Orion’s hand fell to his side, his shoulders loosening in a deceptively casual shake.

  But his gaze was anything but relaxed. Under the pale light rippling from the surface of the sea, his anthracite eyes looked even darker than usual—cold, unwavering.

  "The hardest part was removing the Valkyrie’s soul from your body. Now that it’s done, I have no qualms about revealing my hand."

  Facing a creature as massive as Malamiris’ true form would have brought most to their knees—even without accounting for her mind-corrupting aura.

  The mighty wolf sat calmly beside Orion, its eyes glowing with a deep, abyssal light that mirrored the madness burning within Malamiris herself.

  "Your first mistake," Orion said, his voice quiet but sharp as a blade, "was wishing to devour those I protect."

  Dark tendrils erupted from the seafloor, coiling around the monstrous length of the Devourer’s body and pinning her in place.

  "H-How!?"

  Malamiris thrashed, wrenching her pincers free of the tendrils, but the coils gripped her tail and torso with unrelenting force, locking down her movements.

  "Your second mistake," Orion continued, stepping forward as Sirius prowled at his side, "was believing yourself above all other life."

  The wolf’s fur flowed like liquid shadow through the water, the primordial darkness in his veins pulsing outward in an aura of death so heavy it smothered every sense.

  Each step cracked the shattered cathedral tiles beneath his paws. Then Sirius arched his back and loosed a bone-chilling howl.

  Ripples of oppressive power radiated outward in concentric waves, warping the currents in perfect, eerie patterns.

  The howl carried more than sound—it carried terror.

  For an instant, Malamiris froze, her thoughts drowned by a primal fear she had never known.

  But only for an instant.

  Her countless eyes darted toward Orion, and her awful maw gaped wide.

  "I have tasted fear for the first time," she hissed.

  One eye shifted to her missing pincer. Sickening cracks and tearing sounds echoed as bone and chitin regenerated. The sound of sinew snapping and plates grinding back into place made the water itself tremble as the massive claw sprouted anew.

  "This twisted feeling… it should never have entered my soul. I am the one who brings fear."

  Her tail writhed violently, tearing free from the dark tendrils that bound it.

  "Pitiful human. It is time you learn your place."

  Malamiris leaned in, her monstrous body coiling and flexing like a predator ready to strike.

  "Human?"

  Orion’s tone hardened, edged with something darker.

  "So, I’m a human to you? How quaint."

  He clapped his hands once, the sound sharp, and a dry smile curved his lips.

  Yet beneath the smile, his eyes held a storm.

  "I’ve been called human many times. And yes, my existence is close to theirs.

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  But I would have expected a so-called higher being to tell the difference between two distinct races."

  A bubbling fury began to rise in his chest, sharpening his words.

  "Should I care for an inferior being’s race? One that will soon be my food? You think this pathetic, humiliating attempt at destroying me—Malamiris, Master of Insanity—would make me question my actions?"

  Her shadow twisted unnaturally on the seabed, eyes blooming within its darkness as if madness itself had taken shape.

  "You’ve committed four sins I will never forgive:

  Stealing the appearance I liked.

  Consuming the prey I had been savoring.

  Dragging my true form into this wretched world again.

  And daring—daring—to scar this body."

  With a screech like tearing metal, countless pincers slammed down, impaling the ground around Orion and Sirius in an earth-shaking impact.

  "Sins? You’re the one speaking of sins? What a joke."

  Orion and Sirius shot upward, water churning violently in their wake as they leapt onto conjured platforms of darkness, high above the monstrous Devourer.

  From below, a shadow streaked toward them—one of her Ekhidnas lunging with claws bared.

  Without even glancing, Orion extended a hand and caught the creature by its throat.

  "Your creations…"

  He held the thrashing beast before him, his eyes still fixed on the foaming chaos where Malamiris’ tail lashed.

  "These beings—once human—stripped of thought, of will, of life.

  If that isn’t a sin, then I am a saint."

