The sun rose high above the horizon, announcing the start of a new day as Clifford opened his eyes. This day marked three months since Clifford left Wendigo's cave, and the last two weeks were spent actively looking for a solution to his current problem. It seemed that as long as he satisfied their hunger, they would remain silent until the hunger returned.
This seemed like a good solution at first until he concluded that he couldn't remain like this forever. He had goals, and these parasites acted like a wall in his path. This encouraged him to continue moving forward with his search. With nothing in this area to propel him further, Clifford decided to head farther north.
With a kick, Clifford jumped off the tree, diving down as his form rapidly shrank, transforming into an eagle before flipping his wings and taking off. Clifford soared high into the sky heading north, discarding and abandoning the blade he had since he couldn't carry it in his current form, besides the fact that his own body and the forms he retained were already sufficient. It didn't take long, with his current speed, to cover a considerable distance.
After half an hour had passed, Clifford began to slow down as he searched for prey, but what caught his attention was something far more interesting. A humanoid figure resembling a mix between a beast and a human sat leisurely on the ground in a meditative position.
Despite resembling a human, a mixture of dark and blue scales covered some of the visible parts of their body, mainly around the closed-eye pupils and the exposed hands, which ended with five sharp claws instead of fingers. Their physique matched that of an adult human, and their body shape indicated they were female. Two large purple horns extended from her head pointing upwards, while her pitch-black long hair reached down, covering her neck from behind.
Her body was covered by a black robe similar in shape to the ones Clifford used to see worn by the elders of the academy. Nothing around seemed to have the courage required to approach her despite this defenseless display. Her halo brightness was green and intense in color compared to the rest of the beasts around the area.
The place where she was meditating was vastly different compared to the forest; a huge number of trees seemed to have been cut down and used to create a small, humble shack with a pond dug close to it. The number of beasts was far lower compared to the place he came from. Some beasts had red halo colors, making them stand out from the rest, which were colorless. This was the first time he encountered something like this.
Although he wanted to go directly for the hybrid he had just seen, he had to assess the strength of the red halo beasts first. Besides, just in case, he had to satisfy his hunger once again to prevent unwanted outcomes during the fight.
Two hours passed, and Clifford was now ready to proceed to his main hunt after consuming two decently sized beasts. Just as he expected, the beasts with red halos didn't prove challenging, which encouraged him to move on.
Since his main goal was to test his current strength and break through his existing limits, he spared no effort in making his presence known by letting his raging battle intent run rampant. This was something he developed after all the battles he had experienced. Once he deemed anything a worthy opponent, it was only right for him to confront them head-on, considering all the abilities he possessed.
His pride never allowed him to gain an advantage over his opponent through sneak attacks or similar means. However, once the fight began, he didn't mind using everything at his disposal; everything was fair game as long as he could emerge victorious.
Sensing the looming danger approaching her, the cultivator opened her eyes to see which insect dared to challenge her, given she sensed nobody with cultivation around her. Otherwise, she would have sensed Clifford's presence the moment he saw her for the first time. What greeted her sight was a young human mortal with a bunch of rags covering his lower body, but what really caught her attention was the number of souls inhabiting that body.
As a Law Stage cultivator, she could sense and interact with souls perfectly well. What she sensed was one dominant soul and many more, many more. Their number was no fewer than thirty, and nothing seemed to restrict them; this led her to consider them as parasites.
Pushing her thoughts aside, she stood up from her position ready to take on Clifford, although not very seriously given that he was nothing but a mortal. The moment she got into a defensive position, his speed increased as he charged directly toward her, his right hand clenched into a fist ready to strike her.
The cultivator slightly shifted her body, effortlessly avoiding the fist. Soon, more fists came her way, only for all of them to be dodged seamlessly. Witnessing his failure, Clifford resorted to rapid shifting between forms in an attempt to land a hit. However, to her, it all seemed futile as he was incredibly slow.
As this continued, she started to get slightly bored, but before long, she began to notice the interference of souls in their fight as extra parts emerged from that human in an attempt to damage her. She could clearly tell these souls were nothing but hindrances to him.
An hour passed, and Clifford reached a state where his movements were sluggish due to the fact that he was no longer in human form. His upper body was plagued with limbs and parts that caused a huge imbalance. Shortly after, he fell to the ground in fatigue, and despair assailed him as he gave up on the fight.
"Are you going to sit there and watch as your life gets taken by a bunch of parasites?" Hearing the voice, he looked up, meeting her eyes. Contrary to what he thought, the cultivator, instead of killing him, decided to lend him a hand after witnessing his potential.
"What can I do? No matter how much I try and how much effort I put into preventing them from coming out, they always come out in the end." Hearing Clifford's response didn't affect her expression at all; to her, the answer was simple. Although she decided to help, she was not going to interfere personally. It all depended on Clifford.
"Why? Why don't you just cut them entirely? Or are you perhaps waiting for someone to cut them for you?"
"Do you like your current state?" These words seemed to simulate Clifford, causing him to scream in rejection, hearing his clear answer encouraged her to continue.
"Then sever them, even if you end up tearing yourself apart!," Pausing for a second as she stared at him as he got back on his feet before continuing ", Take back your life."
Her words hit the nail, pushing him forward as he began by using his right hand to grasp one of the extra limbs extending from his left side before pulling it intensively as hard as he could. Soon, the limb fell to the floor. Clifford gritted his teeth as pain assaulted him, but it wasn't the end; part after another was severed and thrown onto the floor, returning Clifford to his normal human state. Once done, Clifford fell to the ground unconscious from the blood loss.