BOOM!!!!
BOOM!!!!
BOOM!!!!
Energy erupted in every direction as our clash grew more intense.
The battlefield had long since ceased to resemble a battlefield.
It was becoming a wasteland.
Mountains had been shattered.
The ground had been carved apart.
Cracks stretched across the earth for thousands of meters, while clouds of dust and energy rolled through the air.
Yet neither of us stopped.
Our bodies collided again and again.
BAM!!!!
His fist struck my shoulder.
I twisted with the impact and immediately countered.
BAM!!!!
My fist slammed into his ribs.
His scales cracked beneath the blow.
A thin line of blood appeared.
Then vanished.
His body healed almost instantly.
I narrowed my eyes.
This dragon was troublesome.
His scales were cracked and smashed across his body, thin trickles of blood running between them before evaporating beneath the intense energy radiating from his body.
His injuries were healing almost as quickly as I could create them.
Meanwhile—
I wasn't exactly unharmed.
My body was covered with faint bruises and several shallow injuries.
Nothing serious.
My clothes were dirty and torn in several places, but my body remained intact.
I had landed far more attacks than he had.
Prime Instinct allowed my body to react before most attacks could even reach me.
Every movement flowed naturally.
Every opening was recognized instantly.
Every counter came without conscious thought.
But there was a problem.
Every attack he managed to land—
HIT LIKE A MOUNTAIN.
If I didn't have my experience from the Tower, I would probably be full of holes by now.
This wasn't a battle where one mistake meant losing an exchange.
One mistake could mean death.
ROAR!!!!!
We roared simultaneously.
A crimson tiger phantom clung to my body.
Across from me, a massive black dragon phantom wrapped itself around his frame.
The dragon phantom seemed to swallow the light around it.
The two beasts stared at each other.
Predator against predator.
Devourer against dragon.
Neither willing to retreat.
He was learning fast.
Too fast.
But so was I.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
We collided again.
The impact carved another enormous crater into the earth.
Fragments of rock were blasted into the sky.
Resources scattered throughout the battlefield were crushed beneath the pressure before being converted into energy.
And the moment that energy appeared—
My body devoured it.
Every drop.
Every trace.
Nothing escaped.
BAM!!!!
BAM!!!!
BAM!!!!!
Our movements became increasingly difficult to follow.
Space itself seemed to distort around us.
Our bodies flashed across the battlefield.
One moment we were hundreds of meters apart.
The next—
BAM!!!!
Our fists collided.
The next—
BAM!!!!
An elbow struck.
Then—
BOOM!!!!
A kick sent a shockwave through the earth.
We exchanged fists.
Elbows.
Knees.
Kicks.
Headbutts.
Every movement was designed to kill.
There was no hesitation.
No restraint.
Only instinct and technique.
BAM!!!!
My fist slammed into his chest.
This time—
He didn't fly backward.
His hand closed around my wrist.
His grip tightened.
I felt the terrifying strength hidden inside his fingers.
His eyes burned intensely.
His breathing became heavier.
His expression changed.
Something inside him was beginning to break.
His rationality.
His restraint.
His control.
ROAR!!!!!
The dragon phantom around his body suddenly expanded.
It became enormous.
Then—
WHOOSH!!!!
It compressed back into his body.
My instincts screamed.
Danger.
A second warning followed.
Danger.
Then a third.
DANGER!!!!
BOOM!!!!
Energy erupted from his body.
Abyssal flames ignited around him.
They didn't burn like ordinary fire.
They spread across his body like a living force, rapidly intensifying until his entire figure seemed wrapped in a black-red inferno.
Then—
CRACK!!!!
Two horns erupted from his forehead.
Black as night.
Curving upward.
They seemed to devour every ray of light that touched them.
My eyes widened.
True dragon horns.
I knew what they represented.
Dragons were one of the proudest races in existence.
Countless races possessed dragon blood.
Some had scales.
Some could breathe elemental flames.
Some could transform into dragon-like forms.
But none of them could compare to a true dragon.
The purity of their bloodline separated them from every dragon-subspecies.
And the clearest sign of a true dragon—
Was the horn.
If you were born with one, you had one.
If you weren't—
You didn't.
At least, that was what I knew.
But this dragon had just summoned his horns from within his body.
