The celestial chain coiled tighter around the corrupted avian hybrid's wing joint, the metallic links screaming under immense physical tension.
Above the muddy hollow, the eight-shard bird shrieked in deafening rage, its serrated beak snapping inches from the radiant aura shielding Hajin's chest.
Black feathers, coated in viscous necrotic mucus, rained down onto the scorched loam as the beast violently flapped its uninjured wing to break free.
The putrid stench of decaying marrow billowed from the creature's hollow bones, fouling the air with every desperate thrash of its mangled pinions.
Hajin stood firmly rooted among the ancient oak roots, his feet sinking deep into the churned mire as he bore the creature's full downward weight.
His broken right arm remained locked securely inside its splint, bound against his ribs by sturdy leather ties that kept the fractured bone completely immobile.
