The air grew heavier, as if every breath Ashen took pulled a sea of blood with it.
The malformed copy stood before him, half its melted face dripping red fluid, its exposed bones glinting darkly under the blood. Its eyes, despite the deformity, were exactly like his—only filled with a primitive hatred, with no trace of humanity.
It roared, and the drums at the arena's edge beat a faster rhythm. The scene felt like a funeral rite preparing the world for an upcoming massacre.
The copy erupted first. It leaped with its ruined body; the ground shattered beneath its feet, and its arms swelled with the malformed aura of the Blood Bear's Fist. The attack was not just two strikes but a collapsing mountain rushing to crush its enemy.
Ashen did not retreat. In a moment, a new aura activated around him. A dark crimson shimmer covered his body, and blood scales appeared one by one, covering him from head to toe.
Blood Crocodile Roar.
The attack landed. The copy's fists slammed into the scale armor. The resulting explosion shook the ground, like a volcano erupting in the arena's heart. Fragments of earth and bone flew like rain; the hanging coffins thudded violently, and some chains snapped so the coffins crashed like funeral bells.
Ashen slid back, his feet digging grooves into the ground. The crocodile shield cracked in multiple places, but it held. At the same time, he stepped forward with a roar and launched his own Blood Bear's Fist.
The air screamed. The punch broke through the copy's warped defenses and tore out a protruding rib from its chest. Blood burst forth… but before Ashen could savor even a moment of victory, a crushing pain stabbed into his own chest.
He coughed blood, looked at himself… and saw the same rib crushed inside him.
"Reflecting… again."
The copy did not fall. Instead, a twisted laugh came from its ruined mouth, filled with madness. Its split body began to regenerate before his eyes: broken bone knitting back, flesh growing in a disgusting display as if an invisible hand rebuilt it.
"Almost immortal…"
Rage seized Ashen. He emitted a bestial roar and his three chains shot out again. This time they were not mere stabs but blood serpents that hissed and coiled.
One pierced the copy's leg, the second went through its arm, and the third wrapped around its neck. The pointed tips sank deep and began to siphon blood, draining life.
But the pain returned multiplied. Ashen's leg tore, thorns sank into his arm, and his neck felt a phantom blade cutting him.
He screamed in a strangled voice but did not stop. The veins in his neck bulged, his blood surged crazily, and the three chains pulled his foe down with shocking force.
In a wild moment Ashen leaped, his legs wrapped in the Sky Leopard aura. His speed multiplied unbelievably; his body became a bloody flash. He descended with a leg strike like a thunderbolt onto the copy's head.
The malformed head shattered under the blow; blood and bone sprayed like filthy rain. The ground cracked completely, leaving a huge crater in the arena; dust covered the scene.
But… the moment of victory lasted no longer than an instant.
Pain flooded Ashen's skull. It felt as if his head were exploding from within, as if a hammer had smashed his skull. Blood poured from his nose, ears, and eyes, and darkness crept into his consciousness.
He fell to his knees, gasping, staggering.
Amid the dust he heard footsteps.
He lifted his head… and saw the copy standing once more. Its ruined head was re-forming. Bones fused, flesh grew back at a sickening speed. After seconds it stood as if untouched.
"How… can you kill something that won't die?"
Anger turned to despair.
But deep inside, something else began to boil. The savagery he had lived through in earlier trials, the Blood Intent that had seeped into his soul, began to move.
His eyes reddened, his breath became a bestial roar.
"If pain is inevitable… then I will drown in it."
He screamed, and all his strength exploded. Blood Frenzy — Five Stars.
The aura that burst around him was not just an aura but a bloody cyclone. The ground shook, the air grew heavier, and the creatures at the arena's edge stopped beating their drums for a moment, stunned by the sudden power.
His strength doubled. His speed doubled. His reflexes became superhuman.
He rushed the copy and the fight turned into a true massacre.
Fist against fist. Chain against chain. Aura against aura.
Each blow shattered the earth. Each collision produced a bloody explosion. The coffins in the sky began to fall one after another, breaking as if the world itself could not bear the battle.
But… every wound he dealt to his foe reflected back upon him.
His body ripped. His ribs broke. Blood soaked the ground. Yet… he did not stop.
He fought not as a man but as a beast born to live in pain.
Each time he fell, he rose. Each time he bled, he screamed. Each time death seemed near, he laughed with ferocity.
The copy did not relent; it grew fiercer, as if feeding on Ashen's madness.
The battle had become more than a trial of strength; it was a hellish image of a man tearing himself apart and being torn at the same moment.
Deep in his mind, one thought hardened:
"I will not escape this trial by running…" "The only way is to become one with the beast."
"I am not here to win…" he shouted in a rough voice, his eyes like boiling pools of blood. "I am here to drown in the pain to the last drop… and to make everything remember my name in blood!"