Death Incarnate

Kira was running through the forests of Jangala, deep inside the wildlands. He was hundreds of kilometers from the city, and he was so focused on the task at hand, he did not even sense in which direction it was in.

Kira was currently stalking a psionic enhanced beast, equivalent to a late-stage Mortal Adept. His clothes had a green military camouflage pattern to them, allowing him to blend with nature.

Kira had decided that if he was to be serious about his life and death battles, then not only would he strike to kill, but he would only fight in this singular manner.

He would seek only powerful opponents, and every time he would decide to strike, would be using his full power, not withholding anything back.

The beast he was stalking, was a powerful Centenary Camilion. A beast so powerful and experienced in stealth, that if you were to shoot a thousand arrows at it, perhaps a single might graze it.

Kira had been stalking the creature for two days. It had great senses, able to feel him powering up from a click away.

By the time he made his move, the beast would be long gone. A move so fast and stealthy, Kira could not figure out why he could not follow up on it.

He was in an area that had only nuwa trees, with some sparse low ones down below. And no leaves ceiling was up above.

It was mid-day, and the verdant green surrounding him, hid both him and his opponent, obscuring on from the other.

Kira no longer referred to such a beast as prey, but rival. He had struck four times at it, and every time the beast eluded his effort.

Kira had decided that this time, he would sneak so close to it, it would have no chance to react. He would use the meteoric speed of lightning to its fullest potential. He planned to charge so fast at it, it had no chance to even blink.

Kira sensed the energy trail the beast had left behind, as it ran from his previous attack. He could not tell exactly where it had passed through, but he noticed the trail suddenly starting at that spot.

He was flabbergasted as he chased after the elusive creature. Whenever it ran from him, he did not have it in clear visual sight. But its trail always disappeared from the spot he had charged towards, and reappeared several kilometers away from the attack site.

If it ran using psionic energy, then he should be able to follow it and fight with it after a chase. That never transpired since he would find only an empty spot each time he attacked.

As he caught up with it, entering the one-kilometer radius around it, he repeated once more the information he had on it.

Reptilian in nature, green leathery hide, psionic swipes with its claws, capable of tearing cultivators to shreds. The report said it lived for many decades, and most Centenary Camilions lives past the hundred-year mark. Acquiring such vast experience in evading death, that killing it was more challenging then ranking up.

He was nine hundred meters from the last felt movement. If he listened patiently, he could hear the noises that appeared in his dream at this point in the hunt.

As he patiently moved forward, the noises stopped. When he reached fife hundred meters from the creature, he could see its silhouette through the trees.

As he got within a blink of an eye, he finally managed to catch sight of it, it was in-between some bushes and small trees.

It was huge, the report stating it had five meters in length without the tail.

Although he could not feel it clearly, he felt it was there waiting for him. He could sense it in the air around him, it had decided to fight him, no longer satisfied with running.

He knew he had not been spotted so far. He had move in such a way, that his body was always hidden from the sigh of the green reptile. This way he had managed to get within one hundred meters of the beast.

Kira was ready to charge.

He focused his mind to its peak, and bent forward.

He crashed energy into his legs, making them explode in a shower of blood, the ground beneath him exploded, sending a tsunami of earth and roots flying into the air behind him, the trees at his back, bending away from him, scared of the might he showed.

BOOM

An explosion in the air, thundering the forest for a dozen kilometers.

He was in front of it when his body grew cold. The thing hiding underneath the bushes was not a creature, but an intricate web of green leaves, glues together by a sticky substance.

“Oh no.”

He could feel death breathing down his neck, so close, it was palpable. He knew instinctually, the roles had been reversed. He was not hunted by it.

He crashed through the pile of leaves, landing on the other sides of the pile. Before he could even dissipate his momentum properly, he dodged left, rolling a couple of times.

Boom

The sound of trees crashing to the ground could be heard, as he raised his head from the ground, he saw it in front of him.

‘HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSS’

A low roar hit him, making him stumble back. The roar came from a green reptile, three meters in height, and seven meters in length.

