[A/n: Idk if it was easy to pick up or not, but I'll quickly explain; "Bang!" essentially means their attacks met like sword vs sword, and "Shing!" means an attack landed and someone took damage :)]
[I'll also add this for now on when I use — that means Silas was the one who took damage, so "Shing!—" means Silas took damage, and "Shing!" means Silas dished out the damage. Please comment if this is helpful or not.]
"Whoosh!" "Bang!" Silas was instantly pushed back as he blocked with his scythe.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!—" The agile leopard hit him three more times in quick succession, with one of its attacks even reaching his body and drawing blood.
'Dammit, it's reached cosmic resonance in its claw attacks as well,' Silas thought, starting to feel a shiver of fear. This beast had the ability to kill him.
'I've got to be faster,' he told himself. He was going to give himself one minute for a breakthrough and then call Kai for help. Then he would just have to hold the beast off long enough for him to get here, and if it was absolutely needed, he would just use his innate talent [Grim Reaper's Eye].
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!—"
'I've got to hit harder.'
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!—"
The fight continued as the vermilion leopard continued its onslaught. It couldn't wait to eat this young and fresh human that had entered its territory.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!" After 30 seconds, Silas was able to get in one hit on the beast, but it barely did any damage to its strong fiendgod body.
"That tickled," the leopard said with a laugh.
"Whoosh!" "Whoosh!" The leopard quickly dashed behind him with a feint.
'I've got to move,' Silas told himself as he pulled deep from within him for some kind of connection. He knew he did not need to be hit by this attack. If he was, he would have to resort to his innate talent, which isn't what he wanted; that would end the tempering session. The beast would still be tough to kill, but it wouldn't be as life-threatening as it currently was, and this was the best opportunity for him to make a breakthrough.
As he searched deep into himself and the world, his mind began to empty, and soon he felt it: the connection with the world energy, the connection to the cosmos. All he had to do was reach out and touch it.
"Whoosh!" Silas took a step, and in a flash, he dodged the leopard's attack.
The leopard raised its eyebrows as it looked down at its claws. Why wasn't there human blood on them?
"Whoosh!" Silas, using his new connection with the universe, quickly created distance from the beast.
The beast looked up, surprised. "You've reached cosmic resonance in your movement?"
Silas simply nodded.
"No matter, you're still too weak," the beast said as it charged forward, but now it didn't look quite as fast.
"Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Shing!"
Silas once again managed to get in a hit, only this time his scythe drew blood.
'The world energy is right there. I just have to reach for it,' he told himself as he began to try to mix his energy with the world and then infuse that into his weapon.
"Whoosh!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!—" "Shiing!"
Silas smiled at the now bleeding beast. He was now capable of hurting it. His weapon comprehension was making progress at groundbreaking speed.
"Bang!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shiiing!"
'Almost there,' Silas thought as his thoughts began to slow and his mind began to clear.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Shing!!"
He was so close now. It was within reach.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Shiing!!"
His weapon could now infuse the energy; he just had to learn how to control the release.
"Bang!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Bang!" "SHIIING!!"
"Finally!" Silas roared as he took a huge chunk off the leopard's shoulder.
"You bastard!" the leopard yelled as it took a step back.
Silas only had one word left for the beast: "Die!!"
"Whoosh!" Silas dashed forward.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Shing!"
"Bang!" "Shing!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Bang!"
Silas continued to go back and forth with the beast, each one occasionally able to get a good hit in on the other, but thanks to their strong fiendgod bodies, this damage was almost immediately healed.
"Bang!" "Shing!—" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!—" "Bang!" "Shing!"
"Shing!—" "Shing!—" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!—"
The fight went on and on for hours with neither one of them able to end the fight.
The vermilion leopard couldn't believe it. How could it fight toe to toe with a mere peak Mortal lifeform? It was a high and mighty Late Transcendent lifeform and a Fierce Beast at that.
"Die!!" the leopard yelled as its attacks became more crazed and more unpredictable.
"Shing!—" "Shing!" "Shing!—" "Shing!" "Shing!—" "Shing!—" "Shing!"
"Shing!—" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!—" "Shing!" "Shing!"
At first, this somewhat helped the beast, but Silas quickly got used to this crazed attack style as well.
"I'll kill you!!" the beast yelled.
Its attacks continued to get crazier and crazier, and Silas could tell the beast was losing its mind in rage.
Some beasts were known to have a high amount of pride, and once it was stepped on, they would slowly lose their minds trying to gain it back.
Silas quickly understood that this fight was going nowhere anytime soon, and while he wanted to just get away, the beast wouldn't let him. It continued to follow him, and the beast, being a higher-level body cultivator, was slightly faster than him, so he couldn't get away.
'Am I going to have to call Kai to put an end to this beast?' Silas thought, but soon he decided that he didn't want to bother Kai with something he could handle himself.
He quickly checked his surroundings and made sure no one was nearby, and after determining this was as safe a location as any, he opened his third eye—the Grim Reaper's Eye.
"What the hell is that!" the leopard yelled in fear. It had never been so scared in its life, not even when it was a small Mortal lifeform. The gaze from that eye looked like it could tear out its very soul.
Silas had never used the eye, but from his inherited memories, he knew how to do it very clearly.
With his eye open, he could very clearly see the soul of the leopard. It was a smaller copy of the vermilion leopard sitting down in the middle of its head.
Silas then used the ability, and the black veins in his eye started to bulge, and the leopard's soul began to tear apart.
"Ahhhhh!" the leopard yelled as its soul took a large hit.
Silas quickly closed his eye in order to not give anyone the chance to see it.
"Shing!" "Shing!!" "Shiiing!!!" Silas then took his opportunity to attack the beast and cut deep into its neck.
"What did you do to me!" the beast howled in pain, barely able to control its body.
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!!" The beast wasn't able to put up a proper defense.
"What are you?!" the beast roared.
"Shing!" "Bang!" "Shing!!" "Shing!" Where before they went back and forth, now the fight was being dominated by Silas.
"Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shing!" "Shiiing!!!!" And finally, with one last swing, the head of the leopard was cut off, falling hard to the ground.
"Phew!" "Finally," Silas muttered. This fight had lasted for hours after reaching cosmic resonance, and while he wasn't tired thanks to the durability and stamina of his fiendgod body, his mind was ready for a break.
"The fight's over. No need to worry," Silas quickly sent Red and Kai.
"Nice. How strong was it?" Red asked.
"Nice one, boss!" Kai said.
After placing the corpse in his spatial ring, Silas set back off toward the village.
***
Hours later, he walked into the village, and he used his connection to go find Red and Kai.
"What's up, boss," Kai said.
"Welcome back," Red said.
"Thanks," Silas said.
"Well, I reached cosmic resonance in my movement and scythe comprehension, so Kai, if you want, you can go do your own thing for a while," Silas said after a moment of pause.
"Really!" Kai said as he jumped up for the first time all day after just lazing around.
"Yeah, just head off whenever you want. You're just as familiar with the surrounding regions as we are, so just be careful and don't go stirring up trouble," Silas quickly added.
"Don't worry, boss," Kai said as he patted his chest, "I would never," he finished with a smirk.
He then hopped down from the table and said, "Well, see ya." Then he phased into the shadows.
"Wait!" Silas yelled.
"What is it?" Kai asked.
"Come back," Silas said with a laugh, "I've got a gift for you."
No sooner than the words left his mouth, Kai was back on the table after hopping out of the shadows.
"What is it," Kai asked, holding out his little paw.