Charles's body continued writhing.

The Phantasm Beast parts erupted further, not replacing his human parts but layering over them in grotesque fusion. Autumn Deer antlers grew longer, while Tonothus' horn sprouted from his left temple.

Cheronos claws replaced fingernails on the right hand.

Bone Wyvern plating covered portions of his torso in overlapping segments. Each part moved independently, suggesting multiple consciousnesses inhabiting a single frame.

Reinhard stared with shock, breaking through combat focus. His light blue eyes tracked each mutation, cataloging impossible biology displayed before him. His voice emerged strained, carrying disbelief mixed with horror.

"What happened to your body?"

Charles stood amid the mutations. His black mask remained featureless, revealing nothing of expression beneath. But his posture shifted, shoulders sagging slightly, suggesting the weight of confession about to be delivered.

"I was modified by those who saved me." The admission emerged without shame or pride, a simple statement of fact. "Without this, I would have died."

His white robe hung in tatters, torn by emerging spikes and horns. The black shirt beneath showed similar damage, fabric shredded to reveal pale skin marked with scars running in geometric patterns.

Each scar connected Beast parts to the human frame, suggesting deliberate grafting rather than natural fusion.

"The roots had torn me apart. My organs were failing, bones shattered, flesh barely holding together." Charles continued with his tone remaining monotone despite describing a catastrophic injury. "Two researchers found me who were planning to visit Eastern Hesod, but then found me and took me to an isolated facility."

Reinhard fell silent.

Through connection with the tide, and through Angra Mainyu's nature as a vessel for the world's suffering.

He felt Charles's emotions bleeding through. Rage simmered beneath the surface calm, pain radiated in constant waves, and guilt. But thinking about it, Reinhard felt these last two emotions weren't solely tied to modifications but to Charles' current actions.

But then he realized something, and his eyes narrowed as his mind worked through implications, connecting pieces that should remain separate.

"The Chimeras here... Were they created by those people or you?"

Charles tilted his head slightly. The motion caused antlers to scrape against the ceiling, creating a sound like nails on slate. "I am surprised you could make that connection, but alas, it was made by me."

Reinhard's brows furrowed deeply. Lines appeared across his forehead, expressions showing a struggle to comprehend reasoning. "Why would you do that?"

"It's to help push Vlad and the others to accept my help." Charles's response came immediately, suggesting no internal debate about admission. "If they didn't do this, then those stubborn fools would have taken years until they got further pushed into a corner to agree."

The explanation made Reinhard tremble as he recalled the Chemiras he and the others had to fight through. He recalled that after devouring those beasts' souls, each of them always came with relief from their suffering ending.

Charles did all of this, just to force Seekers' hand and make Vlad accept his intervention.

Reinhard fell silent.

Charles says. "Now I will be needing the Star Jewel back-"

Reinhard ignores him before hurling the Star Jewel into the crimson-black tide. Charles paused before tilting his head while Hjorleifa appeared in Reinhard's hand.

"We won't be needing that." Reinhard said before he rushed forward.

His twin swords, Zenuken and Hjorleifa, swept forward, the gleaming edges aimed to close in on Charles's exposed neck from both sides.

Charles's body shifted as the dozen Beast Spirits reacted for him. The Werefang teeth extending from his forearms didn't just block, but they rotated. The bone-white blades repositioned themselves into an 'X' formation, intercepting the sword strikes.

The collision produced a screeching sound as Reinhard's swords pressed against the hyper-dense bone.

A shower of white-hot sparks erupted from the contact point, illuminating their grimacing faces for an instant.

The force of the impact was immense, transferring through their bodies and breaking their footing.

Both were sent skidding sideways, their boots scraping on the stone floor. They crashed through the doorway into the adjacent chamber before they both rushed out.

The stone archway of the doorframe blurred past them as they carried their lethal dance into a new room.

The world around him slowed to a crawl, and Charles stood as a statue, locked in his defensive posture. In this frozen world, Reinhard was a ghost as he rushed over and moved directly behind Charles.

Then he released the technique, and as time returned to normal.

To Charles, it was as if Reinhard had teleported. Zenuken was already hacked out, its black-blue blade trailing wisps, and drove with lethal precision toward Charles's kidney. The blade slashed into Charles' side and cut into his flesh, but then Reinhard heard a tearing sound.

Instantly, a cluster of Bear-Terror spikes erupted from his back. They extended rapidly, growing a full six inches in a single second as it pushed the sword out.

But if that wasn't enough, the spikes held Zenuken in place just as Charles spun around.

As he turned, a spiraled Tonothus horn emerged from the palm of his left hand. The lance rushed forward towards Reinhard and aimed at his chest like a battering ram.

Reinhard had no time to disengage, as he swiftly switched to Angra Mainyu, and instead, he commanded the tide around.

The tide of crimson-black flames, which had been lapping at their feet, surged upward with explosive force. It formed a solid-looking wall, six inches thick, that rose from the floor to the ceiling instantaneously between them.