‘wishh’

A needle like tail swished towards him, not waiting for him to properly get up.

When the tail was almost in front of him, he leaned aside, letting pass by him. He could feel the col bite of the wind created by the passing of the tail.

The tail was a dozen meters in length, and amongst the trees, the reptile could not use it to swipe at him, only to stab.

As the reptile charged at Kira, it stabbed with its tail multiple times, making him dodge hastily while keeping locked in place.

Kira finally got a good look at the assassin. A green lanky reptile, with supple members, its body not having allot of muscle on it. The looked as if it was an old mortal, crocked of back and slim.

Its movement however were swift and energetic, the long claws on its front legs digging into the ground.

As it came closer to Kira, he could feel the psionic energy gathering in its right claw. He could see the ground burn wherever it touched with its right front limb.

Kira was locked by the tail's attacks, and could not figure out how to escape. All he could do was watch the reptile charge forward, lifting its claw for an attack.

His hairs stood on ends, and he instinctually formed a coating of lightning energy on his right arm, sending a spear hand thrust towards the incoming claw.

Boom

The ground crumbled under both of them, sending Kira crashing backwards, ripping some smaller trees, and tearing them to the ground.

He ignored the pain, and stabilized his body, digging two diches into the ground. The reptile was once again charging at him.

It is twice as powerful as I am. If I clash with it head on, I won't last much longer.

He decided to go all out, sending torrential amounts of energy into his legs, flashing towards the enemy. Once more he coated his right arm with lightning, this time taking this initiative to attack.

HIIIIIIIIIIIISSS!

A sharp his came out of the reptile's throat, its streamlined snout, flashing lines of sharp teeth at Kira. It also gathered energy on its claw, and sent it crashing into Kira.

Boom

Kira was once more pushed back, this time crashing straight into the ground, forming a great ravine in the ground, as he excavated the soil with his crashing body.

He got up from the ground, his body bloody and his right arm spewing red. His body was only moderately injured despite the savage look; however, he could feel his muscles being fatigued, he observed they would not last the insane deluge of energy being pumped into them.

His muscles burning and screaming he once again infused energy into them. His muscles bulged, red spewing from his wounds, gifting a grisly sight to the reptile.

Kira noticed something, the reptile was limping its right front limb, he had somehow managed to injure it.

Not having time to think much further, he charged at the raging reptile, who was already using its left claw to swipe at him. A purple trail of psionic energy being left in the wake of the swing.

He coated his right arm once more, this time forcing all the lightning qi he had to squeeze itself in place, forcing the individual lightning threads to mesh into one another, weaving so tightly against each other, that not even air could sneak between them.

This time, as the two attacks touched, it sent a shower of energy in all directions, setting the forest on fire for dozens of meters.

For a slit second there had been a clash of energy at the point of contact. A sound akin to lighting, striking a tree in half emanated, electrifying every soul within one kilometer radius, striking fear in them, and making them tremble.

HIIIIIIISSS

The beasts left claw had been split in half by the clash of energy, roaring in pain, using its tail to cover its retreat.

Kira smiled lightly, and chased after it, his superior speed overwhelming the tail, dodging it, and moving past towards the fleeing creature.

To his surprise the creature, stopped moving and extended its front limbs. In between to his shock, he saw a leathery membrane appear out of nowhere, glowing with psionic energy.

He realized the reptile was trying to fly away, only now realizing why he would lose its trail only to find it kilometers away.

If he allowed it to leave now, he doubted he could catch the beast again. It would hide somewhere never to be found again.

He crashed energy into his legs, shotting forward like an arrow, his energy leaking out, lightning streaks jumping out of his body and setting the forest on fire.

HAH!

He gave a loud shout, and coated his entire body in lightning energy. With himself as the arrow tip, he crashed into the reptile head on.

The ground underneath the creature, rupture and exploded. The reptile was split into two as Kira flew out the other side, followed by a trail of guts and a crimson fog.

As he landed on the ground, he trembled and fell to his knees.

Huf huf huf huf

He gasped for air, as all the energy in his body had been wasted. He sat cross legged, and meditated and started refilling his body with psionic energy.

