Hei screamed as his allies also prepared for battle. Suddenly the spirit power of all the spirit soldiers activated as flashes of light illuminated that section of forest. The die was now cast, and there was no going back.

"Snake Whip, Launch Mode!"

Quickly concentrating his spirit power in both his arms, Hei hurled his little sisters against the two closest enemies to the female group leader. Ye and Xing, still in their pet.i.te form, were fired through the air at high-speed towards their respective targets.

Hiss! Screech!

While the two enemies laughed inside themselves because they didn't fear such small creatures, although they were of the second level, the two little divine beasts expanded to the amazement of all those who didn't know their ability to change the size of their body at will.

In no time, a purple spider with silver patterns and a black snake with golden patterns, both three meters large, appeared before the two men dressed in black. Their expression of scorn turned into one of fear. In their true form, Ye and Xing were, in fact, anything but cute, although for Hei, they remained such whether they were in their pet.i.te form or their true form.

"Spirit beasts who can change their size? Interesting." The Imperial Prince Long Tian commented full of curiosity about the strange ability shown by Ye and Xing.

"Not bad, but you have to see how capable the master is to make a judgment." Feng Che said his opinion before returning to his opponent.

"Hahaha! Do you command two second-level spirit beasts? It would be fun to challenge those creatures." Hu Jie said, amused; among the fighters in that clash, he was the only one to have a joyful and happy mood.

"Disgusting creatures! Kill them! Tear them up!" On the other hand, Emilia instead felt hate and disgust at seeing Ye and Xing's transformation. With a swift movement of the hand, she pulled her weapon from her s.p.a.ce ring. It was a kusarigama.

The kusarigama was a very peculiar weapon, and it was difficult to predict its movements if the user used it correctly. Its body consisted of a small sickle with a long chain attached, which ended with a metallic weight. It was a weapon whose lethality was ranked among the highest ranks; however, the difficulty in mastering it was equally high.

"Die!"

Emilia poured her spirit power into her weapon. Thanks to this, she could command with her thought the whole weapon, including the long-chain and the metallic weight placed at the end. Her target was Xing, who was closest to her position.

Peng!

A metallic noise rang out as the sharp part of the kusarigama sickle was rejected by a purple spear with reddish veins. That spear rose in midair and was imbued with a spirit power so full of murderous intent that the spear itself seemed to be alive.

"I will make you pay bitterly for trying to take the life of my little sisters. Extreme Full Combat Mode!"

Extreme Full Combat Mode, a more advanced version of Full Combat Mode. It consisted of using Hei's hair to attack instead of maneuvering his spear, which would instead be commanded through the imprint etched on the weapon. In this way, his offensive capacity would increase, but this would also reduce his defense. In fact, Hei had to divide his conscience in maneuvering not only his body and his hair but his spear as well. It meant that a single error of distraction could cost him dearly.

"Then I'll kill you first, you lousy traitor!" Emilia angrily uttered as she commanded her kusarigama to return to her. After that, she started to rotate her weapon before throwing the end containing the metallic weight against Hei.

Boom! Crack!

When that small metallic weight crashed into the ground where Hei was a little while ago, it made a bursting noise as it formed a small crater. This action alone demonstrated the heaviness that was contained in that seemingly not lethal blow.

'I have to avoid direct contact with that part. However, the end with the sickle also represents a danger not to be overlooked.' Hei thought as he advanced. He had avoided the first attack, but his enemy had the range advantage, which is quite unusual for Hei, who used to have this advantage thanks to his spear. However, it wasn't as if he had no experience fighting in that disadvantaged situation.

'Although the kusarigama chain allows for a range advantage, it will never be like He Fen's wind and fire wheels that can fly independently. The right choice is to fight by keeping myself at an intermediate distance where I can read the movements of the chain and react accordingly until the most appropriate moment.'

