The Throes of Prophecy

[The Bhalian Empire]

The boundaries between the seen and unseen fractured beneath the presence of Kinslayer's metamorphosis. Darkness pooled across the scorched battlefield like spilled oil, creeping through shattered stone and molten fissures before swallowing the wasteland beneath a blanket of living shadow.

The air trembled into gales.. Space warped like stressed fabric.. It seemed as though reality itself recoiled from the thing standing before the wounded Executioner.

But Rao did not care..

The dying Mazoku warrior stared into the abyssal silhouette before him with eyes devoid of wonder.

Devoid of fear.. hesitation.. or even reverence for this glorious battle.

Only rage churned within those ivory voids.

In this state, Rao was little more than primal instinct given flesh. He could not comprehend cosmic truths.. nor could he understand or recognize the significance of Kinslayer's transformation.

All his instincts understood was failure.

Despite his desperate efforts, his prey still drew breath.. refusing to die. Refusing to yield before the extent of his might. A true testament to the resilience of his foe, as well as an egregious insult..

A low growl escaped his ruined throat.. A subtle effort that alone shook the entire wasteland.

Rao's mangled fingers curled into trembling fists as the muscles along his ruined body tightened.

Then he inhaled, and the atmosphere physically convulsed.

The terrain ruptured for miles in every direction as Rao used Shinjutsu to seize hold of the world itself. Naten surged upward through unseen channels beneath Vescrutia's crust and poured toward the Executioner in endless torrents.

The shattered remains of forests bent inward. Clouds twisted into spiraling vortexes overhead. The air itself seemed to collapse toward the Executioner as though reality had become trapped within the pull of an invisible singularity.

And as Rao continued drawing breath, the wounds across his body began to twitch and mend. Although, incredibly slowly.. It was significant .

The same energy he was pulling into his lungs from the world around him was simultaneously stitching ruined flesh together strand by strand. Fractured bones creaked as they realigned.. Torn muscle reattached itself. Damaged organs struggled toward function once more.

Even his soul began to mend the wounds carved into it by the Crimson Orchid.

This was the true purpose of this trance. It was a restorative, hibernative technique geared toward repairing spiritual lacerations by using the planet as an engine.. which in turn, allowed his body to heal as well. He simply needed to rely on his primal reflexes until the process was done.. but his rage wouldn't allow it to reach that point.

Entire fault lines widened beneath Rao's feet as he continued to inhale.

Molten rock erupted from fissures stretching across the horizon as Vescrutia itself groaned beneath the burden of what was coming. Kinslayer's aura pressed against him like a furnace of gravitational force. But Rao persisted through the vibrational barrage from his voice.

His jaw slowly became wider.. and wider.. until it seemed impossible that flesh and bone could withstand the strain. And he compressed every joule of energy he amassed into a single point held behind his fangs.

Then Rao roared, but this time, the otherworldly attack was different.

The first wave had been a cataclysm.

An indiscriminate detonation that sought to annihilate everything unfortunate enough to exist within its reach. This time it was more focused. Like a personal execution. Rao released a piercing pillar of incandescent doom from his unhinged jaw that crossed the wasteland in an instant. And the beam itself was massive— large enough to dwarf entire Kingdoms in its shadow as it ripped bedrock into the darkened skies enroute to Kinslayer.