Boom! BOOM! BOOM!
The peaceful tranquility of Black Wind Ridge was shattered as hundreds of winged shadows descended upon the serpent assassins. Guts and gore splattered as fangs met claws, wings buffeted scales, and screeches of fury resounded.
This wasn't a one-sided massacre, the serpent assassins weren't pushovers! They fought back with ferocity, meeting the bat horde blow-for-blow as they unleashed a torrent of venomous fangs, crushing coils, and bone-shattering tail whips.
"Hold the line! Don't let those blood-sucking pests push us back!" Lu Pin screamed from a safe distance as he watched the chaos unfold with panic gnawing at his cowardly heart. The sight of those pesky bats and that arrogant, glowing bull still alive, it filled him with indignant rage! How dare they?!
"Big sister should have crushed them into paste… how are they so damn resilient?!" He hissed with frustration.
The memory of Lu Lingxue's crushing defeat, those agonizing screams that still resonated in his dreams, he wouldn't suffer the same fate, he vowed.
"Fang Unit! ATTACK! Unleash the Spirit Serpent Golems! CRUSH THAT DAMNED BULL!"
"HISS!" A chorus of serpents slithered forward and charged up their collective essence in a ritual that pulsated with dark green energy.
Then as Raphael observed those serpent bastards preparing something insidious, a wave of green phantom silhouettes took shape before him with massive jaws, scaly hides and hollow eyes.
"Oh shit! Golems!" Lu Jade shouted as his gaze landed upon those creatures that resembled giant, mutated green cobras. Their energy was unstable, as if about to explode, which amplified their threat.
"Big Brother! We have to move. Those things…" He didn't have to explain any further because just as he said those words, a tremor echoed through that world and golden, spectral hooves appeared above them.
"HOLD ON!" And without waiting for Lu Jade's anxieties to settle.
"Gold Press! Gold Press! Gold Press!"
Raphael slammed those massive golden specters downwards with bone-shattering force that shattered trees in the surrounding areas and caused those snakes to scatter in fear of becoming collateral damage in a war that was no longer their own.
Crack! Crack!
The earth buckled beneath his golden assault, leaving a crater where those Spirit Serpent Golems had stood seconds before.
Raphael then focused upon Lu Pin whose terrified form and stammering was a sight he hadn't enjoyed this much in his entire existence. Such satisfaction.
"Now you are next!"
Terrified by the what the bull said and its display of power, Lu Pin didn't waste time formulating any clever scheme. He was just too smart to die foolishly.
"Scatter! STAY AWAY FROM THE BULL! Long range attacks only!" He then scurried back into the chaotic battles around him. His wave of fear quickly morphed into commands being shrieked, "Dodge!"
Raphael watched those pathetic cowardly creatures run away and decide to cause more chaos.
"HAAA! Condensed Blood Sword!"
BOOM!
An immense blood red sword materialized in a burst of crimson. Raphael swiped at a group of serpents slithering toward him. He sent them hurtling into the dense forest in a symphony of hissing screams and broken scales. He was reveling in his immense power, and his mastery of those destructive blood arts.
It was a massacre.
WHOOSH!
Bat General Kong waited patiently atop the carnage as his legions pushed forward against a foe far numerous.
This was no mere mindless horde; these snakes were veteran assassins hardened by those trials of survival, battles of territories and most importantly those ancient rites bestowed upon them to survive the worst conditions that only Yama Yaguai could throw. They wouldn't yield!
Bat General Kong's ruby red gaze eventually settled upon a lone figure darting in and out of those chaotic skirmishes, hissing commands with venomous glee and a cruel indifference. It was the leader.
"Time to teach that snake bastard about my evolution…"
He launched forward at Lu Pin!
"I will paint those cowardly serpent scale with crimson and claim your cowardly tongue as a trophy to my Master!" Bat General Kong bellowed his intentions in a thunderous voice.
"It's HIM! Defend!"
Several snakes with thick tails wrapped in black spikes rush toward Bat General Kong who simply yawned at their feeble efforts before slamming that potent golden spear imbued with his evolved Rai Shen Long essence onto the hard earth.
"MOVE!" A thunderclap erupted.
WHOOSH!
In an instant, the spear multiplied a thousand-fold.
CRACK! BOOM!
Those serpents were skewered then reduced to burning ash that danced above those smoking trees in a whirlwind. Then just before those few unfortunate survivors could even scream. He appeared in front of Lu Pin with a deafening sound and pierced the leader's scaled shield with ease.
"Die, coward." He whispered with a demonic voice that rivaled the former Shadow Bat Emperor - Balphazar.
The scene was insane! Both Serpents and Shadow Bats were locked in a dance of death.
However, as Raphael became preoccupied dodging tail whips and smashing heads…
WHOOSH!
"Oof!"
