Luka shrugged off the way she goaded him.

He didn’t mind the bet, but his goal was to defeat the enemy in front of him, nothing else. When would he get such a perfect chance again? To fight a cave troll in such a beneficial situation, with a Templar backing him up.

"Whatever, let’s just kill it." He huffed.

The Troll appeared slower after becoming enraged, but the webbed arcs of lightning weren’t anything to scoff at. A single snap and they covered half the cavern in a branching pattern shaped like broken glass.

The Troll roared.

Lightning exploded from its body in every direction.

CRACK!!

Blue arcs ricocheted across the cavern walls, jumping between mana crystals like living serpents. Entire clusters detonated into glowing dust, filling the air with glittering blue fragments.

Luka clicked his tongue and slid sideways.

A bolt scorched past his shoulder.

He used Oblivion to adjust his path, avoiding it by a hair.

The heat alone burned through part of his cloak.

’Damn, it’s fast!’

Not the Troll itself, that thing was slow and fat.

Rather, the lightning.

The creature seemed to have become a moving catalyst between Miasma and Mana, a living beacon able to produce magic through its primative actions.

Every crystal or piece of metal in the cavern was now effectively part of its territory and arsenal.

Brea charged first.

"Haaaah!"

Her transformed body shot forward in a blur of shocking speed for someone of her size. Golden Miasma exploded from beneath her feet as she swung her massive axe in a brutal diagonal arc.

BOOM!

The Troll snapped its arm back, blocking the axe with its shackle.

The impact sent a violent shockwave through the air, gathering static electricity.

For a moment, both monsters pushed against each other, because Luka couldn’t think of that woman as a human because she was a full-blown monster!

A sexy monster.

"Grrrrh!" Brea grunted.

Her feet slipped back through the dirt and mud.

That’s when the Troll suddenly grinned.

Almost as if knowing.

Then lightning erupted point-blank.

CRAAACK!!

Brea’s body spasmed.

Struck by a spear of light, her final shield shattered into dust.

"Hrgh—!"

The blast launched her backwards through a crystal formation.

Shards exploded everywhere.

"Brea!"

"I’m fine!" she snarled back instantly, dragging herself from the rubble while smoke rose from her dark red skin. Despite the enthusiastic words, her golden aura had dimmed even further, with only three pillars remaining.

Luka slipped behind them, gathering his energy while observing every move of the Troll.

Brea was hurt badly.

From the slight stagger in her stride.

The faint traces of blue blood leaking from her armour.

He could tell.

The Troll noticed it too.

Its malformed lips slowly stretched wider, into an eerie grin.

"...Break... you..."

The chains lashed outward.

Luka burst forward.

The Miasma glowing beneath his feet exploded, sending him shooting forth.

When the Troll swung towards him, he avoided the blow by sliding beneath the incoming chain and carved Oblivion upward across the creature’s crotch.

His knees screamed in agony.

But he held the blade tightly, slicing through the thick hide.

Shhhkk!

A large lump of meat dropped.

Black and purple blood spewing from the decapitated limb.

His Magenta flames coating the blade now billow inside the creature’s wound, igniting it.

The Troll shrieked.

"PAAAIN!!"

It retaliated blindly.

A gigantic fist smashed toward Luka’s head.

He twisted sideways, but the sheer force of the blow shook his brain.

BOOM!!

The impact clipped his shoulder, instead of crushing his skull. A dull ache tore from within his shoulder, causing an agonising pain as he almost dropped Oblivion. Pain came and went in sharp, painful spikes.

’It’s fractured...’

His healing Miasma immediately swarmed the injury, desperately trying to heal the torn and brutalised tissue while mending the cracked bones. Nevertheless, it wasn’t fast enough to keep him at 100% as the Troll lumbered towards him.

Lighting crawled along its arms, like glowing gauntlets.

"...Die."

Luka exhaled sharply.

’No choice.’

He stabbed Oblivion into the ground.

Then forcefully circulated every strand of Miasma inside his body, towards his heart, about to unify himself and enter Wrath Mode.

The sword began vibrating violently.

BZZZZZZT!!

The dark metal glowed deep magenta.

Even the surrounding air distorted.

From across the cavern, Brea’s eyes widened, then she stood and began running, her steps measured and wide, speed gradually building until she reached a full sprint.

"...You idiot, what’re you doing overcharging yourself!?"

The Troll raised its arms, ready to crush Luka to a pulp, its disgusting yellow teeth still twisted into a grin.

"LUKA!"

Her body suddenly lifted off the ground.

His transformation finished.

BOOOOM!!

A violent burst of pressure exploded from Luka’s body.

Dust blasted outward.

Loose stones lifted from the cavern floor. Even the lightning crawling between the mana crystals flickered erratically for a moment as thick waves of black-red Miasma poured from the vents along his shoulders.

The Troll froze, unable to fight the resistance in the air.

Its remaining eye widened slightly.

As if sensing something dangerous, something terrifying, it hesitated for the first time since the pair fell into the cavern.

Luka slowly raised his head.

"Haaaaaaaah!"

