The very moment the two black-robed men started to summon their Fighting Aura, the large Bloodsheed Bat roared with anger. Narrowing its small red eyes, the beast made a large movement with its long upper limbs. All the fluffy black cubs that were looking curiously at the newcomers were pushed towards the back of the cave.
'Good, she's securing the cubs...' though Sif, looking at the scene with a satisfied expression. He had been worrying about the safety of the black cubs. They were way less more robust than his own Luna. 'I need at least three to form a dantian... and maybe I can bring one away to sell it for some change. '
Thankfully, he could see that the mother bat seemed to have some very strong maternal instinct. The first thing that she did was to secure the puppies.
Naturally, the two fighters didn't stand to wait for the creature to handle its business before attacking. While the bat was still pushing the cubs behind its body, Juil had already arrived in the range of attack.
His muscles bulged, surrounded by a red glow. The blood on his injured hand had long stopped flowing. This was one of the main effects of the Life Aura used by Fighters. His black staff moved through the air animated by the full power of his strong body, trying to smash the large bat directly on the top of the head.
Roaring, the Bloodshed bat opened his fangs and managed to block the blow. Its sharp teeth firmly closed around the extremity of the black staff. The blow received didn't seem to hurt at all the bronze ranked beast that then used its upper claws against the attacker.
The latter didn't seem that scared that his weapon was now stuck inside the mouth of the bat. He gave a look at the incoming blow, shivered slightly and immediately jumped away. Remembering how strong that white puppy was, he didn't want to try to receive a blow from a mature bat.
Even as he moved away, his hands remained around the black staff. The part held between the maws of the beast remained in its place, but the rest came away with Juil. A thin metal cable appeared to connect the part of the object that stayed inside the beast's mouth to the rest of the weapon.
This was a composite staff! Its main advantage was the ability to break up in multiple pieces.
A dangerous light shined inside Juil's eyes as he grabbed the base of the staff and rotated it with force twice. "Mph, die stupid beast" a feeble metallic clicking sound echoed at the end of the second rotation. The thin metal cable that connected the various parts of the staff tensed up. Immediately after that, the section that was still blocked inside the bat's mouth, splintered with great violence. The outer layer of that part of the staff splintered into five spikes that formed a sort of crown around the inner part of the section. The mouth of the bat was gravely injured, making the creature scream in pain.
'Not bad' praised Sif, looking at the three section staff. Secret mechanisms? What a wonderful thing! 'Sadly he doesn't know how to use it, or this fight would be already over...' The youth shook his head. During the years he had become known as a hex master. Witnessing such a beautiful secret mechanism being employed without first filling it with poison made his heart ache a bit.
'Too bad that he used it only to make the bat madder...'
In fact, the large bat was going mad. It focused on the retreating Juil, using his sharp claws to try and tear him apart from the top to the bottom.
It was in this moment that Tong appeared on the right of the beast. His black knife technique was way simpler than Juil's, but ten times more brutal. With a single attack, he managed to open up a large wound on the side of the beast. Black blood started to flow in masses and the already mad animal lost complete control.
'That knife... it should be an unranked treasure... otherwise it wouldn't be able to harm the Bloodshed Bat that easily...' The young man sitting outside the battleground was starting to think that maybe Tong was right. He needed to intervene. 'No, it's better to wait a bit... she still didn't use the thing yet...'
The two men, on their side, were incredibly satisfied with how the fight was going on. Although they had known each other for years, they were only now completely showing their hands. Tong was pretty surprised seeing the mechanism employed by his companion and at the same time, Juil was completely delighted by the strength shown by his friend.
"Hahaha, brother Tong... and I always thought that it was weird that an experienced mercenary like you only used that old looking knife. It looks like you really had a reason after all!" laughed out Juil. There was no greed in his voice. He was truly happy that his friend had such a powerful weapon.
A smile appeared on the other man's face. "This Dreadful Blade was something I gained in the old days... it helped me in various dangerous situations and now it will help us get filthy rich!" All those cubs! He could buy enough resources to finally make the step to the Skin Tempering Stage.
"If it wasn't for the distraction that you provided, brother Juil, I wouldn't have been able to move that close!" he complimented his companion.
Then he gave a look to the young man next to a white puppy that was silently looking at them from the distance. 'That young punk hasn't helped at all! It stood there looking at us with that smug express-' suddenly a flash of enlightenment passed through the old warrior's mind.
His smile disappeared rapidly and he started to move laterally, placing himself in a way to have both the large bat and Sif in front of him.
'Oh, knife guy seems to have noticed... he's definitely more experienced than the other idiot' noted Sif on the distance. He looked at the moving old man in black, smiled and gave him a thumbs up.
