Plummeting through the abyssal expanse of the cradle, Virno plunged past its towering structures, their windows glimmering with distant golden light. The world blurred around him, a cascade of flickering shapes embraced by unending darkness.

  Then -- impact.

  He struck the river like a stone, sinking fast, dragged into the unseen depths.

  Above, the glow of the skyscrapers faded, their lights dissolving into the cold black.

  Below, in the pressing void, the sword in his grasp began to pulse.

  Virno: "NNGHH...!"

  A wave of green sigils erupted from the hilt, spreading across his skin.

  Their markings carved themselves into him, burning with an intensity unlike anything he had ever endured. His muscles ripped apart. His tendons tore. His bones cracked.

  His insides boiled.

  The agony was unimaginable.

  His mouth opened in a silent scream, only for his lungs to flood with water as he gasped for air.

  But even as his body shattered under the force of the magic --

  Even as his consciousness slipped into the void --

  He did not let go of the sword.

  His grip was iron. His will unbroken.

  As his mind faded, he sank deeper.

  The Guardian: "GRRRROOOAAARRRRR...!"

  High above the cradle's rivers, something stirred.

  A presence long at peace, enraged.

  It twisted in the air, its serpentine body coiling between the towering buildings, yellow light glistening against its armored hide.

  Then, with a thunderous roar, it descended.

  Its massive wings spread wide, cutting through the abyss. Its six razor-sharp talons flexed, its fox-like maw twisting in rage. Curved ram's horns crowned its monstrous skull, and burning gold eyes locked onto the river below.

  The Guardian: "RRROOOAAAARRRRRR!!"

  It plunged --

  Only for the river itself to reject it.

  The waters bounced the massive beast back into the air, hurling it against the side of a skyscraper with earth-shattering force.

  CRACK -- !

  The building crumbled beneath its weight.

  Snarling, the creature unleashed a jet of flame, hissing red-hot into the still surface of the water.

  But the river did not burn.

  It did not so much as ripple.

  Then -- from the depths --

  A single green light began to rise, riding atop an emerging building.

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  The beast froze.

  Its breath shuddered through its jagged teeth.

  Its eyes fixed on the glow, unblinking.

  Flames spilled from the cracks of its snarling jaws.

  It knew.

  Something was coming.

  Virno drifted weightlessly, suspended in the rising green luminescence.

  His body was light. Too light.

  It was no longer just his own.

  The sword's power coursed within him now -- woven into his very being, its power no longer something he held, but something he was.

  He looked down at his own skin but could not see it. His form -- his existence itself -- was swallowed by the glow.

  But he felt it.

  He was still himself.

  And yet --

  More.

  Then, the roars reached him.

  A presence above.

  A will that sought to exterminate.

  Virno closed his eyes.

  And he sensed it.

  The Guardian.

  He stepped towards the edge of the rooftop, the sword glowing in his grasp as the water's breaking surface revealed at last what lay beneath the radiance.

  He was taller.

  Broader.

  Muscles corded his frame -- muscles that should not exist on a human body. Tendons ran beneath his skin, too thick to be natural. His bones felt like steel, yet they bent with a flexibility that should have been impossible.

  The sigils that had once branded him now flowed freely, shifting like tides, their movement perfectly synchronized.

  A machine.

  A vessel.

  A being made to wield power itself.

  Virno leaned, staring down at the beast below.

  His voice -- deeper, stronger -- rumbled through the air.

  Virno: "Today... the cradle loses its guardian."

  The beast roared, its deafening cry shaking the entire abyss. The waters rippled. Buildings trembled.

  But Virno stood above it all, the sword of Greed glowing in his grasp.

  Then, he raised the blade --

  And the winds obeyed.

  A maelstrom erupted from his body, a vortex so vast it ripped entire structures from the river, sending them spiraling into the storm above. Columns of wind howled through the abyss, swallowing the beast in their chaotic pull.

  Snarling, the creature spread its wings, attempting to ride the hurricane's currents --

  Virno's voice cut through the storm.

  Virno: "... Fall."

  He turned the blade downward --

  And the sky collapsed.

  The hurricane shattered, its force suddenly inverted. The wind plummeted like a hammer, slamming everything caught in the storm back down into the river.

  Buildings crashed.

  Water exploded.

  The beast was hurled into the river, the surface rejecting his entry once more.

  Virno hovered high above the chaos, his body weightless, his grin sharpened by victory.

  Virno: "The obelisk has shown me what you can do... but your abilities pale in comparison to those of a god."

  Below, the guardian slowly rose from its downed state, its massive form crouching upon six clawed legs. It unfurled its wings, lifting them high above its body --

  And something changed.

  A dull, metallic gray light began to pulse between the arch of its wings. The tip of its tail glowed with that same unnatural energy.

  Virno narrowed his eyes.

  Virno: "Gray...?"

  There was something wrong about it. Chillingly familiar.

  He watched, hovering above, utterly unconcerned.

  The guardian struck.

  Its tail lashed forward, piercing the twin orbs of energy between its wings --

  And from that single strike, the two orbs collapsed inward, merging into a single beam of light.

  The gray magic shot upward, cutting through the air with unnatural speed.

  Virno tried to move --

  Too fast.

  The beam struck him square in the chest.

  Virno: "HRGHNNH -- !"

  A sensation unlike any other gripped his core.

  His transformation --

  It was undoing itself.

  Every sigil that had been burned into his skin began to unwind, retreating like ink bleeding in reverse, leaving only distorted scars in their absence. His tendons shrank, his muscles withered, his bones cracked as they snapped back to their previous form.

  The process was excruciating.

  Virno plummeted, his flight utterly severed.

  Desperate, he forced what little power he had left into his limbs, barely managing to redirect his fall into a glide across the river. His body convulsed as he struggled to stay conscious.

  He still held the sword...

  ... But he couldn't fight back.

  Not like this.

  Virno: "Dammit...! What move was that?! That magic is just like theirs... Like Sadducee's... like Ballo's...!"

  Then --

  A voice.

  Inside his head.

  Deep. Ancient.

  Mocking.

  The Guardian: "Fool."

  Virno's eyes widened.

  The voice was inside him.

  The Guardian: "The obelisk shows only what it wants you to see. Underestimating me will be your last mistake...!"

  Virno's heart slammed against his ribs.

  No.

  This wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to lose... Not anymore.

  The guardian ascended, its massive form blotting out the distant skyscrapers, its golden eyes burning with the weight of ancient wrath.

  It opened its maw, revealing rows of jagged fangs.

  The Guardian: "You are to become the most short-lived of wielders."

  And then --

  It dived straight for him.