The corridor reeked of ice and blood. Shattered debris littered the floor: splintered tiles, splintered wood, twisted metal, and pools of water that reflected the flickering firelight. Smoke still coiled along the ceiling, mixing with frost drifting downward from Eleanor's previous attacks.
Patoa groaned, pressing a hand against the jagged wound along his side. His shirt was torn, arm trembling as he pushed himself upright. "Dis… dis no good," he muttered, teeth gritted. "Mi can barely keep di ting staggered."
Eleanor hovered a few meters away, aura cold and radiant. Frost still clung to her arms and hair, shimmering with deadly elegance. She scanned the hallway, eyes narrowing as she adjusted her aim. "Don't come near me. One more misstep and I will freeze you too."
"You think I need protecting?" Patoa spat, voice harsh with pain. "Yuh nuh even know dis monster!"
A screech cut through the air. The boss had recovered partially, its crystalline arm shimmering with lethal energy. It moved like a predator, eyes trained on both of them, snarling as if tasting their fear.
Patoa's fists clenched. "Alright… one more time." He slammed his hands into the floor. The faint glow of his explosion marks flickered as the energy pulsed beneath the tiles. But something was wrong — the frost from Eleanor's attacks disrupted the rhythm, dissipating the energy prematurely.
"Damn it!" he cursed, staggering backward as a shard of ice ripped past him. The creature seized the moment, lunging forward with terrifying speed. Its claws raked across the corridor wall, sending splinters flying.
Eleanor's eyes widened. She extended her palm, launching a wave of frost toward the beast. Ice shards exploded outward in an elegant arc, striking the creature's torso. But instead of staggering, it swiped them aside effortlessly, its crystalline body shrugging off the cold.
"Ugh!" Eleanor hissed, frustration tinting her voice. "It—It absorbs damage faster than I can cast!"
Patoa muttered under his breath, glancing at her. "Yuh tink yuh helpin'? Yuh slowin' mi power, mi girl!"
Eleanor's expression hardened. "I'm trying to stop it, not help it!"
The boss let out a bone-chilling screech and barreled toward them. Patoa activated another mark midair, aiming to explode the moment the creature crossed the threshold. But the ice covering the floor and walls caused the energy to ricochet unpredictably. A small, uncontrolled detonation knocked him off his feet, sending him sliding into a wall. Pain screamed up his side, but he gritted his teeth, struggling to rise.
Eleanor adjusted her stance. Her ice glowed, bright and lethal. "I said stay out of my way." She fired a rapid volley of frost spikes at the boss, each strike precise and deadly. For a moment, it seemed she might stagger it.
Then the corridor floor cracked. The boss twisted in the air, claws slashing through both attack lines. One swipe hit Eleanor's arm, sending frost shards spraying across the corridor, forcing her to leap back. The other barely missed Patoa, cutting deep into the wall behind him.
They were isolated, fractured.
"Focus!" Patoa barked, struggling to his knees. "We nuh have time fi… mess around!"
Eleanor's lips twitched in irritation. "I am focusing! You're the one blowing up the floor like a child throwing tantrums!"
A deep rumble shook the corridor. The creature's chest veins pulsed violently, blue energy radiating outward. Every breath Eliel had taken in the void—the rage, the trauma, the instinct—stirred faintly within him. His consciousness was returning, fragmented and feral, but not yet visible to the world.
The boss roared and leapt again. Patoa braced himself, his aura flaring faintly, while Eleanor summoned a wall of frost midair to block its path. The creature slammed into the ice, shattering the wall with a violent force that sent shards flying like daggers. Both humans were thrown backward, sliding along the frost-covered tiles.
"Patoa!" Eleanor shouted, frost glittering from her hands. "We can't keep going like dis!"
Patoa spat blood. "Yuh think mi nuh know dat?! But we have to!" His gaze flickered toward the debris-strewn floor. The faint shimmer of energy beneath the tiles pulsed irregularly. Somewhere deep in the void, Eliel's instincts stirred at the sight, reacting without conscious thought.
A sharp, visceral pain lanced through him—a phantom sensation from the void. Something primal twisted inside, calling, urging. His fingers twitched. His teeth clenched.
"Something… changed," Patoa murmured, glancing at Eleanor. "Mi feel it. Someting… heavier."
Eleanor's eyes narrowed. "I know that feeling. That's… not human anymore."
The boss roared again, leaping high into the corridor's collapsed ceiling. Dust and frost rained down, giving them only seconds to act. Patoa slammed his hands against the floor, readying a synchronized detonation—but the ice underfoot again disrupted the flow.
The explosion was smaller than intended, scattering frost and rubble. But in that moment, Eliel's essence — fragile, raw, and tethered between death and life — pushed against the boundaries of the void. A faint tremor spread through the corridor, subtle but palpable. His Slasher instinct clawed outward, seeking release, but could not fully manifest yet.
Eleanor noticed it first. Her icy aura flickered in recognition. "Something's wrong… someone's here."
Patoa's eyes widened. "Yuh tink it's—?"
Eliel's consciousness surged in brief, instinctive flashes. He could feel the weight of rage, pain, and instinct pulling him toward the living world. He didn't see or hear, yet his presence vibrated with raw intent.
The monster's attention shifted slightly. Its crystalline arm quivered, as if it sensed a new predator awakening in the shadows.
"Whatever it is," Eleanor muttered, teeth gritted, "it's not human."
Patoa nodded slowly, still on one knee, breath shallow and ragged. "Mi cyaa control mi power… not like dis… someting bigger… coming."
Ice and frost clashed with residual explosions, walls groaning under the pressure. And then, amidst the chaos, a faint, almost imperceptible shadow coalesced at the far end of the corridor.
It pulsed with a violent energy that set the creature on edge. The floor beneath it cracked, frost spreading outward like veins. Even Eleanor's ice felt restrained, bending unnaturally around the unseen presence.
Patoa whispered, voice trembling: "Mi… mi feel it. He's… back."
Eliel's Slasher instincts surged, aching to break free, but still tethered by his incomplete return from the void. His rage, pain, and primal instinct burned quietly, like molten steel beneath ice, ready to erupt.
The monster hissed, crystalline limbs flexing, sensing an unfamiliar predator emerging. Eleanor's eyes widened with alarm. "No… not yet. He's not—"
The corridor, already a ruin of ice, fire, and rubble, seemed to hold its breath. Something deadly was about to step fully into the battlefield, a presence so violent that even the boss hesitated in recognition.
And then… silence.
Not the calm of victory, but the tense pause before a storm.
Eliel's essence hovered at the edge of the world, teetering between life and death, rage and instinct. Every fiber of his being screamed to return, to claim the battlefield with brutal force.
Patoa and Eleanor exchanged a glance, understanding that what was coming next would not be human.
The creature twitched nervously, sensing the shift. Its eyes narrowed, but it could not yet perceive the magnitude of the predator about to awaken.
The calm before the storm stretched, heavy, suffocating.
Somewhere deep in the void, a scream — silent yet resonant — clawed toward the living world.
And the first true hint of Slasher stirred.