Despite having activated Extreme Full Combat Mode, Hei didn't charge frontally without worrying about the defense. As his mother had taught him, proper preparation was essential to winning, and in the academy library, he had studied the various types of weapons. He knew that the kusarigama's weak point wasn't close combat as the sickle could easily counter the blades while the chain would be free to attack from behind.

Therefore, Hei chose an attrition approach while waiting for his chance. With Snake Whip, he launched medium-range attacks from one meter and a half away while his hair parried the blows of the chain and the metallic weight. His spear was instead controlled by his mind to try to surprise from behind the woman dressed in black.

Emilia, with the hatred that still made her blood boil, soon realized that the enemy ahead was anything but an impetuous person. He was cold and calculating, and despite the range disadvantage, he was fighting as if nothing had happened while placing her in a pa.s.sive situation.

"Impossibile! You are evil, and evil must be eradicated! Intent of the Kusarigama! Death Slash Rus.h.!.+"

Seeing that her range advantage was getting thinner and thinner, Emilia decided to try another kind of approach, preferring to bring the fight to a close contest. Activating the intent of her weapon, she charged forward towards Hei while the hand holding the sickle of the kusarigama stirred like a maddened whirlpool creating flashes of light and making the blade of the scythe disappear.

"Carapace Spider, Arms!"

Quickly, Hei created two membranes of spirit power similar to an exoskeleton on his arms. This move served to significantly increase his defensive ability and, therefore, his ability to take hits. Emilia's move had left him slightly surprised because he didn't expect the woman to give up the advantage provided by her weapon so quickly. So he wasn't in a position to dodge the attack, also because Emilia had activated a speed technique to increase the impetus of her charge.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

Metallic noises rang in succession as Hei put his arms forward to cover his chest and face from that storm of sharp slashes. The power behind each hit was tremendous, and suffering the whole combo would have left internal damage even with the defense of spirit power around his body. However, the Spider Carapace technique was something left by Bao Bei, a sixth-level divine beast. So how could it be broken so easily?

When Emilia finished her series of attacks, her eyes, for the first time, expressed a feeling of pure wonder, not contaminated by hatred. She was an early third stage spirit soldier, and her opponent also had a level of cultivation equal to her. As a result, even if she hadn't killed him, her attack would still have had to hurt him. Yet before her incredulous eyes, Hei was unscathed. Only, he had consumed some of his spirit power.

'Now it's my turn!' Hei thought to himself.

As was his custom, he avoided speaking directly in the middle of the fight. If he had spoken, his voice would have made Emilia wake up from her amazement, allowing her to react at the last minute to his attack. But Hei didn't do that, and consequently, his blow landed on his enemy.

Whop!

A single kick. Although it seemed like a simple kick, it wasn't like that at all. Hei had expected to suffer the blow and therefore had prepared himself accordingly. His left leg had begun to acc.u.mulate spirit power, and when Emilia finished her attack, Hei used Spider Lance with that leg and hit the woman in the chest with the sole of his foot.

Emilia was sent to fly for meters and meters while her body spun in the air and heavily landed on the ground. The woman began to gasp with difficulty as she felt her breath being cut off by that kick.

'Using the soles of the feet reduces the lethality as I can't connect my sharp nails. But in doing so, I can expand the damage. Since we are still at the beginning, I should reduce her layer of spirit power first, or my claws won't be able to penetrate the flesh.'

Meanwhile, in the other battles, the situation was going in favor of Hei's allies. As in the fight against the jaguars, Lian acted as the pivot of the entire group protecting the three direct fighters (Leon, Lang with Fenrir, He Fen) and the support fighters (Mareo, Haruno, Lilian, Mia). Her two ribbons were like lotus petals that parried every kind of attack, and at the right time, it could be insidious as snakes waiting for prey.

Leon, Lang, and He Fen were being empowered by Mareo's song, and thanks to the advantage of cultivation, they were utterly crus.h.i.+ng their enemies. This time Fenrir was sent to fight alone because of the numerical disadvantage in which they found themselves. However, the second level wolf wasn't a spirit beast raised in cotton wool. He knew perfectly well how to fight even without the direct orders of his mistress Lang.

