The pressure in the clearing changed before anyone could react.

It wasn’t an immediate explosion. It started as a silent accumulation, a density concentrating around Bīng Xuě. The air near his body began vibrating with irregular frequency, as if something inside him pushed outward without yet finding a stable form.

His energy stopped being transparent.

It became visible.

A dark red tone emerged from his core, extending through his skin in fine lines resembling incandescent cracks. They weren’t static. They moved slowly, as if following the flow of something deeper. As that color gained presence, the cold that previously surrounded him became more intense, but also more aggressive.

It wasn’t a clean cold.

It was a cold that cut.

His posture changed. His back arched slightly forward, shoulders opened, and his breathing became heavier, more marked. His eyes, previously calm, adopted a harder glow, with an intensity that didn’t dilute in distance.

The skin on his forehead tensed.

Two small protrusions emerged, growing rapidly until forming short horns, curved backward. They weren’t large, but their presence completely altered his silhouette.

An oni.

Not a complete transformation, but enough.

Aku observed without intervening. His gaze swept the changes attentively, without surprise, but with clear interest.

"You look different."

Bīng Xuě turned his wrist, testing the katana’s weight.

"I’ve been practicing."

His voice had a different nuance. Graver, more charged.

He took a step forward. The ground under his foot covered with a thin layer of dark ice extending in a short radius before stabilizing.

"Your energy..." he added, without stopping looking at the creature. "Is total chaos."

A brief smile appeared on his face.

"And yet you control it."

Aku didn’t respond immediately.

Bīng Xuě raised the sword. Putrid Reaper’s corroded edge began reacting. A layer of dark frost formed on the blade, extending from hilt to tip. It wasn’t common ice. It had a denser, almost opaque tone, with black veins running through its surface.

"So I thought..." he continued. "If I can maintain control inside something unstable..."

Energy around him compressed an instant.

"...I can do this."

Aku nodded once.

A brief gesture.

Enough.

The creature kept fighting against Nyargoohl’s chains. Several had tensed to the limit. Some zones of its body had already begun breaking the restraints, generating cracks in the dark mass.

Its regeneration continued active.

Wounds closed.

Tissue reorganized.

But the rhythm had decreased.

Something was changing.

Bīng Xuě tilted his head slightly.

"[Adapting is Taboo]."

The phrase wasn’t loud. Wasn’t dramatic.

It was direct.

And the environment responded.

Air became heavier. Not like before. This time, the sensation was more defined, as if an invisible rule had been fixed in space. It wasn’t physical pressure. It was a limitation.

An imposition.

An axiom.

Noelia was the first to react. Her eyes narrowed behind the mask.

"...What did he just do?"

Aku didn’t look away.

"He’s established a law."

The creature moved.

It tried reorganizing its tissue.

But the change didn’t occur.

Plates beginning to shift stopped mid-process. Soft zones didn’t respond as before. Regeneration, previously flowing constantly, slowed until almost stopping.

It didn’t disappear completely.

But stopped adapting.

Bīng Xuě had already moved.

His figure disappeared from where he was.

An instant.

Just one.

He appeared before the creature.

The katana descended in a clean cut.

There was no visible resistance.

The edge pierced one of the outer layers and penetrated internal tissue.

The effect was immediate.

The wound didn’t close.

It darkened.

The affected area lost color, becoming grayish in seconds. Tissue stopped moving. Regeneration didn’t act.

Black ice extended from the impact point, forming crystals growing inward, breaking structure from within.

The creature emitted a sharper sound.

It tried reacting.

Bīng Xuě was no longer there.

Another cut.

From a different angle.

Deeper.

Faster.

Nyargoohl’s chains kept holding, but now weren’t the only factor.

Damage accumulated.

And didn’t disappear.

"Good..." Marlon murmured, observing. "Now we’re talking."

Kenji said nothing, but his posture changed. He prepared to intervene if necessary.

Noelia adjusted her position, maintaining terrain control to prevent the creature from recovering mobility.

But it wasn’t needed.

Bīng Xuě didn’t give it time.

His speed increased.

It wasn’t just physical rapidity. It was precision. Each movement had a clear objective. Each cut directed at a different point, avoiding repeating patterns, preventing the creature from finding a way to respond.

The katana traced lines in air, leaving brief traces of dark frost disappearing instantly.

A diagonal cut.

Another horizontal.

One ascending that pierced one of the thicker limbs, separating it from the main body.

The limb fell to the ground.

It didn’t regenerate.

Ice crystals extended from the cut point, covering internal surface, solidifying tissue before it could react.

The creature began losing structure.

Its movements became more clumsy.

Slower.

It tried contracting.

It didn’t succeed.

The law remained active.

It couldn’t adapt.

Bīng Xuě appeared on its body.

He raised the katana.

"It’s over."

The last cut was vertical.

Direct.

It pierced the central core.

The blade descended to the ground, separating the body in two halves.

Impact generated a brief vibration running through terrain.

Silence.

Body parts remained motionless.

Black ice crystals expanded through both sections, covering exposed tissue, stopping any residual regeneration attempt.

The mass stopped moving.

Completely.

Bīng Xuě remained in his position a few more seconds.

Red energy still surrounded him, though beginning to stabilize. His breathing was heavier, but controlled.

He turned his wrist.

Shook the blade.

Dark ice detached in small fragments dissolving before touching ground.

The katana returned to its initial state.

He turned toward the group.

The smile returned.

"Okay... that was good."

Gerald, still on the ground, let out a weak laugh.

"...Yeah... pretty good..."

Noelia observed the creature’s body without moving.

"It stopped regenerating."

Aku took a step forward.

Nyargoohl’s mass slowly withdrew, returning to concentrate around him before disappearing completely.

His gaze stopped on the remains.

He confirmed the evident.

Then raised his gaze toward Bīng Xuě.

He said nothing.

But recognition was there.

Night remained cold.

Forest remained silent.

And this time...

Combat had ended.