The black tentacles spread further from Ren's position. Purplish darkness expanding its territory and those weird growths appearing on more corpses.
Energy flowing back toward him in a faster continuous stream.
He was becoming a node. A focal point… A thing that drained everything around it and grew stronger through consumption. Converting death into power in a cycle that would continue until nothing remained except Ren and the corruption wrapping him.
His mana signature was enormous now…
Overwhelming.
Approaching levels that shouldn't be possible for Gold rank.
But it wasn't pure power. It wasn't clean, just corruption masquerading as strength.
And it was consuming him. Less human with each passing moment…
Less Ren.
Less anything except violence, hunger and darkness.
The tamers nearby were starting to notice too.
Starting to back away.
Starting to look at Ren with fear rather than hope and recognizing that something was wrong even if they didn't understand what.
