The strongest among us are usually silent.

~Cailleach, the Veiled Hag of Winter

Crow writhed on the ground as he became fully aware of the ongoing changes within his body. Bones were hardening and turning hollow, but it didn’t make them less durable. The pain made him forget about the lightning brewing in the clouds above, as it already felt like electricity was destroying his bones.

Muscle tore and rebuilt itself to improve its elasticity, tensile strength, and responsiveness. This was to decrease mass, but not power. He wasn’t sure how it kept compacting his strength, but he felt a faint vibration from every strand that made up his muscles. It was like he had more control over that power, but he’d need to learn how to use that strength.

In his Silver-Eyed Crow form, he couldn’t tell the impact it was having on his human body but had little time to care. Strangely, the Heavens helped him because the pain would have been enough to render him comatose on a typical day, but fear kept him alert and boosted his willpower.

The feathers on his body took forever to grow out, but only because he was hyper-aware that time was short. In truth, he could still see their growth was exceedingly fast. The amazing thing was that the feathers were linked to his nervous system, so he felt every air fluctuation around him. Whether it was natural wind or the movement of a creature that disturbed it. As long as it was close enough to send ripples of air against his feathers, he could feel it.

Subconsciously, the aura and pattern were still running. This transformation was too crucial for him to fail now, so he could only give it his whole focus and hope that the lightning needed more time to accumulate.

The transformation gave him the crow’s acute sense of smell. As he lay there, the scent of ozone was nearly overpowering. He knew this was the air charging as lightning developed. It especially became prominent as the suction force of mana slowly died away.

Once the last feather formed and the Body transformation was completed, there was one final change. Crow felt it and knew that it was the most vital out of all the changes he’d gone through. Not just because it fully imprinted the ability but also because of the change’s implication. The Shield connected directly to his Mind instead of his Soul. Because of that, he felt his awareness and mental acuity expanding.

Crow might not have noticed if it had connected to his Body or Spirit, but his Mind was already beyond ordinary. It meant that the shifting of the Shield to his Silver-Eyed Crow form wasn’t cosmetic but most likely because of its ability to see karma.

This implied that their understanding of Shields was still crude. In its default state, it linked to his Soul and improved the trinity of Mind, Body, and Spirit. If it could be moved to a specific trait of the Soul, it could significantly improve a cultivator’s strength. The Song sisters used a Body cultivation method. If their Shield could attach to the Body rather than the Soul, their martial abilities would see a substantive increase.

Crow had no idea how to make that happen currently and didn’t have much time to think about it. But he would definitely research this in the future. The other thing that happened, while not as impressive, might be just as important. Night Fire surrounded his Shield like a mana barrier disguising its shape and the heritage etched upon it. The mana barrier wasn’t unique to him. Night Fire only appeared because it was a pervasive and passive power within him. Others would gain this same benefit, but it’d be related to their affinities.

Flapping his wings, he managed to rise up off the ground to get his talons under him. His four toes felt like fingers, and as he flexed the claw, it gripped the earth with impressive strength. The ground and rocks were torn apart as if it was loamy soil.

While he experimented, he kept his head tilted, so one eye watched the brewing storm. Crow knew he couldn’t escape this calamity, no matter how much he wanted to fly or escape. Especially since his current beast form was the size of a human. There was a way to condense it, which would work like Otto’s ability and provide him some defense against the incoming lightning. The only problem was that he currently lacked mana.

To make matters worse, he knew that he also needed mana to fly. Unless he could devour beasts and consume their flesh, the only option left to him was to cultivate in this form to rebuild his reserves. Even his chakras were running on empty.

Boom!

Lightning cut a jagged scar across the sky, and Crow lifted his wings to protect himself. It blasted him several meters and sent him rolling across the ground with tens of feathers fried to a crisp.

Ca-caw.

Crow let out a weak screeching sound as the lightning rampaged through his body. While he could feel it cleansing his body of impurities, it harmed his flesh as he had no way to lessen the power. All he could do was try to cultivate it and was surprised when his Night Fire flared up to consume the electricity coursing through him. It wasn’t fast enough to prevent him from getting harmed, but it was a nice boost to his mana reserves.

The next bolt struck him thirty minutes later and slammed him against the rock face of his prison. The beast form was tough, but blood was leaking from multiple wounds across his body. As he felt to the scree below and rolled down the slight incline, he could see Scath were hiding inside the forest. Crow couldn’t tell night from day in this form as it all looked the same and hadn’t realized how much time had passed.

It was a given that if the lightning didn’t kill him, the Scath would. He sighed and continued to cycle the lightning and felt turning it into mana was futile. All that mana went toward recreating his feathers. Briefly, he thought about activating his Ghostly Aura and phasing but knew it wouldn’t work. On a subconscious level, he felt like not even ghost forms could escape it.

Crow saw the lightning falling and wondered if he could even remain conscious after this strike. The accumulated lightning in his body was already tearing him apart internally. As he braced himself for the inevitable, a small purple light entered his vision. A thick, glass-like line formed between the two, and he tried to reach out to her. To stop her. To protect her. But he could only watch as she was struck down to the ground. Lightning spread outward in a jagged ring of light and ruffled Crow’s feathers.

Caw-caw-caw!

No longer worried about his body, Crow struggled to get back up. It was impossible to walk, but he could hop and stumble over to her. Please don’t die on me, Lily!

Reaching the hole left by the bolt of lightning, Crow cocked his head sideways to look down. Lily stood there, brushing herself off. Once she saw him, she winked and gave him a thumbs up. Crow collapsed the ground but knew it was far from over. Lily flew up to him and entered his Soulscape, but she was shocked out of her mind upon entering. Regardless, she ignored what she saw for the moment because there were other pressing issues.

*Guess you still can’t stay out of trouble.*

*Hah, don’t make me laugh. It hurts.*

*I’m sure you deserve it, meany. Listen, I can handle more of those, but even I have a limit. Next time you need to take the bolt, but if you open your Soulscape and time it right, you can move most of the essence here. Just aim it a distant mountain. We’ll talk about what you’ve done to the place later.*

Crow couldn’t help but chuckle. His bird body shook, which caused him to hiss painfully. He tried to repair himself as much as possible by activating Night Fire until the pain was nearly unbearable. It was the first time in his life that he was thankful for that pain. The fire devoured the Lightning Mana like a ravenous beast.

Once he had recovered all his feathers, he felt the charged air and braced himself for another attack. Trusting Lily, he opened a channel between him and his Soulscape.

Boom!

The bolt this time was purple, and its power more concentrated. Once it struck, his beast body was thrown against the wall. The only reason he lived was that half the electrical force was sent into his Soulscape. Inside, a bolt of lightning struck a mountain far away from the wood nymphs. The strength of that half-bolt of lightning shattered the mountain top and sent rocks raining down in the general area.

Crow laid on the ground, barely daring to breathe. The pain was extraordinary, and his right-wing was missing all its feathers. Eying the charred limb, he saw that it was golden brown, and his stomach rumbled as it smelled like a delicious roasted chicken wing.

*I really wish you didn’t think that out loud.* Lily laughed hysterically.