The phantom jaw-like attack that Jaguar unleashed was Death Breath. An overreaching mana ability that was stemming from its mana core. Graded at C, and leveled at 35, it was one of its primary powers. It unleashed a potent threatening power, and killing intent in the vision of the mana and the bloodline.
It went fast, yet Murai was looking at it with quite some calmness.
Calculating the degree of mana of this attack, velocity, and aura, he felt this attack was way too large. It was encompassing him like a tidal wave, and something that was wide, and tall as a person. Mana swirled in the waves, lines, and blackish colorful crimson, folding to make an opening like a jaw of a monster that wanted to swallow him whole.
Murai's turned his attention to his own condition, feeling the sudden change, and how this attack felt.
The Jaguar pounced towards his front, ready to act with this Death Breath in a row. The real jaw was hiding behind a crimson one. It was a dangerous all-out attack that came in two waves.
Defend, dodge, or counter? Three options with various possibilities to turn things up a notch entered his mind.
Chances were there for all of them to do something, but it all required his attention and quick decision-making. The Jaguar's mana seemed stronger than the one of the Alphas Coyotes because of the core alone. With it, the terms of even its physicality weren't as pronounced, making the mana the core of this undead Wildling Jaguar.
Because of the loss of blood and mass, it was closer to the power of the Alpha Coyotes for sure. At least in their rough power level, which may be a dangerous prospect for Murai's current capabilities.
It was definitely the toughest enemy he was facing in a long time, forging Razmund of course. It was resembling how he felt against Acaman Golem as Anatiade of level less than 10.
The difference between the Undead Mage and this Jaguar was far wider than he expected. Even Alp was probably weaker if they would possibly clash against each other, but his case was stranger than some mana, or anything normal.
Murai was hesitant for obvious reasons. He hadn't gotten a very wide repertoire of abilities since he didn't have enough time to come up with something fitting to call his own. Magic can be learned, but the body needs time to grow up to accommodate it.
Mana Core was the same. His soul was unique out of all things he had, but it wasn't something he knew was easy to exploit all the time. Soul Magic required an even larger investment than many Paths combined together, making it impossible to consider it.
Sometimes, options change the possibilities of the Paths. The living as well. His variety of lives would cater to the unique circumstances of the world, creating some adjustments that he never understood before. Thus, he could change and come up with new experiences and it wasn't rare at all. Almost all living ended up in unique places, with interesting developments.
It was the Cursed Living he was undergoing for god's know how many millennia, giving him an edge to learn from his mistakes. This life was the same. His life was his enduring soul, undergoing stages and undertaking endless time but magic and his body were there as well ~ just in a bit different form than normal.
His Robust Spirit identity was his last resort, and using it against this sort of enemy may be fitting indeed. Murai was, however, yet to understand something. From his body conditions, magic, and soul, he also had those hidden abilities, which turned out to be absolutely useless. They needed certain criteria for them to even start, yet those criteria weren't even something he understood.
Timing, soul, and pressure of the mentality would create these options, as Soul Manifestation or Soul Lock seemed to be limited in their worth. Battleworld gave it to him in his beginning days of figuring out his steps, but they became useless since then.
Something about Rain made it passable, or it was that whole Punishment act that gave him the leverage for his Soul-based abilities. Since then, anything afterward didn't meet the right conditions.
This also didn't change even when certain criteria for the Robust Sprirt adjusted to new powers and his soul. It moved behind the hidden abilities, turning them less efficient or void, but Murai wasn't sure of it, since the Will of the Battleworld didn't mention them since.
He didn't like useless things. Especially in the last life when everything mattered, he didn't like to see and feel the power in his sight to be useless. Having an interesting power, and being unable to use it was something he hated with a passion. It was inside of him, yet the certain rules around his body and this world created some unnecessary limits.
That only ended up eating his mind for a split second since it can only cater to his attention for that long. If something wasn't worth his attention, it was fine to toss it away. That was his old rule, but rule regardless.
Murai didn't care one way or another how he will achieve victory because he will!
That was his Will and decision of his own living. And stubbornness, one shouldn't forget to tell.
Murai glared at the magical jaw coming his way, engulfing his line of vision with noticeable teeth lurching to embrace his little living. Though, it was a mana-based ability, so it should have some limited physicality. For better terms, an undead wasn't living and mana needed a proper mind and soul to control it. For the undead to have magic wasn't uncommon, but it had limited usage.
It was acting in instinct for the most part, unless the undead was unique and its soul was strong enough.
