Zeronis and Gruden no longer looked human.
Instead, they looked like bloodthirsty predators. Creatures of pure bloodlust, so intense the air around them seemed to shudder.
They blurred forward, floor cracking beneath the sudden force of their movement, tearing through the air like demons set loose.
Malakai’s eyes shot up, his scythe followed a second later, just in time.
CLANG!
A gleaming blade collided against it with the force of a crashing truck, the impact sending tremors through his bones.
But this wasn’t a fight like the one with Jerom. The Lucerna clan prided themselves on intelligence, speed, and precision. Their battle style was focused on reading their opponents and defeating them in the most efficient way possible.
Sanguine were something else entirely.
They were monsters of blood, able to manipulate it to pump harder, flow faster, fortify specific muscles, harden skin, increase oxygen, and enhance their speed and strength.
In a one-to-one clash, there were no comparisons between them.
Malakai’s eyes widened as the shockwave of the clash tore through his arms. His knees buckled, and a second later
BOOM!
He was sent flying, hurtling back until his body slammed into the reinforced container wall with immense force.
A burst of blood sprayed from his mouth as he collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud. His lungs heaved as he fought to steady his battered and trembling limbs.
‘Few ribs… broken,’ he grunted inwardly as he assessed.
CLASH!
The sound of Zeronis colliding with the Durandal youth echoed like thunder through the hall, snapping Malakai from his haze.
Each of their blows exploded like miniature bombs, flashes of silver and crimson lighting up the space as they clashed at fast speeds.
But Malakai couldn’t be focused on them right now. An intense pain was currently surging through his entire body.
However, he swallowed it, all of it, as his head snapped up, and his gaze landed on Gruden, who was approaching him slowly.
His eyes were wild with bloodlust.
“You’re weaker than I thought,” Gruden sneered. “Are you even a Sanguine?”
Malakai hadn’t even been able to exchange one clash with him.
Still, Gruden shrugged, voice filled with disdain.
“Doesn’t matter anyway. You should just submit.”
A wicked grin appeared across his face.
“Though… you’re free to resist. I actually prefer it that way.”
The Sanguine were filled with the deranged, and their youths were no different. Malakai wasn’t even surprised by what he had just heard.
Instead, he gritted his teeth and shakily rose to his feet.
He was bloodied and bruised, but not beaten. Not yet.
He raised his scythe and entered a low stance.
This situation was bad. No, it was dire.
He only had one use of the devil’s fruit, and even if by some miracle he got Gruden, he still had Zeronis to deal with.
Even he wasn’t sure he’d walk away alive.
However…
‘When death comes close and shadows near,
We rise as one, we hold no fear.’
The words of the Sanguine creed echoed in his mind.
His erratic breaths slowed.
His trembling limbs steadied.
His racing heart fell into rhythm.
It didn’t matter what the future held. No matter what, he would still fight.
Gruden’s grin widened as he saw Malakai’s eyes sharpen.
That look, the unshakable, blood-hardened resolve.
Yes.
This was what he loved.
“Thank you,” Gruden said, voice like a growl. He raised his blade. “For resisting.”
But just as he stepped forward, suddenly the air in the entire hall changed.
There was a sudden pulse, followed by a pressure, and then…
A presence.
All eyes snapped to the center of the hall, where an intense golden light had ignited into being, flooding the room in radiant brilliance.
Malakai’s gaze narrowed.
‘What…?’
His spine prickled.
That chill, he couldn’t mistake it.
That feeling of death. One he had felt numerous times before…
‘But…’
It had never been this potent.
‘A darkness creature?’ he thought.
No.
This wasn’t like any darkness he’d faced before. This was… worse.
As the light dimmed, silence fell over the entire hall.
Even Zeronis and the Durandal youth had stopped.
Everyone watched. Waiting.
And when the last of the light faded, their eyes widened in collective shock at the figure now standing at the middle of the hall.
It was short, unlike the one Malakai had fought in the forest. Its head was large, and its limbs were long and sinewy. Its entire body was slick black, its teeth unnaturally white and wickedly pointed.
But unlike the mindless beast Malakai had faced earlier, this one stood with both arms clasped behind its back. It didn’t growl. Didn’t charge.
It watched. Silently. With intelligence in its eyes.
The gaze of every person in the hall trembled.
‘A grade two darkness creature.’
The same realization struck them all at once.
A grade one was already a nightmare, an unstoppable force in the midst of normal humans. But grade twos… they were something else entirely.
From grade two and above, each creature possessed a unique power, something tailor-made to them. It was unpredictable.
It could be elemental, physical, psychic, there was never any certainty unless one fought them and found out.
And one of them had just been placed among them.
‘It’s not an enhancer.’
While the others froze in dread, Malakai’s mind was already racing.
If it had been a grade two enhancer, they’d all be dead already.
A Genesis was the first stage of human evolution. A Genesis could defeat a grade one darkness creature, though it would be a hard-fought battle and potentially fatal depending on the situation. But even a Genesis couldn’t hope to beat a grade two head-on.
Regardless, the reason why Malakai hadn’t panicked yet was because everything depended on the category of darkness, and also the number of Genesis evolvers present.
As Malakai assessed their situation, his heartbeat slowed as he calmed down.
‘It’s possible to win this.’
From its posture, the way it held back, the aura it exuded, this wasn’t an enhancer.
‘It’s a summoner,’ Malakai concluded.
This small fact gave them a chance. It was a slim one, but it was still a chance nonetheless.
Suddenly, the creature raised a hand and a wave of darkness rippled from its palm, spreading like ink and forming deep pools across the ground.
From within those pools, arms burst out, long, muscular, and clawed, slamming onto the floor and pulling their owners free.
In a heartbeat, five new figures emerged from the pools.
They were towering. Broad. Black-skinned and glistening with coiled muscle. Their heads were small and their frames rippling with power.
There was no way Malakai could forget them.
‘Grade one enhancers.’
Each one of them roared, a deep cry that made the entire hall tremble.
The tension in the hall thickened. The air grew heavier, and the hands of the descendants tightened around their hilts.
The creatures moved.