The horn struck corruption instead of flesh, passing through flames that burned Charles, making him tremble in pain. He swiftly detached his limb from the flesh as he pulled out before his regenerates swiftly picked up. All while Zenuken vanished, and Reinhard emerged from the opposite side of the tide-wall.

Tattered wings of darkness spread from his back as he launched straight upward. Reinhard's trajectory carried him to the ceiling of the chamber before he paused for a moment like a demonic figure poised upside-down above his foe.

Then he blasted off with even more force, rushing down like an arrow being released. Both fists were extended downward, and crimson-black energy gathered around his knuckles, condensing into spheres of swirling corruption that distorted the air around them.

The attack aimed at Charles's upturned face, seeking to drive him to the floor through overwhelming force.

Charles looked up at the descending threat. In response, Bone Wyvern wings erupted from his shoulders with a sound of cracking stone. The wings beat once, a powerful, concussive downdraft that kicked up a whirlwind of dust and debris. Before Charles launched himself upwards with his two swords, hacking towards Reinhard.

Instantly, the fist swirling with crimson-black crashed into the sword containing negation!

A visible shockwave, a ring of distorted air and dark energy, exploded outwards from the point of contact. All the stones around were shattered, cracks spread through the wall, the ceiling rained dust and small debris.

The very room groaned in protest.

Both were thrown toward opposite walls.

Reinhard's back struck the far wall with a sickening thud, but his wings protected him. Charles hit the opposite wall with equal force, his array of mutations cushioning the blow but unable to prevent the transfer of brutal momentum.

They rebounded immediately.

Neither allowed recovery time, as both launched from walls toward the chamber's center. The distance closed in a second, weapons already positioned for the next exchange.

Reinhard commanded the tide that was contained in the trenches to rise up. It poured across the floor, slithered up the walls, and seeped across the ceiling. In seconds, the entire chamber was filled with the swirling crimson-black energy, transforming it into his personal domain.

The very air grew heavy and thick. From the main mass, dozens of solid, whip-like tendrils extended, snaking through the air to bind Charles's limbs and restrict his movements, all while Reinhard himself pressed the direct attack.

Charles's body shifted again as the Phantasm Beast parts retracted. The antlers were withdrawn, teeth receding, spikes pulling back into flesh, and then new mutations emerged to replace them.

Kungala's pale wooden body manifested across his torso, providing armor-like coverage. Tetan's moss-covered limbs replaced arms, granting reach advantage. Kabas's mushroom shell sprouted from shoulders, creating coverage against aerial attacks.

He moved through the tide without apparent hindrance. His Metatron sigil deemed the corruption "wrong," creating a sphere of negation around his body. The tide couldn't touch him within that radius, forced to flow around a bubble of clear space.

Reinhard attacked from multiple angles simultaneously, cycling through his Beast Spirits with dizzying speed. But Charles countered each assault with the terrifying versatility of his Chimera body.

Reinhard switched to Odin, using Gravity Step to create localized wells of intense gravity that pulled at Charles, trying to wrench him off-balance and break his footing. But Forest Roots' legs sprouted from Charles feet, anchoring him firmly to the solid stone beneath the tide.

Reinhard then switched to Fenrir, utilizing enhanced speed to strike faster than negation could adapt. But then the Cheronos reflexes allowed Charles' eyes to track the movements and his Tetan limbs to parry with matching speed.

Leading both of them to exchange over twenty strikes!

Reinhard switched back to Angra Mainyu, commanding the tide to form solid constructs of spears, hammers, and axes. Before launching themselves at Charles from directions his primary focus couldn't cover. But Charles' sword sigils had already flashed out, dispersing each construct into harmless mist a split-second before impact.

They continued their battle into another room as they smashed through the doorway into a third chamber. It was a grand meeting hall that they entered by shattering the wall around it. The momentum of their clash carried them across the long room, with each striking, shattering the things around.

A massive oak table exploded into splinters under their passage. High-backed chairs were reduced to kindling as their crashing bodies plowed through the furniture.

Reinhard used the tide as terrain, as he didn't run solely on the floor but across crimson-black time. He ran horizontally along the walls, vertically up pillars, and even inverted across the ceiling. The tide responded to his unspoken commands, creating solid platforms where he needed to pivot, forming ramps to launch himself into new attacks, and generating pillars to vault over Charles's defenses.

Charles pursued Reinhard relentlessly even as he used the tide as terrain.

His Chimera mutations constantly adapted, constantly switching between forms with fluidity, suggesting no delay between transformations. Autumn Deer legs granted jumping capability. Bumbodusk bulk provided a charging force, and Werefang's agility allowed sharp turns.

They entered the fourth chamber through a wall rather than a door. The stone wall itself exploded outward as both combatants crashed through it simultaneously, locked in a brutal clash of sword against bones.

They tumbled across the new floor, a whirlwind of limbs, blades, and dark energy. Rolling through debris and only separating when they slammed into opposite walls, ready to rise and begin the cycle anew.

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