The blood moon hung like a festering eyeball in the sky. Twelve elders' silver-threaded robes glowed with corpse-wax sheen on the altar steps. When Alyssa's covenant ring constricted, serrated edges piercing flesh, Moonflare phoenix erupted skyward, burning a hole through the night.
"Magnificent overture!" Layne's clockwork hand crushed a goblet, wine crystallizing into blood bats mid-air. "You've reminded these fossils..." His pupils fractalized into spider-eye mosaics, reflecting maggot-riddled flesh beneath elder's finery.
Inferno engulfed the altar. The head elder's beard ignited cerulean flames, silver wig melting into mercury rivulets to expose corpse-spotted scalp. Second elder's emerald scepter exploded, releasing carrion beetles skewered by phoenix tail feathers.
"Shadowclaw hospitality?" Third elder's sandalwood dentures fell out, revealing vampiric vines in gums. His curses choked into coughs as diamond-studded vestments burst open, spilling rancid organs.
Alyssa's ring gnawed into wrist bone. Blood flowed backward through ancient runes, drawing inverted sacrificial circles. The phoenix abruptly divebombed, flames coalescing into Kane's mother's face—silently screaming toward Layne's cogwheel heart.
"Stay focused, bride." Layne's forked tongue licked her new wolf-shaped birthmark, embalming reek intensifying. "Climax approaches." He stomped a skull underfoot, releasing blue copper dust that merged with Moonflare into toxic mist.
Fifth elder's golden mask melted away, revealing half-mechanized face—camera lens eye and grape-like sarcoma. His synthetic vocalizer blared: "Energy overload detected. Purge protocol activated." Robotic wings melted mid-deployment.
Alyssa's heart stalled. Ring serrations pierced ventricles as Moonflare imploded into hatchling form. Stumbling through shredded altar drapes, she found six grey wolf mummies—each stabbed through the heart with replicas of Kane's mother's dagger.
"This is awakening?" She hurled flame hawk at Layne, only for his mechanical spine to absorb it. Overloaded gears sparked as the altar cracked open, exposing colossal cogwheels—each groove gripping a bloodied ring channeling lunar energy into Layne's heart.
The elders' screams synchronized. Their incinerated finery revealed maggot-flesh amalgamating into a colossal tumor. Alyssa's ring spun backward, each revolution draining Moonflare to forge metallic scales across her skin.
"Perfect symbiosis." Layne ripped his shirt open, father's eyeball suspended in the heart-chamber. "You power the system, I..." His voice distorted as Kane's arrow shattered the orb, unleashing Shadowclaw incantations from broken glass.
The altar collapsed. Plummeting, Alyssa glimpsed her reflection—half-metal scales, half ash-flame phoenix. Final lucid thoughts caught Layne's laughter reverberating through grinding gears:
"Darling, this was merely the first movement."