A year after the Betrhotal of Damian.
In the Beast Expanse, west of Violet Sky City, the place was named by the inhabitants of the City. Below the mountains, Damian had seen in the distance when he arrived at the rift where he and Cedric found the Holy Flame.
A battle of unprecedented proportions was taking place. A twenty-meter-tall boar, with fur vibrant with the colors of a violent flame, fire orbs stood above its horns, its eyes of a pure crimson shade. The boar stood before a thrifty-five-meter-tall stag, its fur as dark as a moonless night. The stag had pristine white moons as eyes. Its massive antlers were ten meters high, with a blue and golden shade. This was the demon beast that Damian saw in his vision so many months ago.
The boar had broken through to the Nascent Soul realm a few days ago and decided it could hunt the stag. The stag at the moment was the strongest Demon Beast in the outer region of the Beast Expanse.
The boar, blinded by the confidence of its newfound power, wanted to indulge in the best meal available, and that was the stag before him.
The stag was calm at the sight of the boar. Something inside him told him this would happen when he knew that another Demon Beast had broken through. Nascent Soul Demon beast had acquired a sliver of consciousness. It could not truly be considered a complete consciousness, but they were more self-aware and could process and rationalize simple thoughts. This, of course, elevated the level of difficulty of dealing with such Demon Beasts.
The boar circled the Stag, looking for an opening. Once it stood looking at the rear of the stag, the boar inhaled deeply and exhaled a great fireball. The heat of the fireball burned everything in its surrounding, it was more akin to a miniature sun.
The stag kicked the dirt with its back legs and the ground shook as a massive waterfall raised from the ground. The fireball collided with the waterfall, creating a thick massive hole in it, but the waterfall stitched the hole almost as fast as it had been made.
The stag turned and its antlers glowed. The massive waterfall advanced toward the boar with an unstoppable rhythm. The path of the waterfall remained flooded even after it passed through.
The Boar once again inhaled, except this time it inhaled like never before. The fireball this time was several times bigger. The impact of the massive attacks created an explosion of steam, obliterating everything within a one-hundred-kilometer radius. Hundreds of Demon Beasts got caught in the blast and died. Several others ran away from the conflict as fast and as far away as possible. The view in the area of the collision was obscured by a thick fog made of steam.
Inside the fog, the boar stood with several levels of wounds on its once fiery red fur. Now it was a bloodied fur. The Stag, on the other hand, was covered in a golden light that had some cracks on it. This light had shielded it from damage.
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There was one difference in the stag. Its head hung a little low, exposing the true beauty of its antlers. In the center of its antlers was a mid-size orb of blue and gold orbited pulsing. Each time the orb pulsed, it grew. The stag had taken the opportunity to charge its next attack while the boar was busy protecting itself.
The boar had felt the actions of the stag but was unable to do anything while protecting himself from the explosion. Nascent Soul Demon Beast, as well as humans, developed a divine sense when reaching this realm. This ability allowed them to feel anything and everything within its radius of effect. This divine sense had a tapestry of uses, limited only to the strength, reach, and imagination of its user.
The boar had used a good chunk of its Qi in the battle. If it took head-on the attack of the stag, it knew its Qi reserve would hit a critical level. Realization struck it. The stag was stronger than it. It had been too blinded by the new strength that thought itself invincible.
The boar turned to run. The boar this time exhaled and with it its body shrunk, its chubby body thinned. It ran away from the stag. The stag released the orb and a blue and golden light shot from it. The boar had already run several miles by the time the beam reached it. A fiery sphere protected its body. The beam pierced through it, leaving a gory gouge in its back.
The stag had given it all on that attack. It decided not to chase after the boar. To it, it was not worth the risk. They would have to fight it out to the death. Even then, the winner would end up heavily injured.
For the stag, the reward was not worth the risk. So it landed on its belly and started to recover its energy.
The boar lay on its side, its vitality leaving it, the remains of the power of the stag continued to eat away its Qi and flesh. It had to use all its divine sense to halt the progression of the eroding effect of the Stag attack. It would take months, if not years, to recover. The boar stood, using all its might and determination. It had to get away from the stag in case it choose to chase it.
Unbeknownst to the boar, the direction it was going was Violet Sky City. Thousands of demon beasts ran away from the boar, fearful of the might of the predator.
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The fight had been of such a massive scale that it had been felt even in the Violet Sky City. massive quakes in succession were enough to alert its inhabitants.
In the City Hall, an emergency meeting was taking place. All the important figures of the four great clans were seated on one side of the wall, where a banner representing each clan hung, as well as several designated chairs.
On the east side of the room, the banner of the Li Clan was of a deep blue color, a white star encased in a white circle was depicted in the banner. The banner of the Markov clan hung on the south side of the room. It was a yellow color, and inside of it, a red phoenix was depicted. The Lambert clan banner was on the west side of the room. It was of a verdant color with embroidery of a golden tree. The last banner hanging on the north side of the room was deep violet. This last banner had embroidery of a white cloud, this was the banner of the Violet Sky Clan.
A heavy atmosphere hung in the room. All of them could feel the quakes. They knew they were caused by something way above their league. They all feared whatever happened deep in the Beast Expanse would affect their city.
Some were inclined to send some recognizance squads to see what was happening, but several others were adamant about that idea. As they had stated, battles between powerful Demon Beasts displaced weaker ones, causing stampedes of the Demon Beasts trying either to not get devoured by the Beast forced to migrate or be stomped to death. More often than not, such occurrences could last days, if not weeks. In the end, more than one human settlement could be overrun by the wave of beasts.
Thus, creating the Demon Beast waves.