The darkness shifted.
Sothing stepped out from the hallway—a shape made of tal, but not forged by any normal hands. Its body looked like flowing liquid steel, constantly shifting and rearranging itself. Plates of black alloy slid over each other like ripples in water, forming arms, legs, and a head that had no face.
Asher stared at it, unimpressed.
"...Great," he muttered. "First demons. Then Voiders. And now a walking piece of liquid tal."
The creature didn’t speak. Its entire body reflected him like a distorted mirror.
Asher tilted his head.
"What are you supposed to be? A failed construct? Or did so Outer God get bored and start building toys?"
The tal creature moved for the first ti. Its steps were slow but heavy, the ground dents forming under each footstep.
Then it spoke—but not with a normal voice.
Its words vibrated directly through the tal of the room.
"You feel different," it said. "You have evolved."
Asher raised an eyebrow.
"I evolved? Since when?"
"You carry power beyond your stage," the creature said. "I can sense it."
Asher clicked his tongue.
"So you can talk. That’s already better than the Voider."
He took a step forward, eyes sharp.
"And judging from your aura... you’re a higher-being type, right?"
The creature’s body rippled, tal plates shifting again as its presence filled the chamber.
"I stand in the Third Stage of higher beings," it said. "You... are only at the second."
The tal creature lifted an arm, its forearm splitting open and forming a blade of compressed alloy.
"In a true realm of higher entities, that difference is the sa as a continent and a grain of sand."
Asher didn’t react.
He simply rolled one shoulder.
"Is that supposed to scare ?"
The creature’s alloy rippled like boiling water.
"You do not understand. A Third Stage being can erase hundreds of the 2nd stage quiet easily. That is what we are."
Asher raised a hand and pointed casually at the creature.
"And yet... you’re standing in front of ."
The tal thing paused.
Asher exhaled.
"You’re big, you’re loud, and you’re shiny. Fine. Let’s do this."
He stepped forward.
The tal creature’s core glowed like molten steel.
"You will be broken," it said.
Asher cracked his knuckles once.
"Get in line."
The tal creature charged.
And the next fight began.
The tal creature closed the distance instantly.
Its body stretched forward like liquid steel turning into a spear. The blade-arm aid straight for Asher’s chest.
Asher blocked with his forearm.
The impact threw sparks across the chamber. The force behind the hit was massive—enough to crush mountains—but Asher held his ground.
The tal creature twisted its arm, trying to drill through his guard. Asher pushed it aside and punched forward.
His fist hit the creature’s chest.
A shockwave burst out, shaking the entire arena, but the tal only dented slightly before reshaping itself.
"Self-repair," Asher muttered. "Annoying."
The creature responded by splitting both arms into multiple blades—eight in total. They whipped toward Asher at high speed from every angle.
Asher activated his Sanguine Supre’s First Vein.
Crimson Initiate.
Red energy wrapped around his arms and legs.
The blades hit him and shattered instantly.
He stepped in and kicked the creature in the stomach. The tal folded inward, but again reford almost imdiately.
The creature spoke as it attacked.
"You cannot destroy what reforms endlessly."
It reshaped its torso into a cannon-shape. A beam of concentrated tal energy fired at Asher, lting the ground as it passed.
Asher didn’t dodge.
He expanded his aura.
The beam hit the aura and broke apart like water hitting a wall.
Asher raised his voice.
"You said Third Stage can erase hundreds of Second Stage, right?"
"Yes," the creature answered.
Asher appeared in its face and grabbed its head.
"Let’s test that."
He smashed the creature into the floor. The tal body flattened into a crater.
But again, it reford—this ti faster, and sharper.
The creature’s voice deepened.
"Adaptive evolution... complete."
Spikes shot out of its back like missiles. Dozens launched at Asher.
He activated the Second Vein.
Bloodlit Dominion.
The air turned red around him. Every spike that reached him lted in mid-air, turned into dust, and fell to the ground.
The creature froze for a mont.
"Your power is... unstable. It does not match Second Stage."
Asher cracked his neck.
"It doesn’t have to. It just needs to kill you."
He blitzed forward.
The creature reacted by liquefying completely, its body dropping into a pool of molten tal that spread across the floor. The tal rose up behind Asher and ford a giant blade aiming to cleave him in half.
Asher clenched his hand.
His aura exploded outward in a do, solidifying the tal for a split second—long enough for him to punch through it.
A hole blew clean through the creature’s body.
But the tal imdiately pulled itself back together.
The creature’s voice echoed from every direction.
"I am endless. You cannot kill tal that has no core."
Asher frowned.
"No core, huh? Then let’s make one."
He raised his hand and focused. His veins glowed red. His aura compressed into a thin point at his fingertip.
A pure, sharp pulse of Sanguine Supre energy gathered there.
"Blood Forge."
Asher pointed at the swirling mass of tal.
A tiny red spark shot out.
The spark hit the liquid tal body and forced it into a solid shape instantly, trapping its shifting ability.
The creature froze.
"What... did you—"
Asher didn’t let it finish.
He appeared above it and slamd his foot down with all his aura and both Sanguine Veins active.
The impact shattered the tal creature’s entire body into hundreds of pieces.
The fragnts tried to regenerate...
...but the Blood Forge mark on them burned red, preventing any movent.
The creature let out a distorted scream as each fragnt overheated.
Asher stepped forward and clenched his fist.
"All your evolution, and you still break."
He snapped his fingers.
Every fragnt detonated at once, the arena shaking as the creature’s existence was erased in a wave of red light and molten sparks.
Silence returned.
Asher dusted off his hands.
"Third Stage, huh? Not bad."
He looked ahead, toward the deepest tunnel of the fortress.
"But whoever created you... is still inside."
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