His lightning stored in his soul had been depleted. He would need to wait to gather more. And his muscles were fatigued beyond what a simple rest could sooth. He needed proper rest. A dozen hours at the very least.

After a quick dozen minutes, he got up without searching the corpse of the reptile, dashing towards a certain spot in the woods, a couple of kilometers away.

He came back minutes later, carrying his military backpack and a weapon. His spear.

He looked at the spear happily, knowing full well that he could use it now. He could finally start hunting with his spear, instead of by himself. He had tried attacking the first time with it, but he felt as if lightning energy did not mesh well with the weapon.

He held the spear with his right arm, horizontal in position. He sent lightning into it.

The spear lit up with white light, glowing slightly, appearing as if made by angels. He swept with it.

VVVVUUUU

Air cried and wept wherever the spear touched, a sweet air could be felt lingering on its path.

As he danced with the spear in his hands, he forgot his fatigued body, and just remained absorbed in practice.

Easily melding with the weapon, he swept and thrust, stabbed and cut, spinning madly, and putting out the fire that his fight with the Centenary Camilion had started.

He moved so fast with the spear, weaving between the trees, lifting the fallen leaves, and chasing the smoke away. He instilled psionic energy as well into it, this time the lighting in the spear also mixed, and increased its destructiveness. It was not only penetrative but it would blow a hole in the opponent as well.

But that would require him to coat with lightning. Something he could not achieve up until now.

The beast had been twice as difficult to defeat. He had expected a tough fight, not one where he would fight to the death, and hope for insights to be sent from heaven.

As he stopped his spear dance, quiet returned to the forest, and he meditated on the fight. It had been too dangerous. There would be no on here to save him in case he ever encountered complications.

Mira had been right. No person was in this forest, waiting to hoist him on their shoulder.

He had underestimated the beast, thinking it primitive and dull witted, whereas the case had been exactly the opposite. It could also fly, something the report he read on it, did not specify. The flight was not on the report either. These two pieces of information, could be crucial in helping a cultivator make decisions in a life and death situation.

If he had played it safe, and kept retreating away from the monster, he would have eventually been cornered and turned into immortal steak.

But this had been his fault. He had not been cautious and simply charged without knowing the consequences, relying on second hand information.

From now on, future hunts would be much more meticulous in preparation.

In any case, he had just started his hunting expedition, and he already had a windfall in resources. He managed to upgrade his lightning comprehension, and he took down a larger than possible, rare monster.

The Centenary Camilion was called as such for a reason. It was so good at staying alive, it could reach hundreds of years in age.

He quickly closed in on the corpse, and stumbled through the reptile's body to seek for the pearl of the hunt. The nucleus shard.

He decided to flood the corpse of the reptile with psionic energy and make a scan of the body in this manner. Since it was dead, he could do that, and this way he would not have to stumble around guts and blood for too long.

He placed his hand on the corpse, and pulsed energy into the body of the dead creature.

He observed a nucleic shard, two fingers thick, and two fingers long.

It was an order of magnitude bigger than the one the Nuwa Crown Stag had. In volume that is. He did not know exactly how much it cost, be he estimated around twenty-five thousand.

From this, one could tell, how well hunting rare monsters paid. If one was capable of hunting them that is.

Plus, Kira had been lucky to stumble upon one in the first place, not to mention perseverant enough to hunt it down.

Kira did not know, but he was one of the stronger Mortal Adepts on Jangala. Although Kira believed himself to be mediocre at fighting, his lighting qi technique alone, more than made up for his lacking cultivation.

He had it in mind to test himself in the arena after he came back from the hunt. He longed to battle humans, and test himself against the best Jangala had to offer in terms of Mortal Adepts. But he still had four more weeks to go in the jungle.

If he took the claws of the reptile, he could get an additional ten thousand, they were half a meter in length, and were burdensome to carry. He decided they were not worth it.

As he was about to leave, he thought of an idea. Instead of carrying stuff with him, he could make a stash, and when he left back for the city, he could collect them all in one go.

