Battles were always about the rules of the game. How one changed and used the cards differentiated a fool from the player.

Murai was often one or the other, unwilling to seek changes but to challenge the living itself or the whole world.

In his case, runes were everything that he needed to care about, rather than the worldly powers or Gods that had their own sets of powers. This golem before him was tough like the finest steel, which he felt with his beak that never disappointed him. Its beak was crispy clean even after their dozens of clashes where he felt its weight. He lost in more things than he wished to proclaim.

It wasn't surprising to him. He hadn't used Blitz of Peak after all, while his Blitz with its Fatality should work great with this sort of exchange in mind. Peak would work too, he bet, but in limited timings and problems because of its channeling.

Golem charged again, sidestepping less than a second after Murai changed his tactics. Murai had a chance to attack it from the side but was too late, or intentionally observing its reactions.

He was correct. Golem's normal reaction speed provided a normal proceed of runes. At least for a golem. Whatever its sensors were, or how they acted and touched upon the reality, they worked without influencing the mana from the outside perspective.

He hadn't sensed a thing with another wave of a Sonar.

This wasn't natural, but weird.

How was this golem working? Were its sensors based on something else than the mana? Would sound, scent, and heat work in such quick manners? Or was it the physical movement alone?

It wouldn't be the first of its kind to work in either of them, as many runesmiths and golem makers viewed the art of creation in many ways. Possibilities were as endless as one's imagination, similar to the rules of magic.

It was equal to the Shaping itself, albeit that one had some limits since the body was the temple one was given, while a golem can be changed in any way possible.

Golem stepped on the ground, turning, and was yet to flick his wings. They looked like the finest of the cutters, but it had no chance of using them yet, or it didn't need to. Before, it probably figured the beak was enough, or was it his action or the motion set of the maker that made its moves?

Golems can have custom inputs specially designed for specific opponents. If someone like Mindarch controlled it or designed it against him, Murai wouldn't be surprised. He felt tested on more than one occasion.

Its strength was completely out of his vision, so he found it more than frustrating and nasty. He didn't like being clueless. It stunk of weakness.

Golem turned and attacked while bending and intensifying the motion of its neck. It had no feathers anywhere, but many metallic plates did look like made-up feathers. They lacked the shine, fluff, and great touch of the real deal as if the maker couldn't afford more imagination.

Its colors were dull, metallic, cold, and hard textured. It looked like a statue of a duck made of many pieces of metal armor plates that created armor. One would wonder what was underneath it.

Murai bet there was samthing.He saw a portion of the rougher feathered patterns around the neck, where there were few gaps in these plates to give it more neck flexibility. He was right.

This armor was wearable.

In golems, esthetics weren't often needed, unless they were practical and required for something specific. Practicality and strengths were what mattered for most golem makers, seconds to the actions and making sure the sequences of the runes made sense.

Independent golem was the utmost dream for any golem maker, and any golem that could pose as guardian for years to come without any touch was a successful golem.

And Murai will gladly destroy them all. A step back against a shiny beak that flickered at his chest was more than enough to change his course of action. He was in the defense, dodging to see its actions rather than acting against his attacks. Attacking, dodging, and deflecting all changed the outcomes.

Golem barely flinched. It changed its footing, steadied its neck, and attacked again. A twist and sidestepped on his one leg later, the stabbing beak was coming to his side and missed him by a couple of centimeters, leaving the golem's side wide open for the first time thanks to its wide stab.

Murai had Blades lingering above him, which the golem didn't take into account for now, or it did, but it didn't reveal any changes. Murai waited for the right opportunity to use his Blades, which was already more than unusual for him.

He wasn't always lenient enough against dull, stoic, or indifferent enemies, let alone golems whose sole purpose was even worse. They posed as nothing else but to intentionally piss him off and obscure his path.

He hated these the most because there was not only a waste of materials in these golems—which would be easily spent on better things—but he felt like a child playing with the toys of others.

He had no qualms about destroying such things, but when the situation reversed too much, he didn't like it. He would rather battle annoying opponents than dull golems.

