Full Bloom

Unlike the previous deformed monstrosity that Felix had to fight, what stood before him resembled a bear—a bipedal bear, to be precise. Sofia looked puzzled as Felix frowned.

The bear stood on its hind legs while its front claws seemed sharp enough to render metal. The boss was already two meters high, but this bear seemed to have doubled in size. He could almost touch the ceiling despite them being quite high.

As the bear growled, madness could be seen in its eyes.

"Get back!" Felix shouted to Sofia, propping up his weapon.

Sofia hurriedly retreated as the beast pounced. Despite its massive size, its movements were nimble. The speed with which it carried itself made it almost impossible for Felix to evade its blows. While the bear used its claws to attack, Felix had no choice but to parry them. The blade, however, couldn't withstand the immense force and shattered.

Pieces of the blade flew in all directions. Try as he might, Felix was unable to avoid all of them, and a few lodged themselves in his torso. Felix was lucky that the shards avoided his vitals, but the bleeding would make the fight difficult. The bear, however, seemed unhurt, as the shards couldn't penetrate its thick hide and fur.

Without a weapon, the battle was entirely one-sided. While avoiding the bear, Felix tried to staunch the bleeding to little effect. Although the beast was fast, its movements were easy to predict, as it was mostly moving on instinct. While evading, Felix's mind raced. No standard weapons could deal with this. He quickly scanned the room and had an idea.

Although the fortress seemed sturdy, it had been abandoned for far too long and desperately needed repair. The thugs had used the place for quite a while now, but they had never repaired it, as they lacked the skill to do so. As such, most of the stone walls seemed ready to fall easily. Felix was cool-headed despite his predicament and carefully chose his target.

The beast, unable to reach its prey, grew restless and enraged. It kept charging forward, just like a raging bull. Felix positioned himself carefully at the appropriate spot and waited for his chance. His wait didn't last long as the beast charged once again.

Just as they were about to collide, Felix ducked under the bear's swipe, evading the blow. The bear couldn't stop its charge in time and rammed the wall. The impact dislodged most of the stones that held the wall. Missing the support of the wall below, the second-floor support beam couldn't withstand the weight and came crashing down onto the beasts, pinning it to the floor.

"Is... is it dead?" Sofia asked as Felix caught his breath.

As the ceiling fell down, Felix had already moved out of the range of the collapse. He was now busy tending to his injuries as he replied.

"Probably not. Those types of beasts are quite resilient. It will take much more than that to take it down."

Indeed, the beast was still conscious and trying to swipe at Felix with its only free claw.

"Why is it different than the ones before?" Sofia asked as she looked at the bear and helped Felix tend to his wounds.

Felix pondered a bit before answering.

"That's the real use of that pill. It enables those with a somewhat pure bloodline to achieve what is referred to as a full bloom."

"A... full bloom," Sofia repeated, puzzled.

"It's a term the kingdom's military uses for those who can fully awaken their bloodlines. See the bear in front of us? This form is a manifestation of his bloodline. His ancestor probably mixed with a bear bloodline at some point, and with the aid of the pill, his bloodline bloomed."

"Something wrong?" Sofia asked as she saw the look on Felix's face.

"Full bloom users are quite rare," Felix replied. "It takes more than just a pure bloodline to achieve it. Do you know how the military classifies bloodline users?" Sofia shook her head before Felix continued, "Rank, purity, compatibility. All three are needed for full bloom. Long story short, this guy is lacking in all three and has yet to achieve full bloom. This is too bizarre, even with the aid of the pill. Something else must be at work here."

Sofia looked at the struggling beast again, asking, "What do we do with it now?"

"The pill only works for a limited time. Once its effects wear out, he'll return to normal and be weakened for a time..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he heard the stones shifting. The beast was slowly crawling out of the rumbles.

Sensing the incoming fight, Felix sought a weapon. Unfortunately, every weapon he saw was low-quality and couldn't injure this beast. As Felix frantically scanned the room, he finally noticed the black blade beside Sofia.

