Reinhard's breathing was labored as sweat coated his skin. His magic reserves, though sustained by the tide's endless supply, still required time to transfer from external source to internal capacity.

The constant switching between Beast Spirits drained energy faster than a single form would.

Charles showed no exhaustion.

His breathing remained steady, posture perfect despite mutations distorting his frame. The Chimera body granted endurance beyond even normal Second Class Beast Master limits, multiple Beast physiques combining to eliminate weakness.

But he was being pushed backward, and gradually at that. Each exchange had forced him one step closer to the chamber's far wall.

Reinhard's versatility with the three Beast Spirits, plus tide manipulation, plus Herald Mark skills, had created pressure that accumulated despite individual disadvantage.

When another tide tried to devour Charles, he hacked out.

Cutting channels through corruption that drained accumulated mass. His sigil flared with each slash, erasing cubic feet of crimson-black flame per strike.

Reinhard responded by drawing more tide from outside. The corruption flowed through broken walls, shattered windows, and a cracked ceiling. It poured into the chamber like a flood, replacing what Charles eliminated faster than negation could work.

"You cannot sustain this forever." Charles stated without care. His Tetan arms swept in a wide arc, creating a vacuum that dispersed the tide temporarily. "Your body will fail before mine does."

Reinhard grinned, though his face was pale and slicked with sweat. "Maybe," he spat, shifting to Fenrir, his irises burning as gold as a wolf's under a full moon. "But I only need to last until Brunhilde finishes her part."

Charles's head moved in a mechanical motion, the black mask tilting as if acknowledging Reinhard's words. "I was curious what they were doing. I didn't think they would allow you to attack me… But my guess is you sent the Star Jewel to them since you can control the tide."

It's Charles had his Sage Eye Fox's intellect rushing out to answer this question. The trillion thoughts that allowed him to keep up, adapt, and sort out a solution to Reinhard's constant flows of attack display something.

"I see." Charles said, the sound almost lost amid the roar of combat.

In response, Charles's body erupted with a new configuration. He was no longer selecting among the available mutations, but now invoking all of them at once.

Layering the composite features of a dozen species over one another in a grotesque look.

Autumn Deer antlers grew in spiraling, fractal patterns from his shoulders and scalp, while Werefang fangs rippled down his forearms. Bear-Terror spikes jutted from every rib, the bone plating of the Wyvern reinforced his shins and chest.

The Tetan moss arms grew additional secondary branches, creating a tangle of whipcord limbs that lashed and flexed with each movement.

The transformation was not seamless.

As there were cracks and seams where flesh had not fully integrated, and blood oozed from the margins of newly erupted bone, the effect was monstrous.

Charles looked less like a Chimera and more like a vessel for every Phantasm Beast that had ever stalked Hesod's forests.

"Honestly… Have you ever heard of moderation?" Reinhard questioned softly with a weary look.

Charles simply charged, even though the weight of so many mutations should have rendered him slow, but the collisions of traits led to an odd synergy as the Autumn Deer's legs provided the terrifying leap force.

While Bumbodusk's mass delivered crushing force, his reflexes let him perceive fast, while the Forest Roots anchor locked him in place when a sudden shift in gravity threatened to topple him.

Wings unfurled from his back, as he flapped once, and Reinhard met the charge head-on.

The tide behind him swelled to the height of a tsunami, black and red energies foaming at the crest. Before two streams rushed down, forming two swords of crimson-black.

Then, around him, crimson chains formed with a black serpent that began coiling around his neck. He switched to Angra Mainyu, drawing on the well of negation and contradiction that defined the Beast Spirit.

Hatred Conduction.

The wings on his own back expanded, each feather glowed in a crimson light as he drew upon Charles' hate. The wings grew even stronger as he launched himself forward, meeting Charles's leap with a midair collision.

The two combatants hit at the exact center of the chamber.

Swords and claws met in a blur, each impact sending out shockwaves that cracked the stone and sent fissures racing up the columns.

Emotional Snare.

Instantly, the crimson chain rushed out, binding around Charles' arm. The next moment, Charles' arm froze, leading the black serpent eyes to shine.

Breaker Venom.

The snake shot forward and sank its teeth into the frozen arms of Charles. Before then, Reinhard hacked out with the crimson-black sword. Charles tried to react, but his eyes widened as he felt his arm not listening and going in the opposite direction.

All done from the effects of his new abilities.

Emotional Snare binds the target with their own negative emotions, freezing their movements or weakening their resolve. Breaker Venom inflicted the target with a poison that causes the next action or attack to misfire or fail.

While Hatred Conduction allowed him to draw upon Charles' hate to further empower his wings and weapons.

The sword slashed down onto Charles, with blood splashing out. Charles produced a growl as the pain wreaked havoc through his body. But then the chains around came loose before Charles's sword struck his own arms.

Cutting off the serpent venom and chains of power. Before he then hurled the swords at the tide, to it off from Reinhard.

But Reinhard anticipated as he redirected the flow, letting the corruption split and recombine, shaping it into solid walls that disrupted Charles's attempts.

The battle thickened, the chamber filling with a labyrinth of crimson-black constructs, some solid enough to touch, others ephemeral as mist, but all of it weaponized, all of it aimed at pinning Charles's movements.

Charles adapted, as always, when a wall arose to block his approach. Bear-Terror spikes emerged from his fist, transforming his punch into a pneumatic battering ram that obliterated barriers of tide and stone alike.

He would also cut off the limbs before a new one grew back, so he didn't feel the pain and curse.

When the tide formed tentacles to restrain his limbs, Cheronos claws slashed at their bases, severing them before they could constrict.

In the moments between, he would send out clouds of Kabas spores, mushroom-like, each one containing a micro-explosive payload. Reinhard was forced to washed away with the tide of Angra Mainyu before they reached his lungs.

The battle rolled across the chamber, smashing through furniture, shattering the remnants of another long table.

Reinhard's movements became more unorthodox as he leaped from tide constructs. That appeared only for the instant of his step, spun around vertical pillars of corruption, and used the gravity wells generated by Odin to alter his own trajectory in midair.

In one sequence, he inverted himself with a burst, launching a flurry of downward kicks at Charles's exposed head.

Charles caught two of the blows with his moss-arm branches, but the third connected, sending fractures through the Wyvern plating and driving Charles's body an inch deeper into the stone floor.

But they paused as a whip smashed into Reinhard's side, making him wince.

Before they continued clashing, each took the blows, absorbed the pain, and used the impact to launch the next maneuver.

Reinhard felt the dull ache of cracked ribs, the rasp of blood in his lungs. The numbness was creeping into his left hand, where a Phantasm Beast claw had narrowly missed severing the nerve.

Charles's injuries were more visible but less severe as his body was a patchwork of healing wounds, the Phantasm Beast parts already knitting together before Reinhard could exploit a weakness.

If anything, the damage seemed to excite the Chimera, driving him to greater and greater displays of violence.

It should be soon now.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.