Murai stepped similarly to the golem forward. He was close, so he bent his neck with his beak to build up some momentum. He turned for the Beak's Blitz for the time being, charging his beak with a glint of mana. He knew this was the best ability to seek the quality of this golem with, next to the Blades or Peak, but these had Shaping limitations in terms of seconds that he didn't want to gamble with.

So like a maniac, he began to stab, strike, and slash at the armor, neck, and wings of this small fortress of a duck. Crisp sounds came from these impacts that lasted barely a second because the golem was quick to react.

It sidestepped, flickered its wings, and deflected Murai's beak away, slapping him aside as a whole. But some hits did connect and left their mark, revealing rough blunt wounds at the side of its armor plates. Blitz had limited momentum left behind its stabs, so the damage wasn't that high.

Golem remained in that motion of going forward for less than 2 seconds, which was twice as fast as Murai thought his attacks would last.

In that time frame, Murai was able to unleash his Blitz strikes 7 times, which was good, but not enough to change anything. Plates were in one piece, and the blunt forces of his Blitz hadn't done much. He lacked the build-up momentum for the Fatality, let alone use Blitz's properties. He was supposed to take hits and strikes with it, building up power, unlike with anything else he had.

But he didn't mind this aspect of attacks, since it was like earth and heavens in comparison to the Fury he used to have. Blitz was countless times more flexible as it didn't strain his spine or head, and its power was much stronger.

True, the Fatality was like a small Peak, but it didn't have the massive force behind it that penetrated and destroyed things in a massive tide of force. Blitz was like a fine tool for his beak instead, while his movement of the neck ensured its flexibility.

Everything worked substantially better after experiencing a hundred fights with the Blitz. In this Gate, he pretty much made the most progress out of anything had had done in this life.

And it wasn't over yet. With Heavenly Shaping behind him, future improvement and additions to his arsenal, and who knew what else, he was looking forward to what was next.

Alas, what was before him was a tough duck indeed. Blitz was strong on its own, he knew. Even without anything behind, it was at least 10 times better than the basic smacks of his beak.

Looking at the small dents in that armor, he began to laugh. Then he cursed out loud.

“What the fuck is it made off? It's tougher than the finest piece of that Goliath Golem and that is the... Wait a second. The armor! Is the body underneath brittle? Why does it have those armor plates? It has its purpose. A special one, I bet, like its neck that is looking even weirder because of how flexible and slim it is, yet it is so strong too. Impressive... Fuck!” Murai cursed, misspeaking as he briefly thought this golem was a work of art that he wanted to discover. It was exactly like him, but he wasn't willing to acknowledge that.

One of his past lives showed its fangs at him, but it quickly changed to the ruthless and focused glint in his eyes. He got the gist of his reality, forgetting that he wasn't much different from this golem in some manners and facts. His neck was also tough and flexible and he had armor too! His feathers were one of the weirdest and fluffiest materials he had ever seen, but from the way they worked, their defense was incredible.

And this golem had no such feathers.

His ideas about his body were the outcome of the pain and blood of this Gate. He trusted his research, so although he may be that, this golem's body was different than his. How much, or less, was exactly the difference he wished to see.

Metallic sheen, stone-like structure in some parts, and clear curved feather-like pattern indicated no peculiar ore in his memory. Who knew what was even hiding underneath that armor body? The idea of a brittle body underneath should be false. No golem should be breakable easily.

The armor plates were dull in color, showing no sign of the golem's body. He had to go through it, destroy it.

He had a goal. It was time to chop that armor off, revealing the body or its metal frame that must work for something.

He was yet to be sure if those layers of armor were hiding or affecting its mana flow, or if it was a front for something else. Armors were usually for protection anyway, not hiding some ploys or techniques.

Murai would never like something silly like having armor while having even more powerful defenses under it. That was why he thought the way he did without questioning his thoughts.

Having someone else to speak to would help his decisions since he was in a constant state of figuring out many things at once. It made choices linger longer, his decisions wavered, and actions delayed him all so slightly.

With the new goal set in his mind, he struck with it and began a wild duck's dance with this golem. Similar to him, the golem went along with his new morale and idea, but instead of challenging his feathers, it went for his beak.