"How did you retrieve this blade? I thought it was locked behind an artifact," Felix asked, perplexed.

"I don't know, but after he took the pill, I went to check on it, and the artifact had disappeared."

Felix took the blade and unsheathed it. The black blade was in pristine condition. The blade was clean, and its edge sharp. Felix caressed the blade as if touching a lover. The previous fights had made him miss his old partner.

As Felix rose, the beast finally crawled out of the rumbles. As expected, the beast was unharmed. While trapped, the beast's rage kept increasing. As soon as it was free, it charged towards Felix.

The beast didn't think much of Felix as his earlier attempts at injuring it didn't amount to much. Therefore, the beast only kept attacking without defending itself. Unfortunately, Felix's current weapon was vastly different from his previous ones.

As the beast swiped at him with its claw, Felix parried the blow with its blade. This time, however, the blade didn't break. The beast's paw was severed instead. Despite the hide and fur that had previously seemed impervious to blades, the black blade slid as if through butter as the paw fell.

The missing limb enraged the beast even further. Not learning from its mistake, it swung its other claw at Felix. Needless to say, as Felix parried the second blow, the same happened.

Now missing both hands, the beast finally realized its predicament. It turned to flee, but those missing limbs messed with its balance and caused it to fall backward. Felix took the opportunity to sever the remaining two limbs.

Although the fight this time seemed easy, parrying those blows was more challenging than it looked. The concentration needed to cut through that hide exhausted him, and he fell to the ground, panting. He had made sure the beast couldn't move anymore.

As Felix rested on the floor, his eyes and aura finally returned to normal. As the shift happened, a jolt of pain spread throughout his whole body, almost causing him to fall unconscious. Felix tried his best not to let it show. Fortunately for him, Sofia was too busy making sure the beast was incapacitated.

Once the pain left, Felix finally rose to his feet and approached the dying beast. As the blood left the beast, its body slowly reverted to its previous appearance. Soon, the body was human again.

"So you won.. huh," the boss said in disdain as he recovered his rationality.

Felix didn't feel compelled to put him out of his misery or even respond to his dying words, so he kept silent. Both men silently stared at each other until Sofia took hold of the limbless man's neck, shouting, "Where's my brother! What have you done to him!"

The man laughed despite the pain. He looked at Sofia with ridicule. Enraged, Sofia shook the man, screaming frantically, "WHERE IS HE!"

Felix put his hand on her shoulder. Sofia turned to face him before letting go of the dying man. As he hit the ground, the man coughed up blood. As he lay dying, the man spoke, his words clear and sharp despite the breath of life leaving him, "He's not here anymore."

"WHERE!" Sofia screamed again. The man looked at her with scorn.

"Don't bother little girl. Over a year ago, two men came for him. How they found out about him, I don't know, but they were aware that he possessed a special bloodline."

"What special bloodline?! It's just an ordinary snake."

"An ordinary snake?!" the man said, raising his voice. No, you truly know nothing. What snake can compare to the legendary Hydra?" After catching his breath, the man resumed, "They found him here and took him with them. I haven't heard from him since."

"Who were they?" Sofia asked with a frown.

"Who can say? Probably important people, judging from the governor's attitude."

"Why tell us all this?" Felix interrupted. "I doubt you discovered your conscience at death's door."

"Because it matters not," the man sneered. "You're not leaving here alive. Do you think I don't recognize this blade? Despite my current state, I was a soldier during the war. We've all heard of you and your black blade. Despite being from the kingdom, you roamed the battlefield, dealing death indiscriminately. People even took to calling you the Black Death as you reaped lives like the plague, you traitor! That artifact you saw has two functions, a seal and an alarm once the seal is broken. Who do you think heard that alarm!?"

The man's laughter echoed as he took his last breath.

Sofia looked conflicted at the revelation, but before she could voice her doubts, a voice could be heard not far away.

"Come out and lay your weapons down! You are surrounded!"