"Three... two... one..."
In the earpiece, Glitch's voice faltered and died. The electric buzz of the fluorescent lamps ceased, swallowed by the absolute pitch black of the underground.
"NOW!"
There was no search for switches. Only pure will.
A mental command fired toward the right shoulder. The response didn't illuminate the darkness; it beat it. Like a magnesium flare detonated at the bottom of the ocean, the "Aegis" exploded in gold, washing the dirty concrete with divine radiation.
The effect was physical. Living shadows hissed and recoiled like cockroaches exposed to the sun. Dozens of eyes—human and bestial—squinted against the sudden brightness.
"There!" The roar of a cultist guard broke the stupor.
"Forget the guards!" The Tamer's voice cut through the chaos, icy, immune to the momentary blindness. "Kill the lantern."
From the surgical table, the bonds broke. The "Alpha Beast" didn't run; it flowed across the floor, a liquid mass of distorted muscles and concentrated hate.
"Come on." The fist of light clashed against the palm of my left hand in an open challenge. "The vet is on duty!"
The creature's leap defied gravity. It wasn't an angry bull; it was a animal on spiritual steroids. The arm of light rose for the block.
WHAM!
The impact was tectonic. Boots tore through the concrete, digging trenches as my body was dragged back three meters. The shield's geometric structure absorbed the claws, but the kinetic energy made every bone in my skeleton vibrate.
"Hold steady!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Marco's shots cracked. Hot lead hit the Beast's thick skin, serving only as an irritation. The monster had a single focus, an obsession with the only thing capable of truly hurting it: my light.
"Is that... all you've got?" Air was missing from my squeezed lungs.
A roar full of static answered. Vacuum jaws closed over the arm of light.
There was no physical pain, but an existential nausea. The energy was being drained, chewed by the entropy of the shadows.
"Pathetic." Calm steps echoed. The Tamer twirled the electric rod, oblivious to the gunfire. "You think Aureus has power here? This is my temple. Pain is the only truth."
The tip of the rod didn't aim at me. The target changed. He pointed to the stacks of cages behind me, where the crying of puppies echoed.
"If I don't use the merchandise... no one does."
At the metal tip, darkness condensed into a black spear, vibrating with malice. The throw was perfect, a straight line of death toward the innocents.
Tactical logic screamed: You are locked in combat. Moving is death. The survival instinct, the law of the jungle, dictated self-preservation. Umbra's way.
But my eyes focused on the trembling snouts through the bars.
No.
Arms aren't lost on cliffs so that innocents can die in filthy basements.
"NOT ON MY WATCH!"
My back turned to the monster trying to kill me. My body spun, abandoning defense, launching itself into the path of the shadow spear.
It wasn't combat. It was sacrifice. Flesh and light offered as a human shield.
Fervor.
The word wasn't thought; it was incinerated into the soul. The will to protect the group, to annul the self for the sake of the other, overflowed. The spiritual "click" resonated, deafening, in the fabric of reality. Now... I understood...
The shadow spear collided with the arm. But there was no impact, nor recoil. There was evaporation.
The light changed. The soft and stable gold collapsed and was reborn. It became white, stellar, furious. The heat, once comforting like a fireplace, became the furnace of a supernova.
Ascension: Circle 2.
Taking advantage of the lowered guard, the Alpha Beast sank its teeth into the shoulder of light at the exact second of evolution.
The smell of burnt flesh flooded the hall instantly.
The creature's howl was not of triumph, but of absolute agony. The shield was no longer a passive barrier; now, it burned the impure upon simple contact.
Imbued with new strength, my body completed the spin.
"GET... AWAY!"
The incandescent arm described a violent arc. A backhand punch.
The connection of the fist of light with the Beast's snout generated a thermal shockwave. Two hundred kilos of monster became irrelevant, thrown across the hall like a flaming ragdoll until they collided with the opposite wall. The monster fell, smoking and motionless.
Silence in the slaughterhouse.
My chest heaved. From my right arm, now a crackling mass of solar sparks, liquid light dripped, hissing as it touched the cold concrete.
My eyes sought the Tamer. On the previously arrogant face, the mask fell, revealing the most primitive human emotion: terror.
"You said pain is the only truth?" The step forward made the room's shadows recoil, terrified by the white radiance. "Well, I think you've never taken a kick from an angry mare."
The fist closed, and the light roared like an industrial torch.
"Let's test your theory."