And Murai had to counter that beak, unwilling to test his own defenses for the time being. Blitz struck against the beak many times, sometimes even winning the fight and striking the helmet or the rest of the armor. Rarely did he hit it, which revealed and fixed his doubts.

It was sturdy...

Sturdier than any normal armor.

Cursing in ways of noises that few in this world would understand—as they sounded like quacks—Murai figured this golem was one giant mess he couldn't figure out. Its mana was nowhere to be found even after he made a few rare cracks to its armor, but a few dents were closing on going through. It revealed no mana undulations, nor any veins from the mana core.

Out of dozens of his attacks, just a few had gone for the armor. It still worked for his plans, albeit creating small dents instead. It was enough to prove its quality, and also Murai's capability and decisions.

Peak or Fatality will shatter it. There was no doubt in his mind when it came to this question, so the question was, how exactly he should go about it?

Golem was quick in its runic structure, allowing for quick changes and actions. Murai sustained some hits in this barrage of clashes, but he wasn't hurt much. Its beak had a surprising amount of blunt force, rather than sharp offenses. It mostly slapped against his head and neck a few times. It hurt for a breath before Murai ignored it, continuing with an exchange. He figured his feathers did protect him against most of this bluntness.

He didn't want any dangerous exchanges, so he began to think rather than act. That turned to patience. An aspect of assassins that he was fairly convinced was great for his soul, but perhaps it wasn't that fitting for this duck. He would have to adjust his head for that, and his body would have to follow the rest.

Every life held a different story. That was the rule of his Cursed Living that he knew and remembered.

Changing his overlook over this fight did come with surprising benefits. He no longer battled like a maniac, and because Blitz could sustain this sort of fight without costing a lot of mana, he began to stall, dodge more often, and look for opportunities to challenge its armor.

It worked numerous times, and dozens of holes were slowly creeping around the armor plates. Golem didn't seem to change in any manner. No locks, dangerous runic constructs gleamed, changing its nature as if it was in no direct danger.

Murai questioned that idea since every golem should have some aspects that would turn on if they were in danger.

If they wouldn't appear, that meant no danger.

What he was doing was useless, wasn't it? That question appeared in his mind for more seconds than he preferred, but that was a time he didn't want to waste.

That armor wasn't looking that valuable anyway. It was small, looking similar to the one Falconers wore, for example. But because it was smaller, it had fewer curves and features. And it wasn't doing anything special... really.

This armor was just a layer outside of the golem's actual body to act as a bothersome layer that one had to get rid of before attacking the real body underneath.

Murai got pissed off about this more than he showed.

So he decided to show it a lot more.

Mana gleamed under his beak as he backed away a dozen of steps. Peak was getting ready, leaving the Blitz that had only a few opportunities to cause a Fatality in a fight, whereas Peak could be used dozens of times. Golem pounced forth, unwilling to give him time nor space to let the Peak reach more seconds.

This confirmed what Murai expected. This golem was set to corner him in some ways. He could work with that idea in mind.

This was a great timing for using his Blades that hovered above him. Through these clashes, he did spare some touches on them to let their size thin out, turning their mass to less weight on his spirit. 10 blades hovered a couple of meters above the ground. Each was around a meter long, flat with a sharp point, and straight as a board.

Golem ignored these, probably because they didn't do a thing. A living being would be wary of them long ago.

Murai flickered the blades like chains, focusing on its legs to stumble it away. Golem reacted by wincing its wing, which wasn't protected by the armor of stone-cold metal. The actual body of this golem had more dull colors, devoid of anything vivid.

It trashed half of the blades to pieces with its wings or beak, causing mana to disperse, but few did cut in, leaving the already established holes in its armor thicker, while a single blade cut into the wing.

It didn't do a thing.

It splashed as if his Blade was brittle. Murai knew it wasn't, so he stepped in when the golem was busy getting rid of the 4 Blades that wrapped around its feet, obscuring its legs as Murai desired.

Its beak was more than enough to get rid of them in 2 seconds, which was twice longer than it should've been possible. It should've slapped every Blade with its wings, but it failed. Murai's Shaping and mana weren't that bad; he ensured his Blades would be more than annoying.