He thought this would be a much better idea, then letting hard earned look root in a forest corner.

He carefully pulled out the sharp, sword like claws out, and made a stash for himself in the middle of the hunting ground he had designated for himself.

His hunting ground was a huge area, five hundred kilometers in radius, and he had decided if necessary to even make incursion outside of this range. As his lightning use efficiency had improved, he could now run extremely fast without crashing into trees, or losing his footing. This was one of the blessings that his lightning energy gave him. His movements were swifts, and without much weight behind them. The power of his strikes came more from his psionic energy. His lightning would help him with speed and penetration.

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Kira began his hunting trip with a big win. His confidence however, had fallen to an all-time low, thinking if the first creature had been so strong, he would be in grave peril if he did not maintain a cautious attitude.

But to his great surprise, for the next two weeks, he had only fought creature that in most cases, would only cause him to sweat some extra salt.

A huge red creature was charging towards him, making large pits wherever it stepped with its giant's legs.

This was his first humanoid creature he had encountered. The Red Giant. A simple name for a simple creature.

It had red fur all over, and it was ten meters high as it still on its legs. The lanky arms failed about while it charged at the ant in front of it. The face was uncovered by hair, and its skin was brown with eerily human features.

Seeing the straightforward way of combat that it had, Kira decided to test himself against it, trying to experiment with his psionic energy, instead of the lightning qi he was stuck at.

For the past week, his pondering into lightning energy had become fruitless. So slowly he had switched his focus on experimenting with psionic attacks, rather than waste time.

It seemed as if his lightning comprehension would not increase simply by practicing with it, hence he had decided to wait for a moment of enlightenment.

The only way he had found in his experiments with psionic energy was one that he had not expected. He found that he could some extent, control not only the energy in his body, but even that from outside. He could somewhat make use of it, to enhance his attacks.

He sent energy into his legs, stabilizing his stance, holding the spear with both hands, having it placed under his right arm.

Just like the previous times he had tried, he waited until the giant had begun its attack. As the giant lifted its right arm and struck at Kira, he began.

Thrusting his spear with all his might, shouting loudly at the creature, the tip of the spear starting to gather energy, glowing a piercing purple light.

As the spear moved forward, a twisting current started forming with the tip as the center, forming purple lines in the air. All the psionic energy around Kira, began flowing towards the center of the twister, along those purple lines in the air.

The energy tornado rotated clockwise as it crashed forward towards the Red Giant.

As the attacks collided, there was no booming sound of a crash, or any sign to show two forces impacting each other, struggling to overpower one another.

Only the image of the giant’s arm, being hijacked by the spear thrust, pulled by the flow of the twister, and being torn apart as the attack kept moving forward.

As Kira reached the apex of the attack, he let go of the energy at the tip of his spear, allowing it to flow forward.

The giant was lifted into the air, as the wave of energy crashed into him, twisted the hide on his front, and creating ripples of flesh in his body.

He crashed down dozens of meters away, only a corpse being left in front of Kira.

Kira frowned, looking at the spear with a bit of annoyance. Again, he felt as if the attack was not flowing properly, as if he missed a couple of steps.

For a dance to be performed properly, one needed to follow all the steps. He felt as if he was not following the formula properly, and the result was not satisfactory.

This creature had been a weak one, requiring three of such creatures to measure up to the Camilion.

What Kira found most marvelous, was the way he had produced this technique.

By continuously thrusting his spear forward, he had noticed a certain flow of energy at its tip, forming each time the spear was charged with psionic energy.

He had not noticed this with his physical senses, but rather with his soul. His soul could sometimes sense marvelous things about the world around him, stunning him in the process.

The process of gathering energy from around him had also come mysteriously. That energy was not gathered from the material world, but from psionic space.

Unlike the energy that his soul gathered by touching psionic space, this energy was free flowing, and did not have any soul intent mixed in it, generated by a soul interaction.

He had tried to manipulate that energy and use it, but he had observed it would not even interact with him properly. He assumed that only by following the rules of the world, would he be able to use that free energy.

