The red cloaks and robes were destroyed as flesh grew about and bubbled into existence.
The five figures standing at the border of the shrine's consecrated ground no longer resembled anything that could be called human.
Their presence began to distort the geometry of the air around them, the vertical ridges of their robes twitching with independent muscle, their fused masks pulsing faintly like breathing wounds carved from metal.
Their arms trembled once, then twice, the hundreds. Bones split down the center. Fingers folded inward. Veins thickened into cords. Their entire frames convulsed under unseen pressure, twisting into something new, as though the bodies had been pre-stitched with hidden layers waiting to be pulled out.
Without hesitation, Samael initiated her assault.
Every arcane node within her soul ignited in sequence. Layers of skill activation churned across her body like rings of invisible fire.