He arrived at its side, Peak buzzing and air shaking. He attacked one part of the Anatidae that he once felt was detrimental the most: the part where wings connect to the body.

A trashing sound echoed, forcing the golem to the ground under Peak's weight and power. Grinding sounds echoed too, challenging the armor plates but mainly one of the wings. It was a good choice that worked surprisingly well.

His tactics weren't without any gains, and a chunk of the armor crashed under his Peak too, falling aside, filled with cracks. Peak was savage in its offense like nothing else. The main thing that Murai wanted to destroy fell off too. Its left wing hung on a threat of threads and layers of few plates, revealing mana that stirred in very thin veins that connected the half-severed wing to the body. It fell off completely when the golem got up, forcing Murai away.

It didn't seem to mind the loss of its wing, which Murai questioned in his mind. Was it perhaps as useless to this golem as for Murai, who didn't even know how to use them to fly like a duck?

Well, the wings were useful in many ways. Deflecting with them showed some strength, as wings held the loftiest and thickest feathers out of any part of his body. It was a shield, a cutter if he may add, but his flexibility over his wings was less than great.

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Using it sporadically was understandable. This golem was much better at using the wings than him, so he decided to get rid of one of them by focusing on the weakness without knowing it was a weakness. He attacked the back without much accuracy. He dug deep and connected the part of the wing.

He thought he would crash it completely, but the wing was not only whole and without cracks, but it was also hang-on threats and mana. Murai was speechless after figuring out that the wing was detachable, which essentially meant he just got rid of its one tool.

At least, the golem won't take that wing back... hopefully.

Murai saw it in a different light. So what if this damned golem had secrets up its sleeve. He felt the mana thinly under the small opening for the severed wing. Plates moved on their own, closing the hole away under the armor that mostly remained.

He felt it. Saw it! The armor was the front! There were additional layers of plates underneath.

Unfortunate as it might be, Murai had no time to use his Sonar. But he had his eyes. That wound revealed layers of body plates with intricate runes between the detachable wings and its body.

It was an interesting vision, which put more questions into his mind than answers.

Loss of the wing was good, all things considered, but what if he attacked the neck? A head? Feet?! Those could cripple the golem for sure.

He regretted attacking the wing after he backed away, feeling that the golem turned serious. It was an act that happened on instinct. He almost began pounding the golem as he stood above it.

Considering the weight and questionable internal structure of this golem, it was at least 10 times heavier them him and set with battle motions of Anatidaes in mind. Murai had no such inputs, so he wasn't fighting like an Anatidae would. He simply used their tools at his disposal, which didn't make him a great Anatidae. Just a mediocre one at best.

He was also, more or less, copying and thinking about how this golem acted for future reference. Its neck movement, footwork, angles of its neck, and so on were all useful.

He was correct to focus on the wing first since it should put the golem off balance, causing one side of its body to be prone to more attacks. Similar to him, its wings acted as good defensive measures and tools.

Golem stayed in place as if calculating the moves or loss of its wing. Murai waited for what it would do without agitating it with Fire Shots or Arrows that he was certain would do shit.

If his Blades barely made a dent in it, those would do nothing. Which left him with the Peak and Blitz as primary weapons.

He didn't like it. Few choices out of nearly a dozen weren't up to his standards. Everything should be useful, but some things about this world were meant to be stronger than others.

This temple ensured that limits were high, causing low-level abilities to be less useful.

Murai hoped he would at least level them up to be useful in the future, or he wouldn't like the end of it.

Unfortunately for him, he thought of it in a bad way. Anything was useful as long the mind and work followed the tries and experience. His Arrows were highly shapable, depending on his mana and Sharpness put into them. With enough of both, even his Arrows wouldn't lose to his Blades.

Alas, this golem was sturdier than any living thing he had met in this Gate. Perhaps only that Undead Captain was sturdier, thanks to the armor that was far above its level.

But it had a weakness, which Murai used to win.

This Golem didn't seem to have visible weaknesses. It acted with a single wing the same way as with it, although it meant one wing less to worry about.

What else was under Murai's choices or touches? Slowly chopping this machine with his Peak seemed like an obvious choice, but would the golem allow that? No. It didn't before. He created that chance himself so that put his Shaping up to this test.