  Darkness flared from his palm, devouring the Ekhidna’s head in a silent implosion. The rest of its body fell limp, slipping from his grasp to sink into the sea below.

  "You don’t even understand what a sin is."

  The water roiled violently as Malamiris exploded from the foam, leaping upward with her gaping maw. She caught the falling Ekhidna’s corpse and crushed it to pulp in her jagged mandibles.

  "Truly, the mark of a beast with no mind of its own," Orion muttered.

  He and Sirius split in opposite directions, dodging her enormous head and snapping claws.

  As Malamiris lunged higher toward the surface, they pursued in twin streaks of darkness, shockwaves exploding behind each step.

  "Where are you running? Back to the sky?"

  But before she could reach it, Orion and Sirius materialized in her path.

  A dark sphere formed in Orion’s hand. As he closed his fist, the energy fused into his arm, magnifying his strength.

  Sirius’ once-fluffy tail hardened to an unyielding blade, and he spun with lethal force.

  Together, man and wolf struck—Orion’s fist and Sirius’ tail crashing into Malamiris in perfect unison.

  The resulting shockwave reverberated like a cannon blast, and the Devourer’s massive form plummeted back to the ocean floor, smashing into the ruins with enough force to carve a deep crater.

  "I’ve had enough of this shroud."

  Orion flicked his wrist, void magic erasing the swirling debris around them, revealing the crashed Malamiris.

  "Sirius."

  The wolf appeared at his side, eyes locked on the recovering Devourer.

  "I want a precise, controlled blast. We can’t risk harming Tetra or the others."

  In Orion’s outstretched hand, three massive orbs materialized, orbiting an unseen center. Their rotation quickened, threads of dark energy sparking between them.

  Sirius opened his jaws wide, drawing in power for his own strike.

  Within moments, they were ready.

  "Three…"

  The orbs spun faster, dragging currents into a violent vortex. Arcs of shadow danced in rhythmic pulses, feeding the growing storm.

  "Two…"

  Sirius’ chest expanded as he swallowed a concentrated sphere of darkness and inhaled deeply.

  "One…"

  Man and wolf braced.

  A devastating, unreasonably powerful attack was about to be unleashed.

  "Ebonflare!"

  Orion snapped his fingers.

  Space warped. Taygeta’s shape emerged—a dark crossbow manifesting from the void. All of the accumulated power funneled into its loaded bolt.

  At the same instant, Sirius released a colossal breath of shadowfire that ignited even underwater.

  Their combined attack struck like a lightning bolt—instantaneous, unavoidable.

  From afar, Tetra, Henrietta, and Marie saw only a blinding streak of black fire tearing down from the heavens.

  Three seconds later, the world reacted.

  A monstrous updraft of abyssal flame erupted, devouring everything in a perfect circle around Malamiris.

  The darkness within the fire writhed like hands, clawing at the Devourer as though to drag her into the deepest pit of damnation.

  Fire scorched her chitinous plates, while shadows lashed and tore as if ripping out her very soul.

  Nothing—no screams, no sound of fire—escaped the void that sealed the attack’s perimeter.

  Anything caught in the blast turned darker than charcoal, crumbling into nothingness without even leaving ash.

  Only Orion could hear the sounds inside.

  Bones splintering.

  The Devourer’s hideous, maddened shrieks.

  He exhaled slowly, his expression calm.

  I’ll never get used to this.

  Maybe that’s what keeps me from becoming a monster.

  His gaze shifted to the shimmering dragon, where a pink-haired woman stared in shock at the carnage. Her mouth hung open at the apocalyptic scene unfolding below.

  Orion smiled faintly at the sight of his wife’s frozen expression before turning serious again.

  If only this were enough to kill a Devourer.

  Through the fire, Malamiris rose.

  Her countless eyes blazed with hatred. Madness and depravity oozed from every inch of her towering form.

  "You… You dare…" Her voice, low and resonant, made the ocean itself tremble with hatred.