When Beasts go to Battle

I slowly breathed out, while pushing my abdomen in. I slowly breathed in, while pushing my abdomen out. The Daoist breathing technique did indeed make the user slightly stronger, but its main purpose was to calm the heart.

Inside, his soul lay dormant and still, leaking to the edges, it was ready to explode.

In the sky, I saw the Czar, shock overcame me. It was another beast, a true beast, who walked the path. No surprise was evident on the Czar's face.

He had a scaled and beige shell similar to an armadillo coating him thickly. His feet were lengthy with monstrous talons protruding, soaked in blood even now. His claws were out, and equaled the length of his own body.

When he landed, his claws landed firmly in the sand.

He had the tail of a scorpion, ironclad and venomous. His head was that of a distorted wolf, a lion, and man. His eyes as blank and pitiless as the night. He stood before me, looking about the slaughter, he began groaning, as fire hooked itself around him, as he clawed at his eyes. They turned red, slitted pupils emitting a maddening flame.

A true beast, he did not have the grace of transformation. He could never fit into a community, so he made one. Now it was gone within the night, the same thing that had happened before.

Two beasts went to battle on the bloodied desert that day.

His soul burned of fury, and his swipes were rapid, with no logical flow, they were purely chaotic random strikes of a beast. I deflected with my sword, and pushed him away with a magnetic field, He flew back many feet, but just as quickly lunged at me.

I swung my tail, and countered his. They bashed above us as we clashed with blades and claws down below. For some reason, I was overwhelmed. This was a truly mad beast, in a frenzy, and I could hardly keep up. Claw marks appeared deep on my skin, and my blood soaked the ground.

I took to the skies, he soon chased after. I shot my lightning at him, with full power, he quickly rolled out of the way. I shot another blast and arced it with magnetism, he took the blow and flew to the side. The beast was mad and retaliated quickly, the slits in his eyes shooting beams of fire, penetrating my wings.

I dropped back down, but he was upon me like an axe on a log. His massively oversized talons now attack furiously along with his claws. I swung my two blades forming from my fingers wildly, now sensing a serious threat. I cut his claws and talons apart, he tore into my metallic flesh, the scars now overwhelming, blood dripping like a geyser.

I quickly analyzed the environment, and saw an oasis to dive in. I backpedaled, sidestepping and jumping his now clawless fist swipes. I dived into the water, attempting to bide time so I may heal. My injuries were severe, and the water was instantly dyed a bloodied red.

That beast dove in too, but was not able to see, nor think apparently. I shot blast after blast of lightning through the blinding red water, and that terrible beast began to shriek in pain. On its own instincts, it desperately swam out of the water.

I sat in there for a few moments, a brief respite in a hurricane of pain. I could still hear his groans and footsteps in the sand above. Finally, I no longer heard him, and peaked my head out. Instantly, he suddenly came crashing straight down from the sky, his mouth open.

In a fraction of a second, I was able to push the strike aside, and it landed on my left shoulder, piercing through the skin fiercely. Here I was, caught in a bite by a beast, his jaws had enormous strength, the strongest force I've encountered yet, it managed to immediately pierce my skin. I could feel an overflowing soul within him.

I put my fingers to his neck, but it was too late. He fully pierced my alloyed skin.

"AHHHHH, FUCK!…ah…shit…" I could help but wail and curse in pain as my left arm was fully bitten off. What a terrible pain, it hurt so bad, blood was gushing out. The feeling of losing a limb is the feeling of losing a literal piece of yourself. I was in incredible pain, and rage.

Without delay, with my fingers still to its neck, I turned them into a blade and fully pierced through. Though the angle was now tilted, and pierced downward in its neck.

The Czar staggered back and clutched the side of his neck, as it bled and heavily affected his breathing, he was gasping as his eyes widened in fury and horror.

I was clutching my left shoulder, which was a horrific gory shredded flower, spraying blood on the sand endlessly. My eyes stared at the beast in fury.

When Beasts go to battle, there are no survivors.

We lunged at each other, he used both his arms to grab me, but I ducked under, and wrapped him up with my tail, sliding behind him. I kicked the back of his legs, and he fell on his knees. I used my right arm and wrapped it firmly around his neck.

He was stuck like this, as I squeezed the life out of him like some snake. He struggled, and struggled. We rolled around on the red desert sand for minutes, he was writhing and moving with all his strength, and I was holding on with all of mine. Slowly, the struggle grew lesser and lesser.

My right arm around his neck and my tail around his body, he slowly lost his strength. As the final vestiges of life faded from the slits in those abhorrent eyes, the sun reached its highest point in the sky. In that single, special minute, the czar was finally freed from this world.

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I lay there in the desert, broken, one-armed, cut apart. I gasped in pain, and rolled around slowly on the sand.

"Are you okay?! Stop the bleeding, make a tourniquet." Au-ha panicked. "Tell me you're okay!"

"ahh…I'm fine, haha." I struggled to talk without immense pain, " I will heal, one day."

"Well done. A true battle of beasts. When they go to war, there are no compromises. Now, quickly take his soul, before it goes to the river."

"He could've been long gone by now, so why does his soul stay?" his soul still rested in his now dead body, as if not willing to live another life.

"Hmmm….just take the soul, it doesn't matter." responded the Lord of Stars.

"Will I evolve, how long will it take?" I was worried I would be stuck as a flower for 7 years again.

"The previous evolution was different, you had to be completely remade, particle by particle, Of course it would take a while. This evolution will only take a few weeks to a month."

Few weeks to a month? Mo Yang would likely not survive that long.

"Just store the soul in your inner dimension, and hurry back before any beasts come. Go and get some rest, please." Au-ha pleaded. The soul still lay still, refusing the river. I took it into my spatial pocket inside.

"Ha, that'll work" The Lord stated as he retreated back to the unconscious. He had clearly grown somewhat distasteful of my actions.

I looked at the corpse, and decided to leave it to the desert.

I crawled back, slowly, with one arm dragging a disfigured and damaged body.

Around me lay a limitless land of beasts and corpses.

When Beast Go to Battle, death comes in large doses.