Chapter 14

"Don't look down on me!" Juniper snarled as he jumped back from Duan Cai to recalculate his moves.

A burning aura started to envelop Juniper's fist as he raised his hand up and slammed his fist forward. The aura shot from his hand and slammed into Duan Cai's chest causing him to get pushed back slightly. Duan Cai braced himself where he stood so that he would not fall backwards. The strength behind the aura was enough to move his body back slightly causing skid marks across the ground where he had been shoved. There was no damage done to him because his inner strength was much higher than the force behind Juniper's aura. It did not take much for Duan Cai to endure it.

"Very interesting.. Do you think you could take mine?" Duan Cai smiled with a spark in his eyes.

The air around Duan Cai started to twist and shudder as a golden light slowly started to expand from Duan Cai's body until the light started to take shape of a beast. There was a rumbling sound coming from Duan Cai's body that made him sound almost like a monster that could swallow a person whole. Life seemed to come from the aura that was escaping Duan Cai causing it to look like a giant hand of a beast with massive claws that were slowly reaching out towards Juniper with scales that glistened in the light. Golden as the beast hand was it still gave off a terrifying power behind it that made Juniper sweat as he gazed at it.

Juniper was torn between feeling fear to run and the thrill of seeing something beyond what he had expected. He knew he might not win a fight against Duan Cai, but he still knew he wanted to try. If he could not win a fight he was determined to escape and try again later. There was no chance of him allowing himself to die today. Smirking with excitement he moved to dodge the incoming claws as they clasped down to grab him.

Duan Cai extended his hand towards Juniper to control the beast arm from his aura. Swinging the claws sideways the beast hand impacted against Juniper's body and sent him flying. His body slamming against a tree in the yard causing leaves to fall as the entire tree vibrated upon impact. Blood burst from Junipers mouth as he glared up at Duan Cai with a look of admiration of what he was seeing and feeling from the aura.

"A dragon indeed.." Juniper laughed madly for a moment and jumped back to his feet as he wiped the blood from his face.

Slamming his feet into the ground he shot himself up into the air. His blazing aura pulsing repeatedly from his feet to send him flying across the air to escape. As Juniper glanced back he could see the hand of the beast extending out further to try and grasp hold of him from behind. He was not willing to get caught today, however. He would regain himself and form a plan to retry his attack later.

No matter how fast Juniper could manage to fly forward with his aura he could not escape Duan Cai's golden beast hand. The claws of the hand extended and swung at Juniper. He struggled to dodge it but one of the claws slammed into him and sent him flying forward straight into the city streets while blood splattered throughout the air. From a glance nobody could tell if the man had been killed or simply wounded, but Duan Cai was sure that Juniper was not dead. He was not in the mood to chase the man down, but at least he had displayed himself in a way that would leave him a temporary sense of peace and quiet with the man.

"Fuck! Damn that Royal Dragon!" Juniper cursed and punched the ground in pain as his face bleed. There was a massive cut down the left side of his face that was gushing blood.

Juniper's emotions were jumping all over the place. At a moment he would feel hatred and another moment he would alternate to laughing with excitement like a mad man as he raised his hand up and licked at the blood covering his hand as he shivered with the thrill of finding someone he could put a goal forward to hunting. He had found something he desired. As much as Juniper admired power there was something he desired more and that was to hunt the ultimate prey. It was something that sent chills down to his core.

It had been years since his own blood had been shed and at the moment his white kimono was drowning in from the wound on his face. As much as he hated being wounded it was a battle scar that would be left to remember his prey after he could successfully end Duan Cai with his own hands in the future. He had tested Duan Cai with his fight to find the limits of the man and it looked to be boundless. It was something that pleased Juniper to his core.

"Finally... Finally! Hahah!" Juniper burst out laughing maniacally as people avoided walking near him on the street.

Back at the mansion Duan Cai had no idea what Juniper was thinking and he did not care at all. There was no way for him to know that he had just fed a mad man the thing he had dreamed for the most by showing that he could be a worthy opponent for him to declare a full out rivalry against for days to come. The only thing that Duan Cai wanted was to live his days in tranquility. He had only hoped to display himself to the point Juniper would not want to come back any time soon for him. If Duan Cai had known he had just fed a mad man a deep desire to get stronger and return back to try and aim for him again in the future he might have went out to finish him off before he could have the chance to do anything in the future.

Duan Cai had no knowledge of how badly he had messed up at the time, however, and caused a ripple affect with his carelessness that would one day cause him to regret not heeding Leon's advice when he was given the chance to.