CLANG! CLANG! BANG! BANG! ROAR!
Sounds of clashing metal, gunfire, and beastly roars echoed simultaneously. This battle wasn’t simple or easy; the enemies were pure demons with powerful bloodlines. Their soul techniques were terrifying against any opponent, as there were barely any defenses against soul attacks, making them something mystical and potent that inflicted damage beyond the physical.
In the initial clash, neither side died or gained an advantage. The demons smirked sinisterly, and their soul power surged in full force, ready to begin killing. But their smile lasted very little.
To their misfortune, besides Kaiyka and Coltia, who possessed divine souls, everyone in the array had their souls nurtured by the whale involuntarily. The whale sent the message, and the adaptation was immediate.
Rehvka, to the east, served as a shield against soul techniques. Kaiyka, in the west, almost laughed at the triviality of the attacks, and Corin didn’t even need to move to assist. Ruri had an equally sarcastic look to the north, and to the south, Runula led the beasts, with Coltia letting her take the lead in battle.
The souls of everyone in the array were much more powerful than those of the specialized demons; a divine soul nurturing them was abnormal and unbelievable. The demons attacked and realized that nothing was effective. Within a few minutes of confrontation, those with horns began to die miserably.
At that moment, the high-level demons used their greatest weapon. They withdrew a small, pointed, gray object that began pulsating with soul power. It was precisely their horn, their biggest card to play.
The whale’s eyes gleamed at this moment. Calirer had a subtle bloodline from the Soul Eaters, which had been enhanced using the blood of another type of demon. Absorbing the bloodline of the demons present would greatly benefit her, but those horns... they seemed like an even greater treasure.
’You can use the runic seals, no need to hide them. But don’t destroy the horns, kill them quickly,’ the whale’s orders echoed through the array.
In Kaiyka’s group, only Corin was in the array, but he relayed the message mentally. Everyone was hiding as much as they could because, without immediate victory, their information would leak, and the enemies would devise countermeasures. Bringing down the demons without using the runic seals would mean destroying the horns of many of them, a waste of resources the whale wouldn’t tolerate.
Everyone drew their weapons. In the south, where the beasts were, Runula reverted to human form. She nodded, and a saber materialized in her hands. As a half-wyvern, half-demon, she had learned from Coltia not to fully focus on the bestial side and began fighting in human form, using her demonic blood. It was more efficient to fight this way.
With the whale nearby providing runic seals, using weapons was an obvious path, and Runula gained unique combat potential among the beasts. But now, her demonic potential would also be amplified; after all, Runula also had Soul Eaters’ blood, although it was so subtle that it had never been relevant before. She couldn’t even use their techniques because it was so weak.
After that, the fight took less than two minutes to end. All enemies died, and the whale acted swiftly, gathering their bodies so that the bloodline wouldn’t weaken too much.
No more reinforcements were sent by the enemies; the leaders received the information that the adversaries drew weapons, and then everything ended. Sending more would be a waste, and they would replan things.
The whale collected and analyzed all the horns; there were dozens of them. After confirming that the enemies had given up for today, he gathered them all.
They were hundreds of demons at different levels. The whale removed the purest bloodline runes from them and handed them to Calirer and Runula to absorb. The power of the bloodline wasn’t exactly the blood, but the runes within it. The two would merge their bloodline runes with theirs. Hence each demon only gave a little.
The two were excited; Runula was already having extreme difficulty in getting stronger, now that she was focusing more on her demonic side, this came at a good time.
The whale distributed the IQ to the young members of the group and focused on using the horns. That was something biological, nurtured by the bloodline and spiritual power of the demons. Alm and Bruno gathered everything into the inventory and expelled the bloodline part, as they intended to use chaotic refinement, and the bloodline would be lost anyway when the material was rebuilt.
The density of the bloodline runes in the horns was much lower than in their bodies, not worth giving to the two. The power of the horns decreased almost by half with this, but the gains could still be immense.
They analyzed the horns, the biological material created by the race, which could indefinitely absorb soul power. With their divine souls, they could easily maintain this power by enhancing the material and adding soul power.
The common refinement of the Forge God’s Dao was focused only on metals and ores. They managed to use the chaotic refinement they created in wood to make Liumi’s spear, but didn’t give it much importance at the time. Now, they realized the new potential of this method.
All the horns were calmly refined; they lost some at the beginning, but once they learned how to do it, nothing more was lost. Dozens merged, and a single horn emerged pulsating with incomparable spiritual power.
’Hm... can we put a runic seal on it?’ Bruno pondered, while Alm, without waiting, opened the system options.
