[300% Capacity Unlocked - Evolving Host]

The moment Killian saw the notification, it burned itself into his retina, searing through his optic nerve and straight into his skull.

Everything stopped around him, but the pounding of his own heart and quick rush of blood within his veins.

The pain intensified, arriving like a wave of molten larva flooding his veins where blood used to flow. He groaned, pulling himself closer to the ground, digging his fingers over the earth.

The pain was structural, and his agonizing rewriting of his existence could be felt in each cell. Despite these, Killian had to force himself off the ground as the beast charged at him again.

But his nervous system had already severed connection with his body. His body screamed for him to move as he felt the vibrations of the charging beast through the earth.

With one decisive push, he scrambled himself off the ground, losing the Void-Bat from his grip as he moved sharply.

Killian immediately turned to it. "No."

It was a small thing, but to Killian it felt like losing a reliable limb as his body no longer answered him. Instinctively, desperately, he reached out for the weapon.

From his fingertips, a tendril rushed to the Void-Bat. He watched the weapon snap back into his hold and send a wave of new neurons that made him faster.

Suddenly the world moved faster again. Killian was momentarily dazed at the instinctive reaction before tripping on a cluster of tendrils.

More pain shot upward and momentarily paralyzing him from the waist down, and he just laid there, exhausted.

The charging beast had crashed on a tree behind him, its claws missing his neck by a hair’s breadth. A frustrated growl erupted from the beast, charging the air with a promise of danger.

Killian remained on the ground, clutching his chest as an unknown ache burner through his chest, despite the helplessness his body was in. He quickly searched for the beast amidst his ragged breathing.

Low growls escaped the beast as it scraped aggressively at the ground, its continuous scraping digging shallow grooves into the soil. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Fire sparked from its claws, scorching the earth it brushed against until flames engulfed its claws and forelimbs completely.

Killian’s eyes were unfocused but he left the ground, holding his Void-Bat with shaky hands, readying himself. "An... evolution..." He struggled to stand. "I didn’t ask for this."

"Bear with it."

"I said... I didn’t fucking ask... for..." Killian choked on his words, feeling a mix of blood and something tasteless inside his tongue.

He fell to his knees even as the beast lunged again. His heartbeat quickened as he felt the strumming of the beast’s movement signalling his death.

So he accepted it. "Fuck it!" He slapped the ground and instinctively activated <Shadow Barrage>.

The earth erupted. Tendrils, thick as pythons and blacker than an empty night sky, burst from the surface.

The Shadow Barrage rose protectively over his body which slumped after that forcing mana through a weakened body. The tendrils, like a forest of lining darkness, stomped toward the beast.

Trees were mercilessly leveled as the desperate barrages approached. Yet the beast only crouched, burning with intensified flames and preparing for a leap Killian knew he wouldn’t survive.

He was almost incapable of movement and even if knew the tendrils would protect him... they would be slashed. ’This is reckless...’ but he did it anyway.

He forced Corrupted Fire through his limbs, pushing it through the agonising blockage in his veins, till the flames reached the tendrils connected to his barraging shadows.

The entirety of the Shadow Barrage ignited. Flames of corrupted, dark fire coated the barrage and burnt through its path to its adversity.

The beast moved before its lunge. And the barrage followed, thundering the surface as they made to cause more distance between the danger and their host.

Killian struggled to keep his eyes open, even as his mana burner faster from having as many skills as possible active. It ensured his survival and he had to ensure he survived.

He noticed his body had fallen under a tree’s shadow and slipped into the tree’s shadow using Shadow Path, to create even more distance.

His body rose beside a rock, and he laid there, eyes closed as he surrendered to the rabid fire burning within his veins. The fire ate at nothing and everything within his body at the same time.

"Endure the pain, Killian." The Void urged, its tone lost its usual sarcasm, replaced by worry for uncertainty. "If you don’t, you might not be able to control the Void that would consume you instead."

Killian ignored the voice, concentrating solely on staying conscious and surviving the next wave of cold frostbites that ravaged his skin, yet adversely cooling his inner heat.

’Adapt... I have to adapt...’

While he couldn’t understand why, he knew this was bound to happen. There was a reason the Void was a forbidden element.

This would be one of them. Evolving its hosts.

Every other element evolved with its User, growing gradually till they reached the pinnacle of their element manipulation.

But forbidden elements were already complete, perfect and terrible at finding a host. They didn’t grow, but waited for any chosen user to catch up. And catching up often meant being broken into.

He moved his fingers softly, letting go of the ground which he had desperately clung to. The intensity of the pain lowered and he opened his eyes, to a seemingly quiet surroundings.

Trees were leveled as the high temperature of the environment, caused by his flaming barraging tendrils made it hard to breathe. But it was quiet and his body slowly adjusted to the pain.

He silently sighed, and fluttered his eyes to a close.

Then a soft tap on the rock—

Killian forced his eyes open, cranking his neck up painfully. He stilled. His breathing hitched as he locked eyes with the beast.

Above him, resting on the rock protecting him, the dark red fur beast laid nonchalantly with a tilted head.

Its air of nonchalance was instantly replaced by curiosity when more tendrils seeped from Killian’s skin, sensing the new threat.

The beast’s ash-ember eyes narrowed at Killian, studying him with an intelligence no beasts should possess. It leaned in slowly as if demonstrating that it wasn’t a threat.