CHAPTER 43:THE WORLD'S HIDDEN TEETH II
Leylin hit the tree like a falling meteor.The impact didn't stop at wood.The trunk exploded into splinters, then the earth behind it caved inward as his body carved a trench through soil and stone, tearing a path miles long before friction and sheer will forced him to slow.
He dug his heels in.Ground screamed.The trench widened.Finally ..silence.Leylin exhaled once, long and steady, steam rising from his skin.
A deep gash ran from his collarbone to his abdomen, still leaking, still open. His battle robes were gone, shredded by the shockwave. Only torn shorts clung stubbornly to his hips.He rolled his shoulder experimentally.Bone clicked back into place.
"Good," he murmured.
Not praise.Assessment.Then he stepped forward and vanished.The golden gorilla waited where the forest had been.Half the land was simply… gone.Not crushed.Not burned.Gone, as if erased by an unseen hand.
The beast's chest rose slowly, controlled, but parts of its fur and shoulder no longer existed. Not torn. Not bleeding. Just absence .. smooth voids where matter had once been.
It touched one of those places, confused.Something it could not understand had bitten it without teeth.the air warped.Leylin returned, skidding across the ground in a low stance, stopping only meters away.No hesitation.The gorilla swung.Leylin leaned sideways .. barely.
The fist missed his face by a hair, the pressure alone flattening everything behind him.He stepped inside the arc and drove his elbow into its ribs.Shockwave.The beast slid back, gouging the earth.
It countered instantly ..a backhand aimed to erase him.Leylin ducked, pivoted, drove a knee upward into its jaw.The impact split the sky with a thunderclap.No wasted motion.No theatrics.Just violence refined to its purest form.
They vanished again.To anything watching, it would look like the world tearing itself apart at random points ..explosions of dirt, collapsing hills, shockwaves flattening forests miles away.
Blow for blow.Dodge for dodge.Hit for hit.Speed that turned distance meaningless.
Minutes passed.Or seconds.Even time struggled to keep up.Leylin slid backward across the ground, carving twin trenches with his feet before stopping. Blood ran down his torso, dripping from his fingertips.
Across from him, the gorilla's breathing had grown heavier.Its intelligence was clear in its eyes.But there was no true awareness.
No self.Just instinct sharpened to something terrifying.Leylin wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.Satisfied.
"Gluttony," he said quietly.
Inside him, the black core pulsed, eager.
He could feel it now , the energy he had consumed cycling through him, converting into raw fuel, stabilizing his stamina, sharpening his senses.If he pushed it further…He could devour more than energy.Intent.Prediction.Calculation.
A mind that analyzed became a pattern.And patterns could be eaten.He smiled faintly.Later.His gaze shifted inward.To the other core.Silent.Patient.Waiting.
"Your turn," he said.
The Envy core answered.Color spread across his chest.Black turned to venomous green, the hue deepening until it resembled a coiled serpent beneath his skin.The air changed.Not heavier.
Sharper.As if reality itself had become jealous of its own existence.Gluttony went silent.Completely.For the first time since the battle began.
Leylin's heartbeat slowed.His pupils thinned.The world became… comparative.Distances. Strength. Motion. Weakness.All measured against himself.All weighed.All found wanting.Across from him, the gorilla froze.Instinct screamed.Not danger.Not threat.
Something worse...Inferiority.For the first time, emotion broke through its controlled gaze.Fear.Raw.Human.Leylin took one step forward.And the world leaned with him.
"End."