The Breaking of the Shell

The astral plane of Ky'lar, which just moments before was intended to be the perfect containment cell, began to crack under the weight of a force that did not belong to the laws of that world.

"¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The dead, compressed atmosphere of the thirty-fifth layer of the planetary barrier suffered a violent torsion.

(¡¡¡................!!!)

High above, the night mantle was no longer merely charred by the clouds; instead, the entire firmament fractured into a fluctuating coloration of sickly tones—a lattice of poisonous purples, bile greens, and opaque yellows that twisted around one another like a chromatic, psychedelic, and labyrinthine nightmare that transformed the sky into a closed, delirious space, where the logic of reality was devoured by pure desperation.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡JUE-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!)

And immediately after, the light itself decomposed, becoming viscous, casting impossible shadows that crawled over the ivy and the mud of the clearing, blanketing the forest...

(¡¡¡CRRR-CRAAA-CRAAACK...!!!)

And the next instant, right at the epicenter of that distortion, a dry, mundane sound, yet loaded with devastating symbolism, shattered the rigidity of the air.

"¡¡¡¡¡GWRAAAA-SHWIIIING-GROOOOOOOOO-GWAARRRGHHH-AAAAAAARRRGHHH!!!!!"

Releasing a shriek, in Mireya's right hand, the video game console he was holding gave way completely to the excessive and unconscious strength of his grip.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡PLAS-TZZZZZZZZ...!!!!!!!!)

And immediately, the plastic casing split with a sharp crunch, while the screen shattered into glass fragments that floated suspended in the air for a fraction of a second, refracting the sickly colors of the sky before being swallowed by the purple blackness emanating from her silhouette.

(Why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why. why....?)

That outburst was an existential anomaly expanding in concentric circles, guided by a single feeling...

(¡¡¡WHY AGAIN???!!!)

The space-time around the entirety of the forested expanse began to bend and groan, manifesting aberrant visual textures in the air, as if the fabric of reality were being forcibly unraveled.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡JUE-DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM区域!!!!!!!!!)

However, the immense conceptual dome raised by the Spirit Queen, originally designed to isolate and neutralize the virus, became at that exact instant Ky'lar's sole line of defense upon receiving the direct and merciless impact of the shockwave.

(¡¡¡SHRRRRRR-VROOOOM-KRRRR-SHHHHH!!!)

As a result, the mystical layers vibrated with seismic intensity, absorbing and containing the brutal gravitational pressure and massive energetic corruption to prevent the entire planet from collapsing.

(Why? Why her? Why Flora? No, no, no. What did I do wrong? What is this?)

But at the epicenter of the storm, Mireya's mind became a vortex of shattered fragments.

(Again...? What do you mean by again... Kill... Answer me?!)

His consciousness was no longer operating with logic; there was no thread, only a chaotic bombardment of thoughts colliding with one another with desperate violence...

(Hate, betrayal, pain, helplessness, suffocation, rage, rage, rage, rage...)

That was an absolute collapse of sanity.

(Was I wrong to choose peace...?)

...On one hand, he sought reasons.

(...WHAT SHOULD I DO... WHAT SHOULD I HAVE DONE... I...?)

He sought answers in the vacuum of an atmosphere that refused to give them, trying to cling to a "why" that would justify the cruelty he had just witnessed in the firmament.

— Why does it surprise you? —

But there was nothing.

— Did you forget? It was you who brought us to this place. —

However...

— It was you who decided to play the savior. —

...The shock of the impact awakened a latent abyss in the deepest part of his being.

(Shut up! No... Shut up! Flora is...!)

Emerging from the cracks of his memory, a cold, sepulchral entity, laden with a poisonous cynicism, manifested like a ghost from the past in the darkest corners of his mind.

— Flora is the result of your weakness. An error born from an incomplete shell that believed itself capable of protecting something. —

The impact of those words only accelerated the fracture.

— Look at yourself. Look at your hands. They are shaking. What good was your damn empathy? What good was containing us all this time if in the end you would let them trample her like that? —

In response to those murmurs, Mireya tried to erect a mental wall, desperately attempting to drown out the whispers of a truth he was incapable of accepting...

(It wasn't my fault! I just wanted... I wanted them to be safe! She had nothing to do with this!)

But the pain and the echo in his head fed on that agony to become even denser, dragging him into the mud of guilt.

— Safe? What a pathetic word in your mouth. You brought us to a slaughterhouse. It has always been this way! —

The internal plea found no mercy.

(No... stop... please, stop...!)

Instead of stabilizing, the clash between both currents of thought became a destructive feedback loop.

— Accept the truth...! We... —

For every attempt by Mireya to cling to his humanity...

(...Don't say it... Please... Just...)

...The pain responded with a whisper that twisted that very suffering, transforming it into a rancid and dark fuel.

— ...Should never have been born. —

There was no side gaining ground.

(.....)

Instead, only a war of attrition remained, where the psyche tore itself apart, fragment by fragment, until surpassing its limit...

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Due to that, the aura emanating from his body finally overflowed.

{"... Emotional resonance."}

In response, the aura emanating from his silhouette fluctuated violently, expanding into spikes of purple blackness that pierced the air, only to contract suddenly like a heart undergoing a spasm.

{"... Dragnir... + Lysandra... + Kylien..."}

And immediately, the empathetic magic, completely unbridled, began to evolve.

(«... None of it matters... Right now... Let's just...»)

As both psyches continued to collide in an endless vortex, sinking together into a spiral that was slowly stripping the chrysalis of any trace of sanity...