Murai stepped back even further, figuring that this exchange showed great answers. Perhaps not continuing with his attacks upon golem's back was a mistake he regretted, but Peak passed, and he rather backed away.

Patience was a virtue, and successful wounds on the foe were a catalyst for victory. He repeated the mantras of nothing but excuses from his past lives. It gave him clarity and the decision to finish this job.

Being too persuasive or aggressive wasn't his style at all. Instead, taking his time, observing its patterns, and using his wits and skills were much better ideas. Some of these things were something this golem had in its runic structure of actions and causes.

It had no instincts, but solutions for strange and invaluable lessons were possible to solve with good enough variety in its runic layout. Runes weren't all-knowing, of course. There was only so much a tiny golem could hold.

Golem stopped its movement, unbothered by its wound that touched upon its true colors. If it would be alive, it would've gotten very angry.

In a sense, it did get angry, because it shuddered, stepped forward and a thin layer of mana started cruising past the armor and part of its visible layers that hid under the armor Murai managed to crack apart. There were feather-shaped plates under the armor.

Murai bet he saw a glint through the helmet above the beak too.

Some armor plates fell from its neck, revealing a rougher kind of metallic texture undereat. Then, the armor itself blew to pieces, leaving the golem bare in its raw appearance.

[Excellent! What a thrill!] Mindarch shouted, ignoring the fact he completely disregarded the introduction that Murai was due to.

[Time for a second phase! Let's see what Citizen M shall do! I can't wait.]

Murai ignored that jackass but didn't ignore the golem's actions. He noticed the changed layout of its layered metals.

“That is interesting. I knew that my Peak wouldn't betray me, but it seemed to be ready to smack me aside. Oh well, I will crash it if it dares to injure me.” He quacked in confidence. “A quick, decisive Peak should always do the right job. It is a nice final touch, albeit... that wing, and that back. Only some plates fell off, haven't they, yet it blew them to bits?” He asked himself, thinking that his Peak did enough against that wing but its power still crushed against the golem as a whole.

Peak felt great to use, but he felt as if he hit a massive mountain and chipped away a few pebbles.

Perhaps he thought too much about his Peak or too little about this golem. Murai was thinking way too much into his fantasies in general, so he disregarded this situation, other opponents, or this Gate itself.

He was all alone in his head, directly facing this golem in a sea of nothingness.

It was him and it. That was it.

Only one will walk on their feet afterward.

Unlike the Goliath Golem, this Anatidae was countless times more valuable and tougher. He could see this being a priceless try or experimental creation that looked onto the Anatidaes, while who knew what was underneath these layers of plates?

One thing still stood, even when mana flared around it a little bit.

His Sonar was yet to work further into the golem. Sonar felt the flaring mana around it, appearing like a glistering fog that was stable and thick.

Murai wasn't sure what to think of that. He had yet to see what sort of runic or mana features this golem had in its structure, which was a huge disadvantage. Knowing them always helped against golem opponents. Be it Acaman Golem or Goliath Golem, they each had their external ways, which he then exposed or used to his advantage.

Whatever Mindarch or someone else had in mind to force this golem against him, they must have a very good time.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance after all.

Anatidea VS Golem Anatidea. It would never happen in the Surface, because no one sane would work around a golem Anatidae in mind. Not only it was too small to work with, but its power would also have to come in very special layers.

Around this street, the clutter of whispers and noises spread. This sight and fight were entertaining for most of the foes since Mindarch already acknowledged they weren't fit for this fight. There were already established decisions about the battles, long before they even came here.

It seemed Levandis forced the battles and their decisions.

Seeing such a rare fight was a bliss that most bystanders took to their hearts, which would soon shake the Hell Haven in a new light. It had been decades since the last Anatidae wrecked this place, and this time was even more savage, since Encounter, Hell Party, and game of mouse and cat were occurring in real-time. All under Mindarch's touches which flew to the rich public.

It was a fairly public contest, albeit outside of Murai's knowledge. Even Lisa didn't know the extent of everything, while Lorry was surprisingly silent about it for some reason. That skull was talking about nonsense most of the time anyway, so not speaking about it was strange.

