Expansion being the price he paid for each large energy investment.
And using lightning during cleanup had been particularly costly in terms of feeding the corruption propagating through his system.
Each technique fed the darkness. Each moment brought him closer to the tipping point where corruption overwhelmed his control completely and left only a beast wearing his face.
He could feel it… The wrongness.
That foreign presence in his cultivation base. The thing that wasn't him making decisions.
And he couldn't stop it.
Could only ride the wave and hope he retained enough self to stop before doing something irreversible.
Ren launched himself more chaotically against the nearest monsters after securing the breach.
Abandonment of control being obvious in how he moved without appropriate consideration of positioning or energy conservation. Violence that was instinctive.
It wasn't defense anymore.
It was just pure and simple brutality. And it was consuming him.