(«...make them pay!!»)

...That was how the collapse took shape.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡VVVVVVRRRRRRRR—SHHHHHIAAAAAA...!!!!!!!!)

Thus, in the midst of that psychic collapse that refused to find a bottom, the air over the clearing finally compacted in an aberrant manner.

< Go ahead... >

It was no longer just the residual wind currents or the boiling steam; meanwhile, the energetic tide and gravitational pressure that Mireya expelled began to suck toward a single point suspended in space, enveloping his unstable silhouette.

(¡¡¡BUM-BUM... PUM-PUM...!!!)

The resulting sound was a dull, dense, and oppressive hum, like the beating of a twisted heart, contracting to the absolute limit of its own physical endurance.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡PLAS-TZZZZZZZZ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

And immediately, upon reaching its point of maximum conceptual saturation, the chromatic sphere exploded, releasing a torrential rain of lightning bolts that pierced the sky, cracking and distorting space-time in every imaginable direction.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)

But while the firmament groaned under the impact of pure, uncontrolled energy, at the edges of the clearing, the chaos was about to escalate...

(¡¡¡RUUUUUUUUMBLE!!!)

Several hundred meters away, in the deep gloom of the forest where the defenses had been torn down, the shattered earth and trees began to tremble as a torrent of light began to shine.

(¡¡FWOOOOSH!!!)

And at the same time, on the other end, the cracked ground fractured wide open, releasing a colossal and dense pillar of flames toward the sky.

(¡¡¡SHRRRRRR-VROOOOM-KRRRR-SHHHHH!!!)

But at that moment...

(Ssssshhhhhhiiiiiiiiiuuuuuuuu...)

In response to the celestial chaos, from the depths of the cracked earth, threads of pure natural energy began to weave together, manifesting a silhouette that emerged with the lightness of a specter and the solidity of a mountain.

< .... >

The Spirit Queen finally manifested on the battlefield.

(¡¡¡CRRR-CRAAA-CRAAACK...!!!)

Her form was the very embodiment of an ecosystem in its purest, most unbridled state: an entity of breathtaking beauty whose body resembled a living amalgam of all the planet's forces. She was composed of ancient roots and ramifications of dense mud that intertwined with veins of obsidian flashing with an internal heat.

( Uuuuuuuhhhhh... ♫)

In turn, crystalline water flowed like a fluid mantle over her pale jade skin, while subtle gusts of ionized wind and wisps of pure static crowned her head like a halo.

< ... From your reaction... It seems... >

Standing in place, she remained motionless, expressionlessly watching the aberration in the sky before her.

< ... That it was unnecessary to ask >

And with her eyes like two sockets of an abyssal, empty green, she uttered words of defiance.

(¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)

Therefore, in response, at that precise instant, the electrical storm exploded in the firmament with a blinding flash of violet lightning, sweeping away for a fraction of a second the dense layer of steam and static that enveloped the eye of the hurricane.

"Grrr..."

And the veil finally fell, revealing the metamorphosis triggered by the absolute collapse of his sanity.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡VVVVVVRRRRRRRR—SHHHHHIAAAAAA...!!!!!!!)

Where the subtle physiognomy of the magical girl once existed, there now stood a chimera where mystical elegance and savage ferocity coupled perfectly.

"¡¡¡¡¡GWRAAAA-SHWIIIING-GROOOOOOOOO-GWAARRRGHHH-AAAAAAARRRGHHH!!!!!"

The fabrics of his attire fused and cracked under the surge of a corrupt force, while fine dragon scales—jet-black and polished—sprouted over his skin, covering his shoulders and limbs with a reptilian gleam.

(¡¡¡Krrr-clac... cric...!!!)

From his back, two majestic wings of torn membrane beat heavily, accompanied by the rhythmic swaying of a dragon tail that struck the air with the force of a dark whip.

(¡¡¡SHHHHHH—FROTT...!!!)

But in an impeccable chromatic contrast, his arms and legs were covered by sections of thick, short fur of a pure white that flashed in the gloom.

(¡¡¡FSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!)

His hands and feet had transformed into sharp obsidian claws, while from his feline physiognomy sprouted a second tail that moved with autonomy.

(¡¡¡¡ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—VUUUUUUUUUUOSHHHH!!!!)

Atop his head, hidden among the strands of his silver hair that floated weightlessly and completely bristled by the aura, two white cat ears emerged, twitching subtly to the sounds of the storm.

(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡PLAS-TZZZZZZZZ...!!!!!!!!)

The original features of his face had been devoured.

(¡¡¡¡KABOOOOOOOM-FSHHH!!!!)

His eyes were now two sockets of an abyssal, absolute blackness—empty pits where light went to die, yet harboring within them a storm of intermittent flashes in tones of poisonous purples, greens, and opaque yellows that fluctuated erratically, blinking and vibrating with the rancid intensity of an uncontrolled static.

(¡¡ZRAAAAAAAKISH...!!)

And just above that gaze, two demonic horns of a crystalline violet hue sprouted straight and sharp from his forehead, casting an intermittent glow, while at the sides of his head, a second pair of dragon horns—thick and tightly curled like those of a ram—curved backward under the torrential rain.

(CLANK... CLANK... CLANK...)

In turn, heavy chains of a weathered and completely rusted iron wrapped around each of his four limbs and tightened firmly around his neck.

"¡¡¡GWAAARRRR-OSHHH!!!"

...He had lost all control.