BOOM—
The energy sphere tore through the air, trailing a golden tail of fire as it slammed into the fortress.
The explosion ripped the sky open. The shockwave snapped Bloodfiend Lord's cloak like a banner in a storm. His eyes narrowed, the chill in them sharp enough to cut steel.
"Bold," he growled.
Blood-red flames surged from his body, coalescing into a towering phantom—his power made flesh: the Bloodfiend Phantom.
"If you won't give me your secret," he hissed, voice like blades scraping metal, "then I'll peel your soul apart myself. Slowly. Carefully."
The world convulsed.
Lightning and bloodfire collided in midair, twisting into a storm of annihilation. Space itself tore like fabric, unraveling in jagged, collapsing folds.
And still, Ethan stood his ground.
His eyes burned with a feverish light, just shy of madness. The volatile fusion of Fairy light and Bloodfiend energy inside him surged out of control—but it didn't destroy him. It fed him. It devoured and transformed.
