"Diamondhead!"
The impact of the transformation was like a jolt through his very essence.
Riven exhaled—not from exhaustion, but from a strange exhilaration. The transformation into Diamondhead wasn't just a change of form. It was precision, weight, and durability combined into one. His vision sharpened, his body felt impossibly stable, and the humidity of the swamp no longer clung to him—it steamed off his crystalline shell.
Green-tinted light glowed along his limbs. Razor-edged crystals extended from his arms like natural blades.
He turned slowly, the last of the scouts twitching on the ground behind him.
But something moved.
The swamp rippled—and from the canopy above, a shadow leapt down.
The same beast.
The one from earlier—the four-legged, amphibious creature with slick, obsidian skin and glowing violet veins—crashed down into the clearing, sending waves of swampwater in every direction. It was bigger now. Swollen. Its body pulsed with warped mana, its limbs armored with organic plating that hadn't been there before.
It had mutated.
And it remembered him.
Riven didn't flinch. "Welcome back."
The creature shrieked and lunged forward, claws slamming against Diamondhead's chest. The force sent a shockwave outward—but the crystal barely cracked.
Riven countered.
His fist became a spiked hammer mid-swing, slamming into the creature's side and sending it hurtling into a nearby stump. Wood exploded into splinters.
The creature snarled, rebounded, and lashed its tongue—sharp and wet like a spear.
Riven raised a crystal wall just in time. The tongue embedded into the translucent shield with a screech, acid hissing along the edges.
"You've got upgrades," Riven muttered. "So do I."
With a twist of his arm, the shield fractured into shards, launching outward like a shotgun blast. The beast roared as several embedded into its torso and legs, pinning it briefly to the softened earth.
Riven didn't stop.
He rushed forward, feet reshaping mid-stride into broader, spiked cleats that let him grip the swamp. He closed the distance in seconds and drove a crystalized elbow into the creature's neck.
It snapped at him—jaws clashing with sparks against his crystalline shoulder.
It was fast.
But he was tougher.
And stronger.
The creature twisted—then something unexpected. Its entire back split open, revealing rows of pulsing sacks that fired spores into the air.
Riven instinctively raised a barrier, but some still seeped through.
He staggered, just slightly. His vision distorted—not because of damage, but because the spores were disrupting his senses.
The Omnitrix pulsed.
He felt its internal warning—but ignored it.
He wasn't switching again.
Not yet.
"Let's test the limits."
He shoved his palm into the swamp, and with a grunt, pulled upward. A jagged spear of emerald crystal surged from the ground beneath the beast, impaling one of its back legs. It shrieked, thrashing wildly.
The ground trembled. Vines and fungus recoiled from the pulse of raw mana.
The creature broke free—and now it was angry.
Its violet veins glowed hot, and with a deafening roar, it charged him with all four limbs slamming into the water like galloping thunder.
Riven crouched.
Braced.
Then exploded upward, meeting the charge with a crystalline uppercut that lifted the beast off the ground.
It flipped midair—only for Riven to launch a volley of razor-sharp diamonds from both arms like twin cannons. Each projectile hit with perfect aim, slicing into joints, wings, limbs. The beast crashed down hard, screeching, writhing.
Still alive.
Barely.
It tried to rise.
Riven walked toward it slowly. Each step crunched the mud beneath.
"You don't get to run twice."
He raised his arm, forming a massive jagged blade the size of his own torso.
The creature hissed—
And he brought it down.
One clean strike.
The beast collapsed into the swamp, twitching once.
Then still.
For a moment, silence.
No movement.
Just the soft dripping of rain above the jungle canopy and the quiet hum of residual mana dispersing into the mist.
Riven stood over the corpse, shoulders heaving slightly from exertion. Shards of emerald light shimmered across his arms, flickering like dying embers.
Then the Omnitrix pulsed.
The green symbol blinked once—twice—before fading back into neutral gray.
In a flash of light and energy, the crystalline armor shattered away like falling glass, dissolving into the swampwater. Riven stumbled forward slightly as he returned to his human form, panting, chest rising and falling with ragged breath.
Steam curled off his soaked hoodie. His legs ached. His arms trembled—not from fear, but from the sheer feedback of power he wasn't used to yet.
"…That was insane," he muttered, wiping sweat—and possibly swamp mist—from his brow.
He looked down at the creature's unmoving body, violet veins now dim and lifeless. His first real test in that form… and he had won.
But not easily.
And not without warning.
Riven glanced at the Omnitrix on his wrist. It was silent, but not inactive. As if watching. Learning.
"...How many more surprises do you have?"
He sheathed Nullshift across his back again. The relic was dim, its runes barely pulsing—likely recovering from the blaster form and the earlier drain.
All around, the swamp slowly quieted. The humming had dulled. The spores faded. Even the thick fog that choked the clearing seemed to recede a little.
The Hive wasn't done.
This creature had been guarding something… or stalling.
He narrowed his eyes toward the path beyond the clearing—where glowing green fungi now formed a faint, winding trail deeper into the jungle.
Whatever was ahead… it was waiting.
Riven rolled his shoulders, his breath now steadying.
"No turning back now."
He stepped forward, deeper into the Swamp Hive.
End of Chapter.
Thank you for reading.