Knight's Sacred Burden
As the glow receded, a thick, frost-like layer of gray crystalline mineral spread rapidly across the metal pipes, the control panels, and the floor, freezing everything in its path with terrifying speed.
Julian stopped struggling. He stared in horrified disbelief as the frost reached the base of the massive, hunched figure at the center of the room.
Kael was no longer just covered in obsidian scales; he was entirely transformed. The jagged plates had grown, spreading upward and outward, swallowing his limbs, his head, and his posture into a colossal, unmoving statue of dark, unreflecting stone. The violent hum of necrotic energy died down to a faint, imperceptible whisper, and then, complete