I'm Lara Croft?

"What?!" Amaru shouted, both shocked by the energy flowing into Lara's body and by what she had said. Recovering quickly, he kicked her off him and backed away.

Lara, pushed back, glanced down at the energy spreading through her body. Her non-human genes had absorbed a minuscule amount—around 0.001 percent—of the celestial energy now trapped inside her. The absorbed energy caused her genes to go into overdrive, replacing human DNA and producing more non-human sequences.

However, the energy was so powerful that only a tiny fraction could be absorbed over an extremely long period. If Lara wanted to fully assimilate the energy trapped within her body, it would take hundreds of years. The rest of the energy remained locked inside, making her feel as though she was about to burst.

Looking at her hands, Lara saw cracks forming along her skin. 'No, you don't!' she said in her mind, determined. She began to impose her will on the energy, forcing it to stay contained and compress rather than leak out.

'Be obedient, you little shit!' she screamed in her mind. To her surprise, her will managed to control the energy slightly. Encouraged, Lara pushed herself even harder, making gradual progress.

The energy finally stopped attempting to escape and began compressing. 'I can only hold this for a few minutes,' Lara realized. The strain was immense, and she knew she could only keep the energy under control for a short time before it would overwhelm her again. Even so, the fact that she could force a celestial energy to obey her will, even briefly, was an impossible feat for someone at her level.

With the cracks in her skin subsiding, Lara let out a relieved sigh—only to immediately block Amaru's blows as he lunged at her, still getting new energy from the box.

"You dare to stab a god!" Amaru shouted as he delivered powerful blows. Lara gritted her teeth, blocking his strikes and holding her ground despite the shockwaves reverberating from each impact. The force of his attacks was so immense that it caused the walls of the volcano to tremble.

Seeing that Amaru was growing stronger, Lara bit the bullet and drove the dagger into his ribs again. The weapon absorbed a portion of the celestial energy coursing through him and transferred it to her. However, the energy stolen from Amaru was quickly replenished by the box, which still contained reserves of energy.

'I need to keep stabbing him until I drain all the energy from him,' Lara thought. She knew the box wasn't an infinite source; it would eventually run out. If she could absorb the energy faster than Amaru could receive it, he would revert to his normal state. At the same time, she couldn't allow him to accumulate too much power—Amaru lacked the ability to control the energy, and its leakage and uncontrolled use could trigger catastrophic events. If he absorbed enough, he could potentially provoke natural disasters or even destroy the entire continent.

"Agghhh!" Amaru shouted, releasing a burst of energy in all directions. The force struck Lara, sending her flying several meters back.

Gritting her teeth, Lara stood up just in time to block Amaru's relentless offensive. Despite his ferocity, she noticed an opening in his guard. Seizing the moment, Lara focused the celestial energy into her right hand and delivered a powerful punch to his jaw. The impact left him momentarily dazed, giving her the opportunity to stab him once more with the dagger, drawing even more energy into herself.

'It's getting harder to control,' Lara thought, her expression tightening. As she absorbed more energy, the strain on her will increased. The time she could keep the energy controlled and compressed within her grew shorter.

 Amaru recovered quickly and delivered a powerful punch to Lara's face. As the dagger started to slip from her grip, she tightened her hold, refusing to let it get stuck in Amaru. He punched her again, but this time she didn't budge. Instead, she headbutted him with brutal force, stunning him momentarily before stabbing him again with the dagger.

"You bitch!" Amaru roared in fury. He grabbed a macuahuitl, infusing it with celestial energy, and swung it at Lara. She dodged, leaping out of the weapon's deadly path.

Drawing inspiration from Amaru, Lara pulled out her pistols, channeling the celestial energy coursing through her into the weapons. Taking aim, she fired at him. "Did your ancestors ever tell you how well spears and clubs fared against gunpowder and steel?!" she taunted, a smirk curling her lips as the energy bullets struck Amaru, forcing him to stumble back.

"Are you seriously making colonization jokes even now?!" Amaru shouted, struggling to protect himself from the onslaught.

When Lara finally stopped firing, Amaru glanced around but couldn't spot her. Before he could react, she stabbed him in the side, leapt onto his back, and straddled him. Instead of holding the dagger in place, she began stabbing him repeatedly in a relentless assault.

As Amaru's movements grew weaker, Lara's suspicions were confirmed—her theory was correct. His healing factor couldn't keep up with the damage she was inflicting. The celestial energy within him was already tearing at his body, and the healing factor was the only thing keeping him from being completely overwhelmed. With multiple wounds appearing simultaneously, his regeneration slowed dramatically. Worse for him, the celestial energy, instead of aiding him, began to harm him further.

Lara drove the dagger into his spine, targeting his nervous system to cripple his ability to control his body.