Born in Blood



Wild Fang's demeanor was calm. 

Even when he saw his beasts killed so easily.

He expected that much.

In fact, those beasts were just a way for him to gauge Usan's strength.

There was no exact way to determine a Rank 5 cultivator's strength. 

It depended on countless factors.

Spells, prowess, experience, environment, element, and obviously, centers of power. 

Naturally, there were substages for the body and core for them too. 

Though, it took decades and decades to progress through them.

Right now, though, Wild Fang realized that he and Unforgiven Shadow were on equal footing.

This made him inwardly grimace.

Why?

…One of them will most likely die today.

As the shadow-made blades swarmed towards him, more and more peak Rank 4 Spirit Beasts left through his chest and protected him with their lives.

Shadow-blades and arcs of darkness shot through the smoky cloud, forcing Wild Fang to defend.

The cloud was a massive personal domain that Unforgiven Shadow had deployed.

In it, he was capable of both attack and defense, and his actual body was hidden from view. 

Mental energy couldn't peer into it, either.

And it was now spreading towards Wild Fang.

If he wanted any chance of winning the battle, he needed to take care of the biggest threat.

Or at least reduce it.

The cloud was most definitely a powerful Rank 5 spell of some sort.

It was beyond the norm in terms of power and capability…

But nothing was without its weakness!

Wild Fang summoned more than 23 wind elemental beasts in the peak of the fourth Rank, along with dozens of varying Rank 4 beasts specialized in defense as support.

The wind elementals varied in specialty, but they all had a common goal given to them.

Blowing away the cloud!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

A sharp churning noise screeched in everyone's ears.

Ferocious amounts of wind churned in the sky, growing intenser by the second.

From the center of the island, where the battle was taking place, trees and structures were instantly uprooted and forcefully hurled away.

Hills were leveled.

Lakes were emptied.

Thousands of creatures were killed instantly as rubble fell on their heads.

Further up around the edges of the island, some acolytes were flung off into the sea.

Liam caught himself just before being thrown overboard, using his Shadows and Dusk Blades to plant his feet and hands to the ground.

The intense drag threatened to pull him away like it did his fellow Shadows, but nothing was going to stop him from watching the battle.

Nothing!

Meanwhile, the massive amounts of wind churning had a weak effect on the darkness cloud.

It stopped its advance and blew it back by a bit.

But other than that?

It was still holding strong.

More shadow-swords and broad arcs of sharp darkness exited through the cloud and attacked Wild Fang and his bestial companions.

Darkness-made tendrils were already crushing and tearing apart their defenses.

Before all of his forces lessened any further, Wild Fang finally unleashed the wind attacks he had been charging.

CHOOOOOOM!

Countless condensed wind attacks shot forward with incredible speed!

Javelins, spheres, dozens of car-sized bullets and more.

They began peeling off layer after layer of the dark clouds, which had turned solid to counter so many abilities.

At the same time, earth elemental and light elemental beasts provided support, weakening the cloud.

Bursts of white light and physical beasts rammed into it.

Raging flames tried to slowly melt it away while tides of azure liquid attempted to drown and overpower it.

Everything was met with a shadow-sword that weakened its strength…

But there were just so many attacks!

Those peak Rank 4 creatures could turn an entire city to dust on their own.

And yet…

Something unexpected happened.

Instead of the cloud shrinking in size… it only expanded!

It was obviously in a weakened state due to the constant stream of attacks.

But it continued to grow rapidly until encompassing all the beasts in its range.

Then, the chokuto blade that Usan wielded flew out on its own with incredible speed—

SHING! SHING! SHING!

Killing each beast individually with a fluid slash.

More than 40 peak Rank 4 beasts had died just like that!

Wild Fang wasn't discouraged. 

More and more peak Rank 4 beasts left Wild Fang's chest.

Roughly 34.

They all took a circular formation.

This time, however, they were all of the fire and wind element.

These were rare beasts!

Specifically, they had explosive abilities.

A series of scarlet peacocks with bright, mesmerizing feathers and patterns propped up and unfolded their tails like a massive fan.

Then, they started shaking themselves rapidly!

Countless feathers, small to big, began to leave their feathery bodies, floating towards the expanding cloud at a seemingly harmless pace.

Then, one after the other, the feathers rapidly brightened until they resembled miniature suns. 

Eventually—

BOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOOM!

Colorful but devastating explosions encompassed the entire darkness cloud.

Shockwaves carrying boiling heat spread evenly throughout the island.

Acolytes and Ravenous Leash disciples had long forgotten their enmity and worked together to survive.

The shadow-made Isolation Barrier trembled.

However, as the smog cleared away, the cloud's condition was just a little worse than normal.

It grew massive spikes that pierced each beast individually, then sent another huge swarm of shadow-blades towards Wild Fang.

A moment later, darkness tendrils pulled the beasts into the cloud, which seemed to make it grow bigger.

Wild Fang grumbled a bit.

Clearly, he was a little surprised.

This was not normal!

There was just one reason that Wild Fang was a bit more worried than usual. 

Unforgiven Shadow was using just two spells and an inscribed item!

The cloud, and the shadow-swords.

Granted, Wild Fang wasn't using his most powerful abilities either.

But he was actually trying to win!

Unforgiven Shadow was actually holding back!

To Wild Fang, this held a different meaning…

'I don't see you as an equal.'

This was what Wild Fang was being told.

At least, that's what he translated from Unforgiven Shadows' actions.

'I see… I can't take you lightly.'

Wild Fang narrowed his eyes.

Then, using his sharp, animalistic nails, he slit his hand and gathered his blood.

A moment later, he threw his blood at the colossal lion statue behind him, which strangely absorbed the liquid.

There was silence.

Nothing happened.

Suddenly…

RUMBLE.

The monolithic lion statue slightly moved.