Ch 13 – Killer Move
"Huh?" the rat beastmen behind Kaleido noticed the strange knife that suddenly appeared in his hand. The rat beastmen felt puzzled at how it appeared out of nowhere, but it was confident that nothing bad would happen.
'Hmph, so what if you have a strange Gu, you're merely Rank 1, any one of us can quickly kill you-'
"Hey, rat fucker, you really just had to lie to me, didn't ya?" Kaleido stared at the rat beastmen behind him with a crazed grin. A chill crawled up the rat beastmen's spine upon seeing the cruel smile that appeared on Kaleido's face.
A feeling of immense danger overloaded his senses. He tried to move his body, but in the next moment, an invisible force seemed to have grabbed his entire body from head to toe. The pressure felt suffocating and heavy as if it would only take a single squeeze and he would explode into a meat paste.
"Kukuku, to think I would have the opportunity to cause a massacre so soon! Thank you, rat fucker…," Kaleido grinned as the black markings on his body glowed ominously. "Without you, I wouldn't have been able to satiate my stress and bloodlust."
Bam!
The beastmen all watched with gaping mouths. The rat beastmen's body exploded in an instant, squashed and mushed together into a spherical ball of blood and flesh. The others near Kaleido tried to run away, but a heavy pressure descended upon them, disabling their ability to move a single muscle.
'Neat, Formless Barrier Gu is versatile as I expected. It can even be spread out to press down on this beastmen.' Kaleido smiled and raised his hand into the sky.
Slamming his hand down to the ground, space warped and all of the beastmen around him experienced the same fate as the rat beastmen. It was as if a heavy hammer smashed ruthlessly downwards, smashing their bodies into a pool of blood and flesh, mixed with gray brain matter.
Kaleido took a deep breath, the refreshing smell of blood entering his nose. He felt thrilled as adrenaline was pumped into his body. He stared at the tribe in front of him; the beastmen who were all feasting on the human bodies, both young and old, stared at him back with fearful eyes.
"W-Who is he?!" A fox beastmen asked while trembling in fear. They have never seen such a brutal sight before. It was as if Kaleido was a god; with a single wave of his arm, all of the beastmen near him were smushed to a meat paste without resistance.
"Who cares! He's only one guy!" A gorilla beastmen responded, his eyes seemingly burning with fighting intent.
"Yeah! He's a human, while we are beastmen! That must have been just a fluke!"
While they were rapidly talking with one another, Kaleido watched coldly with a curious smile. 'Huh, so it seems like beastmen are stupid as hell. They saw my overwhelming strength and are already preparing to fight. Maybe that rat guy was special considering he was the leader of his group.'
The beastmen quickly gathered into an organized army. Some flew into the air, while others created meatshields in front. On the back, there were those who summoned weapons from thin air, formed elemental attacks using qi path Gu Worms, and more.
Their auras were surging like a tsunami. Their fierce gazes stared at him, and overwhelming killing intent charged toward the lone warrior, Kaleido.
In response to that, Kaleido only snickered and pointed his space knife toward them. "Come! Let me see the strength of the beastmen of this world! Don't disappoint me, you mongrels!"
Both sides had overwhelming intent to fight. But as they were about to start, a shadow suddenly landed in front of the beastmen, causing a loud boom to occur. As dust and smoke receded, a figure appeared in the two sides' vision.
It was a hulking beastmen. His skin was colored bronze. His figure was muscular and roaring with strength and vigor. His head was that of a lion with dark brown fur. Swishing from their back was a lion's tail. With a flex of their hand, their fingernails extended and turned into sharp metallic claws.
"Tribe leader!"
"Hahaha! With the tribe leader here, the human is dead meat!"
While the beastmen were rejoicing, the tribe leader instead stared at the human with cold but wary eyes. 'Back then, even if he exuded the aura of a Rank 1 Gu Master, he clearly displayed abilities far beyond it. This human… he must be hiding his true strength!'
As the tribe leader, the lion beastmen was obviously not dumb. Just seeing the previous spectacle alone caused an ominous feeling to bloom in his heart, and that intuition was what kept him alive for so long, so he wasn't going to ignore it now.
"Human!" The lion beastmen pointed at Kaleido with a fierce gaze. "Tell us, what intent do you have by coming here?"
"Me?" Kaleido looked around him and smiled. "Oh yes, I'm the only human here that wouldn't be dead or suffering."
"Enough with your games! Why did you come here? Is it to save your own kin?" The lion beastmen growled while his claws glowed with crimson red light. With that gesture alone, anyone with eyes would see that he was threatening to kill the remaining humans that were still alive and hadn't been feasted upon by the beastmen.
"Save them?" Kaleido paused and stared at the remaining humans locked in cages, and another bout of ridiculing laughter commenced: "Hahaha! It really does seem like I'm the hero in this situation who is about to save you guys."
Hearing his words, the remaining humans who had glimmers of hope appear from their eyes were snuffed out, and they returned back to despairing silence.
'He's not here to save them? Then why?' The lion beastmen felt confused. If Kaleido was not here to save them, then why did he initiate conflict?
"It was because your stupid subordinate tried to lure me here to perhaps be eaten by you guys. Unfortunately for that rat, I was a bit stronger than what I let on to be," Kaleido chuckled and the space knife in his hand let out an ominous hum. "And now, it seems like you guys won't let this go."
