Taming the beast!

Before the screams, before the hunger, and before the crimson shell, she simply was.

{BASTARD!!}

As one of the oldest consciousnesses to emerge from the primordial soup of that interconnected world, "she" had spent her time in a vibrant tranquility.

{I won't forgive you!!}

Her personality knew no submission; she was an elemental force imbued with insatiable curiosity and a pride that bordered on the absolute.

{You fall from the sky... You destroy my house... You attack me...}

She moved through every corner with the arrogance of one who knows they own every inch, possessing a restless energy that never accepted staying still.

{I worked so hard to build it!!}

She was capricious, volatile, and deeply competitive. For her, existence was not a burden, but an infinite playground where the law of strength was applied with a mocking smile and a mental agility that surpassed any other being.

{You didn't even apologize...}

She didn't seek evil, but challenge; she enjoyed the freedom of jumping between the cracks of reality, mocking the logical laws that tried to contain her.

{YOU ARE EVIL!!}

Her spirit was a mixture of childlike purity and instinctive wisdom, always searching for someone who could keep up with her erratic and chaotic dance.

"HUH...?!"

However, despite all she was, "she" had been brutally punished after all her mischief. She had been hunted after picking a fight with the members of the Prism of the Eighth Purity as they basked quietly; she had been hounded after consuming the Forbidden Gardens of Chocobomb without permission, and she had been beaten after bathing an innocent lamb in the waters of Phobia.

{I'll kill you!!}

Because of this, she had created her own home to be in peace and quiet, but that tranquility was now shattered.

{It hurts...!}

The voice now emanating from the centipede's throat, calling Shija a "bastard," was the distorted echo of that wounded pride...

{It hurts and it's your fault, meddling brat! You broke my house!}

She now only sought to take it out in a brutal tantrum to vent.

{My house...}

At that precise moment, the giant centipede began to vibrate, but it wasn't a mechanical vibration.

{My beautiful, quiet, and perfect house! You came from above and broke everything!}

The crimson chitin began to soften, becoming malleable like wax under an intense flame.

"¡¿?!"

She was not tied to a single form; her essence was fluid, capable of reconfiguring biological matter at will according to her mood.

{REVENGE!!}

And at that moment, her mood was a storm of pure childish spite.

In this way, the centipede's body shrank and expanded in grotesque spasms, causing the black tentacles to retract only to sprout with more force from new angles.

"¡¡!!"

In response, Shija, panting and trying to keep his balance on the rubble, finally understood the nature of the ruins surrounding him.

(Dammit...)

They weren't the remains of a forgotten civilization; they were the fragments of what, until a few moments ago, was the refuge of this consciousness. Upon falling after being thrown by Yumemaru, his body had impacted directly on her domain, demolishing what she had created.

"Wait, I want to apolog—!"

Understanding the truth, Shija immediately tried to apologize to clear up the misunderstanding...

(SPLAT-MORPH!!!)

Unfortunately, his opponent refused to listen. The centipede, widening the front part of its gigantic body, formed something like a deformed humanoid torso sprouting from the insect's base, with multiple arms made of muscular fibers that struck the ground in frustration.

{Invasor! House-breaking bastard!}

Saying those words, she launched a flurry of hardened chitin projectiles with an erratic movement; not with military aim, but with the spite of someone throwing broken toys in the middle of a tantrum.

"Kghh!!"

Leaving Shija with no choice but to dive to the ground, rolling through the dust as the "owner" of the ruins transformed her own body into a siege weapon driven by pure temper.

(It's useless...!)

Immediately after, Shija stood up, wiping the blood from his cheek with the back of his small hand.

(From experience, I know she won't listen!)

His eyes, sharp and analytical, observed the creature's erratic transformations.

(The only way to end this is...!)

Thanks to his days dealing with Mireya's whims and Melioris's complex nature, Shija knew that there was no logic in a tantrum; there was only one way to be heard...

(I must win!!)

Impose himself. He had to break her rhythm and force her to acknowledge him.

(SHHH-ING-SHHH-ING!!!)

Unfortunately, thinking it was easier than doing it when, in that instant, a rain of chitin thorns fell from the entity's deformed torso.

"¡¡!!"

But in response, Shija didn't freeze; reading the chaotic flow of the attack's energy, he executed a perfect side flip, feeling the projectiles pierce the ground like black arrows.

(If I can't outpower her, I'll outpresence her...)

Without wasting a second, Shija picked up the pace, leaving the center of the ruins behind to enter the dense surrounding forest, using the trees with twisted trunks and deep shadows like a game board in his favor.

