Final Dance: A Battle to Remember (3).

The deadly dance between man and beast had become more and more violent as the seconds went by.

Hence, they decided to go all in...

"Azure Burst!"

"Awooooo!"

They clashed for the final time, without holding back. Cain held onto a container filled with blood, hugging its contents down his throat whilst trying to avoid the fiery pursuit of the bloodthirsty {Devil-eyed White Primate}.

Name: {Cain Lenosi}

Level: 20.

Strength: 149.

Agility: 190.

Stamina: 35/76.

Vitality: 44.

Defense: 35.

Control: 4.2.

Perception: 3.1.

HP: 2,450/4,400.

MP: 2,605/3,100.

Magic: 150.

Resistance: Poison- 7%.

Skills: Golden blood, Mana Blade, Lightening Edge, Blade Mastery Lvl. 2, Burst Step, Metal Creation Lvl.2, Golden Severance, Metal Manipulation, *Fear, *Bloodthirsty, Blood Ingestion Regeneration, Azure Burst, Mana Heart.

Titles: Champion of Ashur (locked).

Free attribute points: 23.

System points: 10,570.

{Inventory}. {Shop}.

Cain could handle the terrible pain formed as a result of activating {Golden Blood}, but the loss in stamina was something out of his control. {Blood Ingestion Regeneration} allowed him to offset this a little, but the loss in stamina was still too much to bear.

Hence, Cain decided that it was high time to end the fight.

But as he was now, he wouldn't be able to do so easily. So he only had one option. And that was to evolve, evolve to an even stronger version of himself.

The two traded blow for blow, each one seeking to come on top in every engagement. Cain brought out the full extent of his martial arts, handling his blade and body with impeccable nimbleness, while the {Devil-eyed White Primate} adapted to all of Cain's actions.

The gap in attributes between the two was inconsequential, but the skill gap was another story entirely. However, the mutant beast was rapidly closing this gap.

This was due to its recently acquired skill, {Keen Mind}. Cain wasn't the only one to gain something after their last fight. The mutant beast had also evolved greatly after such a battle.

'This thing is very frightening. If I don't put it down now, it will grow into a huge threat. It is using me to polish its skills like a whetstone.'

But he wasn't pissed not afraid. He had always dreamed of fighting an opponent like this. An opponent that made every clash more impactful than the last. How else was he supposed to evolve and become stronger?

Diamonds could only be created under immense pressure, and as far as Cain was concerned, only when he was falling from the edge, would he find the power to rise again, his wings spread out wide and his gaze pointed at the skies. True strength can only be obtained by devouring the strong.

BANG!

SLICE!

RIP!

The mana in the surroundings turned violent and turbulent as they attacked without rest.

As they fought on, Cain noticed that whilst the monster didn't shy away from his physical attacks, it always made sure to avoid his mana-powered attacks and skills.

Cain's eyes narrowed as he thought of all the possibilities as to why this was so.

'Could it be that it has low magic defense?'

The magic defense had a direct correlation with the magic stat of the individual, but since the {Devil-eyed White Primate} had a high magic stat, it was greatly unlikely that would be the case.

'Then what could it be?' Cain pondered even as they both fought against each other.

When the {Devil-eyed White Primate} noticed his attention was elsewhere, it increased its ferocity. It suddenly disappointed Cain's point of view, leaving Cain a bit bewildered.

'Crap! I got distracted!' Cain didn't know what the {Devil-eyed White Primate} wanted to do, but he did realize he was in deep shit if he couldn't stop it.

"Golden Halo!"

"Golden Armor!"

Two layers of golden light covered his body, protecting him from any potential attack. He swiftly turned around, only to realize that the {Devil-eyed White Primate} was nowhere to be seen.

'Hm?' Cain observe his surroundings in suspicion, waiting for the mutant to make its move.

Out of nowhere, a huge shadow began closing in on him. He looked up, and his heart skipped a beat when he realized what it was.

The huge tree slammed down from above in a split second. Cain wasn't fast enough to move out of the way before this happened.