Due to this discovery of outside energy, he now could consciously sense psionic space.

Compared to before, he now felt akin to a baby who had just opened its eyes, one who could see the air they breathed in, not just feel it as before, when their eyes had been closed.

As he observed psionic space, he noticed how chaotic the energy flow he felt seemed. Twisting and turning, smashing and flowing, all around him.

Sometimes it was calm, and sometimes it was wrathful, violating all laws of order. It followed no rule in the way it behaved. The only constant was the massive amount of psionic energy contained in it. In fact, Kira did not even know if the movement of energy, was generated by the energy itself, or by some other factor. It was akin to the way air currents or sea currents moved. One could not find out simply by looking at the waves and storm clouds crashing in the earth.

He felt as if his position of view was limited. He felt as if trying to watch psionic space was like to watching a table of jahjong while being a piece on the board. Imposible for his senses to perceive.

However, he had also felt something else besides the chaos that it represented.

He felt some presences. Not concise and full of agency, as he felt humans by observing them, but akin to a mass of light, shining on him.

Those masses of light shone on him from unimaginable far away distances. That was what he felt when he tried to focus on them. But he could feel them nonetheless, lighting up psionic space wherever they shone.

There were tens of such sources of light, shining from all directions. But one in particular, felt monstrous in presence.

It appeared so bright, that he felt it shine on him with the power of a thousand suns, blinding his soul if he gazed to long at it. Even when he stopped sensing psionic space, he could still sense it, a faint light illuminating his soul. It felt so massive, that he could feel its weight even from such a distance.

He did not know what these masses of light were, but he would definitely ask Mira about it. It seemed too obvious, that he did not even think about the possibility of Mira not knowing what they were.

This was the level of creatures he had fought so far. He decided to leave after picking up his loot and moving forward, this time not bothering to track a weak creature.

After killing five such creatures throughout his journey so far, netting him another seventy thousand credits, he finally ran into a rare creature. A Blink Thundercat.

The report he had acquired told him, it was named as such by the long-integrated natives of the planet. The storm season on this continent being so extreme in lightning, that whenever a thunderstrike was heard, a mountain would disappear in a flash of light. Kira of course, believed this to be an exaggeration by the natives, but he did consider that an animal would only get such a legendary introduction if it was powerful and scary to the people.

The Thundercat appeared to run around, blinking from spot to spot, shooting ranged orb of condensed psionic energy.

Kira had not meant to fight this creature, since it was too rare to encounter it. Fate however decided it would stumble into him, hence he had no choice but to fight the Thundercat.

In the air around him, Kira realized there was a killing intent wafting about. He had been walking through the woods, spear in hand, thinking about the technique he had felt on the cusp of completing. His first psionic attack technique.

FEWWW!

He abruptly brandished his spear to the right, a clang being produced as his spear struck a bright projectile, deflecting it into a tree. The tree had exploded in a flash of light, sending a storm of splinters into the air.

He then noticed a black silhouette shuttling trough the low trees around him, blinking from view with splash of purple light radiating each time.

He sensed another projectile coming towards him, this time from the back. Dancing with the spear in hand he sent it in a dauntless manner, flowing with it to his back.

Another metalic clang resounded through the forest, a cloud of dust being sent into the air as the orb of energy exploded crashing into the forest earth.

He recognized it as a Thundercat, because of its manner of attack, he had not planned on meeting it, but since it arrived to fight him, then he would meet it blow for blow.

He started spinning his spear around him, flowing with it in a dance that lifted the leaves from around him, creating a shield of spear light in the process.

If it sent more projectiles, he would be ready for it, no matter the direction. His arms and spear were charged with energy, creating a purple sphere of defense, keeping him safe from any direction.

Clang! clang! Clang!clang!

He kept hitting and spinning wildly, deflecting each and every attack he received. He tried focusing on the creature, but it kept blinking around him, creating a whirlwind of air current, blasting through the forest.

Together with the booming sounds of the orbs exploding, and the scene was not unlike a thunderstorm forming inside the forest.

