The crystal cage trembled under the pressure of his shifting form.
Cracks splintered outward, webbing across its surface like lightning streaking through a storm-darkened sky.
Baelon’s head whipped in his direction. His smirk faltered.
Azazel’s mouth twisted into something that no longer belonged to a man.
His monstrous inner beast awoke.
With a final, earsplitting crack, the crystalline prison exploded outward. Shards sprayed in every direction, and from the wreckage, something massive and inhuman emerged.
Azazel’s inner beast was no longer bound.
He wasfree.
Azazel desperately tried to cling to the last thread of sanity as the beast within him tore free. But any control he had ended in a violent rupture—sinew snapping, bones warping, as his mind split in two. His half, that of the man, was shoved into the back seat, reduced to a passenger inside his own skin. The new reality rattled him deeper than any danger he’d ever faced before. The other? A hulking predator, drunk with rage and instinct. His entire being was bombarded with feral, raw fury—along with the sickening euphoria of anticipating the upcoming battle.
His creature turned to the haunting sight of Toni lying motionless on the cracked crystal floor. The sight of her still, unmoving figure caused his monster to roar so loud, it ripped through the chamber and caused the walls and floor to crack and splinter. The Beast drew himself up, his gigantic form that towering over Baelon. A flash of movement caught his eye.
He turned—then froze. The mirrored wall reflected a monster forged of muscle and shadow, a creature carved from a nightmare of rage and ancient instinct. Gone were his human features, replaced by something so untamed and primal—a terrifying transformation of ultimate power that radiated from him.
Obsidian-like scales covered his hulking frame, each plate dark and gleaming with a preternatural sheen that seemed to drink in the light. Faint crimson veins pulsed beneath the surface, the glow spreading in rhythmic waves that hinted at something vile thrumming in his core. Corded muscles rippled beneath the armor of scales with every predatory shift of his stance. His forelimbs—massive and knotted with sinew—ended in claws of blackened steel, each curved talon longer than a dagger and honed to a killing edge. One flex of those monstrous hands promised the power to rend through anything he wished as if it were parchment, and the way they gouged furrows into the crystal floor left no doubt he would.
Gone was the quiet contemplation. In its place was a being made up of wild, frantic, primitive energy that strengthened every nerve, every muscle. His eyes now burned with an eerie, golden fire—eyes that promised utter destruction.
Baelon raised a crystalline arm in defense, but he was too late.
Without a thought, The Beast unleased Azazel’s psychic energy, freezing the Krystalii in place before his claws slashed through Baelon’s chest. He cut deep into the apatite structure of the Krystalii’s body.
A fractured, resonant scream erupted from the tyrant as he staggered backward. Navy-blue energy spilled from the wounds, oozing from him like smoldering lava.
The Beast did not relent. He barreled into Baelon with crushing force, driving the alien overlord onto the shattered remains of the crystal cage littered on the floor.
Baelon twisted, and his jagged fingers sparkled with psychic energy. He lashed out with a concussive blast meant to throw The Beast off-balance.
The air trembled, the force enough to send debris spiraling outward in all directions.
The Beast absorbed the impact as the Krystalii power saturated every cell of his body. Snarling, he clamped one massive, clawed paw around Baelon’s throat, lifting the despot off the ground.
The Krystalii’s crystalline form flickered, his pulsating glow erratic as if he fought to restore himself.
But The Beast wouldn’t allow that to happen. Holding fast to the struggling alien, he brought the helpless tyrant to the end of his snout and howled with a rumbling roar.
The once-omnipotent alien now faced the one thing Azazel had spent centuries restraining. Caught in his impenetrable grip.
With a satisfied sneer, The Beast squeezed, and his claws pierced the fragile crystalline structure of Baelon’s throat.
A sickening crack echoed around the chamber as Baelon clawed at The Beast’s grip, his fingers scraping against obsidian flesh. Not that it did any good. He found no purchase.
Baelon’s eyes flickered as rage and something dangerously close to fear reflected in their crystalline depths.
The Beast bared his set of double-rowed fangs and brought the Krystalii closer.
“Look who’s helpless now,dalkhu.” The heavy words came from deep within him.
With a single, devastating motion, he hurled Baelon across the chamber.
The Krystalii’s body struck the wall with a thunderous impact, shattering it into a kaleidoscope of splintered crystals. Diverse colors of blue energy crackled through Baelon’s form, flickering like a dying star.