Steam rolled from his mouth as his heartbeat thundered inside his ears.

THUD.

THUD.

THUD.

Every pulse pumped a molten heat through his veins, gathering unlimited destructive force as his Miasma rapidly decreased. The oversized gauntlets flexed with a bizarre metallic yet fleshy groan as his clawed fingers slowly clenched into fists.

"...Hah."

With a second exhale, he felt the emotions that had lingered in his chest all gather into one, unsighly, blood-red form.

Pain.

Frustration.

Humiliation.

The image of the Troll toying with him and sending Brea flying into the wall.

The sound of her struggling for breath.

The feeling of his own bones cracking from a single fucking blow.

All of it fed the burning pressure inside his chest.

[Wrath-Form Activated]

[All Attributes Increased by 25%]

[Health Regeneration Greatly Increased]

[Warning: Emotional Instability Rising]

Brea dropped from the air and skidded to a halt several metres away. Her jaw opened in complete shock as her eyes remained fixed on him.

Then asked with trembling lips.

"...What the hell are you!?"

Luke leaned back, taking a glance at her, before his lips curled into a smirk.

He didn’t have an answer because he wasn’t fully sure himself.

"Grrrrrr!"

The Troll suddenly roared and slammed both fists into the ground, creating a massive explosion of lightning which branched out in a wave.

Luka watched closely, able to see the flickering particles of Mana and Miasma in the air, how they danced around each other and slightly collided to create the lightning.

He stepped forward, into the lightning.

Sharp arcs of lightning struck his black armour directly.

The impact shook his body violently.

Fizzle~

Yet instead of piercing through him, the black armour absorbed part of the blast. Crimson veins beneath the metal glowed brighter as smoke rose from his shoulders.

Or rather, the black Miasma of Wrath devoured most of the energy within, and his regeneration immediately repaired the burnt flesh underneath.

"Sorry, big guy," Luka said, his voice sounding deeper with a slightly distorting reverb. "It seems your flashy attack is useless against me now."

The Troll stared at Luka, blinking several times.

Clearly confused.

Luka took advantage of that moment.

BOOM!!

The cavern floor shattered beneath his feet from sheer force.

Brea’s eyes widened.

"F...Fast..."

The enlarged armour should have made him slower. Instead, the explosive output from the gauntlets propelled him forward like a cannon shell.

The Troll barely managed to raise one chained arm.

Luka punched straight through it.

With a brutal explosion of magenta flames, metal shattered and melted into a beautiful silver puddle, while flesh exploded. The corrupted arm twisted unnaturally before tearing completely off in a spray of black blood.

The Troll screamed.

"PAAAAIN!!"

Luka appeared beneath its chest a split second later.

His massive gauntlet dug into the Troll’s abdomen.

Then the vents above his shoulders inhaled violently.

WHOOOOM!!

Black-red flames compressed inward around his fist.

Brea immediately sensed danger.

"Luka, that’s dangerous, stop!"

She caught his eyes as her shout echoed through the cavern.

Then his lips moved.

"Inferno."

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The compressed flames detonated upward point-blank.

A gigantic pillar of black-red fire erupted through the cavern ceiling.

The Troll’s torso exploded from the inside.

Chunks of burning flesh and crystal rained across the cavern while molten Miasma flames clung to everything they touched.

The shockwave blasted Brea backwards despite her size.

Even Luka slid several metres through the rubble.

He wasn’t uninjured.

His right arm dangled without power, thick cunks of Wrath struggling to regenerate where his bones and torn flesh peeked through the armour. His face bore an eerie yet resolute visage, his cheek half-torn open, revealing his teeth and jaw.

’Shit... this is the difference in strength...’

The Troll staggered.

Half its upper body was gone.

One leg remained.

And much like Luka, its jaw hung loose.

"...Hun...gry..."

It spoke with a distorted voice after losing half its tongue.

Despite the explosion, the Troll’s immense vitality allowed it to stand.

Brea stared in disbelief, almost dropping her axe.

"You’re kidding me."

The remaining mana crystals throughout the cavern suddenly began glowing.

Blue streams of Mana surged toward the Troll’s ruined body.

It was trying to regenerate again.

"Sorry, child... do not resent me for this." Luka’s pained voice was barely a whisper, his eyes softer, slightly wet, as he held one hand in the air and clenched his fist.

Almost instantly, the mana rushing to the dying Troll shifted and rushed towards Luka like a dog to fresh meat.

It swirled around his fist, forming dozens, if not thousands, of tiny magenta bolts.

Blood oozed from Luka’s nose.

His guts twisted and churned as if being torn.

All his senses screamed to stop his madness and rest.

"L...Luka?" Brea’s voice faltered, becoming soft like a worried maiden.

The Troll dragged itself forward with one arm.

There was something in its eyes that almost appeared to understand.

This was the end.

It raised its arm, one last time...

In reply, Luka... unleashed his Hellfire Missiles.

Thousands of compressed magenta bolts orbiting his arm shot forward simultaneously as he collapsed to the ground, his transformation ending.