Finally, the lord made its move, it came straight towards Renji who was just meters away. It didn't have any other choice as Renji was just too close for him to use the ice sphere. So, the only option for the hound was physical confrontation. With the group of small hounds, the hound lord dashed towards Renji who stood in his fighting stance. As the hound lord came closer to Renji it leaped in the sky and lodged its body towards Renji, he stood unmoving as the hound lord closed in on him.
-Bang-
A loud sound was created as the beast's paws landed on Renji, although it seemed like the beast had crushed his body the beast seemed confused. he couldn't feel anything under its paws so it removed it and saw that there was no corpse. Suddenly the lord looked back because one of the hounds screeched as if it was in pain. There he was standing as if nothing had happened, as he pulled his sword out that was stuck unto the hound's head.
Renji had just stood there when the hound lord came swinging at him to make it seem like he was preparing to take the blow head-on. But just before the paw was about to hit him Renji bent down and used all the strength, he had in his legs to jump up and he landed right in front of a hound. Taking advantage of the situation Renji pierced the hound's skull with his sword.
-GRRRRRAAAA-
Cried the hound lord as it dashed towards Renji, but before he could get there he had already killed 2 other hounds. The hound lord kept attacking Renji with his paws and he kept dodging, this continued as long as there were only him and the hound left. This was his goal all along, he didn't want any nuisance in the way, he wanted to fight the hound in a one-on-one situation. He wanted to test his abilities to its fullest potential. Renji had become 2nd shard hunter already, so he wanted to get the full grasp of his powers, even if he failed to kill the hound he was sure he would be able to escape if anything went wrong.
"Alright now show me what you have got." Said Renji as he beckoned the hound lord to come at him, he was openly mocking the lord of the beast after killing its subjects. This made the hound extremely mad. The hound lord howled in anger as it looked towards the sky, after howling with all the power in his lungs he started right into Renji's eyes as if saying 'Today either you will die or I will die'.
Renji nodded as if he understood the beast, and once again beckoned him to attack him again. This time the hound lord stood straight on two of its legs and swung its legs that were in the air to the ground.
"Oh, now we are talking." Siad Renji knew exactly what was coming, suddenly the ground began to shake as Renji prepared himself, out of the ground few sharp thorns made of ice popped out where Renji was standing. The thorns were meant to pierce Renji but he was nowhere to be found.
"Up here," said Renji as he sat on a branch of a tree, as the words left his mouth a few thorns appeared around him. Renji just smiled after looking at that, he was enjoying this fight as hound lord was the only one that posed a danger to him Right now.
-Clank-
A lot of metal clashing sounds came from the battlefield as Renji tried to destroy all of the ice that was attacking him. Renji destroyed a lot of the thorns but there was no stopping the barrage of attacks.
'He is using smaller and weaker ice than earlier but he can push me back.' Thought Renji as he remembered the spheres that the lord rained at him earlier, although the spheres were stronger and sturdier Ranji didn't have such a hard time dodging them, but when it came to the small thorns he wasn't able to dodge all of them. He was being forced to constantly use his sword to attack the thorns that he wasn't able to dodge, this made him take a few steps back.
The rain continued for 2 whole minutes and right now there were a few cuts on Renji's body, none of them were serious though. Seeing as he was being pushed back Renji didn't do anything about the thorns that were not aimed at vital parts of his body. Even with this Renji was only able to shorten the gap between them just by little. Just when it seemed like Renji wouldn't be able to kill the hound, suddenly the rain of ice became slower and slower, which meant only one thing the hound was almost out of mana.
Renji took this opportunity to launch his body towards the hound lord. He was done checking his skills so he wanted to get this over with quickly, so he didn't even dodge some of the ice and managed to get impaled by 4 ices before reaching in front of the hound.
"Let's have a duel now." Said Renji as he looked at the angry hound as if he knew what Renji was saying, the hound swung one of its legs towards Renji with killing intent. This time Renji tried to use his body instead of dodging the attack, he wanted to see if he could withstand the blow.
To his and the hound lord's surprise, he was able to block the attack with his sheer strength and endurance. Renji smiled as he looked at the hound lord's angry expression.
'Fuck!' Renji thought as he stepped back from the hound, he suddenly felt as if the temperature had suddenly risen. Renji didn't know why but he got chills in his body as he felt the mana inside the hound's body move. Suddenly before Renji had managed to widen the distance between the hound and him, a sudden burst of flame and ice particles assaulted him.
This sudden change in the scene changed the whole scenario, Renji blocked the ice but he had nothing to protect himself from the flame, he used his skill but he was still unable to save his arm. Renji had suffered severe burns on his right arm his sword broke because of the sudden temperature change as well, and he clutched its arm in pain.
Renji was in immense pain while the hound had transformed completely, the hound was covered in armor that was made of ice and fire. It was growling as if it had gone mad.
"Fuck this" cried Renji as he saw the hound covered in flame and ice dashing towards him, he threw the hilt of the sword which he was still holding, and jumped high in the sky. The hound lord stopped in its tracks as he saw Renji jump up.
Renji looked at the beast and threw his entire body towards the hound from the sky, the hound prepared for the collision. The hound made claw out of the ice and fire and attacked Renji who was attacking with his hand. With the loud sound of their fist and claws colliding, a very time shockwave was created which made the ground shake under their feet.