The moment the first strands of shadow began to coil upward, I moved. My fist swung for his head, but his hand shot up, catching my wrist mid-strike. His grip was iron, his other hand snapping forward in a knife-hand strike for my throat.
I twisted aside, the edge of his palm grazing my neck, enough to sting. He shoved hard, sending me skidding back a step across the damp stone.
Seren was already moving. She slipped in low from behind, her blade darting for the back of his knee. He dodged at the last moment, boot lashing out, catching her across the side and sending her stumbling into the wall.
BAM!!!
His focus shifted toward her. I saw my opening.
I closed the gap in two quick steps. The man brought his arm up to block, but I seized it and pulled him forward, driving my knee hard into his gut. The air rushed out of him in a grunt, his stance breaking as he staggered.
Seren pushed off the wall and came in fast, her dagger sinking into his side. His snarl turned into a sharp gasp of pain.
ARGH!!!
I yanked his arm down and drove my elbow into the side of his head. The shadows clinging to him shuddered, then broke apart like smoke in wind.
He dropped to his knees, blood pooling beneath him from the gash at his ribs. I stepped in, gripping his jaw and the back of his head, then twisted hard.
CRACK!!!
For a moment, his body went limp, then a ragged laugh clawed its way out of his throat. "For… Umbralis," he gasped.
The blood seeping across the floor surged toward the carved lines beneath him. The circle flared with a sickly violet glow.
The two priests tied to the chairs convulsed, their muffled cries breaking into raw screams as the light climbed up their bodies. Black veins spread under their skin, writhing like something alive, while the stench of rot filled the air.
'This is a forced conversion,' Echo's voice sounded in my mind. 'Light-blessed acolytes, reshaped into dark adherents. When one god takes another's chosen, it causes backlash. The gods compete for followers just as mortals compete for power.'
My eyes stayed on the spreading corruption. 'So if Umbralis succeeds…'
'They'll be his entirely. If it fail they will turned to ghoul, making them hard to kill. Stop them now.'
I stepped toward the priests. Elara's voice caught me halfway. "What are you planning to do?"
"We can't let them turn into monsters."
"They're still alive!" she shot back, her grip tightening on her catalyst.
"Alive for now," Seren said flatly, stepping up beside me. "But not for long. And it's not like they were good people before this."
Her gaze flicked to the black veins now twisting up into their faces. The darkness had already swallowed the whites of their eyes. "Better dead than what's coming."
Elara's lips moved, but no sound come out. She turned away, eyes shut tight, clutching her catalyst like it could shield her from what came next.
I stepped forward. The first priest barely had time to draw breath before the blade cut deep across his throat.
SLASH!!!
Warm blood sprayed against the stone.
The second twitched, but I didn't wait. Another clean slash, and the black veins crawling over his face stilled.
They slumped, lifeless. The darkness in their eyes faded, leaving nothing but empty shells. Better this than what they would've become.
Elara's voice trembled. "You… you really killed them."
I didn't answer. Seren's hand closed gently on her arm. "Come on. The children first."
She guided Elara toward the adjoining room, leaving me with the bodies.
I looked down at the priests. The black in their veins still lingered faintly, twitching like dying worms under the skin.
"Any problem taking them?" I asked in my head.
"No," Echo replied. "Their blessings are already severed. What's left is unstable but safe to consume."
I knelt beside the first body, placing my palm over the cold chest. The ouroboros stirred instantly, heat blooming against my ribs.
The mark on my chest split, threads of black curling outward. One uncoiled, sliding down my arm and wrapping around my fingers before surging forward.
The dark serpent's jaws opened wide.
CHOMP!
Its fangs sank deep, biting through flesh, bone, and what was left of the man's faith. I felt it drain everything, devotion, blessing, life, until only an empty shell remained.
It pulled back, bloated and heavy, then slipped back beneath my skin. My arm locked tight, pain shooting up into my shoulder.
I drew a breath, moved to the second, and did it again.
This time, it felt different. Two currents ran through the flow, one cold and heavy like oil, the other sharp and bright like splintered glass.
"Two sources," I muttered. "Umbralis… and Luminis."
I glanced at the bodies. "Can I burn them? Some kind of spell for that?"
"No," Echo said. "Luminis's dominion is healing, light, and revelation. Umbralis governs shadow, concealment, and illusion.
Neither grants you the means to burn. At best, you could form a construct of shadow or light sharp enough to butcher them to pieces."
I frowned. "And the spell I used before? Don't I use time?"
"That was in the sanctum where you first woke. The air there still carried traces of Tempus's essence and the residue of other gods from the experiments. You borrowed it without realizing."
"And the monk I killed when I first got here?"
"You bent light around the corpse," Echo explained. "It's an Umbralis trick, shadow-wrapped light refraction to mislead the eye. It doesn't remove the body, only hides it from perception until the weave fades."
"So I can't burn them," I said flatly. I didn't want to leave the corpses here. Someone would notice, and sooner or later, they'd connect it to Ouroboros existance.
My eyes dropped to the Umbralis follower. "First things first," I muttered.
I placed my hand over his chest, feeling the ouroboros stir. The mark split again, and the serpent uncoiled, hungry for what remained of the shadow god's essence.
The serpent's jaws opened wide, shadows pooling around its fangs…