The Leader… It did not look like it was of this world. Violent shudders pulsed through its body once the black sludge returned to its source. It grew with each tremor, and its once sickly and sunken skin puffed outwards to compensate for the added bulk.

Beside the Leader was its own thrall, sprawled and prostrating before it. It was as if the offshoot was kneeling and offering its head as a sign of submission

With a snarl, it thrashed madly, and the last of the four beasts made by the black sludge was beheaded by its Leader and returned to its remaining cavity.

‘So it was the correct decision to hastily slay the three.’ Kiran quickly noted at how much more of the black liquid returned inside the final cavity compared to the three he killed.

“Osias… how do you fare?”

“...I wish I still had my sword, brother.”

“Once I’m done we’ll go find it.”

“Mm.”

Looking ahead as the Leader absorbed and filled its last cavity, Kiran started to wonder if he should leave Osias… throw him off to the side as he fought.

The four offshoots of the Leader hadn’t thrown a single strike to Osias despite him briefly exposing his back several times.

But he couldn’t risk it — this wasn’t a battle he could be hindered in.

Though… the Leader has shown that it could fire great spires, and even if Kiran set Osias behind cover, the spires would simply destroy the land along with him…

Kiran’s mouth was suddenly dry.

‘Troublesome…’

He struck his spear on the ground and began to unlatch Osias:

“Osias, I’ll let you off for a moment. Crawl back, far away, and make distance behind me. It’ll be hard on your body but I can’t fight this beast with you on my back. Don’t be sparing with your essence, flood your body if need be — keep your eyes open, yell the moment you find any stray Path Beasts.”

“Alright, brother.”

In the next moment, the Leader seemed to undergo a full transformation. It once towered Kiran by one-half of himself, but it now was almost twice the height of a giant like Kiran.

Four ominous bone-like protrusions slick with black sludge now appeared on its underside.

Patches of mismatched mottled outgroths littered its dark skin. And it’s head…

It was appalling to look at. Its slick maw was permanently pulled into a vicious snarl as it faced Kiran. As if it was basking in Kiran’s apprehension towards its new form.

This was the epitome of one’s Path distorting the physical figure in their Path to strength.

The Leader had an eerie air around it that matched its appearance. It possessed little more than a smidgen reminiscent of its origins as an Ordinary beast.

It was truly difficult to call such disfigurement a strength or weakness. It was all fickle.

For some, it was a disfigurement, an unsightly twisting of appearance in exchange for strength.

For others, it was a natural progression of their path, and if it grants strength, so be it.

Kiran has seen many human Path Finders show changes of appearance upon their Path. However, it was rarely seen amidst the lower Ordeals. As for Path Beasts… it seemed they were more susceptible for such drastic change.

It was seen as a sign of… desperation, greed, and trauma. Desperation for power. Intense greed, yearning for more than you can take.

But the result was always varied. From mindless, and abhorrent Path Finders fueled by nothing but their desires the moment they take their first steps upon completing their Ordeal… to radiant figures capable of transforming themselves for greater strength.

The Ordeals were… mystifying, beyond what Kiran could understand.

After all, he too has seen his share of its powers.

Nevertheless, Kiran prepared himself.

There was enough distance between the Leader, Kiran, and Osias.

Brandishing his great spear, he entered the fray of battle to test this new foe.

‘It can conjure spires from the black sludge within its body. But I’m sure that’s not the only thing it can do. The reservoir of this liquid is misleading - it comes from within its body yet it launched two spires almost the size of myself. It's also not blood, something else entirely.’

Kiran’s thoughts raced, putting together all he knew of this abominable creature. He knew the next few seconds dictated how the battle would go.

So he abandoned his almost brisk and relaxed pace, lowered his spear, and exploded forward.

The Leader responded by gaining ground and retreated as it dispelled more liquid from its foul mouth.

The liquid hovered and hardened in front of it as it began to take shape…

‘Another spire!’

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Suddenly the Leader turned its head and launched it at the rushing dark figure of Kiran. But not without Kiran noticing something peculiar:

‘The bone-like structures on its underside… it’s feeding the spire made from the liquid of its mouth with something different. It’s like the difference between the special difference from my Blood Reave and the blood taken from True Extraction. Probably strengthens the spire?’

Kiran dismissed his thoughts as the spire was before him.

‘Fast!’ He reacted as it grazed his shoulder.

‘It’s faster, but I can do it. If I close in on it I can slay a beast reliant on ranged attacks.’

But there was a slight mistake he should have noticed… As the Leader dispelled the black liquid from its mouth as if it was frothing in madness, stray droplets riddled the trail behind it in its retreat.

And unbeknownst to Kiran, the four protrusions added a bit of its special augmentation to it as well.

‘Da-’

For a split second everything became dark, as if the night sky was borrowed and spat out in front of Kiran.

A wall of stalwart black pikes appeared from below him, shattering a section of the mountain summit.

The earth below split, and Kiran’s foot was pierced along with his right knee. Fortunately, Blood Mend was already beginning to heal the dreadful wounds, but his movements were still compromised.

Kiran bounced off to his side and found that the stretch of darkness disappeared as quickly as it came.

But there was no moment of reprieve to collect himself as he tumbled and rolled again to dodge another spire launched at him.

“Bastard…” Kiran growled behind gritted teeth.

Kiran pushed forth, eager to close the distance.

‘Is its First Ordeal Ability the one to dispel and shape that black liquid? And does its Second provide the four bones? There must be a cost to such an ability… do the bones help concentrate and provide those droplets?’

