For a moment, there was only silence.
Then a shadow moved.
The Krell Alpha stepped out of the crater.
His armor was scorched but still intact.
His eyes glowed brighter than before, and now he was smiling.
The ground beneath him darkened, not just from his shadow, but from something deeper.
A second layer of shadow peeled away from his feet.
It spread like an oil slick, swallowing light as it crawled across the battlefield.
Then it rose.
Dozens of shadow arms burst from the pool.
Each arm shifted into a different weapon, like glaives, chains, whips, and sickles, morphing in real time.
The magus narrowed his eyes under the hood.
His cloak billowed as the pressure in the cavern thickened.
"Oh?
So you can do this too?" he asked.
The Krell Alpha did not answer.
He charged.
The wave of shadow surged ahead of him like a living tide.
Blades lashed out from every angle, coming from the walls, the floor, and even from mid-air.
The magus raised one hand.