The trees were swaying wilding in all direction as the Thundercat blitzed past them, continuously firing shots at Kira, who stood in the middle of the storm, only reacting.

Kira was in a bind; he truly saw no way of reaching the cat without being hit. In fact, not only he could not advance, his retreat was cut off as well.

A stalemate had formed. But Kira knew this could not last, not only because he was getting tired, but also because the creature could not keep this effort for too long. The movements it performed, observed Kira, consumed excessive amounts of energy. Such use of energy would fatigue the beast in at most a couple of minutes, its body would definitely be tire out quickly under such intense energy flow.

The wheels of his mind started concocting a plan.

I underestimated a beast once, and I almost traded that with my life, so this time I will not underestimate a psionic beast. Since it keeps me locked down so hard, it must have a plan to end the battle in one quick stroke. Either it is preparing to run, or it is preparing to strike with a venomous attack. I cannot possibly know how it will attack me, but what I can do is prepare my own poison.

This thought flow, coursed swiftly trough his mind, his battle experience having formed a quick and decisive response.

He slowly started building up energy in his body and spear, charging them up steadily, not trying to alert the beast. He would strike at the same time as it, taking it by surprise. He would fight it head on, staking everything on one move.

His legs were hurting, ready to break down. His hands burned, as he brandished his spear against the incoming projectiles.

His body was on the cusp of overflowing with energy, straining his physical vessel to its limit, trying to hide the torrential amounts of energy he had amassed inside his muscles.

His spear started glowing slightly, it to acting as a small storage for energy.

His soul suddenly felt the cold breath of dead, caressing and trying to slow its movements. His pupils shrunk into pin like dots, as he sensed another projectile coming towards him, this one more powerful the ever before. He spun around on his feet, using the gathered momentum to sweep at the incoming bullet. A strong purple light left in the wake of the spear.

The projectile was purple, leaving a trail of ignited air wherever it passed. Something felt off.

The orb was powerful, but not as powerful as he expected it to be, yet he could feel death approaching swiftly.

CLANG!

A dull metalic sound shook the air for hundreds of meters, as the ground underneath his legs gave out, bulldozing the ground with his body. A dust cloud exploding in the air.

Kirikirikiri

A flash of lightning blinked inside the cloud, sizzling the dust in the air.

Kira was already a hundred meters away, almost crashing in a tree, stopping just before smashing into it.

He clicked his tongue hard. Once more that lightning wave hit my body, without my intention. The silhouette had cautioned this was the hardest step. Merging lightning with body.

This was the last step recorded in The Odin Formula, to replace the stream of energy trough which lightning flowed. Instead, what the silhouette had done was crash the whole lightning film around his soul into his body, all at once.

It would not just gather slowly inside his body, all his soul stores would be ejected into his body, all at the same time. He could still syphon slowly from it, but he needed to succeed in crashing it at least once.

Alas, all he could accomplish so far was some unpredictable flashes of power. Ever since he had tried it the first time, the lightning no longer flowed smoothly into his body, but rather crashed with ferocity at random times.

So much so that allot of it would be wasted.

He focused on the circling beast once more. He could see the trees bend at the wind pressure generated by the slender and swift cat passing by.

Fuh fuh fuh fuh fuh!

His back sensed the cold breath of death still, and spinning on his legs, he abruptly thrusted his spear forward, his body bulging with strength, flooding the spear with psionic energy, boiling the air around him. A twister of energy rotating clockwise formed at the tip of his spear. The tornado extended behind him, growing larger and larger, with each passing moment and increment traveled.

The trees behind him were beginning to be pulled and snaped by the twister, waves of psionic energy rushing towards the tip of his spear, from all over behind him, giving his strike weight and power.

A purple orb of energy, stretched out from its immense speed was traveling towards the funnel of energy formed by Kira’s spear.

The ground parted wherever the projectile traveled, leaving behind a molted path of forest soil.

As the spear approached the apex of its thrust, the backwards attraction shifted abruptly to a forward one, rotating counter to its previous spin, instead of attracting, spewing waves of energy forward.

