Space shuddered.
The very Rion's runic seal seemed to resist his transformation, but it failed. Veins of darkness streaked across the heavens.
The air turned thick and toxic, saturated with a corruption that didn't belong to Rion or even this universe. The mountaintop sank under his growing weight as if the land itself was bending under something it could not hold.
His figure stretched and contorted. His humanoid form twisted until it was something else entirely — neither beast nor god. A tall, wraith-like creature with a torso carved from living shadows and a halo of screaming souls flickering behind its head like dying stars.
Two eyes remained — pitch-black, abyssal — but now they bled dark light, seeping with hatred.
Apollo's expression remained calm, but his pupils narrowed.
