The Blood Mist of Bloodlust

"Begin!"

The two voices boomed at the same time, one in Chinese and the other in Japanese, right as dusk spilled into the temple.

With a bang, Mouko Yamashita's beefy, muscle-bound body enlarged in the reflection of Lou Cheng's eyes, his slitted eyebrows becoming vivid. At the doorway of the temple, where he was originally standing, the afterimage he left had not yet fully dispersed. A flickering red mist followed him in his path, neatly cutting through the flagstone and messy obstacles above it. The cuts were so uniform and smooth it was as though it had been the mark of a heavenly weapon slicing through it.

Lou Cheng felt a numbness at his scalp; his skin experienced horripilation. He was slightly caught off guard by the enemy's "flash-like" assault. He couldn't dodge it nor escape it, neither did he have enough time to use a simplified move of the Physical Invulnerability Stage, or even defend against it with Force Concentration.