WorldCrafter - Building My Underground Kingdom

BOOOOM!!

The impact shook the sky, snapping three more glyph chains back into place across the Devourer's wings and jaw. It flailed violently, but its core dimmed. The double-eye charge flickered.

The knight didn't stop. He spun, dragging one sword upward along the creature's spine. The scar pulsed, then detonated in a shockwave that staggered the Devourer backward.

Ben followed up, appendages pinning the lower jaw down, dark aether pouring from his fingertips.

"We just need a few more seconds!"

Apophis hovered over the seal, both arms extended. The Empyrian crystal glowed like a newborn star, each pulse syncing with the circuitry across the ground.

Her eyes bled black, her wings cracked. The chains thickened. More burst from the void, empowered by the renewed foundation Apophis had ignited.

One chain wrapped around the Devourer's central eye. Another locked its spine to the broken sky.

The system screamed, through the body, through the glyphs, through the very code of space.

Ben was nearly thrown off, his body shaking violently, but he screamed right back. "We end this, NOW!!"

He and the knight moved together, one final surge, Dark aether and divine lightning.

They drove their energy into the Devourer's core, suppressing it one second longer.

CRACK!

The Devourer's core spasmed, then pulsed violently.

Ben's eyes widened. "Wait, NO!"

BOOOOOOM!!!

The monster let out a deafening roar, and its body detonated with fury. The eight golden eyes flared in a spiral and then they all fired.

Eight beams of pure law, shooting in every direction. One tore through the clouds. Another carved a canyon into the earth. A third sliced past Ben, narrowly missing his head and vaporizing part of his trailing appendages.

The knight leapt to the side, dragging Ben with him as a fourth beam ripped through the sky, obliterating three divine chains in its path.

They landed hard. Ben's shoulder was bleeding. The knight's leg smoked, armor partially melted.

"He's going feral!" the knight shouted, gasping.

Apophis smiled. Her expression was calm. Blood ran from her eyes. Her wings had all but dissolved.

And still, she raised both arms higher. "Keep going," she whispered. "Spend all your energy."

Hundreds more chain burst from every corner of the broken dimension, born from the Empyrian crystal.

They twisted like serpents of divine iron and black flame, clashing against the beams head-on. Some shattered. Others pierced through the light, binding limbs, wrapping around burning eyes, and coiling deep into the Devourer's core.

One massive chain slammed down across the Devourer's back, pinning it to the sky. Another snared its jaw and dragged it to the ground, forcing the next law beam to fire harmlessly into the dirt.

Ben and the knight pushed themselves back to their feet.

"She's… winning," the knight muttered in disbelief.

"No," Ben said, staring at her. "She's dragging him down with her teeth."

Chains kept coming. More and more. Crashing like tidal waves. Exploding from rips in the sky. Reinforced by Apophis's will, they seized the Devourer limb by limb, eye by eye.

The creature thrashed and screamed, but it was too late.

The system writhed, code spiraling wildly across its body.

And still, Apophis smiled.

"Keep using more power," she said, her voice echoing through the seal formation. "Till I can take my body back."

Aphopis plan now were to weaken the devourer body, till it run out of energy, than she would proceed to the next step taking over her body back.

Chains surged in response to her will, with one purpose draining the beast strength

As each one wrapped tighter around the Devourer's limbs, eyes, spine, and throat, it began siphoning the wild law energy bursting from its core. Divine seals pulsed at the base of every link, calibrated by Apophis's reprogrammed formation to act like a giant siphon net.

The Devourer felt it, And it howled. It went berserk again.

Four eyes fired simultaneously, without aim, blasting massive holes through the broken sky and scorching the remains of the old battlefield. The ground sank beneath the impact, entire ridgelines caving in like melting wax.

A fifth beam lashed upward, wild, spiraling, before a thick obsidian chain snapped around its base and crushed the eye shut.

More beams fired. More chains slammed down. Like war serpents clashing in the heavens, the scene had become a cataclysm of light and shadow.

Ben and the knight hovered at a distance, watching as the sky itself buckled beneath the clash of two overwhelming forces.

"The space is collapsing," the knight said, voice ragged.

Ben narrowed his eyes. "Hope it hold on than."

The Devourer roared again, but the sound was weaker now. Flickering. Echoing through a breaking shell.

Its body twitched erratically, one wing now bound completely by chains tipped in reversed sigils. Another limb dragged along the air, its edges crumbling with raw overuse. Cracks had formed in its plated scales.

Ben clenched his fists. "She's weakening it."

"She's starving it," the knight added. "And when it's empty…"

"She wan to take the body," Ben finished grimly.

Above them, the Devourer surged one last time, eight eyes blazing, body writhing in unnatural, glitching spasms. And fired in all directions.

Beams of golden law tore through space, undirected, blind, uncontrollable. A pure panic reflex. Anything to resist the inevitable.

But it was no longer enough.

Apophis raised her arms one final time, wings spread wide over the crystal's glow. Chains collapsed in unison.

The Devourer's body was dragged downward, chained limb by limb, skull by horn, jaw locked shut, until it hung limp in the broken sky, flailing weakly, like a god caught in its own dream.

It's golden eyes become start dimming one by one, form eight, to seven, than to six to five. It's closing fast.

Apophis narrowed her eyes as the empyrean crystal in front of her begin to crack. And than her lips than curled into smile.

Her body dissolved into dark liquid seeping into the crystal.

Far above, Ben and the knight steadied themselves, watching as the Devourer's body chained.

Then, more chains materialized.

But this time… They weren't targeting the Devourer.

They turned toward them.

Ben's eyes sharpened. "… I should know better…"