With the golden fruit clutched tightly in his hand, Ellio darted back and forth across the island. Every movement was sharp, desperate, as he dodged the massive tentacles slamming toward him. Each strike sent tremors through the ground and water, but he refused to stop.
Glancing down at the Mineva fruit, he froze. His hand, the one holding the precious fruit, was now covered in black scales, spreading quickly along his skin. Panic and disbelief flashed through him, but he had no time to dwell on it.
His eyes were consumed by darkness, pitch black and unyielding. Vision faltered, shapes blurring into shadows. And when he looked back at Drupus, horror gripped him. The sea monster now mirrored his own appearance, as if the transformation he had felt within himself had somehow extended to t
