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An ear-splitting screech hit Koh like a truck, knocking him off course but not stopping him. It stayed on him, however, punishing his ears and infiltrating his skull, as if trying to tear it apart from within.

The attack rendered it impossible to think. To hold even a simple thought. But he was the Beast of Ardora and did not strictly need such things. Instinct alone was enough to return fire on the attacker from afar. And with the rage of the Hunt built up to such a height, it would be no meager counterstroke, either.

The empress. He targeted her aura in an instant. His eyes, already burning with the power of the Darklight, found her with a snap turn of his head, and from his enormous mouth, he loosed a great beam of dark energy, just like the ones that Kallmakk had been raining down upon their chaotic battle party for days.

But this one was yet more powerful still. It had Koh’s own connection to the Darklight boosting it, alongside Kallmakk’s. And it had the rage of the Hunt, too. The furious determination to destroy any obstacle in his path. Not to mention the power of the Dark Domain, as well.

The beam, therefore, was more than a laser. More than a straight line. It had an instinct of its own. A gift bestowed upon it by the rage. A desire to hunt its intended recipient to the ends of Eleg.

So even though Sai-hee avoided its scorching path easily enough, that didn’t matter, because then it split apart into two beams and curved back around to attack her again. And she avoided both of those as well, but the same story unfolded, this time becoming four beams before reattacking.

Koh’s attention had already shifted back to Ettol, however. The empress would be busy for a while.

And again, he saw Dozer in the way, cracking into Ettol’s cocoon. Being an obstacle. Again.

Distance was no longer on the emperor’s side, however. Koh mauled him. And this time, it would be the end. Dozer had his chance to back down and instead chose to continue getting in the way.

Dozer resisted, of course. Grabbed at his massive neck. His snarling jaws. His raging shadow. And before now, that would’ve been a problem. Before now, the immovable emperor could have bested him in close combat.

But no longer. Koh had approached his maximum size and strength. The Darklight was coursing through every part of him, setting even his fur ablaze with ghostfire. The emperor’s colossal physical might? He could resist it.

He could match it.