80 Ominous Signs
The mad giant lizard didn't even try to avoid the dark vortex that abruptly appeared between it and the creature that it wanted so desperately to devour.
The creature continued the jump, almost as it was expecting to crush the vortex without any effort. Without a working mind, the beast was considering the huge vortex like one of those columns or rocks scattered all around, that it could destroy with a simple swing of its tail.
'So fearless, so stupid...' considered Darkscale, shivering a little at the thought he also could have fallen in that state if it wasn't for his Bloodline Power. The black serpent was still at the top of a white rock, silver light shining from the formation on which he stood. He was using a little part of his awareness to control the integration of various powers: the runes, the Heavenly Battleground Technique, and Pretorian's Breath.
A Dark-colored vortex was the result of such a combination of powers, a vortex that had already proven itself being able to consume those mad spirit and transform them into power.
The rest of his awareness, the majority, was focused on listening for something. What? He didn't know in specific. Something. An indication of what Carelia was going to do next.
With her previous move, she made him know that she was desperate enough to try to attack him even at such incredible distance. She was way stronger and experienced than him, and she should already have known that her attack had very little chance of having an effect on him. Not at such an insane distance.
'She seemed desperate to not allow me on absorbing another one... maybe she's reached her limit?' considered the young serpent, looking at the approaching large lizard. Yes, maybe it was exactly like that: she was at her limit.
Thinking about it, she had started to scream a lot more with the last two spirits he had absorbed. Even if she was a great cultivator, and all what he had seen her do suggest that she was a very strong cultivator, her strength had to have a limit.
He had tried first hand the strength of the Corrupted Bloodline Power.
In front of the pensive snake, flying in the air with an angry howl, the giant lizard couldn't read the expression on the triangular face of the little reptile it was leaping towards. If it could, it would see a calm and contained expression, with a tinge of sadness. The snake wasn't scared at all of the gargantuan monster assaulting him. He pitied it.
The mad spirit considered Darkscale simply as something to be consumed. Why? Even it didn't know why. It just felt the desire to consume the snake. There was a compulsion to consume it deep in its bones. It was something that made all his other senses work worst.
The lizard was so much absorbed in its own fury that it didn't even realize that there were strange and dangerous fluctuations that came from the whirlpool he was so eager to crash into.
In his dark and maddened eyes, there was only the silhouette of that little black creature that was hidden behind it the vortex. Only feeding on him mattered.
The crazy assault ended like all the previous ones. Along with the others mad spirits that came before him, the lizard could only blame the effectiveness of the Heavenly Battleground Technique on a body like the one it had. It was a creature made almost completely of Ghost Energy. Pure Ghost Energy.
It didn't even have a chance.
When the creature touched the circular spiraling singularity, it found itself suddenly trapped inside a strange flow of energy.
No matter how much it growled, roared and screamed, it started to move towards the center of the vortex. Not by its own will, but moved by the flows of power that made up the singularity.
The lizard roared with even more madness, sparks of energy exploding with loud detonation all around its body, but even trying to rally the Ghost Energy that made up its body wasn't enough: it couldn't resist the increasing force that was pushing it towards the center of the vortex.
Maybe, if it had encountered Darkscale before his transformation, the lizard would have had a chance to survive even if the serpent had a perfect weapon to use against it.
However, now that the snake had at his disposition an immense quantity of energy, there was no chance for the crazy spirit.
The Heavenly Battleground Technique started to work its magic, slowly deconstructing the spirit into a river of energy. The beast didn't scream in pain, but it became more and more desperate.
Even if it didn't feel pain, it still had a strong sense of survival. It tried to gather again its forces, and after a couple of times, it actually succeeded to bring together a fairly high amount of power.
Darkscale was readying itself to strengthen the vortex when he saw something that caught his attention: Mental Manipulation! The lizard was trying to manipulate the energy it gathered in some sort of spell!
'This...'
This was the very first spirit that tried to do so. All the others had only tried to force their way out from the vortex, without succeeding, but this one was channeling power in a complex way!
Darkscale prepared to back up in front of such a new development when the energy that was being manipulated exploded in a soft detonation that filled the air with silver tendrils of energy.
'Failure...'
That was clearly a failure to manipulate. It happened to the snake countless time when he was learning to use Mental Manipulation instead of relying always on Runes. It happened when the concentration of the user wasn't enough to match the manipulation that one wanted to obtain.
Relaxing again, the serpent kept looking while the giant lizard - while it was being consumed by the vortex - continued time and time again to try the same energy manipulation. Each time without success, and ending in a small explosion of silver energy.
'It doesn't have the necessary control of his own energy...'
Darkscale looked with interest and preoccupation at the various complex weaving of power that the lizard attempted. From the attempts, the serpent could tell that the magic that the creature was trying to summon was a fairly complex one. It wasn't at the level of his own Heavenly Battleground Technique, but the level wasn't that far from it.
'It cannot manipulate energy well enough... its own energy...' the sole thought of such a destiny was terrifying. Having a great power inside of you but not being able to draw from it in the very moment where your life depended? Absolute nightmare.
'No control, the curse of the Devil...' the serpent shook his head. No, this would never happen to him. He had Bloodline Power, he could win against that curse!
The serpent was too much intelligent to be contempt with such a superficial response. Especially when he could feel the presence of Bloodline Power inside that lizard. It was different from his own Bloodline Power, but it also gave off the same feeling somehow.
'Didn't he also have Bloodline Power? Why didn't it help him? I think I must investigate more this befor...'
- KABOOOM -
Every thought that the serpent had, was interrupted by the loudest explosion he ever heard in his whole life.
The entire world trembled, heaven and earth. A violent force shook everything and everyone to the core. Many of the columns and statues that still stood, broke into pieces under that brute strenght.
The stone that Darkscale was standing on broke into multiple smaller chunks, destroying also the array that was drawn on it.
Immediately, the whirlpool that was containing the mad spirit started to rapidly lose power, allowing the lizard suddenly free to move towards the exterior of the large dark whirlpool, towards freedom.
"Hmph"
Darkscale, realizing that he needed to take control of the situation before the lizard could find its way outside of the vortex, didn't lose his calm.
He was falling from several meters of hight, together with the chunks of the rock where he was standing a moment before, but he still didn't panic.
With the same calm and placid expression, he began jumping between the falling chunks, towards the ground while at the same time pouring a large amount of energy in the whirlpool to obstruct the movements of the lizard as much as it was possible.
Then, once he managed to arrive on the ground he used Mental Manipulation to draw a new formation around him. He didn't seem preoccupied at all, during the whole action. Almost as if he was taking a stroll on a flowery field while he was thinking of something else.
-MMMM-
A familiar hummin started to sound again from under him after a couple of seconds, and his attention flew towards the unstable vortex. There, the lizard was still fighting against the large amount of energy that Darkscale had poured on the whirlpool.
'Stand still' He commanded, connecting the power of the new array to the other two forces that made up the vortex.
The beast to froze, unable to continue to move towards the outer layer of the giant circle. After a moment, the whirlpool started again to drag the mad beast towards its center. No matter how the creature protested.
Now that he had solved the problem with the lizard, Darkscale's eyes ran towards the sky: The first thing he noticed was the new ominous color of the sky: a dark crimson. Then he saw it: a giant cone of red light, big as a mountain. He could feel the power from his position, miles away.
"Bloodline Power."
