—Power without control is still just destruction.
Jerry's vision blurred. Blood dripped into his eyes, staining the world red.
He couldn't feel his left arm anymore. His ribs were shattered. His lungs wheezed. Every breath tasted like rust and regret.
Across the ruined courtyard, Malthorin hovered with chilling calm, unscathed, as if Jerry's resistance had been nothing more than an inconvenience.
"You cannot stop entropy," the Hollow Herald whispered inside Jerry's skull. "You are simply delaying the inevitable unraveling."
Jerry spat blood and pushed himself up, hand trembling. I can't die here. Not now. Not when people are still—
A scream pierced the air.
He turned sharply. A group of students, trapped behind a crushed bus. One of the Echospawn beasts had found them—snarling, barbed, and closing fast.
Emily was among them.
Time seemed to freeze.
Her eyes locked with his, wide and filled with terror—but not for herself. She looked at him like she knew.
Knew he wasn't human anymore. Knew he was their only hope.
And for the first time since the lab accident… Jerry felt something ancient awaken.
Not anger. Not guilt.
Resolve.
He roared.
And the Abyss answered.
Predator Form: Full Release
Veins surged with liquid shadow. The fragments of the Abyss Core inside him pulsed violently, reshaping muscle and bone. His eyes went from white-hot to pitch black with burning violet irises. Horns split from his skull. Claws elongated. His back tore open as jagged black tendrils unfurled like wings of broken night.
A new layer of carapace sealed over his torn chest—a living armor that screamed.
The pain was unbearable.
But he welcomed it.
He was no longer holding back.
Jerry—the broken boy—was gone.
What stood now was Predator Form Level 2: Abyssborn Reaver.
The Turn of the Tide
He moved before Malthorin could react—faster than before, a blur of wrath.
A tendril snapped forward and wrapped around the beast attacking the students, dragging it backward with such force it split apart mid-air. The students fled, screaming.
Emily stayed.
Frozen. Watching him like he was the only thing anchoring her to reality.
Jerry charged Malthorin again.
This time, he wasn't just reacting. He was hunting.
Blades of void-light clashed with bone-claws. Tendrils slammed into force fields. Echo-shockwaves shattered what remained of the courtyard.
And Jerry, bleeding and breathing fire, smiled.
"You're not untouchable anymore."
Malthorin cocked his head. "Interesting."
The Herald of the Hollow raised both hands. From the rift above, new beasts descended—larger, more grotesque.
"You are evolving," Malthorin said. "But I am ancient."
Jerry grit his teeth. "Then die like an old god."
They met in the center—flesh and steel, teeth and void, hope and annihilation.
Malthorin stabbed Jerry through the chest.
Jerry caught the blade inside his ribs.
And with a scream that tore through dimensions, he bit down on the Herald's arm and yanked.
Malthorin recoiled, screeching as dark energy burst from the wound.
"THIS IS MY WORLD NOW!" Jerry roared, lifting the Herald and slamming him into the Earth so hard it cracked in a thirty-foot radius.
He drove his claws into the Herald's chest—through the runes, through the mask—and ripped it in half.
Black ichor exploded. The rift above flickered, unstable.
The Herald's voice faded.
"You… are not the end. You… are the beginning."
And then he was gone—disintegrated into ash and echoes.
Aftermath
Jerry collapsed to one knee. His monstrous form began to shrink, retreating back into flesh and blood. The power faded.
The pain remained.
Smoke and silence hung over the ruins of the school.
Emily approached slowly, cautiously.
"You saved them…" she whispered.
Jerry didn't look up. "I almost didn't."
"You're… one of them, aren't you? The thing that came from the lab explosion."
His head rose. "You knew?"
She nodded. "My father… Edward Xyros. He worked on Project Abyss Core. I wasn't supposed to tell you."
Jerry's heart sank. "He's alive?"
"Yes. And… he's coming for you."
(To be continued...)