Jagu's molten veins pulsed brighter, his massive frame trembling as if the ground beneath him resonated with something deep and ancient. His golden eyes locked onto Ash's, and in that moment, Ash felt it—the truth humming between them.
The Stone Titan wasn't just a guardian. It was Jagu himself.
Maya took a step back, her grip tightening on her blade. "Ash… what's happening?"
The obsidian monolith's sigils flared violently, the final quadrant—Stone—glowing a deep, earthy brown. The platform beneath them shuddered, cracks spiderwebbing across its surface as raw, tectonic power surged upward.
Jagu let out a roar—not of aggression, but of awakening. His stone hide split apart like breaking bedrock, molten light pouring from the fissures. His form expanded, his limbs thickening, his body rising taller, broader, until he was no longer just a massive jaguar, but a colossus of living stone and magma.
"ASHBORN LOCKE."