BANG!

The huge tree smashed into his golden halos, shattering all of them at once. Cain stretched his hands out to stop the incoming tree using his more than 300 points in strength. The force the tree came down with was huge, but most of it had been dispelled by the {Golden Halos}.

Cain was pushed back by 10 meters, but he was still standing without having sustained any injuries.

'That was a close one.' Cain wiped the sweat from his brows. If he hadn't been vigilant, that attack could have been his death of him.

He threw the tree in his hands away, as he became even wearier.

'Does it plan to just keep chucking trees at me? Even though that will put a strain on me, I'll still be able to recover using {Blood Ingestion Regeneration}, given that I now have enough breathing space. This means it's trying to use the trees as a diversion.'

Once again, a huge shadow appeared from the distance, but this time, he was prepared. Once the tree was close enough, he swung his {Devil's Broken Claw}, splitting the tree in half.

As soon as the blade was at the end of its trajectory, the {Devil-eyed White Primate} appeared from nowhere. Since Cain had just executed one attack, he wouldn't be able to raise his blade in time to parry or block its attack.

This would have been a good plan, had it calculated all the factors involved in the fight. It could be that the mutant couldn't understand the way the {Metal Creation} skill worked. It was presumptuous to think Cain could only activate it with his hands.

This miscalculation would cost it dearly...

'Gotcha!'

Cain didn't hesitate to punish the {Devil-eyed White Primate's} error.

The oblivious mutant descended with a mad grin contorting its features. It had predicted that Cain would be too preoccupied with stopping the incoming attack. If all went according to plan, he would be unable to defend himself from its sudden attack.

Because of how certain it was of its plan, the shock it experienced when it was greeted with the sight of a huge golden spike instead of a terrified Cain was magnified many times over.

The poor mutant's eyes widened in shock and terror. Its midsection was impaled by a spike that extended out of the ground.

"Awoooo!" The creature let out a shriek of pain, before disappearing from there.

But this time, Cain had no intentions of letting it escape just like that. Before it could escape, Cain grabbed onto a handful of its fur.

A brief spell of dizziness overwhelmed Cain. Before he could even get his bearings, he felt a sharp pain coming from his shoulder.

"Argh!"

Cain wasn't used to the turbulence that came with spatial travel, so he was a bit disoriented. On the other hand, the {Devil-eyed White Primate} was completely fine. It didn't waste any time to exact its vengeance upon the unsuspecting Cain.

Cain looked around and realized that they weren't even on the ground. A few clouds were in the distance, indicating to Cain that they were in the sky.

'This bastard!'

Cain realized that he had also been played...

"Fucking monkey!" Cain let out an angry yell as he and the beast continued to exchange attacks in midair. Every time they approached the ground, the {Devil-eyed White Primate} would use its {Spatial Jump} skill to take them even higher into the sky. If he wasn't careful, the {Devil-eyed White Primate} would easily leave him to fall to his death. The only way he was able to maintain his stance temporarily, was by constantly using {Burst Step}, but he couldn't do it for too long, as it would be too draining on his mana.

He had dealt a severe injury to the {Devil-eyed White Primate}, but because of the mana shard it possessed, it was healing a lot faster than him. The wound the mutant had given him was very deep and had removed more than a few points from his health pool, but he couldn't heal his wounds because they were constantly fighting in the sky, making it impossible for him to use {Blood Ingestion Regeneration}.

Cain knew it was high time he did something he hadn't done before.

They were very close to the grey blanket of clouds that covered the skies night and day. Cain could feel the density of the mana contained in the clouds.

'The mana feels so rich.' Cain took in a deep breath, as the mana heart within his chest began beating excitedly. He could feel something within him getting excited.

Cain had always been curious about the nature of mana, how to apply it most effectively and efficiently, and so on. But up until now, he hadn't gotten all the pieces sorted out. He had bits and pieces here and there, but most of it had come from trial and error, as well as his understanding.

'What if I...'

'No! There is no better time than now!'