Vale's eyes widened as the green creature began to glow, its body radiating a bright, unnatural light beneath the pale sky. The glow pulsed rhythmically, and then its shape began to change. Its back bulged grotesquely, muscles twitching and stretching as though something inside was pushing to break free.
Vale glanced toward the chained man beside him. The man sat motionless, one hand resting on his knee, his masked head tilted slightly as he watched the transformation with detached interest. Not an ounce of concern crossed his posture.
It was the first time Vale had seen one of these monsters act like this, yet the chained man remained calm, almost bored.
"What do you think it's doing?" Vale asked, turning back toward the glowing creature.
The chained man was silent for a while. Then, in his distorted, low voice, he replied, "Bprolyba rgngaich pu."
Vale frowned, trying to decipher the alien words, but before he could think further, something about the creature changed again.
Its entire body seemed to expand, not with growth, but with violent pressure. The green scales stretched, trembling, as if about to burst.
"What the hell…" Vale murmured, his brow furrowing.
The answer came in the next heartbeat.
With a sound like tearing metal, black, bone-like spikes erupted from beneath the creature's skin. They ripped through its glowing scales, spraying dark fluid across the crimson sea. The creature didn't flinch, it simply stood there, its flesh now crowned with jagged spikes that shimmered with the same green radiance.
Vale let out a low whistle. "That's quite a show, isn't it?"
The chained man cast a sidelong glance at him, then said simply, "Yeah."
Vale blinked in surprise. 'So he can speak properly again.'
It wasn't the first time this had happened, every now and then, the chained man would slip into Vale's language, as if by accident. The words never lasted long, and they were rarely more than a few syllables, but they were still… comforting, in a strange way.
He turned his gaze back to the monster. The spikes now pulsed with light, glowing brighter and brighter in sync with the creature's body. It was charging, he could feel it in the air, the hum of energy vibrating through the blood around them.
At his feet, the three small metallic creatures began to shift nervously, the cat arched its back, the centipede curled protectively, and the thorned lizard, Spike, hissed softly. Whether it was fear, anger, or instinct, Vale couldn't tell.
But the next moment left no doubt.
The lizard-monster tilted its head downward, its jaws opening wide. Inside its throat burned a green inferno, spiraling and concentrating into a single point.
Vale's eyes widened in realization. "It's… producing energy," he muttered, rubbing his chin. His voice quickened with excitement as he thought aloud. "Of course, it's bio-energy. The glow indicates rapid energy production, and that buildup will be released through a focused output point, probably as a beam or some kind of discharge."
He squinted, watching the creature's expanding throat. "A straight-line weapon. Efficient, Precise and Lethal."
He froze as the creature's gaze, if it even had eyes, shifted toward them.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Vale breathed. "It's already finished charging."
His body tensed. The monster had locked onto them.
"…It's aiming," Vale whispered, dread seeping into his voice. "And preparing to fire."
There was no time to think, no time to run. A blinding flash erupted from the creature's mouth as it unleashed a beam of pure green energy, slicing through the air with unstoppable force.
Vale's heart dropped. "You have got to be fucking with me!" he shouted, diving to the ground. He spread his body over the small creatures, shielding them as best he could.
But one, Spike, the thorned lizard, slipped out from beneath him, scuttling forward toward the incoming light.
"Spike, no!" Vale reached for it, but the beam had already reached them.
The light swallowed everything. He couldn't even see the creature anymore, only the blinding, all-consuming green. The air vibrated violently, and the sea of blood hissed and boiled beneath the impact.
Vale squeezed his eyes shut. 'Is this it?' he thought. 'Can I even come back from being vaporized? Maybe this time… this time it's final.'
But the pain never came.
Instead, the roar of the beam was muffled, blocked.
Vale opened his eyes slowly. The green light was dimming, fractured by something massive between them and the monster. He blinked through the haze, and his jaw fell open.
Spike was gone. In its place, a vast shadow loomed over them, dark, colossal, and shifting. It wasn't just blocking the beam; it was absorbing it.
The creature's form was obscured, but Vale could see the faint shimmer of black scales and the glint of familiar thorns, only now, each one was the size of a spear.
The shadow rippled as the beam faded, and then it stood motionless, towering over them all.
The blood around it steamed. The air trembled.
And Vale realized, with a mix of awe and disbelief.
that the little lizard had become this.
Vale looked up.
He'd known the little lizard could transform, he'd seen the centipede do it once before, but never had he witnessed this one's true form.
For a moment, he couldn't breathe.
