The courtyard lay cloaked in an eerie silence, broken only by the faint crackle of dying embers. Shin and Laverna stood shoulder to shoulder, the defeated Fourth Talon scattered unconscious around them.
For a fleeting moment, peace settled over them. Then the sky began to bleed.
A crimson wave surged across the stars, swallowing the moon and bathing Valdorne in a blood-red glow. The air thickened, oppressive and suffocating, as if the heavens themselves were choking.
A sharp hum shattered the stillness, and Captain Rorick's fallen sword quivered violently on the ground. Before Shin could react, it launched into the air, plunging deep into Rorick's heart.
His body convulsed, black veins erupting from the wound, spreading like wildfire across his flesh. A guttural howl tore from his throat as his eyes rolled back, his mouth twisting into an agonizing, unnatural grin.
His right arm warped grotesquely, bone piercing flesh to form a jagged blade. His chest split open, revealing a demonic eye that swirled with void light, blinking with terrifying sentience, eerily reminiscent of the cursed mutations Shin had studied in the Lichtenstein Estate's forbidden texts.
Flesh hardened into a corpse-gray shell. Captain Rorick, once human, was now a Falzath.
"No…" Laverna whispered, shifting into a defensive stance, her eyes locked on the monstrosity. A new portal tore open behind him, ripping the fabric of reality.
From the void emerged the Howler Falzath, a towering nightmare cloaked in pitch-black fur streaked with writhing crimson lightning. Jagged spines pulsed with a corrupt rhythm along its back, and its crimson eyes burned with malice.
Its howl shattered the air, a pulse that rattled windows, cracked stone, and sent tremors rippling through the earth. Bell towers groaned, their chimes warped into a dissonant wail under the oppressive force.
"Heh… magnificent," Rorick croaked, his corrupted voice dripping with reverence. "You showed me strength, Shin. Thank you. You broke my limits. Now I'll return the favor."
Howlers poured through the portal, a flood of fur, claws, and shrieking rage. Valdorne erupted into chaos as citizens fled, their homes torn apart by beasts that toppled carriages and set streets ablaze.
Shin drew Yoshimatsu in one fluid motion, its blade igniting with crimson lightning that rivaled the monstrous aura before them. He gritted his teeth, resolve hardening.
"We can't let them split us up," Shin said. "We take them both down. Now."
The clash erupted like a cannon blast, shaking the courtyard's fractured stones. Rorick lunged at Shin with inhuman speed, his blade arm meeting Yoshimatsu in a deafening crash.
The impact cratered the ground, sending a shockwave that flattened nearby rubble and uprooted ancient trees lining the courtyard. Sparks of purified and corrupted energy screamed, igniting the air with bursts of blinding light.
Laverna vanished in a blur, reappearing above the Howler Falzath, her shadow-coated jamadhars aimed at its glowing spine. The beast twisted, unleashing a thunderous burst that hurled her through a stone tower, which collapsed in a cascade of dust and flame.
She emerged from the wreckage, blood trickling from her temple, her armor cracked but her eyes fierce. "It's intelligent… It's learning our moves."
The Howler charged, each step splintering the street and hurling debris skyward. Shin dodged a swipe of its claws, retaliating with a slash that carved deep into its arm, its corrupted blood hissing as it melted the cobblestones.
Rorick surged forward, his demonic eye firing beams of void light that sliced through rooftops, sending flaming tiles raining down. Shin ducked and rolled, each parry a desperate act, his body bruised and armor dented from near misses.
Laverna leaped across the ruins, her footfalls shattering marble tiles as she funneled howler beasts into choke points with shadow barriers. Her shadow fire incinerated them, but a claw grazed her side, tearing through her armor and drawing a sharp gasp.
Valdorne burned, its skyline bleeding under the crimson sky, the air thick with ash and the cries of its people. Children's screams echoed as the city crumbled under the onslaught.
Shin's chest heaved, blood seeping from a gash across his shoulder, his grip on Yoshimatsu faltering but unyielding. Rorick's blade arm swung again, and Shin met it with a roar, their clash sending a pillar of flame and debris soaring into the night.
The Howler Falzath screamed, enraged, and charged, its spines tearing through a nearby fountain, water erupting in a geyser. Shin and Laverna moved as one—her from above, him from below—landing twin strikes that cleaved its hide, lightning and shadow merging in a storm of retribution.
Rorick staggered, one limb severed in a spray of black ichor, his snarls echoing with pain and fury. The Howler's wounds bled molten corruption, scorching the earth and igniting nearby stalls into roaring flames.
Shin's vision blurred, his body screaming from a dozen wounds, each breath a struggle. Laverna clutched her side, blood staining her gloves, yet her stance remained defiant.
"This ends now!" Shin roared, channeling his fading strength into a downward slash. The strike exploded, severing another of Rorick's limbs, the impact leveling a nearby wall in a cloud of pulverized stone.
The Howler reared, its maw glowing like a furnace, and lunged. Shin and Laverna met it head-on, their combined assault carving through its chest, the beast's howl fading as it collapsed, shaking the earth one final time.
The battle raged on, Valdorne's fate hanging by a thread. But their message was clear: this city would not fall—not while they still drew breath.
Yet, as the dust settled, the corpses of Rorick and the Howler Falzath twitched, moving as if guided by an invisible puppet master. A palpable malice thickened the air, and with a sickening lurch, their bodies began to merge, flesh and fur knitting together in a grotesque fusion.
Rorick's form reemerged, revived and transformed, his body now an amalgamation of the corrupted Howler, resembling a wolfkin with a bushy wolf's tail and pointed ears. The demonic eye in his chest surged with renewed power, its void light pulsing as crimson lightning crackled across his fur-streaked frame.
Shin's body shimmered, his form shifting into his fox form, nine tails of radiant flame fanning out behind him, his eyes glowing with primal resolve. His katana hummed, resonating with his transformed aura, ready for the cataclysmic battle ahead.
Laverna's gaze hardened, recognizing the imminent danger of this new, empowered Rorick. She turned, her voice cutting through the chaos, directing the surviving citizens, the Fourth Talon, and Mayor Edmund's family to flee to safety, her shadow barriers guiding them through the burning streets.
The ground trembled beneath Rorick's claws, his howl shattering the remnants of Valdorne's central plaza. This fight, Shin and Laverna knew, would decide the city's fate—and perhaps their own.