The air in the warehouse crackled with raw power. Rune stood amidst Seraphina, Valerius, and a now lifeless Thanos at his feet, his crimson eyes burning like embers. His fury had transcended mere pain, morphing into a primal, pure hunting instinct. He uttered no words, only a deep, guttural growl escaping his throat, signaling the coming slaughter.
Valerius was the first to act. With a decisive sweep of his hand, his energy blade cut a line through the air. Space warped, and a black, tearing void, a spatial rift, abruptly appeared directly in front of Rune. He felt a terrible suction from the rift, threatening to rip his body apart. This was Valerius's Spatial Manipulation ability – dangerous and unpredictable.
But Rune was too familiar with pain and transformation. Instead of dodging, he roared, focusing energy into his very flesh and bones. The bio-armor on his body thickened, hardening like steel. He raised an arm, his fingers twisting into massive claws, and plunged them straight into the distorted space. CRACK! The spatial rift, thought to be invulnerable, suddenly twisted and collapsed under Rune's brutal might, unleashing a backlash of energy that forced Valerius to stumble back a step.
"Impossible!" Valerius muttered, the cold composure on his face momentarily cracking.
Seraphina didn't miss her chance. She unleashed a second, more powerful assault. The blood in Rune's veins began to boil violently, the pain many times worse than before. He felt his blood vessels on the verge of bursting, every cell on the verge of rupture. But this time, Rune didn't just resist. He focused on the very energy attempting to destroy him.
With a guttural snarl, Rune channeled his own Flesh Manipulation power. He didn't just reinforce his own blood vessels; he twisted and warped Seraphina's own blood pressure surge, turning it into a counterattack. The veins on Seraphina's wrists suddenly swelled abnormally, and a shriek of agony burst from her lips as she felt her own power turn against her, tormenting her.
"AAARRGGHHH!" Seraphina crumpled to her knees, her emerald eyes wide with panic as she stared at Rune. He had turned her strength into her own weakness.
Valerius, recognizing Rune's lethal danger, hesitated no longer. He vanished and reappeared directly behind Rune, his energy blade slashing straight for his nape. Simultaneously, Valerius created a small spatial singularity directly beneath Rune's feet, attempting to swallow him into the void.
Rune felt the cold blade graze the hardened skin on his neck. He was powerful, but Valerius was too fast and too cunning. He couldn't defend against both at once. The spatial singularity beneath Rune's feet expanded, beginning to draw his body in.
But Rune was not one to be easily subdued. In that moment of dire peril, a brutal idea sparked in his mind. He couldn't escape the singularity, but he could change his own form.
With a roar that echoed throughout the warehouse, Rune's body began to horrifically distort. His flesh and bones stretched, elongated, and regenerated. He was no longer the massive humanoid shape, but transformed into a larger, more grotesque creature, with tentacle-like limbs, composed of bone and muscle, erupting from his back. His bio-armor doubled in thickness, with large, sharp spikes protruding from everywhere.
He had become a true Flesh Weaver, a living nightmare.
His flesh-and-bone tentacles slammed down onto the floor, shaking the entire warehouse. One tentacle whipped out, striking Valerius directly. Valerius tried to shift, but the tentacle's speed was too great. He was flung into a stack of large crates, the impact resounding through the space.
Seraphina watched Rune's transformation, her face stark white with sheer terror. This was not the power she had known. This was a monster beyond all imagination.
Rune, now a colossal humanoid mass with bone-and-flesh tentacles extending outwards, slowly turned his head towards Seraphina. His blazing red eyes burned with even fiercer intensity.
"Your turn, Seraphina," his distorted voice boomed, thick with deadly menace. "Now, let's see who truly is controlled."