Thomas had threw his body to the ground as he landed between the unharmed branches of other trees. He immediately concentrated and tried to mobilize his demonic energy to fight back when he felt the his heart burning.
The demon pearl deep inside his body shook as the human heart next to it light up in a bloody light.
A familiar sensation took over Thomas who felt his Demon Transformation activating whiteout his consent
"Hiyaaa!" A sharp shouting noise pierced through the night sky. The shadows were taken by surprise, but not as much to lose their calm. For some reason they even seemed like this was something already expected. But following the scream, they saw an even more bizarre scene.
Thomas dashed like a devil in human skin. Horns pieced the skin at the top of his head, gushing out with a lot of blood, near the end of his spine extended a long tail yet he didn't look all that demonic. He now carried along a very bright and holy air coupled with the viciousness capable of devouring a person.
Thomas leaped over the shadows surrounding him, seeking the another shadow hiding far in the back. His body surrounded by an orange and red radiance.
His speed was fast like lightning and in a flash, he was already near the shadows with the bows. He extended his hand to grab the old man and with an old rusted spear that was pulled out of nowhere made a quick and clean cut as a bluish claw fell onto the ground.
The leader of the shadow turned serious, raising a hand and struck out. A stream of golden mist clashed against the orange/red aura.
Bang!
The boy's body got blown backwards, and thrown into a lake. However, Thomas seemed like he was totally fine. Thomas turned around and made a grabbing motion, a dozen hands popped up and grabbed all the shadows and sent a similar attack towards two shadows who managed to escape.
Those two shadows exchanged glances and the first one transmitted his voice to the others. "It's just like we're told. The target has lost his mind, there is no need to hold back."
Hearing the voice, all the shadows burst with a evil pressure. The Titan God's Hands all broke from the impact.
When the dust settled down, the shadows were revealed to light. All of which were revealed to be of lion species. Some were black, others blue but at that instant they all showered in golden radiance.
"RAAAAAAAA!" The bodies of the lions were compressed and bended into a humanoid force and in a second they weren't beasts anymore, only their bestial lion heads remained as golden grains integrated into their body and energy.
The other two shadows also moved, one of them moved to the back, blocking Thomas way out as the leader waved.
One of the shadow picked up the bow and aimed at the boy as he wanted quickly deal with Thomas. But as soon the arrow left the string, a slim hand covered in sun patterns grabbed the arrow midair then with his left hand.
"No, I can't kill." For a instant, light returned to his pupils as he was about to execute the beast in front of him then changed his target.
He buried his hand in Lion-man's leg instead, fiery energy gushed out of his fingertips which burned the leg from the inside out.
It might be because he was also shocked for the target going insane, but none of the shadows here expected the enemy to be hard to kill.
"Attack!" Shouted the Shadow Leader and immediately seven chained arrows pierced through legs and arms of Thomas then tied the chain on the ground.
"Roar!" With his movements blocked, Thomas roared in fury as a energy hand emerged from the ground and threw the rusty spear at another shadow's heart.
The leader of the shadows and the other one still hidden behind a cloaked closed their distance to Thomas
"Ahhhhhhh!" A energy wave shot out at all directions, delaying the enemies for a short moment.
The shadow leader and the other hidden shadow blocked the wave with bare hands, yet it's power still shredded away the cloaks revealing the faces of the two.
One was a tall man with a black lion head and the leader which was the strongest of the entire ground had a lizard head and humanoid body covered in scales.
As the Shadow Leader made his move, a golden liquid metal about two meters long resembling a giant sword wave appeared. As a result, even air in the surroundings ignited as proof of the sword's immense power.
"Krion, hold him down while I attack!"
Black mist scattered across the forest as two hands pressed down on Thomas, who would have no escape.
"Die!"
Pa!
Thomas took a hit.
Bang!
The boy's ears picked up the sound of breaking glass followed by the sensation of bones breaking and his body drowning in a pit of lava. A boiling hot sensation went along his throat and spurted out mouthfuls upon mouthfuls of blood.
For a instant, his senses came back and upon looking the Lizard-headed man, he realized this wasn't just a peak 6-stars beast but a powerful 7-stars beast that could even rival a 2-stars Adept Master just like the other Lion-headed man should have just broken through to 7-stars.
As for the other shadows, he instantly recognized they were from both Twilight Lion Tribe and Water Lion Tribe, including the weaker of the two 7-stars beast.
It was unknown how he could still think about all of this while feeling the pain.
This was Thomas last though before everything went dark.
Some time later, Thomas did recover his consciousness after this sudden blackout.
But, upon further inspecting himself, he found out not only did the presence of demonic energy inside his body disappear, even the demon peal within his chest is gone.
Only then did he realize what the sound of breaking glass he heard could have been and his face hardened.
With his demon pearl gone it's unsure if his physique is gone or just lost it's level. But even if his physique remained, the demonic energy he should have is completely gone, at least for now.
He didn't know what to feel. Most his senses seemed to be blocked by something so he had no way of knowing what is happening outside. Most probably, he had been captured and is being transported at that same moment to wherever those guys came from.
It was amidst all that failure did Thomas had an idea.