The sky cracked again—not with thunder, but the pressure of two legendary warriors surging forward.
Kael and Kaito moved in perfect synchrony, one step ahead of the other.
Their blades gleamed—Kael's forged from the heart of an Ilyrian relic, Kaito's glowing with crimson Will energy passed through their bloodline.
"Together," Kael growled.
"Always," Kaito replied.
In a blur, they shot toward the God Beast—a celestial juggernaut whose presence warped the very air around it. It turned to face them just in time for Kael to slash through its midsection in a blinding arc, followed instantly by Kaito leaping over and cleaving clean through its massive arm.
The beast let out a shriek that bent the skies, its severed limb crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom.
But their victory was short-lived.
The severed arm twitched—and then began to writhe. Before their eyes, its stump coiled like a serpent, muscles twisting unnaturally as it regenerated into a snake-like limb, even larger and more menacing than before.
The serpent-arm snapped toward them with terrifying speed.
Kael parried it with his blade, but the force sent him sliding backward, his boots grinding against the earth. Kaito flipped over it, barely dodging the strike as it lashed out again and again like a hydra's fury.
"It's adapting!" Kael shouted. "This thing doesn't just regenerate—it evolves while doing it!"
From the distance, Azephon watched grimly. "It's using Ilyrian regeneration patterns—but mutated. That arm is now alive… a creature of its own."
Liora's expression darkened. "It's beginning."
Kaito's eyes blazed red with ancient power as he landed beside Kael. "If it can evolve… then we'll just have to strike faster than it can change."
The brothers stood shoulder to shoulder—one forged by Ilyrian fate, the other by human spirit and legend.
The beast raised its serpent-limb again.
This was only the beginning.