Nero's shadows met them all.
For every tendril that wrapped around him, his darkness tore three more apart. For every constriction that threatened to break his bones, his consuming hunger devoured the flesh that dared touch him. He was a void within a void, a hungry thing inside something meant to hunger, and he would not be denied.
His mouth opened wider still, the jaw dislocating completely now, hanging at an angle that no human anatomy could achieve. The shadows pouring from it formed a vortex, a swirling maelstrom of consuming darkness that pulled everything toward it.
Tendrils were sucked into that vortex by the dozens, shredded by the rotating shadows, torn into pieces that Nero's body absorbed with terrible efficiency.
The creature's thrashing grew more violent.
