Deviating from the original plot

Chapter ninety-four

The shadowborn kept coming-crawling out of the emperor's darkness, reforming from the walls, dropping from above-but the four pushed through them without hesitation. Dust coated the ground. Black residue drifted in the air like smoke. Still they fought, moving in a synchronised rhythm born not of planning, but sheer survival.

Victoria cut down the last creature in her path and skidded to a halt, breath sharp as the battlefield cleared around them.

Only the emperor remained at the far end of the chamber.

"I guess, if you want things done right, you do it yourself."

He let out a low, delighted laugh as darkness pooled at his feet, swirling and thickening. The shadows along the walls peeled away like living smoke, converging behind him. The air grew colder.

Then his form began to rise-stretching unnaturally as if his body were being pulled upward by invisible strings. His frame elongated, warped, and widened, bones cracking as his silhouette distorted. His outline grew monstrous, his cloak dissolving into shadow that fused with the expanding mass around him.

The darkness continued to climb, shaping itself around him like armour-tendrils whipping outward, claws forming where hands once were. The floor trembled beneath the weight of the emerging creature.

The group stepped back cautiously, watching the scene.

And then, with a thunderous pulse of black magic, the transformation was complete: a towering, inhuman, colossal being made entirely of shadow and rage.

The monster straightened to its full height, its roar shaking the walls as it prepared to strike.

"You won't escape this alive-I'll consume every last one of your souls," the emperor snarled.

He thrust out a clawed hand, and a violent surge of black magic exploded from him like a shockwave.

Celeste, Evelyn, and Cassius were swept up instantly, hurled through the air before they could brace. They crashed hard against the far wall, debris scattering around them as they hit the ground in a heap. The impact forced the breath from their lungs, leaving them dazed and struggling to rise.

Victoria alone remained on her feet; digging her heels into the floor, she braced herself against the impact.

The shadow-beast lunged, its molten crimson eyes burning with hatred as its roar vibrated through the chamber. In a single, monstrous stride, it reached for her-clawed hand unfurling like a snare of darkness.

Victoria slipped to the side just in time, the creature's talons carving through the air where her head had been a heartbeat earlier. The force of the swipe cracked the floor, splintering stone into jagged shards.

She pivoted and slashed upward, her blade carving a bright arc across the beast's forearm. The cut sizzled against its shadow-flesh, but the creature barely flinched, its form rippling and reforming around the wound.

It whipped around with terrifying speed, its massive tail of smoke and shadow sweeping toward her in a wide, crushing arc. She braced, ducking low as the attack shattered a column behind her, stone collapsing in a thunderous crash.

The beast's second arm came crashing down, and Victoria rolled aside, narrowly avoiding being pinned-its claws smashing into the floor, leaving a crater of darkness that spread like cracking ink.

"You can't leave here alive," he growled, and Victoria turned to rest, trying to get up for the impact of the first attack.

As she wanted to dash towards them, a tendril lashed out, coiling around her ankle. Victoria gasped as it yanked her off balance, dragging her across the floor with brutal force. She dug her dagger into the ground, metal screeching as it slowed her momentum.