Unholy Player

The void seemed to bend as the giant body, sheathed in pitch-black scales, dragged itself forward like an iron plough tearing a furrow through soil. Each plate scraped, a dry rasp like stone on bone, and the space around it puckered as if reality itself recoiled.

The snake was fast, so fast its immense size warped perception; movement blurred then stretched, every twitch registering as if time stuttered. Across the ranks, hearts hammered, a heavy drum marking each frame of the charge.

It moved with the simple intention to strike and kill. Its maw yawned wide, darkness opening into a tunnel of glistening flesh. Long, gleaming teeth caught the light, twin great swords forged with meticulous care and set in living gums, angled toward Thalira's small body.

She waited and let death draw near. No one would save her this time, and she needed no one—because she wasn't truly alone anymore.

She raised her silver rapier high. Silver cracks spidered outward.

Electric currents snapped into the open and lit the void. The bolts didn't fade. They gathered around her, thickened, and drew lines in the air. Those lines joined and set, turning into human shapes one after another.

These soldiers were made from the current itself. From the feet up, strands of lightning formed legs, torsos, and arms. Veins of cold silver-blue ran through them, pulsing inside their see-through bodies.

When the forms finished knitting, they stood in ranks. The space around them felt weighted, as if yielding to an army. Each soldier crackled softly, a body of electricity sustained by its own current.

"What skill is that?" one of the Practitioners blurted, giving voice to the question tightening every face.

They had seen summons before, soldiers pulled from Sparks' skills, but this was different, larger in scope and heavier in intent.

Their shock was no mistake. This was not a skill at all, but the fusion of the innate talents Thalira had earned through every step of her evolution. It was the final, absolute combination awakened by the Synergy Crystal, turning her own audience into soldiers who would fight for her and swell her strength.

The Serpent came on, close enough now that the heat of its breath washed over her like air from a furnace. She lowered her rapier and let the point drop. A tremor of thrill touched her voice.

"Go."

With her order given, the legion moved. They crashed forward in a unified surge, a gleam-backed wave that cracked the void's shell. There were no swords, no spears in hand, nor did they need any; their whole being was forged as weapons.

The first silver soldier struck the Serpent's scales, wrapped itself tight, and in the next heartbeat became a living charge. It detonated with the sound of a split sky.

RUMBLE!

The rest followed in a relentless chain. One by one, they slammed into the colossal body and burst, each blast flinging sheets of silver current across the Serpent's length.

Lightning crawled over black scales, wormed into the seams, and clawed at nerves. The vast body spasmed. Pain fired along living wires and raced to its brain.

Practitioners who had been frozen in shock staggered backward as the currents spread outward. The arcs leapt and snapped through the air, reaching even toward the onlookers. No one wanted to be touched by that light. Every strand looked deadly, every flicker a promise of ruin.

"How can this power belong to a Rank 3 Practitioner?" Maruun shouted as he fell back, disbelief burning his features.

Thalira had not only halted the Serpent's charge; she made it suffer. It writhed, maw gaping, a hot hiss leaking between its sword-teeth as agony twisted its length.

Before this, when she faced the creature, all she could do was run for her life. Now the field had turned. She stood like a commander and watched her army tear her enemy apart for her, the void flashing with silver as the Serpent bucked and thrashed beneath the storm.

A long hiss rose from the creature and spread like a shockwave, finding every target in reach.

Under strain, it had triggered its Bind skill again.

All who watched felt the effect at once: bodies tightening, an alien fear rising at the cellular level, pressure closing over them like the weight of a bottomless sea, until they could no longer move.

Thalira was not spared. Fear seeped into every cell, locking her limbs and freezing her stance.

Worse, there was no Brakhtar to break the Bind this time, and she could not strip it away herself.

Yet the wide smile did not leave her face.

Another set of bluish-silver currents gathered around her, then spread outward. They split and took shape, forming a fresh cohort of soldiers, and within moments, hundreds stood assembled again.

This time, they did not wait for a command. The legion rushed forward on its own.

The Serpent's hiss still filled the void, but none of the soldiers seemed affected. They were an army without fear, and fear gave no chains to their bodies.

RUMBLE!!!

Another wave of attacks crashed into the Serpent and broke across its length, forcing the vast body to spasm and writhe even harder.

It tried to move—tried to lunge and devour its target—but the electric current racing through its flesh severed command from muscle. Signals misfired. Tendons snapped tight on their own. The body twitched in jagged bursts it could not control.

It was tasting its own medicine. While everyone else was locked by its Fear Bind, the Serpent itself was pinned by the coursing charge.

But a problem showed itself. The lightning left no visible wounds. The pain came from irritation and disruption—the muscles firing out of rhythm—rather than damage that could end the creature.

"Alas, even with this power, I am still no match for a Rank 4 Spark." Thalira's wide smile fell, disappointment settling as she recognized her limit.

Her electric legion did not hold infinite energy. She could not call them without end; half her stamina was already gone. To finish the beast, she needed help. Accepting that truth, she turned her gaze to Brakhtar.

Unlike Thalira, he seemed to be undergoing a silent set of changes; the only visible shift was in his second head.

It was solidifying by the second, taking its own shape beside the original.

Bone structure knit into place. Veins threaded through. Skin layered over. More details followed, all building the head slowly yet steadily.

Looks like the Synergy Crystal really works differently on someone with a bloodline talent, Thalira thought, eyes narrowing.

If that second head was becoming a physical part of his body, it meant his body and his bloodline talent were fusing into one, making them whole. It was as if his entire species was being rewritten, and he was becoming a true Gemnarch.

As the thought formed, Thalira's focus moved to another question: the man who had yet to show himself. "I wonder what his changes will be," she murmured.

She knew Adyr, with his two bloodline talents, had the potential to become something wholly different.

What she did not know was that he possessed four bloodline talents, each distinct from the next, their natures clashing in ways no one would expect.