The abyss was not still.

  Eo’s form flexed, shifting as his body rapidly analyzed every attack, every movement. His mutation was not static. It was a living process, evolving in response to every new threat.

  His tendrils, once sleek and smooth, now bore strands of ridged plating, subtle but present—a reactive defense against the bladed tendrils of the first Territorial Lord. His outer membrane, once fully translucent, was darkening, condensing into a denser form to resist the crushing pressure of Tideflow.

  This was not mere combat. It was biological warfare.

  The second Lord, the serpentine beast with crystalline fins, hissed, its form twisting as it unleashed another surge of pressurized Tideflow.

  But this time, Eo didn’t just counter.

  He absorbed.

  The Mist-infused strands of his body reacted, siphoning the kinetic force of the attack. Where once water pressure would crush, now it fed him, his body learning how to redirect force instead of resisting it.

  The third Lord, the colossal chitinous beast, was already charging again, its razor-edged mandibles snapping. It had adjusted, too—predicting Eo’s distortions.

  This time, it struck faster, aiming where Eo would be instead of where he was.

  A precise, calculated kill.

  Except—

  Eo’s tendrils split.

  Not from a conscious decision, but from a biochemical reaction, an instinctive division—his form mimicking the regenerative properties of simpler hydras, creating an illusory break in his body.

  The mandibles clamped down—on nothing.

  A fraction of a second later, the divided portions of Eo fused back together, as if he had never been severed at all.

  The first Lord had seen enough.

  With a roar, it shifted tactics—pulsing out waves of pure Amber, its flaming aura heating the abyss, its body now radiating a temperature that should have boiled anything in proximity.

  Eo reacted instantly.

  Amber was structure. Stability. Heat.

  But Eo’s Abyssal Instinct had already fused with Amber before—he understood it.

  Where others would burn, he regulated. His membrane shifted, developing a thin layer of heat-resistant mucus, much like deep-sea creatures that survived volcanic vents.

  But he didn’t just endure.

  He took in the Amber.

  His tendrils coiled, absorbing the structured heat energy into his form. And then—

  He compressed it.

  Amber, when pressurized, could become something even deadlier—plasma.

  Eo struck.

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  One of his tendrils lashed forward, releasing a superheated burst of condensed energy, not fire, but something denser—a stream of liquid heat, akin to the temperature shift that created mantle plumes in the earth’s crust.

  The first Lord reeled back, parts of its bladed tendrils melting as the plasma seared through.

  Eo was learning too fast.

  He wasn’t just fighting.

  He was evolving mid-battle.

  The Lords, despite their size and experience, had fixed forms—their bodies were powerful, but they did not change beyond their inherent abilities. They were beasts of dominance.

  But Eo?

  Eo was a creature of pure adaptation.

  His form was never fixed, his attacks never the same.

  And that made him something far more terrifying.

  Eo surged forward, tendrils unfurling in a blur of motion. He wasn't just attacking—he was experimenting. Testing. Learning.

  The three Lords loomed before him, their massive forms dwarfing his own, but size meant little when his body refused to be limited.

  His first test—Mist.

  His tendrils condensed the surrounding abyssal water, saturating it with Mist essence. The moment the first Lord lunged, its bladed tendrils seeking to carve him apart, Eo shifted with the current, his body dispersing like vapor.

  Instead of resisting, he let the force pass through him.

  The first Lord's strike missed entirely.

  Eo reformed behind it, coiling around its flank, pressing forward with another experiment.

  A shift in his core. He concentrated—channeling the Tideflow essence he had absorbed.

  A sudden burst of compressed water exploded outward from his tendrils, creating a cavitation shockwave—the same principle that allowed mantis shrimp to punch with the force of a bullet.

  The second Lord—serpentine, armored—was struck directly.

  Its crystalline fins fractured, the raw water pressure crushing into its hide.

  But Eo wasn't done.

  A low hum resonated from his tendrils. His body drew upon the latent electrical charges lingering in the abyss.

  Stormgleam.

  He released a sudden electrical discharge, the charge diffusing into the surrounding water—a method akin to the hunting tactics of electric eels.

  The third Lord twitched violently, its nerves overwhelmed by the pulse.

  Even Ozure recoiled slightly, her large form shifting as she felt the residual sparks ripple through the water.

  Eo noted the reaction.

  Electricity worked—but it was too dispersed in open water. He would need a more controlled method if he wanted to refine its effectiveness.

  Eo’s body shuddered, and suddenly, the surrounding water froze.

  Not fully, but in rapid flash-freezing tendrils, tiny ice shards forming as he released condensed Frostshard essence into the abyss.

  The first Lord, still recovering from its failed strike, found itself partially encased in ice, its movement slowed.

  A good reaction.

  But not fast enough for his needs.

  Eo memorized the delay. Could he make it faster?

  The second Lord, the serpentine beast, had regained itself, twisting back with a snap of its elongated tail.

  Eo countered instinctively.

  A sudden surge of Galecrest-infused movement, and Eo was no longer where he had been.

  The wind essence allowed him to manipulate his movement against the currents, granting him a sudden burst of acceleration.

  The third Lord, recovering from the shock, lashed out once more.

  This time, Eo didn't evade.

  His body hardened.

  A thin layer of metallic reinforcement spread across his membrane, akin to how certain marine creatures form calcium-rich shells.

  The impact landed—but did nothing.

  Eo remained unscathed.

  He wasn't satisfied yet.

  He could feel the traces of higher elements within himself—Luminara, Umbral Veil, Venomshade, and more.

  But when he tried to access Chronoflux (Time) or Graviton (Gravity)—

  Nothing.

  They were there.

  But faint. Inaccessible.

  Something about them was beyond his reach.

  The Lords, though wounded, were still standing.

  Eo coiled back, his body now armed with knowledge.

  He had tested each element.

  Now it was time to combine.