(KRA-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!!!)

In counterattack, the creature, enraged by the "villain's" flight, lunged after him, tearing down the vegetation in its path.

{Don't run! Come back here so I can break you!}

However, in the thicket, Shija's size was his greatest weapon, using exposed roots as springs and low branches as trampolines, moving with a fluidity that began to irritate the innocent ancient consciousness, who screamed with a childish voice while her tentacles struck the trunks, creating a cacophony of splintered wood and roars.

"...."

But despite the chaos, Shija didn't respond. He was gaining speed, bouncing between the trees and disappearing into the foliage just before her attacks struck.

(KRA-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK-TAK!!!)

In this way, little by little, the rhythm of the attacks began to become predictable under the pressure of the pursuit.

(That's it...!)

Shija, maintaining his focus, accelerated, waiting for the moment of maximum frustration to launch his counterattack and, finally, force her to listen.

(More, much more than before!!)

Taking advantage of the situation, Shija gritted his teeth, feeling the Ki energy pulsing in his right palm.

(I'll end this... in one hit!!)

It wasn't a random attack; he was gathering all the strength of his being, channeling the flow of Ki into a single focal point, condensing it to the limit. His small hand glowed with a dim, greenish light, concentrating inertia for a definitive strike.

(Thump-Thump!)

Every second was crucial; every beat of his heart resonated with the effort.

{COWARD!!}

But the beast's patience reached its limit...

(SKREEEEEEEE-ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAR!!!)

And immediately, she unleashed a thunderous roar, deeper and more guttural than any previous screech, tearing through the air.

{I'LL BURN IT ALL!!}

Next, the centipede-humanoid body twisted and contorted with unnatural speed. The crimson chitin didn't just soften; it shed, revealing a mass of muscle and bone reconfiguring itself. The head elongated and sharpened, its jaws stretching into a toothed snout, while the side legs fused to form four reptilian limbs. The muscle fibers of the tentacles widened, stretching into two membranous wings that unfurled with the sound of tearing cloth.

(SPLAT-MORPH-GROOOOOWL!!!)

In a matter of seconds, the creature chasing Shija was no longer a centipede, nor a deformed humanoid.

{I'll burn this nest of filth!}

It was a dragon: a colossal beast of dark red scales, powerful muscles, and burning eyes, rising majestically over the treetops, blocking the sky.

(FWOOSH-ROOOAAAR!!!)

With a beat of its vast wings, the dragon exhaled a torrent of orange and blue flames from its mouth, engulfing the forest in an incandescent fury.

(Fssssss-BRUMMM!!)

The trees, until then his allies, became a hellscape.

(Not yet...)

The heat was suffocating, the smoke thick, and the roar of the fire drowned out any other sound.

(Not yet!!)

The ground beneath his feet began to burn. He dove to the ground, rolling through hot ash and falling embers.

(This time... I won't fail!)

His vision blurred from the smoke, but Shija didn't stop.

(Only one chance...!!)

He used the scorched foliage, charred trunks, and dancing shadows as a curtain, moving with desperate urgency while charging his Ki attack in one hand, searching for the opportunity the dragon, blinded by its destructive rage, might offer him.

{I won!}

And the moment came when the roar of the flames finally ceased, leaving behind a deathly silence broken only by the crackling of charred wood as the dragon slowly descended, its claws sinking into the ashes as it watched the devastated environment with malicious satisfaction.

(NOW!!)

An opportunity Shija seized, emerging from the dense shadows of a burnt trunk. His small body propelled itself with a power that defied his stature, flying through the ashes like a silent projectile toward the creature's back.

{What?!}

In the air, Shija closed his eyes for a millisecond, expanding his Ki perception to the maximum.

(If she took the form of a dragon... then!)

He remembered ancient lessons on the anatomy of great reptiles: the "Reverse Scale" or the junction point where vital energy is most vulnerable.

"The game is over!"

Through his Ki detection, he located a point pulsing with an erratic glow near the base of the neck, where the chitin plates hadn't quite closed during the transformation.

(SIGH-DRIVE!!!)

And he struck the vulnerable scale directly.

{AAAAAAHHH!!}

The energy he had been gathering in his hand, compressed to the limit, was released all at once.

(CRACK-BOOM-SHATTER!!!)

It wasn't an explosion of fire, but a shock of pure inertia that penetrated the shell and struck the beast's neural core directly in a flash of emerald light that illuminated the burning forest.