They chose the sharpening seal and imagined the terrifying level of attack that this horn would have combined with it. It took a few minutes...
’Success...’ Bruno murmured, stunned. ’God... we can indefinitely refine the horns into one. How many demons of this race exist? What is the maximum level of horn we can create? And we can still put a runic seal on it.’
They immediately called Calirer and Runula, handing over the horn. It was as heavy as their Vorion saber due to the refinement, and promised to become heavier over time.
Calirer was able to use it easily. Runula, however, found it impossible. Her original bloodline was too weak, and the dragon blood was too oppressive, suppressing her demonic abilities. Even after refining and improving, it was still far from her being able to handle the horn. But this could change in the future.
The day arrived, and everyone prepared and trained together for the next challenge. It was early morning when Kisala and Ambry interrupted their training with Ruri, their eyes widening.
"What happened?" Ruri asked, concerned.
"My clan... I received an urgent summons. Ordering me to leave the sect and return to the clan," Kisala spoke in surprise, and Ambry confirmed she received the same with a nod.
They were in the sect, and the clan would never send such an urgent call unless it was a matter of survival. This was very serious for the clan, which had never been known to have been used before. What danger could have arisen? It was impossible for something like this to happen suddenly... it was clear they wanted to remove them and perhaps obtain information from them.
Ruri huffed, furious. It was obvious what was happening, but she didn’t have the heart to say it. The two clenched their fists and lowered their gazes, ashamed. Their clans, whom they had adored just months ago and would have done anything for...
"The traitors of the sect managed to make contact..." Ambry murmured with trembling eyes. "Our clans were bought by the enemy and agreed to sell us without hesitation. How could they accept something like this?"
Kisala sighed coldly, also shaken. "For so many demons, and even those powerful ones, to attack us so openly, the influence from outside the planet is unimaginable..."
This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.
The two trembled when an emotionless voice sounded behind them. "The present and the past are immutable. If you feel shame about this, be greater and change things from here on out. Thus, in the future, everything will be different."
The whale stopped in front of them, having heard everything earlier. He spoke gently. "This is just a reflection of the clans’ competition for resources. You were proof of that, taught that one was the natural enemy of the other, and you thought you were bigger and better just because you were a little different; that’s why you wanted to kill each other whenever you could. Why do you think other members of your clans would care about me or mine? For them, everyone can be used in the name of their clan."
The two took a deep breath and understood the harsh reality of the world they had lived in until that day. They already grasped that they had been used by their clans until recently. Both looked at each other, their gazes met, and there was no longer any anger or discord between them.
On the contrary, they felt like they could understand exactly what the other was thinking with just a look. They were very similar and had lived almost identical experiences, so they knew each other well; it took only Ruri forcing them to unite for a pure friendship to quickly blossom.
"If you still love your clans, go, or you will be accused of traitors. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to; you can just return bureaucratically, answer the call, and be back in the blink of an eye. There’s no emergency, and they won’t have grounds to accuse you of anything or hold you there."
The whale spoke calmly, and their eyes lit up. They would never leave without his permission, but they also couldn’t ignore the summons. They were in a difficult situation, but he didn’t suspect they would betray him and sent them away. Their eyes became moist, but the whale just huffed.
"Before, you pretended to be strong and adult, but now you behave like children who cry at any moment. Go quickly! If all goes well, you’ll be able to return by early evening. Or do you want to run away from the fight?"
"Thank you, sir, we’ll go now!" they both responded in unison, turning and smiling at Ruri.
The whale simply floated back to the mountain without a second glance. They had to make final preparations, but... a dark gleam passed through his eyes.
The two bid farewell to Ruri and ran as fast as they could to inform the sect that they would briefly leave due to the urgent summons. They arrived at their clans shortly after noon. Following the whale’s advice, they presented themselves due to the urgent summons with the intention of leaving shortly after.
Time passed, and night fell.
A few hours after nightfall, they returned quietly and approached the sect, but they weren’t alone. Each brought a member with an ancient aura from their clan.
Before entering the sect, they stopped at a hidden spot in the nearby forest and waited in silence. It didn’t take long for several demonic shadows, along with a scarlet aura, to appear around both groups at the same time.
"Did you succeed?" a hoarse voice sounded, addressing Kisala and her companion.
"Yes, everything she knew is here." The tall, lean male figure replied, handing over a Jade Slip.
On Ambry’s side, the scene was almost identical, until the hoarse voice asked: "Was everything done correctly?"
The small Fey next to Ambry calmly replied, "Yes, I personally placed the seal on her bloodline; she will carry out the plans. It will be perfect, and even a clan member won’t be able to uncover it."