As mana hummed and the air distorted around Merlin, the hate burning in Adam's eyes receded.
For the first time since Merlin had shoved him into this spatial prison, his flames stopped crackling, and his blade stopped whistling.
Instead, bloody tears rolled down his cheeks from his reddening eyes, and an insurmountable pain engulfed his heart, tearing it into millions of pieces as he gazed at Karna's charred body.
"No..." he muttered, his eyes darting to Heracles' slow movements towards Karna. "No!"
Dark flames flickered in his hand as his voice cracked. Accompanying it, the fragment's laughter exploded into his mind.
"This hate is yours, Adam. And through it and your chaotic body, we'll merge into a being never seen before, a sublime one that will bring the realms and gods to their knees."
The fragment paused, its voice growing solemn and weaker as it fused with Adam's mind.