A/N: HERE WE GO.

Being sick has affected my update schedule. If it weren't for Dark helping me, I wouldn't be able to write at all; he helped immeasurably with this.

Every review truly does help, large or small, anything is better than nothing at all.

As ever, I own no quotes, references, themes, or memes. Not a wit or a one! They're tributes to legends far greater than I. I'm just a humble author trying to make his way in this wild world, one word at a time. Time and feedback will determine if this remains a story. Simple as that. In other words...its up to YOU, the reader. Do let me know~! Here we go. And yes, obvious references are very obvious.

As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter~!

"One monster unto another...

~?

What Have They Done to Us (Part III)

The Beast lunged.

A storm of muscle and madness, snarling and howling like a demon unchained. Vander—or what was left of him—had fully surrendered to the shimmer's monstrous grip. His body, once a man's, was now a grotesque colossus of sinew and savagery, his skin stretched taut over bulging muscle, veins pulsing with unnatural energy. His eyes burned with molten fury, their glow a sickly, spectral hue. He moved too fast for something his size, his monstrous limbs a blur of violence, a hurricane of claws and brute force. He was no longer man, no longer beast—he was a force of nature given flesh.

And his rage had found a target.

Naruto met him head-on.

"Not on my watch!"

The street erupted as they clashed, the sheer force of impact splintering the stone beneath them, sending fissures racing outward like veins of destruction. A shockwave tore through the air, ripping banners from their posts and shattering nearby windows with an ear-splitting howl.

Raw chakra met shimmering corruption.

Flesh struck flesh.

Bone met bone.

The force of the collision froze the world for a heartbeat—then detonated like a thunderclap. The tower trembled from the force, its ancient walls groaning in protest. The clash of titans sent ripples through the battlefield, debris swirling around them like a vortex of ruin.

Then, with a deafening crack, the wall behind them shattered.

A great gash tore open in the stone, and in the next breath, they plummeted into the abyss below—a tangle of fury and violence, spiraling down into the darkness. The wind screamed around them, the world a blur of crumbling stone and flickering light. Vander roared, his massive hands clawing for purchase, for Naruto, for anything to tear apart.

Naruto's eyes burned bright as the howling void rushed to meet them.

(.0.0.0.)

Zaun watched in horror.

From the towering heights of Piltover's grand spires, two titans plummeted like falling stars, locked in a maelstrom of fists, claws, and fangs. Their descent was a relentless storm, a spectacle of destruction painted against the night sky.

Naruto's chakra flared, burning streaks of vermillion light through the darkness, his every strike crashing like thunder against Vander's monstrous frame. But the beast—no, the abomination—that Vander had become shrugged it off with an unnatural resilience, his twisted form barely registering the pain. His mutated limbs lashed out, his corrupted strength turning steel walkways and reinforced structures into twisted wreckage.

Each collision sent tremors rippling through the city. Windows burst into shards, raining glass upon the horrified onlookers below. The upper levels of Zaun shook, its labyrinth of bridges and catwalks groaning under the strain of battle between forces beyond human comprehension.

"He's doing what, where?!" Sevika gawked, barely sidestepping a massive chunk of falling debris that tore through a market stall, sending goods and metal shards flying.

"What the hell is that thing?!" a panicked voice rang out from the slums, eyes wide as they watched the combatants slam into a network of iron walkways. The impact bent steel like paper, support beams crumpling as entire platforms collapsed into the streets below. A tangled mess of rusted scaffolding and shattered structures fell like an avalanche, engulfing Zaun's already broken skyline in a new wave of ruin.

From a perch high above, Silco stood motionless, his breath unsteady. The ever-calculating mind that had maneuvered the undercity for years now wavered as he stared into the abyss of what his brother had become. His fingers trembled as they combed through his disheveled hair, his eyes, sharp and always scheming, now only filled with horror.

"What have they done to you, brother…?"

The words barely escaped his lips before Vander's roar split the air. It wasn't just a sound—it was a war horn, a primal scream that shook the very bones of Zaun itself. It reverberated through the iron veins of the city, rattling pipes, cracking old foundations, and sending a pulse of sheer, bestial rage through every soul who heard it.

And still, the battle raged.

Naruto twisted mid-air, forcing the fight into a brutal spiral, using the momentum of their fall to drive his knee into Vander's gut. The corrupted titan barely staggered. Tendrils of raw shimmer pulsed beneath his flesh, healing wounds as fast as they were made. His hands lashed out, monstrous claws raking through the air, aiming to tear Naruto apart.

