The Alpha wolf stared down at Saturu with red predatory eyes that lacked pupils, signifying its bloodlust.
It stood on two legs, twice a man's height, a mountain of armored malice. Rusted chains rattled around its neck and torso.
Saturu adjusted his grip on Kayon's sword. The Alpha moved with a terrifying, dangerous blur, it wasn't the raw speed of it's pack.
'What terrifying speed.'
It circled, its massive paws crushing stone to powder, sizing Saturu up.
'I can't let my guard down around this thing.' Saturu smirked as his eyes glowed murderous red.
The Alpha roared and blitzed forward. It feinted, then swiped a massive paw. Saturu ducked and slashed at its neck, but his blade screeched off the spiked armor.
"What the-!?"
It spun, its flank crashing toward him. Saturu leaped back. The Alpha planted its paws and lunged again,with its wide-open maw full of razor sharp teeth. Saturu parried the bite.
For a second, it was disoriented as it's eyes jolted open.
GRRRR-
The Alpha wolf moved its massive paw in a blur, connecting with Saturu's chest.
ARGH!
The immediate attack sent him crashing onto a nearby rock formation.
"Urg." A searing pain scored his side. Not a deep bite, but a raking gash from a claw that had sliced through his clothes and skin as he evaded.
'I can't make a dent on it because of its half-armored body. I will have to find a weakness if I want to acquire the Divine Blade in time.'
The Alpha charged, unleashing a deafening roar aimed at the ground. Sand and shattered stone erupted, hurled upwards into the air, creating a thick, blinding curtain.
Saturu was forced to momentarily cover his face from the debris and dust scattered towards him.
'Clever.' Saturu acknowledged, a flicker of respect cutting through his focus. He was instantly blind, the gritty dust stinging his eyes and clogging his senses.
Through the dust, the beast slammed down, red lightning sparking from its body. The shockwave tore the earth. Saturu rolled, came up with it's chains, and drove his sword deep into one of its eyes.
The Alpha shuddered, roaring in pain. The dust settled. It stood ten paces away, growling in frustration. It's trick failed to deliver the killing blow.
Saturu's eye glowed red. He closed the distance in three silent strides. As the Alpha lunged, he dropped into a slide beneath its armored throat.
He reversed his grip on his sword and drove the point upward with all the strength of his body into a narrow gap between plates, cutting through the neck.
"Thunk."
A wet choke replaced the growl. The Alpha stumbled, life pouring out, and collapsed.
Saturu stood, breathing heavily, wiping blood and grit from his face. The shallow cut on his side burned. He looked at the fallen beast and blinked.
"One trial down."
Saturu narrowed his eyes as he held the shallow cut made by the Alpha wolf.
'If I leave this injury untreated it will cause trouble the more I continue. I should just heal it now.'
Saturu reached into the inner pocket and drew out a small green pill, glowing faintly as it caught what little light remained. A healing pill.
He uncorked it halfway, the sharp scent of condensed energy brushing his senses.
Then he stopped.
His eyes shifted toward the mist ahead, toward the unseen slopes of the mountain.
'No, using the healing pill now will be useless. I have not reached the mountain. Plus, there might be more of those wolves.'
The sky darkened as he walked on. Near the horizon, the light crimson and purple gradient from the wolf's battlefield faded as the clouds deepened into bruised purples and shadowed blues.
The wasteland gave way to scree and dead trees, littered with more bones and broken weapons. Whispers of final screams lingered in the air.
Undead warriors stirred, glowing with pale light. They charged with hollow roars, weapons painted with dried blood-a sword,a heavy axe and spears.
'Since my opponents aren't human, there is no reason to hold back.'
He met them. They attacked as one. He blitzed through them, a high-speed blur.
He could not unleash his full power. The backlash without a proper conduit could shatter him. He had to be the weapon itself.
Slice—
More emerged. They leaped at him together. He didn't retreat. He moved, As the first knight's blade descended, Saturu didn't retreat. He moved with extreme movement speed, cutting it in half.
The knight did not fall. It held itself together as it jumped to crush Saturu.
BOOM!
Saturu dodged as he stared at the knight recovering its other half. 'Normal attacks won't work on these warriors. Unlike the wolf which had thick armor, this one has a recovery ability.'
"It looks like I did the right thing by saving that energy."
It charged again with killing arc. He used its momentum, lunging up to rip its head off. The body fell, Its sword clattered to the stones.
