Damien crossed his arms, weathering a physical blow from a beastkin of the buffalo race. He was pushed back by the force of the attack but managed to turn his uncontrolled spin into a kick, slamming his right foot into the rib cage of the Tigress who had come in behind the Buffalo's attack. Her fall created a crater a mile wide.

His six opponents surrounded him in a half-crescent formation, with three fighters arraigned at the front, two pseudo casters–assassins behind them, and a healer standing at the far back. The Spirit lords from the Torinian Kingdom were already powerful, but with the addition of their fully manifested Astral images, they were now formidable, their overall powers doubling. He respected them more for that quick, lifesaving decision.

His cloak – his half-manifested astral image – swayed gently despite the violent winds threatening to swat them down.

With the brief stalemate ended, they came in again. A Wolfman from the first line slashed his sword through the air, sending a crescent silver blue energy towards Damien, to which he swayed out of the way, swinging his spear as he came around....

[Assassin coming up on your right,] Gray warned.

..... Catching a familiar looking snake woman in the collarbone as she tried to sneak up on him. She hissed in painful annoyance, jumping back and quickly receiving healing from the healer.

"Why do you look familiar? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." Damien tapped his chin.

The woman glared in visible anger. "You do not even remember?"

Damien studied her features, hair as black as night with silver-slitted eyes. A black coat, almost similar to his, swayed widely as shadows danced around her like a tornado. Her twin daggers glinted silver in the already darkening sky.

"Nope."

[Damien, you killed her sister,] Gray piped up.

"Who?"

[Spirit Lady Elora.]

"Ohhhhh," Damien snapped his fingers in remembrance, bringing back his full focus on the woman. "Your sister was Elora Darkfang, right? Whoa! You two look very alike. Why do you look alike?"

[She and the late Elora were both sired from the same Mother. Torinian Vipers are sent out to fend for themselves as soon as they come of age. Elora must have come into the service of Solaris as soon as she left her clan's care.]

"My name is Elair Silja, heir to the seat of High Clan Silja, daughter of the Great Chieftess Tenere, Queen of the Kingdom of Torin. And to avenge my sister I will present your severed head as a Consolation prize to my Mother."

"Huh... I don't know what to say. I feel honored?"

[You did that on purpose.]

The woman came in again, twin daggers pointed at his throat. Damien jumped out of the way, idly blocking an attack from the wolfman, and then he jumped forward, gunning for the Deer healer standing behind them all. Again, he was blocked.

Like any wise person, Damien had—

[Wise person? It was I who cautioned you on eliminating the healer first.]

Damien ignored Gray. Anyway, as he was saying. Like any wise person, Damien had immediately recognized the threat the healer posed, or more likely, the stress. He had immediately moved towards her but was pushed back as the other six fought to defend her. Damien had tried multiple times to take out the healer, all to no avail. He was blocked every time.

[You would be on the back foot right now if it weren't for me,] Gray said.

"But not dead, though," Damien replied.

Gray murmured, speaking up a moment later. [If you say so, then let us make a bet?]

"What do you have in mind?" Damien smiled.

[If you fail to take out everyone here without my help, you will sing my praises for eternity.]

"What! No, that's unfair. How about a month?"

[Hmm, let me think about it. Okay fine, we have an agreement.]

Damien rolled his eyes. "What do I get when I win?"

Gray snorted in amusement. [My unending adoration?]

"I'll take it."

[Wait! That was a joke!]

Damien gently waved his mental forefinger, "No takebacks."

He then turned his attention back to his opponents. He channeled energy into his spear, shooting out a dense breath of destruction down towards the healer. The Tigress canceled his technique as she swiped her claws, and three silver lines appeared in thin air, clashing with his technique.

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Damien swayed as his vision suddenly doubled. He managed to block a dagger to his neck from Elair but took a sword slash to the rib. He hissed in pain as he jumped back.

"Gray," he called.

[Nuh uh. Remember, you have to do this alone.]

Damien grumbled, spreading his perception, he searched, pushing through a mental fog that had slowly been clouding his mind. He found his opponent a mile back, standing behind the Tigress. A Dream essence wielder.

The moment he set his eyes on the Fox, Damien immediately brought her up as his number one priority. The healer could continue to heal her teammates, but if he allowed the Dream wielder more freedom, it wouldn't take long before he would be incapacitated. He had already begun feeling something tempering with his senses.

Already aware of the target on her, the dream wielder became more cautious. She slowly moved towards the healer, sharing the protection the others granted.

Now becoming more serious, Damien moved in. He summoned tiny Starfalls down on them, exploding the tiny techniques prematurely before his opponents could get far out of range. Explosions dotted their bodies as they scattered. He moved in, clashing with the fox, buffalo, snake, and tigress as he was slowly pushed back. He delivered a kick to the arm of the Snake lady, taking a poisoned dagger to the knee in return. His body resisted the harmful intrusion but not without a violent reaction that left him open to a staggering punch from the buffalo that blasted him into the side of a mountain.

