Deathly silence hung over the swamp. The world was ordered to sleep. The animals, the insects, and even the wind was sitting still. None dared to refuse the order, to go against the command of the beast. There was only one that still moved, daring to draw breath despite it.
There was a low rumble as the Dragon exhaled. [I refuse.]
The silence was broken, life returning to the land, and the battle continued.
The Sleeper boss opened its mouth, but instead of a yawn, a low tone escaped, like the rumble of a war horn. The very air began to shake and crack, the space morphing and twisting. Around Gerald, a shadow of a clawed hand formed, its fingers gripping onto him and squeezing tight.
His bones creaked as the power poured into the spell, yet that was all it did. It held him in place, nothing more.
But, being unable to move was not all there was. The Slothrosity swiped with its paw and sharp curved blades of pure energy flew at him. Yet even as they cut him, Gerald released just a grunt of discomfort and blew air out of his nostrils as his anger continued to rise.
Anger was a great motivator, especially in combat, and he was intimately familiar with it. He used it to power his techniques and keep a hold on his Qi. The energy was already so dense, it was difficult to control.
Gale groaned and saw what was happening. His eyes needed a moment to focus and his mind a few seconds to fully awaken. He shook the others and they rose as well, staring at the two titans, the Slothrosity attacking and the Dragon just eating those attacks.
Every blade was enough to split a Cultivator like him in two, yet on the large crimson body, they were nothing more than flesh wounds. Long and deep flesh wounds, yet they healed nearly instantly.
Yet that was nothing that captivated him the most. Instead, it was the holding technique, one known to be among the most powerful, at least in the animal kingdom.
“Dimensional Grasp…” Gale whispered, watching the clawed hand grow increasingly more defined as energy was poured into it. Gerald, the Dragon, squirmed inside, his head blowing flames of anger in all directions.
“He’s done for it. There’s no way he can escape from it now.” Astarion said somberly. “He should have broken free immediately, now it’s too late.”
Gale hated to admit it, but he agreed. The technique was just getting more powerful as time went on. It was a battle of endurance now.
[Insolent… beast! Trying to hold me?!] Gerald roared, his voice deep and full of rage. Saliva was foaming at his mouth and his eyes were wide with madness. He flexed his muscles and attacked the technique with one of his own, but the enemy’s conjuration held strong. That was the effect of a higher grade of energy utilized in a such reckless way. So much of it was spilling out, wasted, yet for the beast, the losses were more than worth it.
As long as it held him in place, it believed, it would win.
[No chains…] Gerald began quietly, in a hoarse voice, his resistances diminishing by the second. It appeared as if he was running out of steam. But then everything reversed, the calm replaced by an eruption as a wave of chaotic energy exploded out of his chest. […will hold ME! DISRUPTION!]
A shockwave of destruction blasted the phantom hand apart, breaking him free amid a maddening roar as the spell collapsed.
The very air itself was pushed away, creating avoid that then quickly collapsed, the weight of the entire atmosphere behind it, and created a massive sonic boom.
“What is that energy?! That’s even more than I have!” Gale shouted, subconsciously protecting himself from the blast by lifting a hand in front of his face. He didn’t need to, but he did it anyway. The common sense of the world began breaking down around him. he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, the Dragon roared, his Aura growing even larger, signifying he was still powering up. A moment later, like a reverse explosion, all the Qi in the area was sucked inward into him, creating a void of energy.
With an earth-shattering bellow, that shook their Souls to the core, the flaming wings expanded, covering the sky. Energy began to gather at his fingertips, small golden spheres of immense power, twisting the very space around them.
The guardian beast roared in defiance and swiped its clawed paw at him, shooting the near-invisible blades skyward.
Gerald flicked his hand down, and the tiny spheres of energy collided with the blades, exploding with such power, the ancient forest around them flattened in an instant, and the mushy swamp beneath their feet evaporated in a second. The heat and sharp shockwaves razed the place to the ground, and even the earth itself was not spared.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The only reason they remained standing, was because their Cultivation was high enough to resist the side effects.
But then, they realized in horror, that all that destruction came from a single bullet. There were three more!
The first one slammed into the barrier the Slothrosity created, shattering it, but not quite breaking through. The second one punched, like a hammer through a pane of glass, breaking the defenses of the beast, before disappearing deep underground somewhere behind it.
A moment later, the ground itself was lifted up, millions of tons of earth and stone, like a volcanic eruption, and spewed fire and brimstone into the air.
The third bullet passed straight through the beast, piercing its chest like it wasn’t even there, and buried itself into the soil beneath its feet. The ground erupted once more, before swallowing the beast whole. Its massive body did nothing to save it from being devoured by the raging earth beneath it.
