Blood dripped from the arm of the Matriarch as it mixed with the thick and slimy blood that had almost dried from long exposure to the open air.

A soft, wet, splashing sound followed as the Matriarch's shoulder erupted with new bones and muscles, regenerating her arm completely as if it had never been ripped off by Alva to begin with.

Then, she laughed. And walked gently towards the dead beastfolk before crouching to eat him without grace.

Lidien nodded at Alva and he immediately pounced towards her with his claws extended like a spear, aimed at her.

While Alva circled the Matriarch, blurring as she moved so fast that even normal eyes couldn't follow, waiting for the right time to attack the Matriarch with a certain kill.

Yet, in the few moments that the Matriarch chewed the organs of the dead beastfolk... her smile faded.

'Step back, Child. Escape.'

Lidien skidded to a stop before leaping backwards as the warning of the Monarch of Blood could not be ignored. This action was seen by Alva, who now stopped her circling and skipped to the edge of the room, analyzing the changes in the Matriarch.

"You forced me to use it... now be with me, forever."

The Matriarch's pair of emerald wings suddenly twisted into something alien, dividing itself into tens of strands wiggling like the limbs of an octopus...

Then...

'Dodge!'

Lidien had already sidestepped even without the warning of the Monarch of Blood after he saw the tentacles, like vipers, coil... before immediately striking at him with a speed too fast to be dodged except by predicting its attack.

But it didn't stop there...

Lidien continued to dance in between the attacks that he tried not to see, because if ever he saw it... it meant it was too late.

Tens of tentacles struck, swiped, and smashed at Lidien--dodging them by a hair's breadth, while Alva shifted at the edge of the room, a low growl rumbling in her throat, her muscles coiled but finding no opening to strike without being ensnared herself.

Now, the Monarch stopped giving guidance and actively told Lidien where to dodge and where the attacks would come from.

'Child! Don't let that thing hit you! You'll be gone as if you never existed!'

It wasn't that the tentacles of the Matriarch would slice Lidien in half, but she would absorb him like nutrients for her strength if they ever touched him.

A few minutes of endless dodging and prediction almost burned Lidien's head from his Incite of Blood, but the Matriarch still didn't even slow her attacks.

He scanned for footing amidst the floor gouged by tentacle strikes, the air thick with the sound of shredding wood and his own ragged breath, Lidien noticed it... the corpses of the beastfolk were getting thinner and thinner.

Then...

When the Matriarch's attacks slowed down, her tentacles grew thicker, along with her body... that no longer looked like a Dark Wolf, or an Angel... but something more gruesome...

An existence that combined all the beastfolk she had eaten, their faces amalgamated on her back, as if they were talking ancient words that only she could understand.

In exchange for her impossible speed, she became a titan with hundreds of faces and thick arms with tens of tentacles.

The beauty and pride she once had were now replaced by a monster... that Lidien could not have imagined existed.

As he panted, the strikes stopped, changed with a creepy laughter of the Matriarch as if it was a mixture of all the beastfolk voices, echoing in the palace room, now looking like a cage for her body.

Lidien's eyes darted across the ravaged room, but Alva was nowhere to be seen--swallowed by the monstrous shadow of the titan, or perhaps pinned beneath the writhing tentacles.

'Escape, child... She is just a beast. Do not throw away your existence for a pawn.'

The Monarch of Blood said, urging Lidien to leave without looking back.

Then he smiled, and this time... he circled the Matriarch's titanic body and searched for Alva, while being chased by the tentacles of the Matriarch.

"Join me, Child! and we can make a new clan both of us wanted!" said the Matriarch, as it echoed inside the Palace with hundreds of voices.

Amidst the chaos of splintered woods and blood splashing from the wooden floor, Lidien didn't stop running as his eyes zigzagged searching for Alva's shadow.

"Alva!"

Lidien saw Alva, dodging the humungous tentacles by a hair's breadth, she was panting nonstop, before glancing at Lidien.

"Master! Don't come!" Alva shouted frantically as she tried to flap her single emerald wing to dodge the upcoming tentacles.

Lidien's claws dug deep into his own palms, the sharp sting a fleeting distraction from his frustration as his blood, rich with verve, dropped onto the floor.

As he splashed his own blood--each drop supercharged with verve--against the Matriarch's skin, he willed them to detonate. The explosions peppered her hide, but the wounds sealed shut in the blink of an eye, leaving her utterly unfazed.

"How the hell can we kill this monster!" Lidien shouted in frustration, joining Alva in a small space.

'That's her True Form, Child! You will never be able to kill her... unless you can see her weak spot!'

Lidien, with his Incite of Blood, thought rapidly... thanks to the Matriarch's now slowed motion he could dodge easily with the help of the Monarch of Blood guiding him.

"Damn it, Old Man... Alva! Protect me for a second!"

There was only one thing Lidien could do if he wanted to succeed in either escaping or winning against the Matriarch.

It was to enter his Dreamflow amidst the ongoing brutal fight.

Lidien took a step back, and breathed deeply... before jumping so high that he almost reached the ceiling... and saw his former place where the key for his crucial plan was placed.

And then, he stopped his own blood flow, forcing him to get inside his Dreamflow as if it almost stopped the time outside of it.

The last thing he felt was the shudder of the floor as Alva dodged a tentacle's blow, buying him the precious heartbeat he needed.

As his eyes met the familiar starry skies, Lidien immediately sat on the ocean of verve and called for the Monarch of Blood.

"This is all or nothing, old man. Teach me how I can properly use my blood... I need to win this almost impossible fight."

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