The night air carried the stink of smoke and blood.
Lian stood at the edge of the ruined village, his battered sword in hand, watching as shadows moved between the broken houses. The roar from earlier had faded into the distance, but the forest wasn't quiet anymore.
The Beast Tide was coming.
And it had sent a vanguard.
Lian's eyes locked onto the first creature as it stalked into the firelight.
A starbeast—taller than a warhorse, its skin dark and cracked like cooled magma, faint crimson light seeping through the fissures. Its eyes glowed like shards of a dying star, fixed on him with murderous hunger.
It snarled, the sound low and bone-deep, and the ground shivered beneath its weight as it stepped forward.
Lian tightened his grip on the chipped sword. His body still ached from the last fight. His breathing was ragged, uneven.
And yet…
Beneath the exhaustion, beneath the fear, there was something else.
A thrum.
A pulse, slow and steady, echoing from the Tyrant's Heart in his chest.
[Beast detected.]
[Core Signature: Lesser Starbeast – Rank I.]
[Quest Progression Available.]
The System's cold voice cut across his thoughts, but Lian barely heard it.
Because as the beast roared again and charged, the pulse inside his chest changed.
It beat harder. Faster.
And power—raw, unshackled, terrifying power—flooded his veins like fire.
His muscles tensed. His vision sharpened. For one wild heartbeat, he felt like he could rip mountains from their roots.
Lian moved.
The beast lunged, claws flashing like black steel, but Lian was already there, darting forward with speed that wasn't his own. His sword slashed, a streak of silver in the firelight, biting deep into the creature's flank.
Dark blood sprayed across the dirt. The beast shrieked, staggering sideways.
Lian blinked. He hadn't even felt himself swing.
The Tyrant's Heart pulsed again.
More power.
It was too much.
His limbs shook under the flood of strength as if his own body didn't know how to hold it. His breath came ragged, his muscles tearing and mending in the same instant as he swung again, carving another line of blood across the creature's hide.
The starbeast roared, spinning with unnatural speed, one massive claw catching him across the ribs.
Pain exploded through Lian's side. He flew back, smashing through the remains of a wooden wall before slamming into the dirt.
His vision swam.
The Heart pulsed again. Harder.
[Warning: Core Overload Imminent.]
[Stabilization Required.]
Lian staggered to his feet, coughing blood, his sword trembling in his grip.
His body felt like it was burning from the inside out. Every heartbeat sent another surge of strength tearing through him, but his muscles screamed with every movement.
The beast came again.
Instinct drowned thought.
He roared back, charging forward, the Tyrant's Heart unleashing another torrent of power through his veins.
He met the beast head-on.
Steel and claw clashed in a storm of sparks and blood. Lian drove the broken sword into the creature's side, forcing it down even as its claws raked across his arm. Pain and power blurred into one.
With a final shout, he tore the blade free and brought it down across the beast's neck.
A wet, final crunch.
The starbeast collapsed, its glowing eyes flickering out as its body stilled.
Lian stood over it, chest heaving, blood soaking his torn clothes. The pulsing power in his chest was fading now, draining away like a tide pulling back to sea.
He dropped to one knee, gripping his ribs where blood seeped through his fingers.
[Star Core Available for Extraction.]
[Warning: Host Body Unsynchronized with Tyrant's Heart. Overuse may result in total system collapse.]
Lian scowled through the pain. "You… could've said that before."
The System didn't answer.
His gaze fell to the beast's corpse. Its chest glowed faintly where the Star Core pulsed within, waiting to be claimed.
Slowly, painfully, Lian reached forward and pressed his hand against the creature's ribs. The glow flared—then the Core dissolved into streams of red light, flowing into his arm, his chest, sinking into the Tyrant's Heart.
It burned.
The same way the palace fire had burned when he was dying under falling stars.
But beneath the pain, he felt it—the faintest thread of new strength weaving through his veins.
And something else.
A whisper.
Low. Ancient. Cruel.
More…
Lian staggered to his feet, shaking his head to clear it. The voice wasn't his own. The Tyrant's Heart pulsed once more, faint but hungry.
Somewhere beyond the forest, more roars echoed.
The Beast Tide was drawing closer.