“Hisss!”

“Damn those persistent bastards!”

Raphael barreled through the dense forest of Black Wind while awkwardly dodging rocks and swerving around sentient trees who mumbled complaints about the reckless bull trampling their roots.

"Can't you be more careful, you lummox?! Some of us have been here for centuries, minding our own business!”

Raphael didn't bother responding. Survival, for now, was his priority. Glancing behind him, he noticed a brilliant blue beam piercing the clouds in the distance.

"Lu Jade, what is that? Are those butterflies?" He asked. Even from this distance, he felt a strong energy radiating from those blue rays.

"That must be Sindoll, Big Brother.” Lu Jade replied as he tightened his grip on the bull's horns.

"Sindoll?" Raphael repeated. He had never heard this name in his exploration of Yama Yaguai. But something within, those primal fragments from the bull’s ancient lineage and past experiences seemed to cower and tremble.

Shao Jin’s fear?

Lu Jade sensed his Big Brother's confusion and continued in a hasty tone, "Ssshe’sss… the Void Emperor Calamity! Easily the most powerful beast in all of Yama Yaguai. No one dares defy her commands, not even the strongest emperors." He paused to catch his breath. "Fortunately, she rarely interferes, preferring to watch from the clouds.”

Raphael’s mind was reeling.

“A Void Emperor Calamity… I can’t even begin to imagine that type of power…”

Then as if his thoughts angered the heavens…

“WATCH OUT!”

“Huh?”

Before he could even comprehend what this urgent warning from his little serpent guide entailed…

BOOM!

A large boulder came flying over their heads. The shockwave from its passing clipped a tree to the side which then collapsed upon another, causing a chain reaction that seemed to chase right behind as they raced forward, hoping for a quick death rather than an agonizing one from being crushed beneath ancient wood.

Glancing behind him, Raphael finally understood.

“They’re still following…”

“Big Brother! Run faster! I think there’s at least two hundred now. Their greed is turning them into berserkers!”

He then witnessed a blur of bronze serpentine bodies as those that chased him unleashed volley after volley of deadly debris. Twigs, boulders, stones, and those sharp venom covered fangs.

The attacks whizzed past him and narrowly missing his flanks.

“Maybe now’s a good time to…" Raphael decided to thin out the ranks of those snakes before they became too overwhelming. They had chased him far enough, and he was starting to get annoyed. It was one thing to defy his former owner and those haughty knights from the Bloodthorne Empire. Quite another to have snakes spitting boulders at his face!

Despite all those terrible memories bubbling within his essence, Shao Jin had shown him one truth: Might makes right.

So now that Lu Ignis was no longer a pressing matter, there was nothing left to do but teach these fools about who was emperor!

Thinking these bold thoughts, he commanded that tail to whip a powerful arc of yellow electric fury towards the encroaching horde.

“TASTE A THOUSAND VOLTS!”

Crack! Boom!

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The impact was devastating! It staggered a few but those furthest away continued unfazed.

"HOW?!”

Those pathetic fools weren't scared? Was he not powerful enough to intimidate them?

But before he could contemplate any other destructive action or unleash his inner golden bull wrath. A horrifying hiss shattered their illusions of escape and dominance.

“You worthless farts, how dare you!”

Lu Pin slithered to the front of his vengeful battalion after witnessing Raphael’s earlier attack.

“That…That’s Big Sister's lightning technique! That BASTARD! He devoured her Solar Consciousness!”

This observation fueled the assassins even further. “He's dead! Kill him!”

They didn't need to fear Emperor Qi Hawk's interference, because despite the destruction they were causing in his territory, it was all contained within those rules of Yama Yaguai. Only those who directly attacked a ruler, their immediate family or those deemed ‘Guests’ would be punished.

These serpents were considered “children" compared to those ancient, Emperor-class Calamities. No different than a child breaking twigs in those wondrous forests, a harmless act that held no significance to the order. Thinking this, helped propel the snakes; attack even further.

"Run, Big Brother, Run!”

It was too late! Those bronze bodies had already caught up with their powerful strikes and relentless pursuit. They wanted blood!

WHOOSH! CRACK!

“Die!”