This sort of occurrence and clash against a pair of Anatidaes was impossible to occur in any kind of way.

In the wild Battleworld and across seas, or continents, Anatidae species were animals prone to form connections, friendships, and love for one another for a whole life. There was very little known about them to the general public, but they were a very family-oriented species. There were some legends, stories, or direct situations involving them more than they should.

But in a sense, a peasant in the city of Cinnar wouldn't know them. Hell, even Iris didn't know of them, and she was a curious child who was close to Vermillion Church.

They were part of many other interesting species, beasts, and demons, which made their knowledge generally duller since ducks were forgetful.

Considering their lacking numbers, knowledge about them was subject to disinterest, since they were beasts that minded their business unless someone pissed them off.

So yes. That meant many were familiar with them more than they wanted.

Murai had almost no knowledge about that whatsoever, even though he was one such thing himself. It made him quite frustrated, but also excited to discover their information in the future.

He could also ask Mindarch directly, using his Question Mark, but there were priorities in other things.

Golem swung its single wing around, causing a pressure to arise, and mana to quiver.

And there on its head, the helmet exploded as well. It smacked it to pieces, revealing the duck's head without any eyes. Instead, there were thin feather plates all over the head, curving backward to make a rough outline of feathers that blended with the neck and back. They were all small and metallic, forming the first layer of its body.

Above the beak, there was the Mindarch's Mark.

And it glowed, acting as the construct or ability that seemed to work for golems too. Goliath Golem hadn't gotten this for some reason.

With the armor gone, the golem had initiated the start of the real deal. Mana all around it exploded, stretching far and wide.

A gust of wind, pressure, and fearsome mana pushed onto Murai's face, staggering him for a couple of moments.

It was quite a shock when this golem connected to the mana flow and let it all out, ushering in the torrents of this place that was part of this world.

Murai watched in silence as its whole body disappeared behind the glowing sphere of mana. It was crystal clear at first, until the glow was too hard to bear, causing the golem to be a mere silhouette.

Whatever it was doing, it was shaking the street in dozens of meters around it. Its mana was manifesting, and no matter how Murai pushed his Sonar ahead, he felt the glow alone. He bet he should glance at its structure for real, pushing the waves through the whole body.

Flames of radiating light were enveloping the golem without any regard. Nothing indicated some shaping or a spell. It was just a massive surge of mana that could be part of the technique that Murai had yet to learn.

It went without question that he was surprised by the output of this mana. Only extremely precious golems should be able to withstand this much mana without exploding. It was also perplexing how much mana this golem held, since unlike living beings, golems were defined by their Artificial Cores, the capacity of the runic structure, and the stability of mana veins.

Just what kind of core did this golem have? What kind of structure wouldn't break this small body apart?

Many questions spread all over Mruai's face, caused by this storm. The vastness was unlike what many living beings could handle.

It was true that golems weren't prone to the problems of the flesh. Their flow of mana went into a precise motion, unobstructed by living rules. They were also painless, soulless, and meant to endure problems or explode while pushing the limits.

All of which wasn't feasible for living beings, so that made golems often good assassination tools. A massive output of mana wouldn't hurt them to the extent that no living beings wanted, albeit it depended on their structures.

And this golem was... more crazy and vaster than possible. It wasn't cracking or exploding even in the smallest manner. Its true layer of plates remained slightly trembling and runes glowed between them. That was it.

Murai didn't think. He didn't determine anything wrong. He only fought his thoughts as he wondered if he could Conjure this much mana. It felt large, so... what if Mindarch got it wrong?

He didn't state the incoming part of this golem, so perhaps he wasn't supposed to battle it? He attacked first, after all, initiating the combat, but Mindarch already voiced his enjoyment and something about the second phase.

He was whimpering, sobering up, and there was something wrong about this world. “Is this some sort of joke? Are they forcing this exploding golem upon me or what? What the fuck are they? Is Razmund behind this? Oy!” Murai cursed Mindarch, not knowing if his eyes were playing with him, or if Mindarch was secretly laughing behind the rumblings of the whole street.