Where the small, thorned creature had once stood now towered something far greater. A massive metallic wing unfolded above him, forged from a dark, deep-hued metal that shimmered faintly beneath the pale sky. Smoke curled from its edges, residue from blocking the green beam that should have incinerated them all.
And yet, the creature showed no wounds.
It couldn't even be called a lizard anymore.
Vale's gaze traveled higher, taking in the creature's broad, muscular legs, each one thick with coiled strength. Its body was massive and perfectly proportioned, built for both flight and fury, with four powerful limbs and a chest plated in overlapping black scales that glinted like obsidian. Its head was sharp and angular, crowned with six majestic horns that swept backward like spears of steel.
Vale turned to look behind it, and his eyes widened even further.
A tail, long, sleek, and endless, stretched out across the crimson sea, vanishing into the horizon.
For a moment, his mind could not process it.
Then the creature, the dragon, let out a deafening roar.
The sound tore through the air like the sky itself was breaking apart. Waves erupted across the blood ocean, and even the distant obsidian mountains seemed to tremble. The green creature that had attacked them screamed in agony, its body convulsing under the sheer pressure of the sound.
But Vale… Vale felt something else entirely.
Relief.
Just as with the centipede's transformation, that roar filled him with a strange sense of safety, like a long-forgotten promise whispered through the chaos.
And then, something even more breathtaking occurred.
The dragon's entire body began to glow.
Between every plate of its metallic scales, a brilliant navy-blue light pulsed to life, piercing through the red fog and illuminating the bloody waves beneath them. The glow intensified, a living beacon that cut through the despair of this world.
Then Vale saw it, a brighter, condensed light forming inside the dragon's mouth.
He couldn't help but laugh softly, awe in his voice. "Of course… it's a dragon, after all."
A moment later, the dragon unleashed its fury.
A single, devastating beam of concentrated blue energy erupted from its jaws, tearing through the air with unimaginable force. The green monster tried to move, but it was already too late. Its body, riddled with spikes and crippled by wounds, couldn't react fast enough.
The beam struck.
The impact was blinding. In an instant, all four of the creature's right limbs were erased, not burned or severed, but completely obliterated. The remains of its body crumpled into the sea, splashing waves of green and red into the air.
Vale exhaled, lowering his sword slightly. "Guess that's that."
But the words froze in his throat.
Across the horizon, dark stains appeared against the obsidian mountains. Four of them.
"You have got to be kidding me," Vale muttered.
From behind the jagged peaks, four more lizard-like monsters emerged, identical in shape to the first but varying in color, emerald, rust-red, deep violet, and gray. They moved fast, bounding down the mountain with terrifying speed toward the fallen creature.
Vale watched as they reached it, circling their wounded kin like vultures. But then something strange happened, the wounded monster's flesh began to move.
"What the hell…" Vale whispered.
The stumps where its limbs had been suddenly twisted and tore open. Veins bulged, and with a grotesque snap, new limbs burst forth, fresh and pulsing, covered in glistening black scales. The creature stood again, trembling but alive.
"Why won't these things ever stay dead?" Vale hissed, tightening his grip on his weapon.
Above him, the dragon let out a low, guttural growl. Its navy light flickered and then, to Vale's disbelief, its massive frame began to shrink. Metallic plates folded into one another, horns receding, wings collapsing inward until, within seconds, the mighty dragon was gone.
In its place, the small, black, thorned lizard crouched once again, tail flicking lazily.
Vale gawked. "Wait, what? Why are you transforming back now? These guys are pack hunters! If you go small now, we'll die, you litt....."
"Shhh."
Vale stopped mid-sentence.
The chained man was sitting beside him, one finger raised before his mask. He pointed silently toward the obsidian mountain range.
Vale followed his gaze.
The four monsters had reached their companion and were no longer fighting. Instead, they had all turned in the same direction, staring toward the far edge of the mountains.
At first, Vale saw nothing. Then, faintly, something began to move.
Mist.
A low, silvery fog rolled down the mountainside, slow but deliberate, spreading like the breath of something ancient. The air grew heavier. The blood sea itself seemed to hold its breath.
The five monsters froze in unison, eyes locked on that creeping haze.
And then
A sound unlike anything Vale had ever heard tore through the stillness.
It wasn't a roar.
It was a declaration.
Something colossal stirred within that mist, something older, deeper, and infinitely more dangerous.
The obsidian peaks trembled. The black suns dimmed slightly.
Whatever lived inside that fog…
was hunting.