The next hunt was fairly easy. He was against a Rika class Sickle Centipede but as he had gotten a bit of experience from his first battle, he finished his battle faster. The centipede was sliced into various parts. Vorden didn't even have to use the sword skill. Just his evasive footwork and Shadow skill was enough to kill the beast. The beast was a specialty in speed but it was basically useless in the face of the Shadow art which was a master in sneak attacks and assassination. Through this battle, Vorden got to understand his god art better and when facing Rika class beasts, it was an obvious massacre. Injuries to him were null while his opponent was prone to various fatal injuries.
This continued with the next set of Rika class beasts he 'hunted.' Some were in groups of four or single and after all those battles, he had taken ignorable damage. He was feeling a bit fatigued so he looked for a building to hide in but to his utter dismay, it was already occupied. A huge wolf could be seen sleeping there. It had dark red fur and long expected fangs. The moment Vorden entered, it opened its hollow black eyes and stared at him menacingly. It stood up and Vorden could see the abnormality of the beast. Instead of four legged, the beast appeared to be a two legged creature. It stood on its hind legs and somehow resembled the appearance of werewolves in movies except for its red fur. The aura around it was different from all the beasts Vorden had fought and with that, he instantly realized, the beast was a whole level different from the beasts he had hunted. It was Arion class, the rank after Rika class. "A….Arion class Aardwolf….I'm dead!" Vorden was fear stricken. How can an Arion class beast be in the wasteland?! This was clearly abuse; their mother was abusing them!
Vorden stared at the Aardwolf and it stared back at him. None of them moved or made a sound for what seemed like ages. During that time, Vorden was calculating his chances of escaping. Finally, the Aardwolf made its move. It sprinted towards Vorden. There was some distance between them but the beast crossed that in just a flash. Vorden didn't expect and could only raise his katana to block the attack of the beast but he wasn't fast enough. He was bouldered across the land and hit the door of a building opposite of the one Aardwolf's residence. The power difference was clear. It was like heaven and earth. If he knew the amount of power an Arion class beast had, he could have fared better with his pseudo Gold tier weapon but too late. He spat out a mouthful of blood as he got up. He felt sore all over his body and the was a faint claw mark on his belly. He now realized the seriousness of the mission. This was just the first day and they had a week's time to complete it. He couldn't imagine what would happen in the days to come with the place swarming with Rika and Arion class beasts.
A loud howl brought him back to earth. He quickly got up amidst the pain he was feeling and brandished his katana. He had no choice but to fight. He couldn't escape even if he wanted to. Their speed was like a tortoise and a cheetah. He was hopeless in his speed. Even if he used Shadow Steps, he will be caught in a matter of seconds. That's when he realized that their father always lowered his power to their level but because he was an experienced fighter, they still found it difficult to fight him. This got him wondering how powerful his father was because a fight between two higher level gudas had immense effects to low level one and he was always there when his parents dueled. Which meant, they both lowered their powers when dueling.
The Aardwolf attacked once again but Vorden was a little prepared this time. He still couldn't believe he would be able to fight an Arion class beast so he planned on evasion and sneak attacking instead of head on confrontations. He waited till the beast got very close and used the Shadow Steps skill. He shadow stepped behind it and released an Inferno Slash the moment he appeared behind it. The power of the weapon was clear even if it was affected by the wielder. The slash, clean sliced a deep line on the beast's back causing black blood to flow. The beast howled in anger, ignored the injury and shot off towards Vorden. Vorden used his footwork to dodge close confrontations and when he distanced himself from it, he used Shadow Steps and Inferno Slash. Within a few minutes, Vorden and the Aardwolf could be seen panting and bleeding with the Aardwolf beasts being the most injured. Vorden was starting to feel fatigued from using his skill for so long but it was still far from actual fatigue. He was an Ultra guda after all and something like this was ignorable. The took only few seconds to rest then jumped in to continue battling. This time Vorden chose to attack first as he could feel the domineering power of the Aardwolf reducing. He shadow stepped close to it, catching it off guard and slashed vertically at its chest. A deep, gushing cut was made instantly causing the beast to cry in pain. That attack was very close to its heart. It was extremely lucky that it didn't connect with its heart otherwise it would have been on its way to visit Goldstein Dark-Prime, the god of Darkness and Death. It looked at Vorden with hateful eyes as its claws elongated. Its body grew to a height of 175cm but instead of Vorden feeling dread or fear, he was feeling excited. He knew what it was though and he couldn't stop it. It was a trait in his family; they were battle maniacs and his father and Lith were lost causes. They were like drug addicts. Anytime they heard battle, their maniacal traits would activate unlike Vorden and Gamora who could control it for some time.
The Aardwolf's transformation to its second formed was completed in a few seconds. Vorden felt the boost in power but he now felt he could defeat it or say, his battle maniacal trait was making him excited and expectant to fight the beast. One advantage of the trait was it boosted their potential and refined their abilities to fight better.
Vorden's heart thumped excitedly as he gave in to his maniacal side and shot off towards the beast. He had a weird smile on his face as he attacked the beast. He dodged and ducked, slashed and sliced, shadow stepped and pierced. With his maniacal side in control, Vorden's skills became more refined and the Aardwolf found it difficult to land a hit on him while it was already flowing with blood. Its attack power and overall power had declined drastically and it was starting to get sloppy. Vorden's smiled widened when he saw the state the Aardwolf was in. He fiercely attacked it without break, decapitating its hands and legs and then finishing it off with an Inferno Slash to the heart.
.....
On Lith's side, the Rika class beasts were running away while a blonde boy with a flaming sword was chasing them. He looked like a fiery demon to them. His fire power had been increased by his emotions and his battle maniacal side had already activated so he really looked like a demon except for the horns. His smile was more crooked than Vorden's as he mercilessly massacred the beasts. He hadn't met an Arion class beast yet but the number of Rika class beasts he had killed was probably more than Vorden's.