Mana Sonar provided no benefits or doubts. It was neither right nor wrong.

It felt overwhelming by the motion of the waves, causing Murai's mind to see the light and trembling light fissures. His eyes at least worked better. Before him, the sphere turned into a pillar, with a shining sphere of mana at the bottom.

Anatidae Golem was right in the middle, pointing his beak toward Murai's direction after confirming its target and the amount of mana to kill it.

It was perhaps an overkill, some of the demons around the streets thought as they backed away in fear long ago.

Then, as if nothing unusual happened, the mana disappeared down, as if a black hole sucked the sun. The pillar and every speck of mana ended up on the golem's beak, forming a strange formation and powerful fluctuations resembling a dense star.

Murai grimaced and moaned in immeasurable bother, figuring that if Robust Defense wouldn't take it, he was as good as dead. He wasn't sure if this was some form of special runic formation it had, or if this was an ability stemming from the imitation of an Anatidae this golem was made from.

It could be anything. This golem could have some variant of the Anatidea ability, which he realized soon enough as some resemblance hit his head.

It looked like Peak, albeit much bigger in terms of mana since this golem wasn't taking any normal mana flow. The cause might be its structure, this place, or everything combined.

In Murai's case, Peak was flowing from within him onto the tip of the beak. It wasn't this savage and external, but it was similar it their ending vision.

Murai had no idea about Anatidae's abilities. His repertoire of abilities was kind of lackluster. He didn't gain a lot of variables in terms of Bloodline abilities, nor did he have a chance to grow as an Anatidae.

Through suffering and determination, he did gain the basics at least. That was the Blitz for the time being, while Peak had been with him for a while.

Other than that, his Diving Sphere wasn't qualified to be mentioned. It was a supporting ability anyway, although it was related to his Bloodline. Bloodrush was another thing, but he swore to himself to never use it again out of spite for his near-ending experience and its harsh nature.

So yes. He gained some things in his brief life and his questionable Bloodline. Pretty much everything worked out because of his soul alone. Training won't help much either. He needed more of what he was doing and more time.

Battling would have to do for now.

Murai had what he had thanks to how his soul interpreted his living, making it his own and slightly different from the normal members of his species. There were also differences among them in general, thanks to the sub-species that birthed brand new or different kinds of Bloodline powers that other sub-species couldn't gain otherwise.

In terms of evolution, there were the 3 choices that held vast differences at the start, unlike the next one which was up to the individuals to decide. Starting triplet of choices was their fateful, or determined important choices, while Influence Items often changed one of them to a new level.

Seeing this golem doing something insane, yet familiar, Murai was correct.

It was a basic idea of an Anatidae Bloodline ability, where the mana turned into tides, making mountains scream, and the roots of the trees would fly from the earth.

Could he defend against this ability that channeled a ridiculous amount of mana into a singular point?

Is this what Peak's next step is, or is it even further? Or am I wrong and dreaming? Murai thought, breathlessly standing not that far from the pressuring point of the glowing star on top of the shiny beak. There was ridiculous pressure on top of it, aiming at him.

It was much bigger than his own mana pool would create under his masterful Shaping well above his level.

This wasn't fair.

It was ridiculous.

He had his cards left aflame.

And the golem was coming. He could tell that from the creeping steps that cracked the ground as if the golem was suddenly a hundred times heavier.

Murai backed away, knowing he couldn't take it head-on.

Anatidae Golem strode forward as he backed away, pointing its Peak right at Murai, who was thinking of a way to defend against it. Dodge, deflect, take it head first? Should he jump out of here? Fleet to the portal? Or use his Robust Defense?

He may be powerful because of his soul, but deep down, he had his insecurities because of this strange life. Being a duck was hard to swallow, because he couldn't imagine having a normal conversation with anyone else but a former succubus, the skull that had some screw loose in its head, and... was that it?

His mind was faltering against this pressure that tested everything about him. Everything had its limits. Murai had his own, which spoke of nothing but insanity or common sense.

In the past, he was handled like a toy in Razmund's hands. In Seventh Death Forest, he was hunted, so he became a hunter instead. In this temple, he became a Challenger to set his sights on a change to be better than before.