I had never heard of such a thing.
Yet there was no time to question it.
Because the moment the horns appeared—
His Bloodline Energy erupted.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
It flooded through every part of his body.
His scales hardened.
His muscles expanded.
His body became denser.
Even the air around him seemed unable to withstand his presence.
I could actually see the energy burning beneath his scales.
Bloodline Energy.
The power inherited through blood.
Every beast possessed it.
Tiger.
Lion.
Wolf.
Snake.
Dragon.
It was the source of many racial abilities and the foundation of their primal transformations.
Unlike ordinary energy, however, Bloodline Energy couldn't simply be recovered through meditation.
It had to naturally regenerate.
And igniting it—
Was something entirely different.
It could temporarily force the bloodline beyond its normal limits.
But the consequences were severe.
Humans had developed various methods to reduce those consequences.
Pure-blooded beasts, however, rarely needed such a technique.
The purer the bloodline—
The less reason there was to force it beyond its natural limits.
Yet this dragon had done exactly that.
A technique used by someone who had abandoned caution.
A technique used by someone willing to gamble everything for victory.
My eyes narrowed.
What would happen if I ignited my own Bloodline Energy?
Would my bloodline have another stage?
Another rank?
Something beyond what I currently understood?
Perhaps.
But I wouldn't find out today.
Because the dragon before me had just become significantly more dangerous.
BOOM!!!!!
His body expanded again.
His scales multiplied across his frame, overlapping until they formed an almost impenetrable armor.
His grip tightened around my wrist.
His Abyssal flames surged.
They burned against my skin.
My instincts screamed again.
Danger!
And then—
His free hand pulled backward.
Abyssal flames gathered around his fist.
It looked like he was holding a miniature black sun.
BAM!!!!!
His fist came toward my face.
The expected pain never arrived.
Because something inside me moved first.
My body reacted before my mind.
The Beast Within—
Had won.
The stripes covering my body suddenly came alive.
WHOOOOM!!!!
My physique transformed.
Not completely.
Only halfway.
My crimson stripes became more solid, spreading across my body like blazing galaxies trapped beneath my skin.
My eyes darkened.
Black.
An endless void.
And within that darkness—
A faint crimson slit appeared.
My Devouring Bloodline Ability activated.
The moment his fist touched me—
His energy began disappearing.
His Bloodline Energy.
His Abyssal flames.
Everything began flowing into me.
I devoured it.
His eyes widened.
For the first time—
He looked genuinely shocked.
My body was suddenly flooded with energy.
It felt like someone had injected an enormous amount of power directly into every cell.
CRACKLE!!!!
Crimson lightning erupted across my body.
It spread outward, striking the surrounding earth and tearing through the air.
The dragon immediately tried to pull his hand away.
Too late.
I had already tasted his energy.
And now—
I wanted more.
My crimson stripes burned brighter.
The Beast Within screamed inside my mind.
DEVOUR!!!!
DEVOUR!!!!
DEVOUR!!!!
My lips slowly curled upward.
The dragon stared at me.
Then his expression changed.
His fear disappeared.
A grin slowly appeared instead.
He understood.
We had both crossed the line.
The battle before us had been a test.
This—
Was something else.
Black and crimson lightning began gathering around his fist.
His Abyssal flames intensified.
My crimson lightning gathered around my arm.
The two energies collided between us.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
The shockwave tore through the surrounding wasteland.
The earth split apart.
The sky trembled.
Neither of us moved.
Neither of us blinked.
Then—
ROAR!!!!!
The dragon released a true roar from the depths of his soul.
At the same time—
My left heart thundered inside my chest.
THUD!!!!
THUD!!!!
THUD!!!!
My crimson tiger phantom emerged behind me.
His black dragon phantom rose behind him.
Two ancient bloodlines stared at one another.
And then—
Something changed.
The surrounding space suddenly became unnaturally quiet.
The demonic beasts that had been rushing toward us stopped.
Not because they understood what was happening.
Because their instincts told them to flee.
Far away.
Very far away.
The dragon slowly raised his burning fist.
I raised mine.
A devilish smile spread across my face.
His eyes burned with madness.
Mine burned with hunger.
Then—
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
We disappeared.
The second round—
Had begun.
But this time...
we wouldn't be the only ones fighting the battle.