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Even after all of that, however, he did not immediately regain full control of himself. Between the ensuing merge with Kallmakk and the overwhelming ferocity that still consumed his physical form, it was all but impossible to not get lost in the mayhem.

He was battling the Mad Demon again. Of course he was. The object of Ettol’s ire. One of the greatest obstacles to his grand plan of Reemergence. The Child Trickster wanted nothing more than to have Koh eliminate this problem in his stead.

And Koh, therefore, wanted nothing more than to stop himself, but it was difficult. Instincts had taken over. The instincts of the Beast of Ardora: the monster that ever thirsted for blood and hungered for war.

The blessing and curse of his master.

To truly break himself free of these instincts, he would have to overwhelm his own senses. Blank his own mind. And along with it, probably everyone else’s as well.

He knew just the thing.

He used the merge. Leaned into it. Focused on its transformative effects on his body. Let them grow and radiate outward from him, flowing over and through everything in the area on a tidal wave of darkness.

And he howled.

So deep and sustained that it could have been a roar. The sound carried with it his soul, his aura, and all the torment that Kallmakk had been amassing for countless years.

It was a sound that rent the sky in two. Where before there had been a hole in the clouds above the battlefield, now there was a fissure all the way into the horizon. And the sea was no different. It parted like a great canyon, perfectly straight into the distance as mountains of displaced water splashed up and away from the immense divide.

The world shuddered and blinked. For a few fleeting moments, he could even sense beyond the Veil. He thought, perhaps, that he felt his master there, observing in silence, but that might have only been wishful thinking.

His body grew in size. It had already been enlarged by the power of the Darklight, but now there was even more to pull from as Kallmakk connected with that self-same power.

The feldeath’s instincts competed with his own, wanting to take over, but he couldn’t allow that, either. Duty and reason needed to win now, not instinct. Neither his nor Kallmakk’s.

And so the howl continued. Tearing the world asunder. Until everything but his own will was suppressed.