The two celestial creatures clashed against each other, resulting in an outward wave of power pushing everything around them away. Immediately, a difference in strength could be observed as the feline leveraged its superior strength to knock its opponent aside.
Whoosh!
Black flames manifested on its front paws and it clawed at the side of the herbivore, leaving deep gashes that continued to burn with the black flames. Its body twisted with graceful flexibility as its tail caught fire, turning into a fiery whip that smacked the face of the herbivore, inflicting bad burns onto its eyes to disorient it.
The properties of the celestial beast seemed to revolve around darkness and fire. Earlier, Leon had only sensed darkness from it, but now he could pick up other hints of elements.
'Perhaps only its main element shows when it is not engaging in anything too exciting. Or perhaps my senses are not yet sharp enough to pick up on these things.' Leon thought to himself as he continued to watch the unfolding battle.
Seeing that the strongest of their group was being beaten up two more of the herbivores left their companions that were trying to escape to come and help, making the fight even more complicated.
Crack!
A resounding crack rang out as cracks began to spread across the dark light barrier that had been raised by the feline. Its eyes narrowed as it observed this, but it still did not look pressured, almost as if its victory had already been assured.
Eventually, the barrier shattered into fragments of light, but instead of dissipating, the fragments exploded, engulfing the cave in a wave of black flames! Leon had to move back quickly to avoid getting hit by the flames. He could feel the intense and ravaging heat that they gave off and was not interested in finding out first hand how hot they were.
When the flames died down, the bodies of the six herbivores and the lone feline were revealed. The three that were closest to the barrier when it shattered all laid lifeless on the ground while those that had been fighting the feline were in a better condition. However, the states of their bodies were bad. They were covered in severe burns and could hardly move.
"Prr..." The feline's mouth curved in a mocking manner as it stalked forward, ready to end its prey. With a few short movements, all the remaining herbivores were dead.
'Hmm, it's pretty strong, but I should be able to take it. The dark light barrier that it made should have some kind of limit. Maybe it can't summon it again so quickly after being shattered.' Leon made some assumptions but he did not act rashly. Instead, he broke off the first joint of his left index finger and tossed the bone to the ground.
With a silent crunch, the bone rapidly grew until another version of Leon had appeared on the ground. The feline celestial beast also took notice of this and adopted a cautious posture. In all the years it had spent on this island, not once had it seen this individual pop up.
"Grr..." Hostility leaked from the eyes and demeanor of the feline as it studied Leon's clone. It could clearly tell that Leon held no goodwill toward it and was ready to defend itself. Because it was facing Leon's clone and not his true body that could bring his full power to bear, the threat level it perceived was very low, only slightly higher than that of the strongest of the group it had just dealt with.
Without wasting time, it pounced on Leon's clone. This time, no barrier was raised, which made Leon suspect that his thoughts were correct. It could not raise another barrier so quickly after the initial one had been destroyed.
The clone raised up his right hand and transformed it into a bone sword with purple flames dancing on it. A pale purple light flashed from his eyes, applying a debuff to the incoming feline.
In the next second they clashed.
Leon's arm-blade swung an arc, drawing a dark purple light in its path while the feline creature swiped down with its claw, carrying a violent black flame with it.
BOOM!
An explosive shockwave sent the walls of the cave shaking and trembling but none of them backed down.
Hiss!
The feline creature hissed and swung its burning tail, forcing Leon back. He stretched out his hand and several bone spears formed in front of him, laced with a purple flame before shooting forward one by one, each one homing on the cat.
The celestial beast displayed its astounding flexibility as it dodged the first few bone spears, but its left hind leg was stabbed through by the third spike and its torso by the fourth.
Bang!
In the next moment, the spears exploded with a black fire that blinded even Leon for a moment. When the light dissipated, the pitiful state of the feline creature was revealed. Its flesh was writhing as it tried to heal by absorbing the rich ambient energy in the atmosphere, but the lingering purple flames burnt at anything it could get to, preventing its regenerative abilities from doing anything meaningful but ensuring excruciating pain.
Crack!
Just as Leon took a step forward, a cracking sound rang out. He looked down and found bright lines that leaved Divine Power lining his bones and sighed. He had used up all the energy in the clone for the fight and it had reached its breaking point.
"Oh well, I was able to test out how long it could last at least." He shrugged and allowed the clone to shatter before revealing his real body. He strode forward and sliced off the feline's head, ending its weak struggles.
Whoosh.
The Divine power that circulated around the cave slowly calmed down as no one roused it. The same went for the power within Leon's core. As he no longer exerted himself, his energy calmed down and his excitement slowly dwindled.
"I need to find a stronger foe. This was not as satisfying as I wanted." He murmured to himself before taking stock of everything in the cave. Seven bodies, meaning seven Divine Fragments. This was a great haul for his first time hunting celestial beasts!
He stretched his hand out and a black vortex appeared underneath the bodies, swallowing them into its abyssal depths. That was an alternate dimension where he could store things. All Gods had such and it was not a rare thing.
Shhh.
Just then, a rustle came from outside the cave. Leon turned around to see a strange sight. The entrance of the cave was covered in bushes earlier, but now, all those bushes glowed with a soft and gentle light that seemed to nourish them.
With his eyes narrowed, Leon watched on as a small creature poked its head out of the bushes. It looked like a fawn, but with two tiny bumps on its head. Those bumps glowed with soft white light and seemed to be the cause of the strange phenomenon that Leon bore witness to.
Without needing another moment to think about it, Leon could tell that this creature was special, even among celestial beasts. But unfortunately, his knowledge was lacking and he had no idea what it was.
'I should probably ask Michael for help on that when I return.' Leon thought to himself as he watched the creature make its way out of the bushes. Indeed, it was like a fawn. It looked just like one, but Leon knew not to take such sights by face value. Everything was dangerous and strange in the Celestial Realm.
Leon quickly hid his presence and left the site of the battle, latching onto a corner of the ceiling of the cave as he watched the fawn wander into the cave while sniffing around.
Despite looking so harmless and vulnerable, Leon could feel the power that was contained within that small body. It was surprisingly much more than that of the feline he had killed. What surprised him even more was that it even surpassed his own! That meant it had reached a stage of development that was only possible after absorbing enough Divine Fragments!
With much more vigilance, Leon watched the fawn-like creature reach the center of the cave. It sniffed at the air before looking down to where the bodies of the creatures were. It specifically looked to where the bodies of the herbivores previously laid before approaching one of them and drawing a line in the burnt earth with its hoof.
Bzzz...
In the next moment, a portal opened and a Divine Fragment was spat out of the portal!
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