The creature's flesh trembled as thousands of puss-filled holes opened up all over its flesh at once. It let out a low moan, before spraying streams of black goop into the air.
Surthell stood still, allowing the goop to evaporate before it could even reach their armor.
They let out another booming laugh, shaking their head before thrusting their greatsword into the air. It shot off towards the front of the leviathan thrusting on a stream of red flame. The air behind it causing a boom shake the air behind it.
"Come, beast of Taranis. Struggle and flail, before you culled," they shouted, right as the clouds around them began to shift.
They laughed again, before sprinting towards the clouds.
The clouds formed black orbs, larger than the first set, with four glowing red dots inside them instead of one. An instant later, seven large sea beasts the size of horses, came thrashing out of the clouds.
They moved as fast as a blur and had maws so large they could eat themselves. Streaks of lightning crackled around them, and with a loud cry, one of them unleashed a bolt at Surthell.
Surthell beat their chest, before running into the bolt. It sent electrifying tremors throughout their body, causing the smoke armor to quiver slightly.
The sea-beasts were just a few meters ahead of them, and several others were preparing to discharge lightning bolts of their own.
Surthell nodded their head in satisfaction. "Well, done. Now me," they shouted.
They opened their mouth and a stream of smoke surged forth. As the streamed engulfed the sea-beasts, they clapped their hands, and the stream caught fire, setting off millions of tiny blasts at once.
The air exploded, and every cloud in the vicinity was blown back. For a moment, the sun peered through, and all seemed peaceful.
However, the leviathan let out a moan, and the clouds closed up, becoming even darker than before. The leviathan began shrinking, and its skin became harder.
"You should have just begun with that. Now you've bored me," Surthell, said, before snapping their fingers.
They appeared in the distant sky —where the greatsword had been flying— rushing closer to the face of the beast; the sword's momentum pulling them forward.
"Faster, I will not wait forever," Surthell shouted, blowing smoke at the leviathan before clapping their hands.
The explosion tore open the sky once more, and a large chunk of putrid flesh, the size of a wagon, tore off the leviathan's side.
The creature let out a groan and stopped shrinking. Even though it was smaller, could still overshadow a large airship. The clouds around it were darker now, almost like tears within reality itself, where light did not exist. They quickly encased the creature in a cacoon and its inside lit up with 14 crimson dots.
"Well done, good, Ser!" a voice shouted from somewhere above. Surthell glanced up, and saw a griffin, carrying a glowing white man, trotting towards them. "You've gotten it to its first metamorphosis."
Surthell placed the flaming greatsword under their armored boot and stretched one hand out. The greatsword released flames behind it and thrust Surthell toward Gregory.
"Big mouth child of beauty, you have gotten yourself honors," they shouted, noticing the red and black blotches on Gregory's suit.
Gregory stared at them in confusion. "It seems you have to give up your conscious for this... transformation," he said, right as Surthell arrived beside him. The greatsword adjusted where it sent out flames from, allowing them to travel alongside Jinx.
"A hefty commandment, but it seems you're at a High Grand Knight's level, so I suppose a brute would find the trade appealing," Gregory said, inspecting Vondell with a slightly impressed expression.
"Funny child," Surthell laughed. "You have not felt even an ember of my heat. What level I am is beyond the comprehension of an inferior race. We may all be mortals of the same suffrage and pain, but some of us are born greater than others," Surthell continued more seriously now.
"The elf child may allow you to speak as you will. But I am something beyond even that. The next you compare me to the warriors of your stunted lineage, I will rip you asunder."
Gregory froze at this, staring at Surthell with trembling eyes. In that moment, they seemed so much larger, so much more suffocating. Their presence was everywhere, surrounding him in a choking embrace, it was a slight heat that he barely even noticed until now.
"This is your ichor?" Gregory whispered in slow realization. "You're ninth sphe—"
Just then, several streaks of lightning struck Surthell all at once, blinding the skies with red light and muting it with a deafening sharp crack.
A cloud of black smoke hung where Surthell should've been flying, slowly clearing away with the returning roar of the winds.
The sound of clapping echoed from behind the roars. "Good, good," Surthell shouted from inside, clapping their hands. Pieces of their smokey were armor missing. However, the smoke from other parts of the armor quickly filled the spaces —making the armor thinner than before.
They stared down at the leviathan's cacoon, it had split into seven orbs, each about the size of a house. One of them was darker and slightly larger than the others, it was this one that opened up first.
A smaller-scale leviathan, with a wide maw made of black cloud and a body fashioned out of red lightning, swam out of the orb.
"You're the fragment?" Surthell asked.
The beast let out a loud groan, and the other orbs tore open. Leviathan clones, made entirely out of black cloud, emerged from them. They all opened their maws simultaneously and spewed out streams of lightning towards Surthell.
Surthell sped towards them on the greatsword, dancing around the lightning bolts with explosive movements.
The leviathans thrashed toward Surthell like they were underwater, swimming at nearly impossible speeds.
Surthell tried to dodge the attacks, but there were simply too many of them moving too fast. They would dodge one, only to have another come up right behind them. Each bite was charged with intense lightning, which caused Surthell's movements to become erratic jerks.
Jinx and Gregory attempted to help, however the fight was happening at speeds that neither of them could even hope to track. Many of the lightning bolts Jinx sent out, hit empty air and Gregory was still too stunned to even throw out an attack.
The leviathans encircled Surthell, as the parts of the bitten armor regenerated themselves. At this point, the armor was quite thin, and Surthell looked noticeably smaller than before. "This is more exciting, yes. A bit more, and I will reward you," Surthell shouted.
The encircling leviathans charged all at once. They bit into Surthell and froze, morphing into chains made of sticky black goo.
Surthell laughed loudly, as the main leviathan charged up its lightning. It let out a series of clicks, moans, and groans, and in response, a crown of lightning began to form over its head.
"A most enjoyable show," Surthell boomed in between laughs.