He sensed that this was the attack he had been waiting for, and gave a roar, pushing his body to the limits.

HAH!

BOOM!

The trees in half a kilometer radius bent, as a thunderous shockwave traveled through them, sound killing creatures out of fear kilometers away.

As the two forces collided, the ground beneath contracted away from the center of the explosion, the immense masses of energy fighting against one another, neither giving way.

The spear was bent slightly, even reinforced by Kira’s arms.

The psionic swirl of energy and the orb crashed and pushed against one another, in a bid to overpower and extinguish the opposing force, creating psionic lightning dragons, spewing out of the contact point, carbonizing the forest around.

Kira’s arms exploded in a shower of blood, psionic lightning dragons, spewing out of the contact point, carbonizing the forest around it.

The trees around uplifted and flew away, broken, and spewing splinters which ignited in midair an instant later.

The orb started pushing him back, digging him into the ground, forcing him to decide.

He had only relied on psionic energy so far in this clash, but since he was losing, he had to send his stored lightning energy as well.

Under this extreme pressure, the soul storage was emptied out completely, impacting his body, flooding his muscles, mixing with the psionic energy, a shower of purple lightning exploding out of his body.

Blood exploded from all over his body, and shouting he pushed back against the orb, a split frame later, destabilizing it and causing it to explode loudly. His thrust continued forward, trough the fiery explosion, sending the tornado of energy trough the remnants of the attack, all the way to the beast that had sent it. A bright beam of purple light, spinning and twisting as it crashed.

BOOM!

The ground shook as the blast reached the creature, the explosion sending Kira’s body flying. During his flight, he prayed that the beast would still have an intact body, so he could collect the spoils of his arduous work.

This beast had actually been even more dangerous to kill, then the Camilion, having such fierce battle power, even with his new ranged technique, barely etching victory for himself.

How did Kira know he had killed the beast? He did not. If the beast was still alive after taking the twister head on, he would not even try to fight back. He would simply lay on the ground, and allow it to feast on his carcass.

The fight with the beast had not lasted long, in fact, the description seemed long, but the energy battle between the orb projectile and his psionic tornado, had took but a brief split second.

The previous shots it had fired at him were mere distractions. Distraction for its body to fill with energy and send it all at once in this massive shot.

Luckily, he had not fallen for the faint preceding the final attack, or his psionic energy reserve would have been wasted killing air. What terrifying battle intelligence the beasts had, so much so that it made Kira shudder. Would stronger creatures be even smarter? If such a weak creature was this smart, how horrifying would a famed balrog be? Or a dragon?

Kira finally had an inkling of an idea, as to why Mira had said she did not have the strength to stand tall on Babylonia. If he ever reached her level, would he be any different? He was pushed to his theoretical limits when fighting such ants, what about higher ranked beasts. Would they not toy with him, as a human toys with monkeys?

Thud!

His thoughts ended as he finally hit the ground, finding confront in having his thoughts interrupted, even in such a violent manner.

He waited for the energy storm to blow over, allowing the air currents generated by the battle to dissipate.

Kira just laid there on the ground, for the first time since starting his cultivation journey, feeling it would be nice to just fall asleep even in the middle of the day.

As the tempest subsided, he got up swiftly, shaking those lazy thoughts out of his head. This battle had caused a large commotion in the jungle, and the area he was in was, in had no nuwa trees. He was currently one thousand kilometers from the city.

So far into the jungle of the continent, the flora changed immensely. The trees around him were not the type to absorb nuwa tree light, but instead working entirely differently to the ecosystem based on nuwa trees.

As the seconds passed, the fire was extinguished on its own. Kira had noticed that the flora on this planet, was extremely resisted to fire, burning only at high temperatures, and extinguishing any fire not long after it started.

He had to move fast, since the cloud of smoke generated, would attract attention from far away, since there were no nuwa trees to cover the sky.

He approached the creature, who was buried in a crater ten meters in diameter. Kira gasped at the destruction caused by the psionic twister, flabbergasted at how powerful the move was.

He somewhat doubted that even a creature much stronger then the Thundercat could tank such a hit.