One large serpentine assassin, armed with fangs thicker than a car and a massive tail covered in jagged rocks, lashed forward in a blur. It aimed for his neck, the kill shot.

BOOM!

Raphael twisted his neck and countered that deadly strike with his dark bronze-scaled wings as the impact reverberated. Their momentum carried forward for hundreds of yards, tearing apart that beautiful and peaceful landscape. They were like a meteor slamming into those wondrous groves and those towering sentinels now reduced to dust in their mad dance.

Then finally, they reached a clearing. It was time.

“Big Brother, what are you doing?! We have to get away! It’s too many!”

Raphael stopped, bracing those golden hooves against that hard earth, then turned his immense body toward those hundreds of hissing assassins. “Then lets fight!”

"You're dead meat, bull! We are hundreds and you are just one! A pitiful meal! Even your bones won't last a minute! Hahaha!"

Being surrounded by so many venomous creatures, Lu Jade shivered in fright. “We are trapped!” He whimpered in despair while wondering if betraying his own father and siding with this beastly upstart had been the wrong choice after all, but then he witnessed a sight so wondrous, he couldn’t even blink.

WHOOSH!

“I accept your challenge.”

Raphael's words carried the arrogance of a creature of immense strength.

As his black wings spread and shadow energies surged forth that swallowed the sky and sent even the bravest serpents scrambling backwards, something truly terrifying happened.

It felt like that moment inside the jade cave again when the sky crashed down but without those horrible rumbles, but with shadows taking the stage.

"DIE!”

Hundreds of grotesque and imposing bats materialized from his appendages. The sky blacked as they screech with blood thirsty intent, for unlike the last encounter, their hunger couldn’t be appeased, not this time. This was justice they all craved.

Before they descended to reap those serpents below. A lone figure took the stage.

It hovered at the tip of Raphael’s horns that vibrated a pale yellow as it scanned that vast legion with eyes blazing ruby and white. A magnificent sigh. Its appearance had all others, from serpents below to those who witnessed afar, mesmerized. They couldn't make a sound, for such power, emanating from those obsidian shadows was mesmerizing.

This entity’s form, its essence, it rivaled even Hellphet’s might. But to make things even more frightening for his enemies below, its appearance had stolen even Raphael’s very heart. He’d never seen this bat before. What had happened?

That figure was majestic.

“It evolved…?” He was truly confused, but it was real, so, real. He had seen something similar to this evolution back in the cave with Balphazar, however, the level of this specific creature had him intrigued and excited, even though it was also very frightening.

It had an air of unwavering authority that emanated outwards like a physical force, silencing even those eager to feast serpents as its armor, woven from the bronze scales of Lu Lingxue radiated a black shadow energy and crackled with a potent yellow lightning.

"Hm…? That yellow spear… so elegant…" Lu Jade was baffled.

In its right hand, the bat held a spear forged of pure golden lightning. It crackled with power in sync with a miniature yellow dragon that was coiled around the bat's left shoulder.

This dragon was no mere decoration; it emanated an aura of terrifying power. As if eager to prove its dominance over those serpents below, the dragon thrashed its head and released a deafening roar that shook the surrounding trees and sent a wave of fear coursing through the snakes.

"Is that a small dragon?"

Lu Jade’s sentence didn’t have to be completed because the monster replied with his booming and powerful tone. “Bat General Kong, reporting to Master. Tell us who we must slaughter today. Your wish, it is our command!" It bowed its head towards Raphael.

‘Oh, Bat General Kong. It has chosen its own name?’ Raphael fell deep in thought. ‘Does this mean it now has seniority over the others? It seems that way. Hmm… this is no time to be rambling, I’ll just go with the flow.’ He then pointed at Lu Pin.

"Huh, that bat iss wearing… Big sissster’s Rai Shen Long technique!” The Venom Tail Viper twin’s astonishment and dread felt wonderful, however, the reply that silenced those serpents didn't come from Lu Jade nor Raphael’s jaw, it was even scarier.

"Our enemies are the serpents before us. Obliterate!”

Those bats didn’t need to be told twice. They dove from the heavens like a rain of teeth, claws and shadows, ready to feast on the serpent gang below!

Chaos erupted once more!