Damien stood up, staggering an instant later as vertigo, courtesy of the Dream wielder, hit him. His mind cleared a moment later, and his vision returned quick enough for him to dodge three clawed slashes that rained down on him.

Damien stood, surprised at how much he'd been pushed back. Realization hit him a moment later, "You're all Clan Chiefs." It wasn't a question.

He was already aware that to most of the Spirit lords on the planet, he was considered overpowered. That was the reason he hadn't reached the peak tier of Spirit lord after months of being stuck in the mid-tier, the longest he had ever stayed in a single tier. There wasn't enough challenge. Only a few people on the planet could truly push him, and most of them had already passed the time when a fight like this would have excited them. Now they all just sat on their thrones or wherever they were, content to just stay as a passive deterrent towards any threat. For the rest, well, Damien was standing in front of some of them.

Like the Kingdom's Great Chieftain, it took a lot to become qualified for the honorable seat. Aside from the fact that your power had to be unchallenged in the clan, there were other qualifications that Damien didn't know. The powers of the clan's chieftain were second only to the Great Chief. And now they were standing opposite him.

In response to his earlier statement, the Chiefs didn't respond, wary of any trick, but their body language and subtle nod was answer enough. Damien sighed; he'd have to take this very seriously.

Before he began, he sent multiple mental commands to the Alliance commanders, a command which was immediately heeded as the Alliance soldiers soon began their retreat, heading back into the portals. The retreat wasn't challenged as even their enemies were also in the process of retreating.

The Clan chiefs immediately retreated farther away as they sensed something about to happen.

Damien didn't give them time to wonder.

The world howled as his Astral Image was manifested, rising up to cover the sky in grey. Power exploded out of him as his power skyrocketed, doubling In an instant. His aura which had been struggling to hold back theirs before, was now pushing them back, threatening complete suppression.

He didn't give them time to recover; spatially stepping in, he delivered a full powered punch to the wolf, audibly snapping his neck. Damien didn't wait to see the results, moving on to the next opponent. He stepped closer to the Buffalo, stabbing his spear through armor and deep into the beast's chest. His energy lashed out, snapping like a whip at the Tigress who had been coming behind. Damien staggered as a mental hammer slammed into him, but the effect was lessened enough that it didn't do more than stagger him. He stretched his hands, catching the spear that flew into his hands and, in one smooth turn, sent a crescent-cutting energy toward a random position a few miles away from him. Shocked that he had easily discovered her position, the fox was a moment too late to avoid the attack. The mental fog that had been clouding her existence from his mind cleared away as she came into full view, blood gushing out of an armless shoulder. Before the healer could save her, Damien whipped his spear, the blade digging with an audible squelch into the fox's throat. And with a mental trigger, the fox's head separated from her body as a dense wave of energy released from the spear.

Damien staggered back as he received a flaming punch to the temple. He stopped midway, catching the follow-up strike, and in one violent twist, tore out the arm of the Buffalo. His fist came in with full strength toward the thick throat of the Buffalo but he was forced to let go as a sonic wave hit him. His bones rattled painfully and blood dripped from both his ears and eyes as he withstood the attack. An average Spirit lord would have had their entire bones shattered from that attack.

He grunted as two daggers slammed into his chest, doing little physical damage but he still forcefully removed them as poison began spewing into him. He caught the Snake lady as she came in, twisting her arms, he turned her toward an incoming attack from the tigress, using her body as a shield. Elair grunted painfully as three deep gashes opened up from her shoulder down to her pelvic area. Not finished, Damien balanced his right leg on her spinal cord, forcefully pulling, and with the sound of tearing meat and gushing of liquid he tore out both her arms, turning with a single step he threw both arms, the sharp bones lodging with a thud into both the forehead and chest of the oncoming Buffalo. Damien followed up, catching his spear and slashing. Another head flew.

Drenched in blood and gore, he calmly turned toward the remaining four opponents, and for the first time, he saw true fright there. It was one thing to proclaim your acceptance of death, but to see it being carried out violently before you, with the knowledge that your turn could come in the next instant, it was things like this that made powerful figures cower.

The four remaining opponents–two if he excluded the armless snake woman and the noncombatant healer who was already healing her arms. That would take some time.

The wolf that he'd punched was back now, and his hands kept unconsciously rubbing his neck. Damien guessed the healer had saved him a moment from death.

"Who's—"

Damien dodged to the side as a flurry of daggers came out of nowhere. He managed to avoid most of them, but some lodged painfully in his arms.

He pulled them out, his senses scanning. He wouldn't have gotten them, but for the momentary flicker of energy he sensed. He hadn't encountered them before, but he knew of them nonetheless.

Someone had put a contract on his head.

The Shadow Hall had come to collect.