Controlling mana required a careful mind, but it wasn't necessarily needed all the time. It was about how much care would mana need to pull off to form a technique. Something can be unkept and crazy without any passion or shaping, and still be incredibly strong. This incoming jaw was precisely that, and simple it was.
Wildling Jaguar was a demonic magical beast with Beast Core so there were some additional things to consider. Mana didn't need to be fine in this case, nor it needed any Shaping. It was a primal and instinctual kind of ability, stemming from the soul and instincts. It was unconventional to even consider it a magical spell, but a bloodline spell instead. It was how Magical Beast often acted, as they weren't mages, nor did they have a mind of one.
Death Breath needed to be firm enough to clutch the enemy and tear it to shreds. That was enough. It didn't need controllable Shaping. Might and power will do. This was how a lot of magic-gifted beasts fought. This Death Breath will do well for its simplicity since it was basically Jaguar's direct extension of the bony jaw behind the Death Breath--resembling its literal jaw.
Something familiar to the body was making it stronger.
That was a general way of how many shaping exercises made the rules, and how many spells came to be. Familiarity and efficiency will then follow with more power.
Murai was no different as an Anatiade, yet his mind was that of a mage. His beak reached a point of focusing on an attack before him, while the Jaguar was behind the Death Breath. Murai faked his reaction to flee or defend since he felt the incoming attack before it even started.
After all, mana within Jaguar's core wasn't infinite. As an undead, it had certain limitations that living can't have. Murai didn't need to realize it, or even remember it. It was basic common sense in his line of vision and Mana Detection. Its Beast Core was frantically trying to gouge out the necessary strength for this attack. It almost seemed like an engine of a small car trying to move a huge truck. It shook Jaguar's bones, core, and even the Soul Flames in its eye sockets. It wouldn't take a lot to guess its limits.
The soul and origin of every undead were the Soul Flames. Without them, the bones were nothing but emptiness.
“Interesting.” Murai thought out loud. “Undead mana seemed intricate, yet it is probably the intent of the creator to make this so chaotic. They aren't natural undead, but the kind that was made in an unkept mess to make large quantities of them, but the bones and this aura are peculiar. Mana caters to them still, or did the maker do something special?”
There were a few problems within this line of vision. Unless there wouldn't be a special way when the undead was created, their mana wouldn't come their way. It would scatter away unless the undead had some way to have it. Mana Core was an exception since it was easier to use if the reviving subject had it. Without it, the world of the living was no longer their place to stay in as a mage, while their aura of death and undead body would be all to their might.
None should expect a lot from such a beast unless the world did cater to them similarly to others. That, Murai didn't know.
Perhaps there were many ways the undead could improve, evolve and get stronger in a natural way that moved against his usual context. This world would make up for it, perhaps, and he wasn't wrong, even though he was skeptical about it.
Undead can evolve, albeit it wasn't the will of the heavens, but this world instead.
Jaguar's Death Breath arrived, and Murai used his beak as a central point of interest. It already glowed for a few seconds, unleashing fluctuations of power and might. He briefly calculated the condition of his Beast Core and ran into a problem. He probably won't last more than a couple of attacks and his Mana Blade was still beside him. Hopefully, the next round won't come, since this enemy seemed way too strong to his standards.
He spent way too much time using his magic in the past day, with little of no time to rest.
Though, he didn't view it in a bad way. Some things go, and some things happen. He trusted his body even without his mana so he jumped forward to intercept this wild attack. The incoming jaw of teeth held the similar sharpest, and the number of teeth was the same as the real one.
Smack!
Beak's Peak pushed towards the wild mana of this Jaguar, dissipating only a little, before it stopped moving forward. A tiny duck stopped a massive storm, but only for a moment. The power and momentum behind the Death Breath were indeed too much, causing Murai to back away 10 or so meters through the sand when the Death Breath forced him to the ground.
He was trying to catch this attack with this force, eating the limits like a snack. And he was looking for a chance, much to his acknowledgment and satisfaction.
Murai was feeling his neck turning against him, and the force that penetrated his head shook his brain and strained his spine. It wasn't that small of a problem, yet. In fact, a powerful force went through his body, jolting him from the inside out, but his body held because of Beak's Peak alone, Robust Spirit helped him ease the spirit, and the aura of this Death Breath didn't manage to penetrate through his feathers.
This was a lot to take in, but for some reason, his body didn't suffer much discomfort.
