Splinters and chips of wood swirled around Blood River's feet in a vortex as he crossed the palace threshold, the baleful glow of the World of Blood illuminating his way forward. Anyone whose path crossed his was reduced to a mist of blood and added to the sanguine sphere without exception. Even if he cared to discern friend from foe anymore, nobody who was present in this palace was free from association with the Dragon's Den anyway.

Scouting ahead with his Mind's Eye, River traced a mental path to the largest chamber in the rear of the palace. He did not sprint or run or dash ahead once he knew the way; his progress was at a normal walking pace, deliberate and inexorable, the end result of his journey now a foregone conclusion in his mind.

Men exploded and were consumed. Doors and even walls along the route were demolished. River left a swath of carnage and destruction in his wake, paying little heed to the screams and cries and pleas of those along his path.

Finally, he stood before the door to that last, vast chamber. The door was the height of several men, a golden baroque monstrosity cast with winding dragons and fierce warriors, a reflection of how the Dragon's Den saw themselves. He could only sneer at the sheer arrogance of the bandits, acting as though they were some kind of imperial power.

"Mister Black, here we go." River murmured.

There was no response.

"Oh. Right."

River raised his right hand in front of the great golden gateway and drew in from the well of power that hovered behind him. The Blood Spear thus created was a difference between mud and clouds from the one he had decimated the front gate with; that one had been a rough shard of blood. This one congealed to create an actual narrow spear that pulsed with crimson light.

Thinking back on how the front gate had exploded, River decided to apply another new technique he had acquired in Mister Black's sacrifice.

"Blood Barrier," he intoned coldly. More blood flowed from the orb to him and whirled around him, creating a transparent red-tinged bubble. He nodded in satisfaction; this should do the trick.

With a casting gesture, River hurled the sinister spear forward and detonated it as it connected with the door. The explosion rippled through the air as it tore apart the immense doorway, frame and all, the pieces of metal flying in all directions. Some bounced against the bloody barrier, but none penetrated. All that was left of the once grand vestibule was an arch of blasted stone.

A most gratifying result.

River retracted the barrier and stepped through the shattered archway, entering the throne room. He could not help but admire the construction; the entire floor was made of enormous stone slabs, and high stone columns soared to the vaulted ceiling above. Each column was unique, a different draconic serpent coiling around it. Gigantic lit braziers warmed the room and lit it up. In contrast to the chamber's otherwise casual barbarism, the walls to the left and right were covered in unfurled scrolls depicting scenes of natural beauty.

Across the chamber, down through the piles of furs that covered much of the cold stone floor, a dais with thirteen steps rose up, capped with a massive golden throne cast in the shape of dragons all twisting and contorting together in some celestial dance.

Sitting on that throne, the only other person in the entire chamber that was larger than villages, slouched a large burly man. The flickering light of the braziers reflected off the top of his shaved head, and he wore no regal attire, but instead a simple set of leather breeches and a leather vest. Each of his fingers was encircled with a golden band set with a different color of gemstone, a gaudy display of his excessive wealth. Colorful dragon tattoos covered his chest and coiled around his swollen biceps.

Brave Dragon. The dragon of the den himself. A Foundation Building expert and hegemon of the entire region.

The giant man stood and applauded as River stepped forward into the chamber. "That was a neat trick!" he bellowed in a deep voice that carried across the distance easily. "Where'd you ever pick that up from?"

River frowned. He'd forced his way into the fortress at the head of an army and personally massacred hundreds if not thousands of men. He'd wrecked the palace, killing anyone along the way and destroying doors and walls. He did all of that, and he was met with... applause? Was Brave Dragon that confident? That arrogant? Was he conceited? Bored? Scared and putting up a brave front?

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Was he insane?

Was he just that stupid?

None of these images meshed with what River imagined from his life's nemesis. He had imagined an adept schemer, a profoundly powerful manipulator who indulged himself in the luxuries procured from his ill-gotten gains. This hulking man in leathers who showed genuine, almost childlike glee at his arrival was not who he expected.

"Are you dumb, friend?" Brave Dragon roared. "That's okay. I'm not too bright myself. Hit my head a few times too many before these lads scraped me off the ground, y'see." He laughed sheepishly and scratched his bald dome.