"Is that so…," the tribe leader hastily calculated within his mind multiple variables before responding: "Then conflict is indeed unavoidable. But we don't want to needlessly damage everything else, right? So why don't we settle this to a duel to the death, if you win, you'll get your revenge, and you can walk away without having to harm my tribe."
"And if you win?" Kaleido asked back.
"If I win…," the lion beastmen grinned, baring his sharp fangs at Kaleido. "Then you'll be a pleasant meal for me to eat!"
The aura of a Rank 5 Gu Master burst out from the beastmen, shocking Kaleido for a bit. 'Rank 5? I didn't expect this guy to be this strong!'
He expected that the tribe leader would only be Rank 4, but Rank 5? Rank 5 represents the peak of the mortal realm, and he was already facing one as a peak stage Rank 1 Gu Master? Normally, he would already run away upon seeing how strong the lion beastmen was, but a thought popped up, and killing intent leaked out from his body. 'If I do manage to win as a mere Rank 1… then wouldn't that mean I'll be unrivaled in the mortal realm?! Of course, if those mythical Gu Immortals do exist, then I won't be unrivaled, but Rank 5 battle strength will be more than enough for me to live comfortably in this world!'
Will he test out his strength, or go for the rational choice and run away?
"Ha! Very well, I'll accept your challenge!" Kaleido's body bubbled with excitement and he stepped forward.
The opportunity to test out his abilities against a Rank 5 Gu Master! This was perhaps his lucky opportunity to see how his future would be. If he wins, then life would be smooth-sailing for him for the rest of his life as long as he doesn't offend any Gu Immortal (if they even exist in the first place).
With the duel set in place, all of the surrounding beastmen ran away and the two stared at each other with gleaming eyes. This was a fight that would decide the fate of his entire tribe, so the lion beastmen tribe leader had to fight with his all.
Boom!
The lion beastmen tribe leader executed the first move and launched himself forward, swinging his claws as shadowy red claw beams appeared in the air in front of him. 'Rank 4 Gu—Shadow Qi Lion Claw!'
Kaleido waved his hand forward. The formless barrier covering his entire body expanded forward, forming a ginormous invisible hand to block the qi attack. But that was a part of the lion beastmen's plan.
He hid behind his attack and appeared right behind Kaleido all of a sudden as he popped out from the shadows. This was the unique ability of a Shadow Lion! With the wild Gu on his body, he can enter and launch out of shadows which gives him the ability to deal fatal blows to enemies out of nowhere.
"Slow, very slow," Kaleido's eyes gleamed and with a swift turn of his body, his body coated in a spatial barrier ruthlessly kicked the lion beastmen's head, launching him away.
'Tsk,' the lion beastmen remarked and entered the shadows once again, disappearing from Kaleido's view.
'Oho, that's quite the interesting Gu he has there. I wonder what Gu allows him to enter the shadows like that.' Kaleido felt intrigued and continued defending. He didn't initiate any attacks and only counter-attacked as he examined the lion beastmen with observant eyes.
With his ability to think at rapid speeds, and his genius intellect, Kaleido's combat experience drastically rose when it came to the very basics of martial arts. He traded blow after blow against the lion beastmen's ridiculously strong body, ingraining the lion beastmen's fighting methods into his own body.
'Crap! He's stronger than me!' Even if he was a Rank 5 Gu Master, the lion beastmen only had Rank 4 Gu, and even the Wild Gu on his body that gives him his shadow lion features was only Rank 4! Against Kaleido's formless barrier, any of his normal attacks can't do a thing!
'No, I still have a way to end this!' the lion beastmen crouched down, a part of his body already mending into the shadow below him.
"Come on, is that the best you can do? I expected something more from this!" Kaleido mocked in the distance while twirling the void black knife in his hands with a bored gaze.
'A Rank 5 really isn't as strong as I expected, though the auras of the Rank 4 Gu on his body do mean that he doesn't have any Rank 5 Gu. Perhaps with Rank 5 Gu, he might be exponentially strong compared to now, so I still can't be careless if I do face a theoretically optimal Rank 5 Gu Master.' Kaleido assessed inwardly. While his enemy isn't the strongest Rank 5 there is, he can still confidently say he can face any Rank 5 Gu Master that exists… maybe.
Why? It's because he hasn't even used his full strength the entire fight! As a Rank 1 Gu Master, he was toying with a Rank 5 Gu Master! If he became Rank 2 and have access to higher-ranked Gu which is stronger compared to Rank 2, then wouldn't that mean that a Rank 5 Gu Master is obsolete when facing him?
Just as his thoughts were wandering, the tribe leader suddenly appeared right in front of him from the shadows.
"Killer move—Shadow Lion Transformation!" Intense dark purple light exploded and Kaleido was forced to close his eyes, but he still had his Spatial Domain Gu activated and saw the tribe leader transform into a dark purple lion the size of a human!
"Roar!"
AN: This chapter has 2029 words.
Yep, I'm definitely gonna go an a short hiatus once my stockpile reaches 5 chapters. I fucking hate school; why is fate cucking me from writing a single chapter.
Send power stones, comment, like and subscribe, smash that bell, and fuck love and those bastards who already have lovers in my class. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME! PLEASE, EVEN A GIRLFRIEND WOULD DO!
(December 26, 2022 – 396th day of writing)