“Shitty... thing! My body again?!” Murai shouted, and forced the beak to yet another angle, causing the power to shift, and balance to twist. He sidestepped to his right before jumping up from this momentum. He somersaulted through the air, using the wings as a balancing factor. His push from this Death Breath was enough to let him fly 4 meters into the air. It wasn't that great of an idea, but the mana of the Death Breath wasn't dissipating as he would like.
It was connected to the Jaguar, which was right behind it, ready to snap the real jaw. The Jaguar's attack was coming his way. The real one, that was.
Murai found himself in a precautious situation as he feared. He almost expected this, since he recognized the issue of airborne combat from the 2nd Wave. Knowing this weakness was one thing, but if the choices mattered more, he had to come up with some solution to move from this problem.
Proper use of the situation will be enough, as this was part of his unwilling strategy and not a desperate attack as Jaguar felt.
Murai was prey in its eyes. In fact, every undead in this place held this notion in their origin.
He was being overpowered by a higher-level opponent, but his choices had some options. His Beak's Peak ended, forcing him to come up with a different kind of approach since he had no choice.
Flapping his wings, Murai gritted his teeth and pulled himself out of the jaguar's mid-air attack with a swirl of his wings. It was as funny looking as desperate, but he dodged the pouncing real jaw.
It jumped along with the mana-flowing Death Breath that only curved a little, scrapping Murai a meter away. Death Breath wasn't flexible, so the attack ended up smashing into the sand, letting an explosion of dust encompass dozens of meters.
Murai did enough to dodge that, yet he was unable to counterattack the next thing too. The jaguar followed behind that strike, almost snapping its jaw at him, and swiping its paw with 5 sharp talons protruding from it. It almost hit him, yet the wings saved him in another time of need.
He dodged that and reached the surface once again. He was close to the Jaguar who reached the ground as well. So he hid behind the opponent, almost thinking of a counterattack but he rather focused on defense.
There was an obvious weakness, he noted. The Jaguar wasn't that flexible without the muscles and blood, while the Death Breath was equivalent to an all-out attack. It wanted to deal with Murai when it already had 3 Waves after him, striking when the enemy should be weakest. It failed, much to its disappointment.
Murai dodged well so far, figuring that the jaguar could only attack forward, with not enough power to change direction well in a heated momentum.
Will there be an actual possibility to use this weakness to his advantage? It was akin to a similar situation with the Acaman Golem when he used his wits to win, by exploiting a weakness of an opponent. Now, he was in a similar situation where an opening and opportunity came to his side.
The Jaguar hit the ground and used its strong boned limbs, which had flowing threads of mana flowing within them. It stabilized on the sand, turning to face Murai who was thinking of another point of interest when he reached the ground.
Then Jaguar pounced, not giving him any opportunity to catch his breath after the attempts of mid-air attacks.
“Fuck! It's fast!” Murai flipped his wings again, but it wasn't as fast as he wished when he was on the ground. When in mid-air, the terms of his body were different when he was on the ground. When grounded, Murai did find the use of his wings lowered.
So, he conjured some additional mana, Shaping the fastest Mana Blade he could create so he would have two of them. He didn't slash at the incoming jaw that was as strong as the Death Breath. Instead, he slapped himself aside, dodging it with his wits while he used the second to slap the jaw aside. It failed, dissolving into the mana particles.
At least he slapped himself well. It was a strange strategy and something a mage shouldn't be able to do. He did so because of his light weight, albeit it was an ineffective way to do things, he had no other choice.
This slap was enough for him to change his direction of coming directly to the jaw of the pouncing Jaguar. It missed him, continuing with the momentum as it had a hard time changing direction. Murai used this brief opportunity of 1 and a half seconds to Shape another blade better since he already had it close. It was enough time to create a better Sharpness structure and empower its strength.
Swiping it towards Jaguar's ribs, the Mana Blade cracked before dissipating to mana particles. Once more, the blade failed because the core of the bones took all the blood and was stronger than metal. The previous pouncing motion was not an ability, but it was powerful nonetheless. It added momentum and power to its much thicker and stronger bones, filling it with power that was quite sturdy and strong.
Murai unhappily grunted, realizing that the bones were the case of his failure. It seemed he hit a tougher part of the body according to his Mana Detection, but in a heat of momentum, he had no choice. He was already glad to hit it, considering the timing.
Jaguar didn't have enough time to do another attack. It stopped its momentum after another 5 meters, where it turned to face Murai once again.