The shockwaves traveled far and then became quiet. The ground calmed down and settled. What once was a deep, wet, stinking swamp, turned into a field of death. Not a single living thing remained, except for those four, huddling together inside the barrier they created. The land was quiet, and the air stood still.
They dared not blink, for something was coming.
At first, it was a low rumble, though it sounded deafening amid deathly silence, and then the beast burst out of the ground with a roar, its body mangled, its fur full of blood, and half its face scorched clean off, revealing bone.
It roared, looking around, searching for its quarry, but the land was quiet. It did not reply.
“W- Where is it?” Bai stammered, nervously looking around. “Where did he go?”
Then, at once, they all felt something, and turned to the sky, the beast included. What they saw was the sun. A second sun on a cloudy day, and it was growing, fast.
“Oh, my- Get back!” Gale ordered with haste, and as one, they flew away from the battlefield as fast as they could. A second later, a flaming meteor slammed into the guardian beast dozens of times faster than the speed of sound, the land cracked once more. The explosion was heard all the way to the edge of the verdant valley, the people there shaking in fear.
However, after the final tremor passed, no sound reached them anymore. The fight was over.
As the dust settled and peace returned to the land, Gale and his group dared to finally return and examine the damage. The swamp was gone, obliterated, wiped from the face of the world, with the ground carrying the scars all the way to the horizon. The place was one of devastation, the worst he had ever seen.
They carefully approached the middle, where all that was left was a crater of molten stone carved into the bedrock. There, they saw a crimson creature feasting on the remains of the guardian beast, tearing and devouring the flesh of what was once a powerful and glorious being.
“Gerald?” Gale carefully called toward the draconic beast. It turned, looked at them, and snorted, before turning back and continuing with the meal.
“Is that really him? Are you sure?” Fen asked. To her, the creature seemed all but human, even if its face kind of looked like one. The feeling it gave off, the Aura, it made no sense to her mind. How could possibly one in the Golden Core Realm beat a Spirit Beast? No matter how one looked at it, it was simply impossible.
Gale nodded somberly and then took a step closer before carefully calling again. “Gerald? Are you feeling okay?”
The beast snapped its head around and glared at him, before growling with an intense gaze. [MINE!]
Gale quickly took a step back and lifted his hands in surrender. He did not want to anger… whatever that creature was.
“We just want to talk!” He said, not moving closer, but also not moving away.
The draconic beast snorted and rolled its eyes, before drawing something with its finger on the ground. Over the course of a few minutes, it scraped a Formation into the ground, and then cut a piece of the Sleeper, letting its blood flow into the stone grooves.
It then similarly cut its hand, letting the two liquids mix, before adding crushed beast cores as well. Then, under the watchful eyes of the group, it turned around and roared, a burning Formation forming on its broad back, like lines of molten gold pushing through its skin. That too was splashed with blood, which was then absorbed into the body.
With a flash of energy, the two Formations came to life, and the corpse of the beast began being drained from its vital liquid.
The group watched wide-eyed as the bloody ritual took place, merging the two beings together. The energies swirled and intertwined, shifting traits from one to the other. It all happened relatively quickly, less than ten minutes and it was over, yet none of them dared to speak. They were bearing witness to the event of a lifetime.
After everything concluded, what remained of the guardian beast turned to dust, and the remaining Essence formed into tiny spheres of white sparkling silver. The purest form of Spirit Body Essence.
They watched as the draconic beast took the orbs and then its body began to shrink, and before long, a human stood in its place. A towering giant of a man, but a man nonetheless.
The women just stared with their mouths hanging open, though they quickly covered them with their hands, while the two men looked somberly at him, who they once thought of as weak.
Gerald took a few steps forward, each of his footfalls shaking the earth, and stared down at them.
[This…] He spread his hands wide, revealing thick limbs full of the rippling muscle of his naked body. [Is my true form.]
Then he continued to shrink until he reached a height of three meters and covered his body with a simple robe, summoned the pointy hat, and gripped the wooden staff that appeared beside him. He was back to his wizard self, the Aura of the bloodthirsty beast nowhere to be seen, and with steps as light as a feather, as space twisted around him.
They stared at him in silence and he stared back, his back straight and shoulders relaxed. His eyes expressed no emotion as his gaze was locked with Gale, and patiently waited for the man to speak.
They stared at each other, but the man broke first, releasing a long sigh, and spoke.
“So, this is it, huh? What now?”
Gerald looked him in the eyes… and grinned.