Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 721: Consumed

Kaiden’s mana pressure surged intensely. Crimson tones darkened further along its borders, cracking the stone encircling him. The mountainside air turned oppressively thick, in no way tied to the elevation.

His gaze remained locked on Selena. The crimson within his eyes quit flickering. Now it stood solid, devouring the whites entirely, irises glowing like searing coals embedded in his skull.

Cassian’s face paled dramatically. Calix retreated half a step.

Crimson mana radiating from Kaiden’s form became visible, forming a dark red mist that hugged his body and leaked from his skin. The ground underfoot rumbled. Tiny stones rose around his feet, hovering amid his rage’s aura, quivering uncontrollably.

"Kai, stop!" Aria’s cry pierced from above, hoarse and frantic.

His voice emerged distorted when he spoke. Deeper. Multi-layered. As though an entity behind his vocal cords had awakened, voicing alongside him.

"She curved that attack." The dual-toned words echoed across the slope, soft yet absolute. "She aimed it at the monsters and bent it toward Nyx."

His hands trembled violently. Knuckles cracked open, crimson glow leaking from the fissures.

"If the Association reviews that footage and brands me the villain, let them come for me."

Tears filled the Moon Valkyrie’s eyes as she shook her head. "I don’t care about any of that now! I just want you to not leave us behind!"

Then everything spiraled out of control.

Calypso’s head whipped toward Kaiden, her face losing all color, for the demoness sensed the turmoil rising within him first. She’d witnessed his shift into flames, horns, and pure malice before.

"No," she murmured. Then louder, voice rising sharply. "No, Darling, no!"

The girls forgot all about imprisonment, ceased debating the Association, competition, or broadcast.

"The Wrath is devouring Darling!" she shrieked to the others. "It’s not like before! Something’s off with it! It’ll consume him completely!"

Last time, inside the longhouse, a stranger’s brutality had sparked the change. A meaningless chieftain, offensive yet impersonal. The Wrath burned purely then, purposeful flames targeted precisely, restrained in its domain.

This differed entirely.

This involved his own kin. The sister he’d worshipped. Brothers who’d pulled his sleeve for stories. Family loved so fiercely their betrayal carved him empty, driving him to a dorm with just an economics degree and shattered heart.

Wrath feasting on such pain turned toxic. Fury and sorrow twisted together within. The reshaping of his form blurred rage and torment, incinerating both simultaneously.

His back bowed sharply. A noise burst from him, beginning as a groan, plunging into a primal rumble that shook the mountain rock, causing stampeding monsters behind to falter and cry out. Crimson glow from knuckles climbed forearms; veins blackened and bulged under skin; his shadow loomed oversized, unnaturally dark, stirring apart from his form.

<Big brother, stop!> Alice’s mental voice screamed, laced with dread surpassing jail fears. Bonded to him, she sensed the inner surge, her brother’s essence drowning. <Something is wrong! You have to stop!>

His spine snapped audibly.

The crack reverberated off cliffs, a moist fracture unrelated to harm but the entity under his bones craving space. Shoulders broadened; chest armor strained, seams bursting. Horns erupted through skull, tearing temple skin in parallel dark blood trails mixing with crimson mana oozing from pores.

Darkness rimming Kaiden throbbed outward. The mountain shuddered. His head’s halo shifted from gold to foul deep red as Alice’s rage merged with his, signatures intertwining.

A resonant dual voice rumbled from his throat, quaking the stone.

"You wanted this."

Selena met his stare across sixty meters, through fully crimson eyes with slit pupils, fixed on the woman who’d severed Luna’s arm with a smile.

As words escaped, his jaw realigned audibly, broadening; temple horns extended, arching rearward over skull.

Selena lifted her hand and unleashed.

The crescent matched the one claiming Luna’s arm. White mana blazed shadow-casting bright, arcing beautifully with lethal accuracy across the gap in under a second, slamming Kaiden’s chest.

He glanced downward.

Mana evaporated on his skin like water on scorching metal, sizzling futilely, vanishing without trace. Flesh unmarked, his dark aura devoured remnants like inferno engulfing a spark.

He raised eyes to her again.

Selena’s hand lingered post-release. Her poise, unbroken through ambush, chase, Luna’s loss, and shift, shattered.

She stumbled back one step.

Instinctive retreat. Body grasped what pride lagged behind.

Horns lengthened another inch under her gaze. Forearm skin ruptured along veins, crimson seeping from cracks; knuckle bones thickened, straining containing flesh as inner growth swelled.

"Hit him again!" Cassian’s shout cracked midway. He faced his brother; hands clasped forearms, mana igniting unbidden between.

A vivid energy link materialized between twins, crackling visibly where arms joined. It throbbed once; shared power amplified via bond into dense beam Calix molded, Cassian fueling maximally.

Resonance blast struck Kaiden sideways. Surpassing Selena’s crescent in density, twin veterans’ full output channeled mutually, it shattered stone behind into rubble from excess force.

Kaiden raised one open hand, intercepting blast like child’s toss. Mana howled against fingers. Arm unmoved. Twins’ poured energy compacted in palm, frantic and brilliant, until fist clenched, extinguishing it.

Shards dispersed. Twins’ link wavered from backlash; both reeled. Calix’s nose bled. Cassian’s knees buckled momentarily. Amplifying resonance reversed into shared defeat, tether persisting, flaring wildly in futile pulses.

Kaiden dropped his hand. Palm smoked. Fingers elongated oddly, extra knuckles malformed; skin-split light shifted black-red veined, throbbing to inhuman rhythm.

His eyes shifted from twins to Selena.

Bloodlust emanated tangibly. From sixty meters, Selena felt it skin-crawling, surpassing mana—a force from whatever peered from her brother’s shell.

"What are you?!" Selena’s voice pitched high, frantic. Smug triumph vanished, cruelty evaporated; remained bewilderment at the incomprehensible. "What the fuck have you become?!"

Kaiden stayed silent. Spine cracked anew, further broadening shoulders; remaining armor shattered off chest. Beneath, skin webbed black, emanating fierce heat.

He leaped.