They hit the lower streets like a meteor strike. The impact sent a shockwave blasting outward, rippling through the foundations of the undercity. The ground buckled, street lamps bent and snapped, and entire sections of brick and steel tore free, plummeting into the depths below.

A plume of dust and rubble choked the air.

Figures scrambled away in terror. Shopkeepers abandoned their stalls. Gangs of enforcers and chem-barons alike stared in shock, their rivalries forgotten in the face of something far greater, far worse.

Naruto emerged first. His cloak of chakra flickered, burning against the settling dust like a wildfire refusing to be smothered. His breathing was heavy, his eyes sharp with determination.

From the debris, Vander rose.

His form twisted and cracked, bones resetting, muscles bulging with grotesque regeneration. His claws scraped against the ground, his hunched, beast-like silhouette illuminated by the flickering neon signs above. His growl was low, guttural, filled with something beyond rage—something inhuman.

Then, in a blur of motion, he charged again.

And the undercity trembled once more.

(.0.0.0.)

Naruto twisted mid-air, boots skimming against the crumbling wall as he kicked off, launching himself back into the fray with a burst of speed. Vander was already there to meet him.

The beast charged, a juggernaut of muscle and madness, tearing through pipes and railings like they were paper. A locomotive of pure, unrelenting violence. His grotesque form moved far too fast for something so massive, his claws carving deep furrows into the concrete as he lunged forward.

Naruto barely had time to react before a fist the size of a boulder crashed into his ribs.

Pain.

A white-hot explosion of agony tore through his side, his lungs convulsing as the air was forced from them. He didn't just hit the rusted storefront—he went through it, glass and splintered metal exploding outward as his body ragdolled through shelves, walls, and debris.

He skidded across the grime-covered pavement, rolling to a stop in a heap of shattered glass and blood. A sharp cough wracked his chest, crimson splattering the filthy ground beneath him. His ribs felt like they had been crushed, and the twisted remains of the metal shelves he had crashed through told him the hit had been enough to break steel.

And yet, the beast was already on him.

A shadow loomed over the wreckage. Massive. Overpowering. Unstoppable.

Naruto barely had time to move, barely had time to weave a hand sign—too late.

Vander's monstrous hand seized his face, claws digging deep into his cheeks like iron vices. Then he slammed him through the ground.

The pavement didn't just crack—it caved.

A geyser of dust and shattered rock erupted into the air, the sheer force of impact sending tremors through the streets. Chunks of stone and rebar rained down like shrapnel, and the nearby buildings groaned under the aftershock.

For a moment, all was still.

Then, from within the crater, a voice—low, rasping, defiant.

"Oi…" Naruto coughed, his words muffled by the rubble pressing down on him. "You're not the only monster here, pal."

The red in his eyes gleamed.

A heartbeat passed.

Then—

Boom.

Chakra erupted outward in a violent explosion, a pulse of raw power that tore through the streets like a hurricane. The shockwave ripped iron beams from their bolts, shattered windows in a half-mile radius, and sent loose debris flying like shrapnel.

Vander staggered, momentarily blinded by the concussive blast. The corrupted shimmer howled in protest, struggling to stabilize its monstrous vessel. It was only a fraction of a second.

But it was enough.

Naruto rocketed out of the rubble, his form a blur of raw chakra and fury. His fist connected with Vander's gut—hard.

The impact rippled outward, sending a visible shockwave through the beast's body. For the first time since the fight had begun, Vander lurched backward.

The breath of the city seemed to hitch.

A scream from above.

"Naruto, no! Don't!"

Vi.

Her voice cut through the destruction, raw with desperation, but Naruto barely had time to register it before—

Vander's fist came swinging again.

Faster than anything that big had any right to move. Naruto barely managed to brace before the blow connected.

The force obliterated the air between them, sending Naruto careening through the wreckage of another set of decrepit buildings. Stone and metal shattered around him as he tumbled through the remains of bridges and walkways, his body breaking through steel plating like wet paper.

Then, he hit.

Hard.

The impact sent a deep, echoing boom through Zaun's lower levels as Naruto crashed into the ground below. The air was thick with dust, the taste of iron in his mouth. His vision swam, but even as he lay there, battered and aching—

He was already getting back up.

And above him, standing at the edge of the ruined upper levels, Vander roared once more.

The fight was far from over.

(.0.0.0.)

Jinx was waiting.

