Ritual

With a little of the essence he could control, the arrow flew as fast as Nathan had ever shot an arrow before.

Mysteriously, just as the arrow was about to hit the calamity, it hit an invisible wall, bounced off and fell to the ground, silencing everyone.

Nathan did not know what the calamity had done, but the battle had not yet begun, and Nathan was already annoyed by its unknown abilities.

Suddenly, the calamity raised the shard again and Nathan clicked his tongue, knowing something was about to happen. The other cadets watched cautiously, and Maya was a little tense as well, while the soldier frowned slightly.

A few seconds later, they all felt a cold sensation behind them and turned around to see the blood from the hundreds of calamities begin to float towards the Special Category.

Nathan heard Maya smack her lips next to him.

"Let's not waste any time!"

With that, the young woman clenched her fists and lowered her center of gravity, launching herself towards the special category without hesitation.

The Calamity lowered his head slightly to look at her and said something in the same unintelligible language as before, just before Maya reached him.

The young woman threw her fist with all her might, only to hit an invisible but solid wall that pushed her back.

Nathan frowned at the sight, he didn't understand what the invisible wall was, but it was a problem.

Meanwhile, the blood continued to trickle down to the Calamity's feet, spreading across the floor in a unique pattern.

Nathan sensed that the Calamity was trying to perform some kind of strange ritual, and it was probably not a good thing, so he didn't hesitate to draw his katana and run towards the Calamity.

He reached the invisible wall where Maya was still throwing fists but seeing that the young woman's blows seemed to have no effect, he didn't bother to attack the wall. Instead, he slowly walked forward and raised his hand, trying to lean against the wall.

Indeed, Nathan placed his hand on the invisible wall and felt a cold sensation. He did not understand what the wall was made of, but it was probably the ability of the Special Category.

Nathan paused for a few seconds to think. 

They couldn't pass through the wall, but the blood could. 

'What is the difference between the blood and us?'

Nathan had no idea, he didn't even know if his thoughts were going in the right direction, but at some point, he felt a shudder as he heard faint sounds coming towards him.

He turned quickly to see hundreds of snakes of all sizes emerging from the water.

'How?'

Not understanding why snakes had appeared out of nowhere, Nathan watched as the cadets began to kill them. He decided to leave them to it while he and Maya continued to search for a way past the wall.

As the young woman took a more aggressive approach, Nathan continued to think about the reasons why he couldn't cross.

Nathan put his finger in his mouth and bit it, then sucked the blood that came out of his wound and, after collecting some of it, spat it into the barrier.

His blood hit the barrier and began to slide down to the floor. Nathan frowned at the sight. Then he began to walk around the circle marked by the posts to see how far the invisible wall extended.

As he concentrated on this, the pattern on the ground filled in more and more, until almost half of it was covered in blood.

Nathan knew he had to stop the circle from filling up completely, but he had gone through almost half of the circle and the wall was still there. Without any more ideas, Nathan smacked his lips and looked at Maya, who was still pounding on the wall, hoping it would break.

Suddenly, with one of the blows, a small crack appeared in the invisible wall. Maya stopped to catch her breath and smiled broadly when she saw the crack.

Nathan, on the other hand, sighed and shook his head slightly.

'I overthought it'

Stepping back a few steps, Nathan took his stance, raised his sword, and swung at the invisible wall.

His sword rebounded, but Nathan didn't stop and continued. Little by little, the crack that had appeared in front of Maya grew larger and larger until the wall was about to collapse.

Nathan stopped when he saw that the wall was about to collapse and prepared to attack the disaster. 

Maya charged with a huge blow and struck the wall one last time, shattering it with the sound of breaking glass.

Maya smiled and went after the Calamity again. Nathan didn't hesitate either, lunging with his sword, ready to cut.

At that moment, however, the calamity spoke again and suddenly it just... exploded.

They both stopped, stunned.

"What?!" cried Maya.

Nathan just watched as the fragment fell to the ground and the blood of the special category merged with the rest of the blood, completing the circle of blood on the ground.

'Shit!'

Not knowing what was happening, they both quickly backed away, stepping out of the circle of blood as they watched as blood began to flow from all sides towards the center, towards the shard.

The blood began to fuse with the shard, and slowly something began to form with the shard as its core.

Nathan could only watch as something began to form. First a pair of sturdy legs formed, then a torso up to the chest, then two arms, and finally a monstrous head emerged from the blood.

"What is that thing?" said Maya in disbelief.

Nathan remained silent, not knowing what to say. The red creature, made entirely of blood, moved its limbs slightly, as if waking from a long sleep.

The fragment was visible in its chest and the creature's veins pulsed with great intensity.

Nathan swallowed, he didn't know what the monster in front of him was, but it was definitely not good. So, he didn't wait any longer and took advantage of the fact that the monster seemed to be in a slumbering state to attack it.

Maya saw Nathan approach the creature and she didn't hesitate either, she clenched her fists and ran.

When they were both within a few meters of the creature, it suddenly opened its eyes and stared straight ahead in annoyance. It then raised its massive arms before crouching down and slamming into the ground.

The platform cracked and chunks of stone flew off, forcing Nathan and Maya to stop and retreat as they blocked the stones.

The creature stood up and raised its arms, roaring furiously into the sky.

Nathan heard the roar and realized one thing.

'We're fucked'