Chapter 377: Killing the Beast
He felt more power, but beyond that was also pain. It was clear that his body was struggling to accommodate its new power, but Zyren ignored the pain as he moved.
Faster than before—faster than the beast thought was possible—he saw no signs of Zyren until he appeared directly in front of it and pounced hard enough to drive it straight into the ground.
Something so huge being slammed into the earth created destruction all on its own. The ground cracked outward in violent fractures, dust and debris erupting into the air. The sounds of the crash and bones breaking echoed through the battlefield even as Zyren jumped back, landing lightly on the ground completely fine.
The only exception were his eyes, which were unlike before. No longer red, they had shifted into a reddish kind of gold that seemed to glow faintly beneath the smoke-filled sky.
The Zygon beast instantly tried to get off the ground with all the power it could muster, more than aware that staying down was one of the fastest ways it could possibly die.
As quickly as it could, it forced itself up, morphing into a smaller size that could move faster—or at least just as fast—as it had seen Zyren move. A speed that had already managed to put enough fear into its very soul.
But it wasn’t like Zyren was going to stand around and allow it to recover. Not after all he had to do to drop it to the ground.
With speeds greater than the ones he had used before, Zyren attacked, and this time it was with a power that matched his newfound velocity. He punched right at the beast, who growled in response, doing its best to avoid Zyren and failing at it.
It managed to jump back onto its feet a moment before Zyren knocked it flat on its back again. At that point, the difference in strength was obvious—a fact that stunned the beast who had previously believed them to be equally matched.
It didn’t get a moment of reprieve. Zyren continued to launch punches at it that seemed to dissolve its insides even as its outer skin continued to heal. Each strike landed with a sickening crack, shockwaves rippling outward, the air itself trembling under the force.
Seeing that its imminent destruction was at hand, it realized that if it didn’t do something drastic, it would die—and no one would be able to save it.
As fast as it could, using every ounce of its power and whatever was left of the core in its body, it opened its mouth and launched flames at Zyren.
A proud smirk curled across its lips as it did so, confident that with the heat from its flames it would have no problem burning Zyren half into ashes.
But the flames had just left its mouth when its eyes widened in horror, watching Zyren’s arm shoot straight through the inferno and into its jaws, crushing them violently through the flames.
It barely managed to howl in pain as it staggered backward, expecting to see Zyren’s arm badly injured.
Instead, it saw that he had done nothing more than burn his clothes.
His skin looked pristine. Smooth. Untouched.
Whatever regeneration power the Zygon beast thought it had was clearly nothing compared to what Zyren displayed. It couldn’t even catch sight of a wound before Zyren’s skin completely healed itself.
The Zygon leader was still struggling to process what it had seen when Zyren attacked again, and this time it was with an unmistakable intent to kill.
He touched it—and the oil already coating its skin ignited instantly. Flames roared to life around its body as it howled and growled in agony.
Zyren did not let up, his eyes blazing with nothing but the need to see it completely dead.
But would a creature who had lived so long allow itself to be killed so easily?
It opened its mouth again to unleash more flames, but what came out might as well have been a breeze of fresh air. Zyren continued to attack relentlessly, ignoring the burning of his clothes as fabric turned to ash around him.
He tore into it with his bare hands, ripping its wings apart as the beast scrambled backward desperately, claws digging trenches into the broken earth.
At that point, all it sought was an opportunity to escape. Pride no longer masked the terror creeping into its mind. It howled in pain, the thread of fear growing thicker, heavier, until it could no longer ignore it.
Zyren continued to attack.
And soon, it became painfully obvious.
It was going to die.
I can’t die! I refuse to die!
Too prideful to accept such an end, it thrashed and clawed with all its remaining strength even as it felt its body being crushed and pounded into paste. Bone splintered. Flesh tore. The once-mighty Zygon leader was reduced to something barely recognizable beneath Zyren’s assault.
Zyren, on the other hand, was painfully aware that he couldn’t keep up this new state of his body for long.
It was a temporary adjustment—one he needed to use and stabilize before it turned into something far more permanent and destructive.
He looked normal on the outside, aside from the burning remnants of his clothes and those golden-red eyes. But internally, his body was slowly becoming a battlefield.
His previously balanced bloodlines were now fighting viciously for control—especially his werewolf bloodline, which he had suppressed for years.
It was no longer content to remain dormant.
Aware of the dire consequences that would occur if he prolonged the fight longer than his body could handle, Zyren made his decision.
The beast was already burning.
The only thing left to do was finish it.
He stepped forward without hesitation, smashing its head into the ground repeatedly until bone and skull gave way. The earth cratered beneath them as he reduced it to pulp.
Then, with painstaking effort, ignoring the tremor beginning to spread through his own muscles, he reached into its chest.
"Let me go and I’ll disappear!" it began to speak, voice cracking, desperate.
But it might as well have been speaking to the wind.
Zyren focused completely on killing it.
"Let me go! I’ll—" it tried again, prepared to promise anything and everything.
It paused.
Realizing.
No matter what it said, Zyren wasn’t going to listen. He wasn’t going to stop until it was completely dead and gone.
That realization pissed it off even more than the pain.
"You’ll regret this!" it screamed at the top of its lungs.
"I’ll make you regret this!" it swore, fury lacing its voice.
But Zyren did not react. It was as if he couldn’t even hear the words.
The beast howled and growled, fighting and clawing at Zyren with every ounce of strength left in its ruined body, only to discover what it had already feared.
It was a lost cause.
With one final, brutal motion, Zyren ripped off its head.
Then, more importantly, he tore its core straight out of its chest.
The moment the core left its body, the beast went limp. The flames consuming it flickered weakly before dying down. Its massive form collapsed into lifeless ruin.
It wasn’t until Zyren was absolutely certain that life had completely left it that he finally stopped moving.
He froze.
Completely still.
The golden-red glow in his eyes flickered faintly as he shifted his focus inward.
He tried to make his vampire bloodline reassert dominance like it had always done before. He forced his breathing to steady, forced his energy to settle.
But even after a long moment, a slow frown crept onto his face.
Because it soon became painfully clear.
Returning balance to his body would not be as simple as he had previously thought.