Another undead warrior charged and stabbed Saturu in the injury he had received from the wolf.
"GAH!"
Saturu punched the head of the warrior to nothing. He removed the broken sword from his side.
"I have to heal this injury as soon as possible." He took out the healing pill.
A spear instantly shot up, cutting Saturu's hand, which led him to drop the healing pill .
"Do you seek a defeat worse than death?"
His eyes flared red. Purple aura crackled. He lunged, a wide vertical slash obliterating the spearman.
They kept coming. He fought through the horde.
SPLURT! SLAAASH!
A second knight was on him. He dropped low under its swing, came up inside its guard, and took a dagger thrust on his forearm. A powerful punch to the knight's chest made it explode.
The third knight was different—bigger, stronger. It roared. Violent red energy erupted from it, shredding the ground. It blitzed forward, massive sword swinging.
Saturu was pulled aback by the extraordinary sword as he used his own to deflect the swing.. The impact made the ground explode causing him cough blood.
"This one's stronger. One wrong move and I'm dead."
Purple energy swirled on his blade, detonating upward to force it back. The knight teleported behind him. He deflected, closed in, and grabbed its sword arm preparing to cut it down.
It detached its own arm. A new sword appeared in its other hand, slicing his cheek.
He jumped back, charged again, and punched its helmeted head. The head snapped back. It kicked his chest. As he stumbled, it grabbed its floating sword, aiming for his skull.
He caught the blade between his teeth.
Metal screeched. A fierce twist of his neck wrenched the weapon free.
His eye burned red. Purple cracks spiderwebbed across his hand.
"Begone."
He released a shockwave of pure spiritual force. It passed through the knight, cutting it cleanly in half. The undead knight faded away into nothing.
"Huff... huff..."
He stood panting, hand bleeding. He spotted healing pill still intact, then shallowed it. His wounds healed, but the purple cracks on his arms left raised scars.
''If I keep this up, I can remaster my old power and replace the lack of mana. It's strange, though. In my past life, to get to this level of spiritual manifestation took years. But now it took me a week, thanks to this body.'
Killing intent spiked from the fog ahead. Hundreds more undead and wolves materialized.
---
The air shimmered with dark blue energy. Kayon stood before a radiant, furious woman in a higher plane.
"Great Sorcerer Kayon! How long has it been!" A sinister smile cracked her disguise, revealing half of her true eye.
"Don't show your smile too much. The disguise can't handle it."
"Tsk...stop making a fool of yourself. You're nothing but a copy of the original."
"If I am a fool, why come all this way to me? Is the young boy a threat to the so-called goddess?" he retorted, his voice dripping with contempt.
"Where is the child? What do you hope to accomplish by hiding him?"
"Nothing, truly. As you said, I am just a copy of the original. Plus, you're late. He's already gone."
Kayon met her gaze steadily, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"So he poses a threat to a so-called goddess. How far has she fallen for your pride?"
The woman's form blazed with incandescent fury.
"Repent of your arrogance!" she commanded. "Seven Stars of Soul Piercing—Technique of the Eclipse!"
A spear of pure divine energy materialized in her hand, its point aimed directly at Kayon's face.
"I will destroy the last piece of you."
But the sorcerer didn't flinch. His eyes glowed with ancient power as he began weaving a counter spell, the air around him crackling with barely contained energy.
The confrontation began.
---
"Three months inside...which means three days have passed outsidet."
Saturu's longer hair bothered him. He tied it back. The air grew cold. The true peak of Skull Mountain came into view—a black fang piercing a swirling storm.
"It's too late to turn back. The Crescent moon has already passed. I'll have to go through this."
He smirked. "The final trial awaits."
Before him was a vast, dark opening like a stone maw. Ancient, dry air sighed from within. He stepped inside.
Inside, the darkness gave way to an impossible sight. Multiple shattered and floating torii gates hung in the air caught in zero-gravity. He stood in a vast hall, its architecture a blend of natural cavern and polished obsidian.
This was the mountain peak—the center of the storm.
The floor was shallow reflective water.
He approached the water and gazed at it.
Instead of his own reflection, he saw a younger version of himself, barely a teenager, weeping on a rain-swept battlefield. Guilt and grief hit him like a physical blow. He tore his eyes away, jaw tight.
The water evaporated into mist. A figure stood in the center covered by the shadow.
"You have made it."