Cyrus Veyra didn't wait.
The moment his boots scraped the cracked pavement, his killing intent bloomed like a wildfire. His palm ignited with crackling Verdant Blaze Essence, a rare hybrid of fire and life that burned and regenerated at the same time.
He thrust his hand forward.
A lance of green fire surged.
And Drax… didn't move.
The flame crashed into his chest point-blank — an attack strong enough to vaporize a truck engine — and Drax simply tilted his head, watching the flare dance across his coat.
It burned against him…
…and then flickered out like a candle snuffed between fingers.
Cyrus blinked.
"What—?"
Drax finally exhaled, brushing a small ember off his sleeve.
"You finished?"
No anger.
No shock.
Just boredom.
Cyrus roared and lunged again, flame blooming around his fists. This time the rogue aimed for Drax's throat, then heart, then skull — a rapid three-strike combo.
The first hit Drax had allowed.
These?
These he didn't.
Drax flowed backward, each motion smooth and almost lazy — a subtle sway, a shoulder turn, a shift of weight — and Cyrus's punches carved through empty air.
His eyes widened.
"Y-You weren't moving like this a second ago—!"
Drax didn't answer.
His eyes lifted, cold and pale and tired, as if Cyrus wasn't a threat… just an annoyance.
"Abyssal Combat: First Principle… Adapt."
He stepped forward.
And the fight began.
Cyrus's inner world flared behind him — a phantom mirage:
A burning forest in eternal daylight, a colossal stag made of living fire standing as the core. His essence wrapped his body like a green inferno.
Verdant Blaze Essence users were nightmares — regeneration + fire = monsters that refused to die.
His voice cracked with murderous energy.
"You're just a kid with a pretty coat! Why the hell is there a bounty on you?! Who the hell are you?!"
Drax didn't answer.
He vanished.
A single step — Abyssal Drift — and he was behind Cyrus.
His heel hammered down.
Cyrus barely threw his arms up.
The impact split the street, shockwaves shattering storefront windows.
Drax stood over him as if studying prey.
"You regenerate," Drax murmured.
"Good. Makes this easier."
Cyrus spat blood that immediately ignited into green fire.
"You think you can keep up—?!"
His wounds sealed. His strength doubled. His essence flared so hard the street trembled.
But Drax's presence… only grew heavier.
Abyssal Essence wasn't fire, or ice, or lightning.
It was dominion.
It was devouring.
It was adaptation without limit.
Every fight Drax entered, his inner world evolved, adjusting to the threat like a beast sharpening its teeth mid-battle. Every blow he took taught him something. Every aura he touched fed him energy.
While Cyrus's inner world healed and burned…
Drax's absorbed, grew, and rewrote him.
Before, Drax had been simply powerful.
Now he was becoming terrifying.
Cyrus's regeneration spiked — antlers of living flame sprouting from his back as his aura burst.
"VERDANT FOREST ASCENSION!"
The street transformed. Trees of emerald flame erupted around them, roots lashing like whips.
A giant stag formed behind Cyrus — 8 meters tall, eyes burning white.
Cyrus pointed at Drax.
"DIE—!"
The forest charged.
Drax raised one finger.
Abyss spread out from him like ink in water — silent, soft, inevitable.
Everything it touched dimmed.
Trees of flame shriveled into cinders.
The stag stumbled, its body peeling apart into smoke.
The ground darkened beneath him, as though falling under his ownership.
Cyrus stopped cold.
"What— what is that—?!"
Drax finally answered.
"My inner world," he said quietly, "is the Abyss. And everything in the Abyss… belongs to me."
Drax extended his hand.
Space rippled.
A blade slid into reality — the Abyssal World forging it from its own essence. Black metal with faint violet veins, humming with hunger.
He leveled it at Cyrus.
"This blade ignores defenses," Drax said simply. "It feeds while it cuts."
Then he stepped once.
And the fight ended.
A black arc split the air — not wide, not dramatic, just impossibly heavy.
Cyrus screamed as the cut passed through him.
Not his body — his inner world.
His flaming stag cracked down the middle.
His essence bled out of him, pouring into Drax like a river pulled by gravity.
Cyrus collapsed to his knees, trembling uncontrollably.
"H-How… how can a kid have this…? What are you…?"
Drax's eyes lowered, unreadable.
"I'm hungry."
He placed his hand over Cyrus's chest.
Abyssal Devour.
Essence tore from Cyrus like threads pulled from cloth. His Verdant Blaze began to unravel.
"No—! STOP! PLEASE—!"
Drax leaned closer, whispering into the rogue's ear:
"You came to collect a bounty.
You should've checked the price."
The last of Cyrus's inner world shattered.
The rogue fell silent.
And the Abyss grew.
Drax stood over the corpse, exhaling slowly.
Not tired.
Not satisfied.
Just calculating.
"Someone put a bounty on me. That means more are coming."
His fingers tightened around the Abyssal blade.
"Good."
His shadow stretched unnaturally across the street, swallowing the last embers of Cyrus's forest.
"Let them."