The battlefield was unrecognizable—a vast wasteland of shattered rock, black ichor, and seething energy. The sky above cracked with unnatural light, the very air humming with the force of their battle. Leonard and the beast circled each other, the ground trembling beneath their steps.

The creature’s new form radiated destruction. Every movement was a blur of death, tendrils lashing through the air, claws dripping with corrosive venom. Its eyes, now multiple and burning like dying stars, tracked Leonard with eerie intelligence.

Leonard exhaled, rolling his shoulders. His body screamed for rest, but he ignored it. He had evolved past exhaustion. Past weakness.

Then the monster attacked.

The ground split apart as it charged. Leonard ducked under a tendril, sidestepped a claw that would have split him in two, and countered. His blade flashed, carving deep into the creature’s exposed side.

But the wound sealed instantly.

Leonard barely had time to register before a tendril wrapped around his leg, hoisting him into the air.

The beast slammed him into the ground—once, twice, thrice.

Bones cracked. Darkness threatened to swallow him.

But he refused to die.

With a guttural roar, Leonard severed the tendril with a single vicious strike, flipping through the air before landing in a crouch. His pupils dilated, his senses sharpening to inhuman levels.

This was it. The final round.

The monster lunged, a blur of claws and writhing limbs. Leonard met it head-on. Their clash sent shockwaves rippling through the abyss, the impact shattering stone and tearing deep scars into the land.

Leonard dodged, twisted, and struck with unrelenting precision. His blade bit into flesh, but the creature adapted faster than anything he had ever fought.

It was a battle of attrition. A war of endurance.

Leonard ducked under another swipe and drove his knee into the beast’s chest, sending it staggering backward. He didn’t let up. A flurry of brutal, lightning-fast strikes carved through sinew and metal alike. Black ichor spewed from the wounds, sizzling against the ruins of the battlefield.

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Then the beast retaliated.

Leonard barely registered the moment before its claws tore into him, raking across his side, ripping deep into flesh and bone. His vision blurred, the pain unbearable—but he held on. He had suffered worse. He had survived worse.

Blood dripped from his wounds, but he didn't falter. He couldn't.

The monster screeched, its body distorting, shifting into something even more grotesque. A final desperate transformation.

Leonard grinned through bloody teeth. “Not this time.”

He surged forward, dodging another swipe, and plunged his blade straight through the creature’s chest.

The monster convulsed, its many eyes widening in shock. For the first time, it felt death coming for it.

Leonard twisted the blade, feeling the resistance of unnatural flesh fighting against its fate. Then, with a final, savage strike, he tore the weapon free, splitting the beast open from chest to skull.

Silence.

The battlefield stilled. The sky above flickered, the oppressive weight of the abyss weakening as its champion fell.

The monster collapsed.

Leonard staggered back, panting, his body screaming for rest. But something glowed within the beast’s remains.

An orb.

Not like the others. Refined. Pulsing. Alive.

Leonard reached for it, his fingers closing around its searing heat. Power flooded his body instantly, like liquid fire seeping into his very core. He gasped as his wounds sealed, his muscles tightening, his mind expanding.

And then he saw it—

A book, lying amidst the creature’s corpse, untouched by the carnage around it.

Leonard crouched, picking it up. The cover was blank, the pages turning on their own, revealing shifting, ever-updating text.

It listed names.

Descriptions of creatures, plants—everything he had killed, eaten, or even encountered. A living archive of his survival.

He flipped through the pages, intrigued. Then, as if sensing him, the book pulsed—and a single line appeared before his eyes.

[BIND?]

Leonard’s lips curled into a smirk. “Well now… this could be useful.”

The abyss may have lost its champion, but it had left behind its greatest gift.

And Leonard? He had only just begun.