In the chaos, Lu Jade lost his grip on Raphael's horn and went tumbling to the ground with a shriek of pure terror. This fall, from such a height, surely it meant his demise. But before he slammed onto that ground of blood, venom, mud, and fractured roots, a black claw with dripping venom snagged him from the sky, but alas… It wasn't his protector.
It was worse. It was that bully that haunted his nightmares.
"W-what?!" His tiny body was squirming for escape but that grip, was strong, powerful.
It was the other twin.
"Look what I found brother, it's the little rat that called Big Sis 'fat'." Lu Pan laughed as his massive coils effortlessly tightened around his trembling prisoner. This was the justice they both had been seeking for so long now, and to have the luck of catching him alone? How magnificent, how wonderful this day was.
WHOOSH! CRACK!
"DIE!" He then threw Lu Jade against a nearby boulder with terrifying force!
Lu Jade cried from the excruciating pain as he coughed blood. Then another painful strike came crashing. His scaled body slam again onto another hard object that stole his vision momentarily. Then it hit again, and again, causing his inner energies to weaken, this torment was too much.
"You ungrateful, treacherous little worm! This isss what happens when you side with that ugly, damned bull who ate our precious sister. You will pay dearly, dearly I say! HISSSS!"
Lu Pan's venom dripped down onto Lu Jade's beaten scales while those hateful hisses amplified those agonies. He then spat a massive wave of flames towards his brother.
"Die you traitorous dog!"
Hearing his attacker's hateful words, enraged Lu Jade more than his beating. "Y-you! Y-you are a fool! All of you! It was you two! You damned bullies are the real reason she's dead! Because all you ever do iss terrorize and harm! Because of YOU… she is dead. I…I was only trying to…"
"Shut UP!" Lu Pan's sinister grin widened with delight. "Hahaha! Your attemptsss at logic means nothing!" He laughed even harder upon seeing that Raphael was too busy to come over. "Seems that the Bull can't save you now, can he?"
The beatings didn't cease, those strikes were filled with years of frustration. But unlike those moments back then when he had endured with no resistance, his heart wasn't beating with submission, but rage.
It was all too much for him. Those insults, his bruised ego, and that constant pain was triggering his core energies, the truth about his ancient heritage that had remained dormant for so long.
It pulsed through his core, that energy, pushing back, pushing out as those painful insults, beatings, even humiliation from his siblings because of his unique emerald-green scales came flooding through his mind.
He had enough!
Lu Jade's scales stopped trembling. He stared at his tormentor's smug expression with an intensity that should have stopped those strikes, but arrogance blinded them both.
"Hahaha! Done? Well I'm not! You little bitch! Take more punishment!"
Lu Pan's sadistic laughter didn't last much longer.
Lu Jade's scales glowed a vibrant emerald as if a miniature Fire Pool had awaken deep within, then, something else; those ancient energies he had kept imprisoned, came unravelling its secrets as he shouted:
"Limiter... OFF!"
"What?! NOOOOOO! It's… you're…."
Those bronze scales around Lu Pan suddenly felt too tight, he could barely breath.
Something… Something… changed.
"This… pressure…" Lu Pan suddenly found his body squirming backwards as those strikes halted. He'd never felt this kind of energy from his little brother, it was an impossible sight. His gaze trailed upwards and there, standing above his feeble self like a coiled pillar that could pierce the heavens…
It was no longer the "Little Bitch". It was a terror fueled by hate and strength.
He looked up in astonishment because that jade body had expanded to terrifying lengths. Lu Jade now towered over him.
"Hiss… You forced me to do thissss… You, you, and that snake… Ssshe… my sisssster…" He was starting to lose his words as anger took him over. "I can alsooo become larger than even a mountain peak! It's time for payback!"
WHOOSH!
A thick, green tail lashed forth faster than even those electric bolts.
BAM!
"NO! PLEASE!"
It slammed into Lu Pan's snout, sending him hurtling backward with enough force that the very earth groaned as a deep crater was made beneath that point of impact.
He landed on the opposite end of the clearing in a mess of broken bones and blood-soaked scales. This sight pleased Lu Jade so much.
He wasn't finished!
He didn't hesitate. His massive form slithered across the ground, each movement reverberating with strength that had even those veteran bats hovering overhead impressed with his newfound might. They stopped fighting. Those serpents who felt this power as well. Trembled.
Reaching his target, who was coughing and spitting out blood now with each sputtered breath, he wrapped his massive coil around Lu Pan's bruised form, constricting tightly until those pathetic cries for help and surrender were almost inaudible, then…
WHAM!
"Don't call me, 'Little Bitch' ever again… YOU… LITTLE BITCH!"
Those words didn't simply shatter bones, they had those spectators re-evaluating their decisions and those snakes they chose to follow that day! What a magnificent turn of event.
Even as those thoughts of awe reverberated in their souls. Lu Jade wasn't finished.
"HAAAA!"
He slammed that massive, helpless bronze head into the crater and didn't stop. He smashed again and again! Their battle had created a massive cloud of dust.