The piercing alarm siren blended with the snarls and shrieks of mutated creatures, flooding the laboratory. Rune stood amidst the chaos, his crimson eyes fixed first on the severely wounded Zephyr, then turning to the frenzied "experiments" charging towards him. He had created a perfect storm.
"You think you can escape?" Rune growled at Zephyr, his voice cold and merciless. He had no time for cat-and-mouse games. He needed Zephyr's power. Immediately.
Rune decided to attack both targets simultaneously. He was not one to be deterred by mindless mutants.
With a horrifying shriek, Rune lunged towards Zephyr, but this time, his body transformed spectacularly. The dark, obsidian-like crystals on his armor didn't just protect; they began to emit a dark energy, interacting with the residual electricity in the air from Zephyr's attacks. Simultaneously, his bone-and-flesh tentacles whipped out, not to smash, but to grab the charging mutated creatures.
A colossal four-legged beast with razor-sharp jaws lunged. Rune swung a tentacle, slamming it. The creature was flung away, crashing into another piece of experimental equipment, which exploded. But it was just one of many.
"Damn it!" Zephyr groaned, trying to focus his remaining energy to unleash lightning bolts, but his body was too weak, and Rune was too close.
Rune gave him no chance. He surged into Zephyr, no longer using brute physical blows. Instead, he extended a hand covered in dark crystals, plunging it directly into Zephyr's chest. Not to pierce, but to connect. Rune had learned from how Vorn "reconstructed" Thanos. He wanted to assimilate more subtly, to completely control electromagnetic energy.
Zephyr screamed in horror as Rune's fingers plunged deep into his body. He felt his electromagnetic energy being drawn out, not violently devoured like Thanos, but rather channeled and integrated into Rune. Zephyr convulsed violently, losing control of the residual electrical currents still coursing through his body.
While Rune was assimilating Zephyr, the other mutated creatures continued their assault. They leaped onto him, clawing at his armor. But Rune didn't waver. He allowed the creatures to impact his crystal and flesh armor, sensing their biomass, and slowly absorbing them, even as he focused on Zephyr. His body simultaneously absorbed life energy from Zephyr and converted the mutants into raw building material.
At the same time, from Rune's body, small, chaotic arcs of electricity began to shoot out, forming an electromagnetic shield around him. These weren't directed lightning bolts, but unstable, self-generating currents as Zephyr's electromagnetic ability was assimilated. Mutants that touched Rune were electrocuted, convulsing and collapsing.
Zephyr finally withered. His deep blue eyes dulled, and his last breath escaped with a faint, cynical smile. "You... you win... but Vorn... will... will turn you into... a god... powerless..."
As Zephyr ceased breathing entirely, a massive surge of electromagnetic energy flowed into Rune. The chaotic fever surged again, but this time, it was better controlled. Rune felt the speed, the ability to control electricity and magnetic fields, now a part of him. His crystal armor pulsed with blue and violet electricity, as if it were alive.
Rune could now manipulate electromagnetism. He could generate lightning, create magnetic fields, and most importantly, he could achieve incredible speed. He had truly become a more complete ability weaver, an ever-evolving engine of destruction.
With his new electromagnetic energy, Rune swept aside the remaining monsters in the laboratory. He unleashed chaotic lightning bolts, incinerating them to ash, or used electrified punches to tear them apart. The laboratory became a charred and ruined battlefield.
The alarm continued to blare incessantly, and Rune knew this chaos would draw Vorn's attention. He had enough information, enough new power. Now it was time to end this.
Rune no longer hid. He surged straight towards the heart of the Dark Spire, where he sensed the strongest energy fluctuations – where Vorn awaited.