sidestepped—
grabbed Vaibhav's arm—
and used the strike's own momentum to hurl him across the battlefield.
Vaibhav smashed into a broken pillar, coughing once before pushing himself upright.
Shin shouted, "It's adapting faster than we can hit it—!"
But Alicia wasn't done.
"Packbreaker Shell!"
The spiked dome snapped around her just as the Revenant lunged. It collided again, spikes ripping into its shoulder. The beast hissed—no pain, only irritation—and pulled back.
For the first time, violet blood dripped onto the cracked ground.
Vaibhav wiped his mouth, eyes narrowing.
"…It can be hurt. We just need to overwhelm it."
Shin grinned savagely. "Then let's bury it."
They attacked together—
Alicia formed another barrier.
Shin dashed past her using Mirage Flow, creating overlapping illusions that confused the Revenant for a split second.
Vaibhav thundered down with a gauntlet strike aimed at the skull.
The Revenant blocked Alicia's barrier.
Stepped around Shin's real body—ignoring the illusions—
and caught Vaibhav's punch midair with both hands.
The ground shattered beneath their combined force.
The crater trembled violently. Dust spiraled upward in burning currents.
Shin cursed under his breath. "It's not slowing down at all."
Alicia launched forward again, armor glowing fiercely.
Her blade slashed across the Revenant's chest—this time drawing a deeper cut.
Shin followed instantly.
He vanished.
Reappeared behind the creature.
"LUNARIS—"
The Revenant anticipated the attack.
It dropped instantly, Shin's crescent arc ripping across its back instead of bisecting it.
But this time—
that partial cut pushed the creature off balance.
Vaibhav seized the opening.
His gauntlet ignited.
Energy veins across his arm pulsed white-hot.
"Heavenrend—!!"
The Revenant couldn't dodge the full force.
The palm strike hit its torso with a bone-rattling blast.
A shockwave rippled outward, flinging the Revenant across the crater.
It skidded, crashed, and rolled to a stop—
a crater forming beneath its impact.
Silence.
Smoke drifted from its body.
Alicia steadied her breath. "Did we—?"
The Revenant twitched.
Once.
Twice.
Then it stood.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Its body straightened, movements smoother… more refined… almost eerily controlled. The wounds they had inflicted were already tightening, muscle fibers twisting themselves back into place.
Shin's face hardened. "…It adapted again."