2 consecutive failures were enough to change its raging Soul Flames. It was inadequate against such a weaker opponent, which angered its soul and instincts.
Soul Flames stormed inside, wincing and shaking in wilder colors and flickering flames. Violence and brutality encompassed the Jaguar right now. The same thing, albeit with different feelings, happened with the Beast Core too. It flared up in mana, but the Soul Flames turned every cranny of the bone into a flame. Its eye sockets had the most blazing flames right now, turning to something chaotic, and restless.
Jaguar's Death Breath long dissipated into the mana, yet the Beast Core still held some power, even when it unleashed more than 3 quarters of its force. Mana was no longer confirming certain rules of magic, so a huge loss of the mana wasn't something it liked.
So, the Jaguar decided it was time for another source of attack. The strongest kind. A Soul Flame itself.
Using the life span of its soul was basically fuel to its source of living. It will unleash a new attack. Jaguar didn't hesitate to lower its lifespan, unleashing the Death Ray. Within its flickering Soul Flames, circles of distinct light emerged in the middle, shooting toward standing Murai. it was faster than anything Murai had met so far, resembling a laser-like flame shot, but it was denser and quicker.
He would be able to dodge the usual attacks, so he tried to carry on his dodges. The two Death Rays were side by side, arriving at him in a breath of time. Murai focused on his legs, squatting down to hit the ground at a moment's notice. He dodged it well, leaving the Death Rays to go on less than 10 centimeters above his torso. He slammed himself flat to the sand, uncaring how he looked.
He was small, so this sort of attack didn't even phase him.
Though, what he didn't expect was what came afterward. His Mana Detection pulled a lot of things up to his use, giving him a feeling of mana. This Death Ray had some of it too, but it was also quite a peculiar soul-based attack that held 90% of mana and 10% mystery of the soul. It was a peculiar Ability of Grade C that the Jaguar held as a level 35 Beast of the Jaguar Species - albeit the terms of the past living overlapped it to a certain extent.
It was an undead beast now, so a lot of contexts over the living no longer mattered. It had no special defenses of the usual Jaguar. It had no tough fur, the flexibility of muscles, and so on. Though, it didn't mean it had nothing from that past. It certainly had something new that it never had before. A Soul Flame to use, and the aura of death.
Murai didn't watch it but he felt something rising behind him. Death Rays turned behind him, hitting him on his back.
“Huh?” he cried, feeling the pushing force, but no piercing pain. The Death Ray stopped by his feathers, but the physical power and momentum of their power forced him forward. It was terrible since the rays were returning towards Jaguar, who was controlling this ray with its Soul Flames.
“Fuck you!” Murai quacked, but he couldn't do a thing. He tried to flap his wings, wince his body and turn his beak around, yet he was unable to do anything against the pushing force. He was too late to adjust himself, dodging for the 2nd time. His reflexes weren't yet to be up to his satisfaction, so the only thing he figured that helped, was his feathers once again.
The Death Ray didn't pierce him as he feared, but it was pushing him like a toy toward yet another disaster ~ Jaguar's open jaw.
“Ffff... Fine! Hell! I am not afraid!” Murai opened his beak and caught the protruding teeth that wanted to stab him. Jaguar tried to pierce him, but he stopped the momentum with his own open beak by gnawing on its teeth. The pushing force behind his back jolted his body, almost piercing him, but the softness of his father, combined with his own body, let the Death Rays slide to the sides, disappearing to the ground.
Clutching his teeth, Murai's stoppage was successful, but from up close, he felt the mass of the raging flames. Jaguar Soul Flames were glaring at him, and the jaw would fit 10 such ducks. It tried to bite Murai 5 times, but all of these tries weren't working, because Murai flapped his wings, latching on the biggest fang there was.
Frustrated, the Jaguar had one problem. It had no lips, tongue, and nothing to squeeze Murai between its bite. Murai was out of his biting power, trying his best to not get bit, so he flapped his wings to adjust his posture.
Jaguar stopped struggling like a turtle trying to turn itself. It halted its tries, eyeing the annoying fly that was this measly little duck. Another light emerged in the Soul Flames, creating yet another pair of Death Rays that traveled up close but Murai felt their creation. This time, Murai dodged twice in success by dropping to the ground and stumbling underneath the Jaguar. The Death Rays didn't follow him behind, since it was too fast to change the direction in this situation.
They hit the ground, disappearing into the sand.