River snarled at that. He didn't understand what game Brave Dragon was playing, but he wasn't fooled or amused.

"Brave Dragon!" he shouted.

"Yes, my friend?" the large man replied.

"I'm here to end your reign of terror and punish you for your crimes against the common people. What have you to say for yourself?" River spoke the words he had wanted to say for a long time.

Brave Dragon frowned, looking confused. "Um, sure, okay I guess? I'm just here for a fight, myself."

"Very well." River replied, tired of the bandit chief's word games. He stepped forward, the sphere of blood, now the diameter of a man's height, hovering above and behind him.

Brave Dragon grinned and slammed his fists together with a shout, slowly rising to hover several meters above his throne. This was true flight, the power of those who built their foundation or completely transcended the shackles of the Earth to rise into the Heavens. That he had achieved the former was well known to River, the source of his enmity given his use of the innocent girl Sweet Nectar to achieve it.

Transparent reptilian wings manifested behind Brave Dragon, stretching out and unfurling to enormous size. Essence swirled around him, thick enough to be visible in the air, a dense pocket of this compressed air wrapped around his fists.

As though following an unknown signal, the two men shot forward, straight at each other, each with a fist extended. They collided with a thunderous clamor, River pitting his stronger physique against the essence-enhanced punch of his opponent, fist to fist.

Both combatants were hurled backward in the shockwave. River's feet dug small trenches in the solid stone, while Brave Dragon drifted like a kite with its string cut until he landed, his feet leaving small craters on the floor. There was pain in River's knuckles, but it was nothing he couldn't immediately repair with his current vast store of blood vitality.

Brave Dragon winced and wrung his hand. "Not bad, man," he congratulated River. "You're one of those guys who keep reinforcing their body, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's all. I'm not an august Foundation Building expert like you are." River replied. He identified his miscalculation in facing Brave Dragon so directly: he had left the World of Blood behind, and needed some time for it to catch up.

"Definitely not bad, still. Back in my old sect, they might not have appreciated you, but there are schools out there that would." Brave Dragon replied. "So, what's that ball thingy following you around anyway?"

River shrugged. "Just a technique I picked up somewhere." Rage seethed underneath his surface, but he forced himself to remain calm and keep speaking while it caught up.

Brave Dragon smiled. "Okay. Well, here I go again, I guess." The wings manifested again, and this time he dashed forward without ascending first.

River responded by backpedaling a dozen meters, seeking safe proximity to the World of Blood.

The bandit chief grimaced as his approach slowed dramatically. Given the disparity in their cultivation, River could not outright slaughter Brave Dragon only with proximity to the World of Blood. This didn't make it useless, though; inside the territory field, Brave Dragon would still receive pressure from his own restrained and constricted blood energy.

River grinned and raised his hand, snapping his fingers. A shower of bloody needles shot out from the World of Blood and slammed into Brave Dragon, who stopped his approach and shielded his face with his hands as condensed essence swirled around him to take the brunt of the force.

"You tricked me!" he shouted as he dashed backward. "That's at least a false domain you have there, isn't it?!"

River again shrugged. "It's not really as good on you as it was on everybody else. What a pity."

Brave Dragon then grinned. "A Meridian Circulation expert with an advanced physique cultivation base and with a false domain; I take it back, maybe my old sect would have been interested in you. I guess I can't afford to play around anymore, then."

A second pair of transparent wings unfurled behind Brave Dragon, and a hazy pillar of white light rose from the top of his head. River had to resist a sudden urge to burst out laughing; the wings were intimidating enough, but that pillar of light... from that bald head... it was almost too much!

River strained to exert the Passion Amplification technique, drawing on his hatred and rage for Brave Dragon. Comical or not, the man was a deadly dangerous expert about to unleash a new attack.

Brave Dragon dug his heels in enough to leave visible marks on the stone floor and punched outward at River. A blob of white light shot from his fist, howling through the air.

River quickly sucked out some blood energy and erected a transparent wall barrier, crossing his forearms in front of his face to further shield him from the blow. The projectile of light slammed into the Blood Barrier with an audible cracking sound and exploded incandescently, light and heat radiating over him as it did.