The moment Naruto crashed into the street below, carving a crater into the pavement and sending up a cloud of dust and shattered stone, she had her guns up.

Her breath was ragged, fingers twitching against the triggers. The scent of oil, smoke, and gunpowder filled the air, mixing with the acrid stench of burning metal. Zaun's neon lights flickered erratically, casting a sickly glow against the damp alley walls. Her wide, frantic eyes reflected the chaos—saw the wreckage, saw the blood, saw the monster.

Vander landed like a hammer of the gods.

The sheer impact sent a shockwave through the ground, rattling nearby buildings, shaking loose rusted chains and crumbling bricks from rooftops. He snarled, steam hissing from the shimmering veins warping his once-human flesh. His claws raked against the pavement, the sound like nails against iron.

Isha, crouched beside Jinx, inhaled sharply. "Wait, I think it's—"

Too late.

Vander's gaze snapped toward Jinx.

For a moment—just a moment—something flickered behind the rage. Something buried, something raw and struggling, a memory clawing its way through the madness.

But the shimmer was a relentless tyrant. It would not let go.

His body tensed, muscles coiling, ready to lunge.

Jinx didn't hesitate.

She pulled the trigger.

Tracer rounds ignited the alley in streaks of blue light.

The bullets found their mark, striking Vander's warped, corrupted hide, but he didn't flinch. He moved through the storm of gunfire like it was mist, his body shrugging off the bullets as if they were nothing—as if pain no longer meant anything to him.

Then, with a single colossal swing, he backhanded Jinx like she was nothing more than a ragdoll.

The impact launched her across the alleyway.

Metal crumpled. Walls buckled. Her small frame left a dent in the rusted plating before she hit the ground, hard.

"JINX!" Isha screamed, scrambling toward her.

Jinx groaned, a wheezing breath escaping her lips. Her vision swam, pain pulsing through her skull. Sparks of neon danced in her peripheral vision as she blinked past the haze.

Her fingers twitched toward her weapon.

But before she could lift it, the shadows moved.

Vander loomed over her.

The alley shrank beneath his presence, his massive, monstrous form casting long, jagged shadows against the walls. The sickly glow of his shimmer-infused veins pulsed like embers, his heavy, ragged breath filling the space like an oncoming storm.

Jinx felt it, then—the weight of death pressing against her throat.

The beast reared back a claw, its razor-sharp talons inches from her skin.

And then…

It stopped.

Vander froze.

His breath hitched, his body trembling like a machine caught between two conflicting commands. His claws shook. His entire form seized up, his head jerking—a man trapped inside a beast, fighting against the tide of his own madness.

For the first time, he truly looked at her.

Not as a target. Not as prey. Not as an obstacle in his way.

But as a father looking at his daughter.

His glowing, corrupted eyes widened ever so slightly.

A breath. A moment. A spark of something real breaking through the void.

Then, a single, broken word left his lips, barely a whisper—so fragile it almost wasn't real.

"...Powder?"

A/N: Whew! This was an intense one to write. I really wanted to capture the sheer brutality of the fight, the raw emotions at play, and the weight of Vander's struggle against the monster he's become. This moment between him and Jinx (Powder) is crucial—it's that flicker of humanity fighting to surface, the heartbreaking glimpse of who he used to be before the shimmer twisted him into something else. That hit hard.

And then… bam—the moment gets ripped away.

I hope you all felt the tension and weight of this scene! Let me know your thoughts—did the moment hit as hard as I intended? What are your predictions for what happens next? Because things are only going to escalate from here.

Until next time!

As ever, we're following the Ember's Rule for this and other stories. That's no joke. Really, it isn't.

If folks don't like this...well, it will remain, but I'll not be able to continue it. Every bit of feedback helps. Reviews are the fuel which keeps me writing in these crazy times. With my tight schedule an' bouncing between two jobs I simply don't have time to write a story folks don't like. Without them, my inspiration cannot take wing and I can't write a word. So by all means, speak up!

As ever, reviews are my lifeblood, my fuel, my sustenance. Without them, I cannot write.

So In the Immortal Words of Atlas... ...Revieeeeew, Would You Kindly?

And enjoy the previews. References are strong here...

(Preview)

"What is he? What's happened to him? I don't understand. Should we take him to Silco...?"

"I...don't think that would be a good idea."

"Easy for you to say!"

EDIT: May you have a warm and wonderful day!

Warm Regards,

~Nz.

R&R~!