The Leader increased its onslaught and fired away at the rapidly approaching Kiran. At first, it seemed to fall into glee at the successful ploy, showing its beastly cunning. But its mischievous snarl grew smaller the moment Kiran continued his chase.

And Kiran was mere seconds away from striking distance against the Leader.

Kiran’s wound no longer bled, and his sense of disorientation waned as he launched himself at the Leader.

With a vicious bellow unbefitting a person, Kiran slashed his spear in a vicious arc at the Leader, cutting a deep fissure from its thigh to its flank.

The beast cried out in pain and once again tried to use the trail of black liquid to ward Kiran off in a wave of pikes, but it only accomplished in slowing Kiran slightly as it punctured and ripped a heap of flesh from his left arm.

But the pikes dispersed quickly once again.

And Kiran continued chasing.

He was relentless in his hunt.

Blood Mend was continuously activated, and his wounds were of no concern.

Even while missing a large piece from himself, he paid no heed to it, as if it was a trifling nick.

This was the monstrosity that resulted from a Blood Path Finder who had almost inexhaustible essence at his disposal.

Kiran radiated the madness of a blood-born required to spurn away pain and agony as he cut down his foes.

This destructive, elusive, ferocious War Art of the Red Sky was deeply ingrained into him. He fought straightforwardly with the singular focus of killing his foe by any means necessary. Every cut of his enemy brought him closer to victory as he drained them. It was the insidious resolve of those capable of forcefully taking the blood of those facing them to fuel themselves.

Pulling a great amount of blood from the Leader with Blood Reave, Kiran sought to dampen its vitality as he prepared another strike.

Drawing his spear back he exploded forward and stabbed into the hock of its right leg.

‘Shallow, but it's enough.’

Once more a great deal of blood was reaved from the deep gash.

The Leader couldn’t keep up its pace, and it couldn't heal itself from the many wounds that were burdening its movement.

So it grounded itself in desperation and zealously sought to rip into the staunch figure that brought it to its current miserable state.

Suddenly Kiran jumped back hastily in retreat and gained an immense amount of distance in anticipation.

The Leader turned as it grounded itself and shot a curved swirl of liquid, hardening right before Kiran's eyes.

‘Weaker. Is it coming?’ Kiran thought as he parried the blow, brushing it aside.

But its purpose was to delay Kiran slightly.

Suddenly a bitter coldness ran down Kiran’s spine.

The Leader sat on its hind legs and regurgitated a vast amount of liquid along with all four of its bones feeding it the concentrated droplets into a titanic attack. And in this moment a cold wind blew right before a furious bellow shook the mountain.

It looked like a dark wave of sheer mass and destruction was headed to Kiran. It eclipsed his entire view, a truly violent force was approaching.

But Kiran prepared himself accordingly.

His spear was no longer in his hands, and a great intricate tower shield of the same crimson color replaced it.

Planting it into the ground and readying himself for the wave of darkness, he braced himself.

‘The shield is weaker than the spear, its size dispersed much of the true extracted essence. Though it should be on par with the strongest of Second Ordeal weapons.’

In the next moment, this titanic wave of darkness swallowed Kiran. A blend of solid and liquid arrived and devoured his surroundings.

‘Stron-’

…Then Kiran found himself rolling down the mountain summit and off a small cliff. A large earthy swath exploded and boulders followed as they rolled along with him.

It seemed like the entire Eastern face was ruptured along with Kiran.

“Pah.” Kiran spat out a mouthful of blood.

Looking down, he found that his shield was half destroyed.

…As well as his body.

Shield fragments were broken and dispersed elsewhere, broken and unable to be used. Such was the nature of True Extraction.

‘It’ll be years before I can don a set of Third Ordeal armor…’

Waving his limbs slightly to understand the extent of damage, his right forearm was completely shattered as bones were splitting into odd areas.

His torso was pierced with many odd stone fragments from where the shield broke. The sheer impact shattered his internals, something that threatened even Kiran’s Blood Mend.

And his neck was bleeding slightly as Blood Mend was already sealing the wound.

His feet surprisingly avoided much of the blow. Was it because he was launched by the impact?

He shook his head and continued upwards. His thoughts were slow and astray but he forced himself to climb as he was already regaining his senses.

‘Several hours of healing… But after a few minutes, I can continue to fight.’

Climbing above the ruined eastern side of the summit, he returned to the site of the battle.

There he found the Leader sprawled in exhaustion.

Still alive, but it seemed that the final blow consumed all its resources. Essence, willpower, black liquid, and whatever the bones provided.

It was to be expected though. This scene of destruction was reminiscent of the battles between Third Ordeals. Both parties were beyond the measures of usual Second Ordeals. Truly befitting the battle strength of the upper limit.

‘No use waiting before it’ll recover…’

Walking over to the crawling half-corpse Kiran brandished his spear. His right arm was useless, and his left was still recovering from a massive missing hole from the dark pikes from earlier, but he could still exert enough strength to finish the weakened beast.

He altered the decadent tower shield to return its form to the former great spear.

Still the same size as it was, but considerably weaker than it was prior to the fight. Before the battle, it was a lower-limit Third Ordeal weapon, but now he expected it to be about a mid-tier Second Ordeal weapon.

‘... A shame.’ Kiran thought as he brushed his spearhead right against its head.

Igniting his essence within and with a stiff thrust, he punctured through its head, finishing the beast.

Recovered from his dazed disorientation, Kiran took in the vast view from atop the rubble that besmirched the desolate mountaintop.

Kiran staggered slightly and raised his bloodied spear weakly:

‘So in the end… was this the true lord of this mountain summit?’