His life was turning for the better, but his powers and chances weren't absolute.

He remembered the most ridiculous time in that well. His feathers were useless and his soul or some abilities that weren't even his own seemed like a joke instead. It changed because of his body or was it something else? It all saved him without even his tries, followed by Will of the Battleworld who seemed like an angel descending from the skies.

Murai shook.

Everything in the street came to a sudden standstill. Feeling the tension, and droplets of his sweat, Murai wasn't sure if ducks sweated, but he felt like he was. Feeling every inch of his nervous body, should he feel this way? Was it necessary? He told to himself it wasn't fitting. He had enough of being helpless.

There was no point in that. Every life had its ups and downs, making each experience worth it in the long run.

There was no way he should feel this way since it would make the previous lives more of a joke than anything else.

Seeing the approaching death, Murai gritted his beak, feeling every strand of his being reach the peak as he turned his core upside down. if this golem wanted a challenge, he would go all out as well.

In a weird sense, he never felt sharper when watching and feeling the close call of the End. Mindarch's voice carried no meaning. No demons or beasts were lurking around, growling, or whispering.

“As the saying goes, without some kinds of storms, life won't blossom,” Murai said to himself, composing his mind to do what this exchange should be like. A turning point in his life.

He had to accept it. His body, circumstances, helplessness, or everything in between. Similarly, but not so much to the golem, Murai turned his full attention to his Peak and mana. He lost control over everything but just his beak.

Golem was yet to reach him. It was slower than a turtle on the ground, bearing the weight of the dense star. This allowed him to open everything he had, but not so much so his Artificial Core would shrink or crash in any problems.

He started channeling his Peak for a few seconds first, which then turned to a dozen seconds, and his core, body, neck, and spine all screamed at him that it was far too much power.

Yet he endured it. Soon, Anatiade Golem was a few meters away, enduring something that was out of the norm as well. Its every step added pressure on his soul and beak. It seemed the force that it carried was massive, but he had no idea if he was close to it, or very far away.

He wanted to see exactly where it was. The answer was right there in front of him.

It was a test, or so Murai thought. Golem could've attacked long ago, he told to himself; making himself feel better.

Yet, the golem crawled at a slow speed, as if waiting for Murai to match its mana to make justice to this clash.

It may be a front. A trap? Sensing what Murai would do, it could crash him after his core would be empty. That was possible since it was waiting for his action, meaning that the runes were made this way. Someone wanted to see this.

Murai wouldn't usually fall for such obvious things, but here, he felt that not attacking was difficult.

Although difficult, he was in no hurry or raced for time. He felt he was, but not in a way that his mind screamed to him to flee or look for a way out.

Since he forced himself to stand against this force of runesmithing, Murai was stubborn.

Itchy feelings over his beak were endless, stress over his beak deep, and his core felt empty like a dried well. He reached a crescendo of mana, where nothing went out anymore. And his Beast Core was screaming like a hungry dog that flapped its lone affinities around.

He was like a sponge that was made of stone. Until he let go of it, his mana felt like a knot that was his neck that was going around him.

Could he use his Artificial Core too? He could... it was there in his mana space, waiting for any action he deemed worth it. His Beast Core wanted it as well, but he forced them to be separate. Some folks used the Core Defying Fusion Technique as a secondary source of mana, but its uses were far better in time and fusions.

Using it as a mana source was a good idea. It already had more mana than his Beast Core. How much? Dozen times? It was just a rough estimate. He did feed it a lot of essences after all, but he did that for a reason. It was a source for something else. Not this fight for sure.

And his Beast Core took the mantle to feed the Peak instead, gleaming it in waves that seemed endlessly going over one another, forming no tip, unlike the golem's Peak. His whole head shined, and his glowing beak was thicker and wider than ever before.

His acts were opposite to the outside surge that the golem showed before. Murai had a more composed technique.

It wasn't that showy at least, but Murai felt heavy and his mana was utterly out of his control, yet it remained guided as if locked to his beak. It was the focused power of his Bloodline and everything that was left of him.

It should lead to one of the easiest and most comforting feelings in the world.

Releasing.