The beast lurched back, the cut running across its chest. Its many eyes burst black, leaking down its body, but more opened around the wound, rolling and glaring at Asher. It didn’t stop moving.
It swung both arms down at once, claws like slabs of stone slamming into the ground. The force cracked the valley floor, sending shockwaves outward. Rocks split and ribs toppled. Asher was already moving, sliding between the two blows as they smashed down. He came up close to its chest and drove the scythe upward again, cutting another deep line across its torso.
The monster roared and dropped its head low, jaws snapping open. All three sections bit toward him at once, hooks of bone rushing down. Asher shoved off with his boots and vaulted back, the teeth slamming shut where he had been a second before. The impact blew dust into the air, shards of stone rattling off his cloak.
The zealots screamed louder, their voices shaking in broken rhythm. The beast’s wounds pulsed with black veins, sealing partway before tearing again. Its body swelled, muscles straining against skin. More chains burst out of its back, slamming into the ground around Asher like spiked pillars, trying to pin him in place.
He didn’t hesitate. The scythe spun, cutting one chain, then another. Sparks burst as metal split. A third chain slammed down close, clipping his shoulder and dragging him sideways. He dug the blade into the dirt to stop himself and cut through it before it could hold him. Chapters fırst released on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝙣𝙚𝙩
The beast pressed harder, bringing its massive weight forward, both jaws snapping while chains whipped in from the sides. Asher ducked low, scythe cutting a circle in front of him, severing the chains as they closed. He pushed straight in under the monster’s throat and swung upward again. The blade carved through flesh, splitting one of the jaws halfway.
The creature reeled back, its scream rattling the ground. Black ichor rained down in thick streams, burning holes where it landed. Asher stepped clear, cloak brushing over cracked stone, his eyes locked forward.
The monster slammed one hand down to steady itself, then ripped its own chest open with the other. More mouths spilled out of the wound, jagged and wet, all snapping and biting toward him. The zealots cried louder, voices breaking into shrieks.
Asher tightened his grip on the scythe, set his feet, and walked back in without slowing. Each swing cut through another mouth, another row of teeth, leaving the beast’s chest spilling open wider with every strike.
The ground shook harder. The pit behind it boiled with black air, chains still rattling deep below, as if something else was waiting.
The beast leaned low again, all three jaws opening, voice ripping out through every mouth on its body.
"Vessel... cut deeper."
And it lunged, jaws wide enough to swallow him whole.
The monster’s three jaws came down like a collapsing cage. Rows of hooked teeth rushed toward him, snapping with enough force to split stone. Asher didn’t step back—he dropped low, cloak dragging the dirt, and let the jaws crash over him. The scythe thrust upward in a straight, brutal line.
The blade punched through the roof of its mouth, splitting between rows of teeth. Black ichor poured down, spraying across his shoulders, sizzling against the ground. The beast thrashed, lifting its head high, scythe still lodged in its jaw. Asher held on, boots digging trenches as the monster shook its head to throw him.
With a sharp pull, he wrenched the blade free and dropped to the side. One jaw hung looser now, dangling at a crooked angle. The beast roared, eyes rolling wildly across its chest and throat. Chains lashed from its back again, whipping down in a storm.
Asher moved through them. His scythe carved fast arcs, sparks flying as chain after chain snapped apart. One caught his leg and dragged him, but he cut it before it could slam him into the dirt. Another came from behind, slamming into his back and knocking him forward, yet he landed on his feet, steady as before.
The monster charged, one arm sweeping across the valley like a wall. Asher ducked under it, sliding across broken stone, and slashed across the beast’s ribs. Dozens of mouths split open there screamed together, then collapsed as the ichor poured out.
The zealots on the ground screamed with them, tearing at their own masks, black tears running from their eyes. Their voices fed the beast, and its wounds began to close again, flesh stitching itself together in ugly knots.
Asher saw it and didn’t pause. He planted his boots, scythe held at an angle, and rushed forward. He cut straight across the beast’s wrist, severing half the hand. The creature reeled back, but instead of falling, more bone claws burst out of the stump, growing in crooked layers. They lashed like spears, stabbing the ground around him.
He spun, cloak snapping, and carved through them one by one. Each strike was quick, no wasted movement, black ichor spraying in wide arcs as the broken claws fell away.
The beast slammed its body forward in frustration, its massive chest pressing toward him like a collapsing wall. Asher braced, then leapt up its bulk, scythe driving deep into the shoulder. He used the lodged blade as leverage, climbed higher, and ripped another cut straight down the monster’s back.
It roared, bucking, trying to throw him off. Chains burst from its spine like spikes, slashing through the air. Asher ripped his scythe free, kicked off, and landed in a roll across broken stone, cloak dragging smoke and dust behind him.
The beast turned, three jaws dripping ichor, dozens of eyes locked on him. Its voice thundered again, deeper now, broken across every mouth:
"Vessel... you cannot close me. I am only the first."
Asher straightened, wiping black ichor from his grip on the scythe. His tone stayed flat, steady.
"Then I’ll keep cutting until the last."
The zealots screamed louder, throwing themselves flat against the ground, as the pit behind the monster pulsed harder, black air and light swelling upward with each heartbeat. The ground cracked wider, and the chains below began to rise again.
The beast lunged once more, faster now, its jaws aiming not just to bite but to drag him down into the pit with it.