Jaguar wasn't willing to put up with the failure, so it jumped and tried to stomp Murai to pieces. Both of its front legs held sharp weapons in the shape of 5 talons on each bony finger.
They remained even through death, albeit no flesh or muscles were able to retrieve or stop these talons from appearing. Wildling Jaguar was of a mixed species of feline and canine species, after all. Their claws resembled cat's talons, and their fangs were one of their deadliest weapons.
But, what use do they have, if they miss?
Murai dodged left and right, stumbling, and turning on the ground as if an armageddon was upon him.
He dodged each and every one of Jaguar's stomps. It jumped dozens of times, and each jump was followed by at least 4 to 6 swipes of its front legs. It growled as if it trying to catch the toughest mice it ever met.
“Hehehehehe. Behehehhee.” Murai began to wildly laugh, following the successful dodges, even though he wasn't one bit calm by this situation. In fact, he was crazy in this vision of his own living, glaring upwards and feeling the mana like never before. The situation wasn't what he wanted to be in, yet his heart raged, and his mind flared up in the heat of the battle.
He turned to yet another fanatic from the past who enjoyed this sort of situation.
Jaguar grunted in displeasure and tried to bite this messy duck with its jaw next.
Once again, Murai clutched its front teeth, feeling the sand behind his back, and muscles to squeeze. He almost coughed up blood since he was too late to dodge such a large jaw. Though, with Jaguar's clumsiness and agitation, he stumbled away when it tried to bite for the second time. Thanks to his slippery body, and wings, he was able to not get bitten, but he felt his body ache.
“Oh... Poor beast. You are too weak to handle this magnificent duck!” Murai quacked through the gritted teeth of his own lunacy when he caught this bite again.
Jaguar struggled and struggled, trying to shake Murai by swinging its head wildly above the ground. Smashing its head on the sand wasn't ideal, as it figured, so it wanted to shake its head until Murai would be gone. It happened in a flash when Murai let go of his beak.
Upon seeing it was gone, it still continued to shake its head, unaware that Murai was nowhere to be seen. It stopped and looked left and right when it realized he was gone.
Alas, it was too late, since Murai was up in the air, using this perfect chance that Jaguar gifted him with. He flew high into the air.
There, he put special attention to Shape a Mana Blade once again. It was about the last he could manage, much to his disappointment. He had at least 3 seconds of time so he held plenty of chances to create something good. What he ended up Shaping was a thick base of a blade, but not long. Its tip was strong and pointy, almost resembling a spearhead, but there was some edge and curve into it. It was almost a dagger, spearhead, or the end of a mace or axe.
Murai didn't even know what it was called. He only cared for what he will use it for, so he clutched his teeth onto the mana itself.
“Well, here goes my everything.” he put forth his Will and began to twist his body like a swirling eye of a tornado.
He used his gravity to his advantage, but because he was light, to begin with, Murai used the swirling motion and the sword in his beak to go down fast like a chopping axe.
Swiiish!
Murai's storming attack was close, arriving at Jaguar, who realized where he was too late. It wanted to pull another Death Ray, but it was too confused or too late to charge up. Murai flowed like a chakram down, slashing and turning part of Jaguar's bony skull to cracks. The cut of the blade left a lot of damage this time around because of speed and momentum and a lot of Sharpness, leading the Soul Flames to flicker in weakness.
The Jaguar stumbled away, while the cracked skull was trying to jolt together under the Soul Flames. But they shook, trying to comprehend the freedom which will never come.
Jaguar lost and stumbled to the sand, but its Soul Flames were unwilling to move by the rules set upon it by certain something.
Murai felt a bit dizzy when he smacked himself to the ground in his own momentum, confused. He took well over 10 seconds before he got up, feeling as if his mana was empty like his stomach. He looked at the cracked skull in a hilarious fashion, enjoying this fight quite a bit. Maybe too much, if Lisa would be willing to make any comment.
Struggling on the ground, Jaguar's Soul Flame wasn't dissipating, but it shouldn't be too far from following its premise.
Murai wasn't sure what to do, now that his mana was closing on the emptiness, and his body was quite tired. Kill it again. Well... he had his beak,
Before he had a chance to decide on his decision, he felt a loud tremor behind his back, shaking him to his core.
A large skeleton undead, riding an even larger and more monstrous horse than the Jaguar, appeared right behind him, observing. Murai got shivers down his spine, feeling the dreadful aura and mana coming off of these two large Undead monstrosities.
It was too much. Too strong. Was this a power of an Extreme?