'So he really can see in the darkness... all that charade before... what was the point of all of that?' Tong felt a really bad premonition coming from that.
Juin, instead, didn't notice anything at all. He was already back fighting against the giant bat. "Who would have ever thought that I would be enough to hold up a bronze ranked beast? Do you see this, Tong?" He danced around the beast, with part of his staff still stuck inside its mouth, hitting it repetitively with the upper section while holding into the middle one.
The furious creature was descending more and more in a berserker rage. Seeing that it couldn't get to the man no matter how hard it tried, the Bloodshed Bat roared with rage and suddenly stopped on its place. It clawed at the ground with incredible violence and its sharp talons penetrated on the hard rock and pinned its whole body to the ground. A tremor ran across its body as it threw back its head. Just for a moment, the eyes of the creature seemed to shine with a profound dark glow.
'Oh, here it is' Sif's moved his attention on the large bat. Tong and Juil had darted to the sides, trying to avoid what it was going to expel, but the creature didn't spit out anything. On the contrary. It began to absorb.
Suddenly, the two middle-aged men felt dizzy. After a few breaths, Juil couldn't even stand on his feet anymore and collapsed on the ground with a shocked look in his eyes. He couldn't even summon the power to open his mouth to scream.
"What is happening?" Tong was terrorized. He could feel himself losing his ability to control his body. He was stronger than Juil and could maintain his footing even after several breaths passed.
"She's eating your soul." an indifferent voice echoed in the dark. "It's a pretty impressive mutation. It's a shame that she cannot handle the backlash. Look at her: she has already lost her ability to think. She can use this power only once before collapsing..."
Tong's head moved with great effort towards the location of the thin youth. The young man was still there, sitting on a large boulder. A small white cub was stretched at his feet.
"Although it's pretty rare for a beast to develop such an ability, it's not unheard off. Plus, it's not that strong either. It works on you because your souls are pathetically weak. A summoner wouldn't be affected at all and could also use his soul techniques to shelter other people from the attack.." continued calmly the youth, resting his face on the palm of his hand.
" A summoner can break it? Little brother Sif, help us! I swore on the Path of Honor. If I don't keep my promise my own cultivation will hold me responsible!" asked urgently the middle-aged man.
A sad laugh echoed in the cave. "I begged too at first. I was young and lost. " Tong could see a trace of sadness on the youth's eyes.
He was confused. "I don't understand, I just want-"
"I too didn't understand why would you want to kill me. I had nothing on me." the young man in violet shook his head.
Tong felt his blood run cold. He knew. The young man understood that they tried to lure him here to rob and kill him. Feeling death looming ahead, Tong's voice became even more humble and servile. "Young Master Sif, please. I was wrong. I swear on my cultivation that I wil-"
Sif didn't let him continue. He spoke with a soft and placid voice, almost as if he was talking to himself. "I was still thinking as if I was home. Going around to explore the strange place I woke up in. I didn't even felt in danger when I lost my way. Who's scared of some tunnel, right? What a fool I was. This place isn't at all like home. The rules here are different."
"I'm willing to become your servant! I will dao-swear! I promise" exclaimed suddenly the man holding a dark blade on his hands. He then fell to his knees, with a heavy breath.
"No matter the words I said, no matter the promises I made, you broke my bones and pushed me down the hole. You even laughed while I fell in this very cave." the youth passed a hand through his short black hair.
"Young Master Sif, we were a bit forceful but that is all in the past, please! I'm willing to become your servant! I'm a rank 3 fighter! Young master Sif-"
The young man in violet sighed softly, then stood up. Tong's heart filled with hope. Maybe he had a chance after all. Even if he had to truly become this boy's servant it was worth it to continue living!
However, the young man next world left the old mercenary confused. "Sif died long ago brother Tong. It is a good thing that he died too, he wasn't ready for this world. I'm not mad with you brother Tong. I have to thank you. If you didn't kill Sif that year, I would have died following Leaf and his party of retards in some stupid adventure... "
'What is he talking about? Died long ago? Leaf? what is he trying to say?' Tong confusion became even greater a second later.
Smiling, the young man slightly bowed to the kneeling man. "So, I'm here to thank you."
"Master Sif, I don't-"
The youth smiled. "I'm truly in need of some backing power and a fighter would really be appreciated... however there is something that everyone knows about me: I always keep my promises. No matter how. I always keep them."
He sighed. His eyes moved across the darkness, while an invisible ripple helped him sense things around him.
"That year, when I lied in the darkness, with sharp teeth tearing through my flesh and consuming my soul... between the screams and cries for help, I swore that I would find a way to make you people experience the same thing."
Tong's eyes widened. Was this guy crazy? What darkness? What sharp teeth was he talking about? "Master Si-"
A cold voice cut him down. "Please. Call me Khitava."