SWISH!!!!
SWISH!!!!!!
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
Our fists collided in a frantic exchange.
No defense.
No retreat.
Only offense.
We attacked at the same time, each strike carrying enough force to shatter mountains.
BAM!!!!
BOOM!!!!
BAM!!!!
The earth shook violently beneath us.
The wasteland looked as though it had been bombarded by countless meteorites.
Bottomless craters covered the territory, one after another, stretching farther than the eye could see.
Every impact erased the land beneath our feet.
And any unfortunate beast caught between our exchanges didn't even have time to react.
Their bodies were vaporized instantly.
The energy released from their deaths was immediately swallowed by me.
Nothing escaped my grasp.
Not the energy from the demons.
Not the energy from the environment.
Not even the energy produced by our own collisions.
Everything became nourishment.
And that made the outcome of this battle increasingly obvious.
The longer we fought—
The stronger I became.
But there was one thing I still couldn't properly devour.
His Bloodline Energy.
Bloodline Energy rarely left the body.
Even when it did, only a tiny amount escaped.
Unless the user deliberately released it through an attack.
And now—
He had found a way to stop me from stealing it.
BOOM!!!!!
His phantom suddenly solidified.
The enormous black dragon wrapped around his body became almost tangible.
Its scales appeared real.
Its claws sharpened.
Its body radiated terrifying pressure.
I narrowed my eyes.
By solidifying his Bloodline Energy and turning the phantom into a physical manifestation, he had effectively reduced the amount of Bloodline Energy leaking from his body.
I couldn't freely devour it anymore.
The connection had become too weak.
Smart.
Even after surrendering more and more of himself to his instincts—
He could still think.
Or perhaps...
His instincts were thinking for him.
BOOM!!!!!
A concentrated beam of energy suddenly erupted from his mouth.
It appeared without warning.
At point-blank range.
FFFSSSSSSSSSHHH!!!!!
The beam tore through the air.
I tilted my head.
FWOOSH!!!!
The attack passed beside my face.
BAM!!!!!
My fist slammed upward into his jaw.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
His head snapped backward.
The dragon phantom immediately solidified around him, absorbing the remaining force.
He barely moved.
My eyes narrowed.
Again.
He was adapting.
Every time I found a way to hurt him, he found a way to reduce the damage.
And every transformation made him more terrifying.
Then—
BOOM!!!!!
His body expanded again.
His muscles tightened.
His scales multiplied across his body in seconds.
His frame grew several inches taller.
The pressure surrounding him increased dramatically.
Then—
BAM!!!!!
His fist slammed into me.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
My body was driven straight downward.
The ground beneath me shattered.
My body plunged into the earth as though the land were nothing more than soft butter.
BOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!
Another explosion erupted.
The crater widened.
Dust and fragments of stone shot into the sky.
My body continued downward.
Deeper.
Deeper.
Until—
THUD!!!!
My back slammed against a surprisingly stable layer of earth.
Cracks spread outward from the point of impact.
I remained there for a moment.
Silence.
My body ached.
My upper garment had been torn apart.
My lower clothing was covered in dirt.
And on my face—
A massive fist mark remained.
I slowly touched it.
That hurt.
The dragon had transformed twice now.
But his transformations weren't simple increases in power.
Every time he transformed, everything improved.
Strength.
Speed.
Defense.
Reaction.
Instinct.
Most importantly—
His combat instincts.
He was becoming less like a warrior...
And more like a living weapon.
A machine designed solely for destruction.
His destructive output had already reached an alarming level.
And yet—
I smiled.
Good thing I have Prime Instinct.
That thought alone brought a strange calm to my frantic mind.
Prime Instinct.
The technique I had spent so much time mastering.
The technique that allowed my body to respond naturally to danger.
Back in Zeraphyx, the calm energy of that world had made Prime Instinct almost natural to me.
Here—
Everything was different.
Neraphyx was constantly stimulating the darker half of my bloodline.
My instincts were always screaming.
Devour.
Hunt.
Kill.
So I had to deliberately activate Prime Instinct while simultaneously suppressing those instincts.
That made it impossible to use the technique at its full capability.
At least—
That was what I had believed.
I slowly stood.
Dust fell from my body.
Then I paused.
A strange thought entered my mind.
Isn't Prime Instinct supposed to be about controlling my instincts?
I looked toward the sky.
Then toward the dragon.
He wasn't suppressing his instincts.
He was using them.
He had surrendered part of his rational thinking and allowed his instincts to guide his body.
And somehow—
It worked.
A faint smile appeared on my face.
So that's what I've been doing wrong.
The dragon had just taught me something without even knowing it.
I didn't need to suppress my instincts.
I needed to unleash them.
Fully.
Completely.
And then—
Control them.
My eyes slowly narrowed.
The beast inside me screamed.
DEVOUR!!!!
DEVOUR!!!!!
DEVOUR ALL!!!!
For the first time—
I didn't silence it.
I opened the cage.
ROOOOOOOOAR!!!!!
A massive roar shook the battlefield.
The dragon fired again.
FFFSSSSSSSSSHHH!!!!!
A colossal beam tore toward me.
The phantom surrounding him changed.
Instead of merely clinging to his body—
The enormous head of a black dragon formed behind him.
Its jaws opened.
ROOOOOOOAR!!!!!
The beam erupted from its mouth.
It expanded rapidly.
Hundreds of meters wide.
It swallowed the sky.
There was no escape route.
The crimson slit within my eyes pulsed violently.
My instincts surged.
My Bloodline Energy erupted.
BOOM!!!!!
A violent explosion of power burst around me.
My crimson stripes became solid.
They no longer looked like energy markings.
They were carved into my body.
Real.
Permanent.
Burning.
I had already been partially transformed.
Now—
My transformation deepened.
ROOOOOAR!!!!!
The crimson tiger phantom behind me expanded.
Its enormous paws spread outward.
The dragon's beam crashed toward me.
The tiger phantom opened its jaws.
And swallowed it.
For a brief moment—
Everything became silent.
The enormous beam disappeared into the tiger's mouth.
It transformed into countless points of starlight.
Then—
WHOOSH!!!!!
The starlight rushed into my body.
My eyes widened.
Wrong move.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The Bloodline Energy contained within the attack suddenly erupted.
The energy I had devoured collided with the energy already raging inside me.
The two forces reacted violently.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
A colossal explosion swallowed everything.
The battlefield disappeared beneath a sea of destruction.
Mountains were erased.
The earth vaporized.
The sky was torn apart.
The shockwave expanded for miles.
The crater beneath me became so enormous that every previous crater looked like nothing more than a pothole beside it.
For several seconds—
There was nothing.
No movement.
No sound.
Only destruction.
The Demon King stood at the center of the devastation.
His breathing was heavy.
His body was covered in cracks.
His Bloodline Energy still burned around him.
He stared at the enormous crater.
Then—
His expression changed.
A strange uncertainty appeared in his eyes.
What happened?
He couldn't sense me.
Had I been killed?
Had that attack finally been enough?
He remained still.
Waiting.
Then a faint movement came from the depths of the crater.
A small amount of dust fell.
The Demon King's eyes widened.
My voice finally emerged from beneath the ruins.
"...That last punch still makes my head spin."
A hand emerged from the crater.
Then another.
I slowly pulled myself upward.
My clothes were destroyed.
My body was bruised.
Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
But I was smiling.
A genuine smile.
Because something inside me had finally clicked.
The dragon had thought he was unleashing his instincts.
He had no idea—
He had just taught me how to unleash mine.