Haruno, Lilian, and Mia, on the other hand, were fighting this time. The numerical disadvantage didn't allow them to focus exclusively on supporting the others, and therefore the three of them were a.s.signed one opponent each. Although they had been a.s.signed the weaker enemies, as supporting martial artists, they weren't as proficient in combat as pure attack martial artists. In any case, thanks to Lian's constant support, they were holding up without problems.

As for the other allies, namely the Imperial Prince's group, the duo composed of the Feng Family member, Feng Chen, and the young woman by his side and Hu Jie, they were dominating their enemies.

The subordinates of the Imperial Prince Long Tian were the personal guards a.s.signed to him from an early age. As personal guards of one the sons of the Sun Emperor and therefore one of the candidates as the next Emperor, the four men had been trained to be Long Tian's s.h.i.+eld and sword in any situation. They called each other like brothers, a.s.signing each one a number based on who was born first.

Guard number 1 was called Dae-Won. He had short brown and desaturated hair and faded hazel eyes. He had no bloodline and possessed the Law of Illusions. His weapon was a Trident.

Guard number 2 was called Hide. He had straight pink hair that reached the back of his neck and eyes with a shade of color between blue and aqua green. He had no bloodline and possessed the Ghost Law. His weapon was a type of spiked mace, called the Morning Star.

Guard number 3 was called Xinya. He had golden eyes and long purple hair tied in a ponytail. He had no bloodline and possessed the Law of Poison. His weapon was a pair of Urumi. Urumi was a particular weapon of the Kalaripayattu style, and it was a sword made of flexible steel, making the weapon maneuverable like a whip.

Guard number 4 was called William. He had long loose brown hair and dark blue eyes. He had no bloodline and possessed the Law of Blood. His weapon was a pair of Katars, a type of dagger characterized by its H-handle, which placed the blade of the dagger over the knuckles of the hand.

Imperial Prince Long Tian instead used a pair of twin swords called Hook Swords. They were swords of ordinary length, but their peculiarity was in the hooked form with which the blade ended. In addition to the hooked shape of the blade, the hilt ended in a sharp point while the guard protruded outside with a crescent shape. As a member of the Imperial Family, he owned a dragon-type bloodline - the Yellow Dragon Bloodline which was centered on the Law of Earth.

As for the duo man and woman with fire red hair, the young woman was named Huli Xieren, part of the Huli Family that possessed the Nine-Tailed Fox Bloodline. Although it wasn't a royal bloodline, as a pure bloodline of the Fire Law, the Huli Family had close ties to the Feng Family.

Huli Xieren, therefore, possessed the Law of Fire given to her by her bloodline and the Law of Ice that she had awakened once she reached the sixth stage spirit apprentice. Her weapon was an ordinary-sized single sword that she wielded with both hands. Feng Che also used a sword which he held alternately with one or two hands. Like his partner, he possessed both the Law of Fire and the Law of Ice. However, his bloodline was peculiar because it had undergone a variation, allowing the pa.s.sive effect of the Phoenix Bloodline also to be applicable to the Law of Ice. As a result, the power of his two elements was practically equal.

Hu Jie was part of the Hu Family, who possessed the White Tiger Bloodline that enhanced the Law of Metal. As the owner of a metal law bloodline, the hardness of his body outcla.s.sed any of his cla.s.smates. Hu Jie was considered the greatest genius in the entire history of the Hu Family because the material chosen as the basis for his body was the diamond, the hardest material in nature. Therefore he was stronger than the users of the Law of Metal with his level of cultivation. Hu Jie used no weapons, but he fought with his bare hands using the hand-to-hand combat techniques that he had refined since he was a child.

Thus, with an overwhelming advantage on both cultivation and techniques, Hei and his allies now had victory in hand. Or so it was what they thought. To their surprise, they discovered that the group dressed in black had more aces up their sleeve than they thought, and these aces up their sleeve weren't to be underestimated.