He was excited to test himself in the arena against other fighters, but now he worried about the consequences of such fights. Would people not get injured in cultivator battles? What safety net did they have at the Sky Arena?

He shook those thoughts away, and examined the body of the beast. The carcass was four meters in length without any tail, and the height was only two meters. A body that was not as huge as expected from such a powerful fighter.

The body’s flesh was twisted from the attack, the meat on its bones being ripped and folded around the energy lines that had hit it, turning the beast into an unrecognizable mess. The attack had turned into a sack of meat.

Kira assumed the beast had been in a comparable situation as him, being fatigued and on its last legs, the attack being devastating beyond belied to someone in such a condition.

Kira saw that its spine was thick, and the rings it was composed of were shining with purple light. As he touched the creature sending a pulse throughout its body, he noticed that its spine, was round and hollow inside, forming a tunnel through which psionic energy could be guided.

The spine diverted into two at the head, with a hollow tube continuing all the way to the mouth of the beast.

It seemed this creature was using its spine as a launch tube for those energy orbs.

Its nucleus shard, was slightly bigger then the Centenary Camilion, Kira estimating it to be worth around thirty thousand judging by the size difference alone.

However, he observed that the shard was beginning to shrink in length, resembling more of a rhomb now then a finger like shard.

He decided to rip the spine of the creature out, and take it to his lair. Yes, he had called his stash his lair, since it was full of animal parts. It looked as if a ferocious beast had made a nest there.

No small critters dared come near it.

As he ran slowly towards the lair so as to allow his body to recover slightly, he wondered about how this words flora, ever since he had awakened a soul sense to observe psionic space, it seemed connected to each other. He felt that even if these trees seemed to have nothing in common with the gigantic nuwa trees, not even sharing the same ecosystem, he still felt as if they were connected somehow. Even the grass and the bushes on the ground felt slightly connected to each other.

…....................................................................................................................................................................

His lair being in the center of the hunting area, was a small cave, hidden away among bushes. It was located in a valley, on the side of an abrupt hill, covered in trees.

The entrance was small, it not being much larger than a human. As he kept going further down into the cave, it became dark and difficult to see. However not much further in, purple crystals appeared growing all over the cave, illuminating the cave with a dull purple glow.

He placed his spoils near the pile of creature parts he had collected, and sat down to rest.

He closed his eye to meditate, trying to hasten his body’s recovery.

After only a couple of seconds, he abruptly opened his eyes, staring sharply at the dark tunnel leading further down below.

The tunnel was dark and Kira could not see into it very far. Even the low glow of the purple crystals could not show him what was hidden down below, in the bowls of the earth.

He thought with shock in his eyes, why have I never checked the cave.

He had never fully explored the cave. Kira felt it stupid, instinctually, to check the depths of the cave for any dangerous elements.

The instinctual desire to not check the cave, came from his soul, so he trusted it fully. Every time he came here, and had the idea to further explore the cave to make sure it was safe, he was always egged on by his instincts that it would be a waste of time.

Why would there be anything dangerous there, always this thought would form, and he would then focus on something else.

Since he had come on this hunting trip, there was no incentive to explore for fun, so his only desire arose from a need to feel secure.

But his soul told him this cave was safe beyond any reason to doubt it.

This time however, things were different. Kira’s soul had grown slightly while he had been away. It had changed and the soul no longer told him it was safe.

Instead, when he looked into the abys, his hairs stood on ends. He realized he had been influenced by something to not check the cave.

He was horrified at the idea of his very soul being controlled to feel. It was not his body trough natural physical means being influenced, but his own soul.

Kira grabbed his spear tightly, finding comfort in its hardness, calming his fear with a small exhale.

Should he check the cave, or should he leave. But what could be the worst thing that happened, at most he would encounter a powerful monster, and possibly die. He had already made his peace with death before he came.

He started walking slowly, down into the depths of the earth. Mild steady footsteps, resounding with a low echo, forward into the unknown.

Kira slowly disappeared into the darkness, the cave eating him whole, leaving nothing but a pile of bones behind.