27 Godermo's Decision

The dying bearded man looked at the strange events caused by the snake in shock. The words that the creature reserved to him still echoed in his mind, over and over.

"That's because I'm going to take it"

That phrase full of cruelty and irony made a dent in the dying man's mind. Was he really not going to the ultimate resting place of his tribe?

"No, it's impossible! Not even this monster can forbid me from joining the ancestors!" stubbornly said the raider while the last wisps of life were leaving his body. He truly believed that. He held it as unmovable truth. There was nothing in the world able to stop him from going to enjoy his peace in the Eternal Flame.

However, he was wrong. Dead Wrong.

As life left his body, his consciousness transformed into countless silver lights that began to be attracted by the huge vortex before the snake.

"I told you, stupid human."

The singularity had suddenly begun to rotate even more quickly, and as a result, a new type of energy seemed to be attracted by the increased aspiration power of the vortex: the new lines of energy were silver in color, bringing with them a very gloomy sensation. Each line came from places where cadavers lied, and at this time the battleground was full of those.

If someone could move close to the dozens of silver filaments moving toward the vortex, they would hear voices coming from them. Voices of pain and confusion. Voices of the people that those lines represented!

That was Ghost Energy!

It was a very strange and peculiar form of energy, only used by a small quantity of cultivator because of the difficulty to absorb it and manipulate it. While even the Blood Energy was difficult to find naturally, the Ghost Energy was also difficult to manipulate. There weren't many Ghost Energy Techniques, making it a very rare sight seeing someone that used it.

The most simple and basic form of that ghoulish energy form was composed by the soul of the recently deceased. These souls could be absorbed, becoming Ghost Energy. Naturally, there were also another ways to cultivate this energy, like using a Ghost Pond that could retain inside of itself souls of people, cutting them out from the reincarnation cycle.

However, the most used method to cultivate it was takin in the soul of the recently deceased, absorbing it before they could start their journey into the reincarnation river.

This was the first time that Darkscale tried to consume directly Ghost Energy. The Silver clouds and the white water from the Ghost Pond were also made of Ghost Energy, but they were old, conserved for years and thusly losing part of their strength and effectiveness.

His eyes now were completely silver, with a hue of red on top of that. He roared loudly, augmenting the rate of his aspiration power.

The vortex before is open mouth abruptly doubled in size, starting to consume even more red and silver lights that were coming from all around the battleground.

Many people around the battlefield momentarily stopped their fights and remained in awe of the great hole in the sky devouring red and silver lights that suddenly appeared in the rear of the convoy.

If the precedent moves of Darkscale had alerted only a fraction of the people fighting, now all were watching with disbelief as the souls of their friends and foes ended up in that devouring cavity.

"What is that?" Some of the Forest Will Tribe hunters looked suspiciously at the vortex. Was some kind of trick used by the Fire Earth Tribe to make them lose their cool blood? The raiders were famous for their terror-inducing tactics, that targeted the sanity of their victims.

"This is the Fire Earth doing!" called out one of the hunters hidden on the top of a carriage, a large verdant bow in his hands.

"Don't fall for their tricks!"

"Yeah! Keep slaughtering them!"

"Snipe them down!"

Cried the people on the ground, calling for the archers to keep attacking the Fire Earth raiders. The pause granted by the enlargement of the vortex was short-lived, and soon the two factions started again to fight fiercely.

"Are you guys insane?" exclaimed suddenly a Forest Will Tribe member with a devious wound on the side of his face.

"Does that looks like something that the Fire Earth dogs can create?" he continued, causing many people to give a second long look at the hole in the sky. Yet, hey couldn't help but suspect that is was something brought by the Fire Earth Tribe! It seemed absurd that the raider could create such a strange phenomenon, but why else would it appear right when the red clothed marauders attacked? The timing was too much suspect!

The Fire Earth Tribe, on their side, was even more worried than the defenders. Their commander, Godermo, looked at the vortex with a strange glint in his eyes. He wasn't stupid nor inexperienced: he knew that that wasn't something that could be created by the opposing side.

However, he also didn't recognize it as some of the random phenomena that appeared on the Extreme Wilderness forests.

"That is some kind of energy" he considered, looking at the streaks of silver and red that flowed inside the vortex. He couldn't recognize what kind of energy it was, but he could tell that it was strong.

"Something is gathering it..."

Suddenly he flashed forward, moving with insane velocity toward the vortex. All the Forest Will Tribe hunters that he crossed his path died without even noticing it. He became a swift red arrow of death, reaping countless lives with ease.

"Hmp"

His blade was dripping in blood when he arrived in the area of the battlefield where the vortex was operating. He stopped on the top of a carriage, with a single movement slaughtering the hunters that were using it to snipe his warriors.

Headless body of a Forest Will Tribe hunter fell to the ground as he moved towards the edge of the wagon. There, his eyes met for the first time the creature that was behind that incredible anomaly in the air.

"A snake..." he said, surprised.

"No, that wasn't a simple snake." he corrected himself after a moment of shock. If it could cultivate, it was something more, a cultivator! Moreover, that technique that it was using wasn't your average breathing exercise. The creature was literally devouring countless quantity of energy. The method it was employing to gather energy wasn't simple at all.

"It's surely a Devil from the inner lands... I shouldn't make it my enemy" Thought the man.

Then, the face of the man darkened when he saw a couple of his warriors near the body of the beast responsible for the vortex. His eyes narrowed and his hands tightened around the handle of his weapon.

"..."

Meanwhile, Darkscale was feeling great!

He discovered that the energy from fresh silver filaments was of a different quality form that that lied inside the Ghost Pond. It helped his Natural Heart develop way faster. Coupled with the abundance of the Blood Energy, he was making great progress!

In just a couple of minutes, he gained so much! The amount of his advancement made him feel a bit disgusted: if he spent days and days using the Heavenly Battleground Technique in the Blue Cave he would probably get a worst result than the one he was easily obtaining now!

If he could keep up the rate of absorption, probably this would be the day that his Natural Heart finally finished to develop.

"Hehehe, now I need to find a w..." he suddenly interrupted his train of thought, a flash of danger passing through his eyes. He immediately twisted his body, moving his tail to protect his head and pushing himself back with all his strength.

"ROAR" A furious roar resounded on the battleground and even the forest around, followed by a terrible metal clash.

However, the people only cared about the first part! that roaring sound that was so similar to the one that they learned to fear in all their lives. No matter Forest Will or Fire Eart, they all trembled in dread when they heard the powerful roar.

"Devil"

"It' another devil!"

"Heavens! A Devil in the Blood Forest?"

Darkscale reappeared on a rock, dozens of meters far from his original position inside the runic array. On his tail, there was a bloody wound. The flesh wasn't damaged too deep, but it was a wound nonetheless.

The eyes of the serpent eyes were full of fury while he looked at a tall figure facing him from the position that he occupied a second ago. It was a human, bigger than normal, with a red armor made of some kind of red scales. In his hands he kept a large double-headed ax, dripping with other human blood and especially, his own!

That disgusting biped dared to attack him and managed to really hurt him!

"Are you looking to die?" said a cold juvenile voice coming out from a rune on the skin of the young serpent.