My ability to sense asura energy returned to normal, and with the illusion broken, I could finally open my eyes again—this time with the certainty that I wouldn't fall for it twice. A screeching hiss tore from the snake's throat as it charged forward, and the ground beneath my feet blurred as I pushed myself to inhuman speed, both of us closing the distance with a single intent—to destroy.
The air thickened with bloodlust, and somewhere along the way, this stopped being a fight between a human and a beast. It became something else… a clash between two beasts, and I could feel myself slipping, giving in to that intoxicating, euphoric hunger for violence.
I moved at the last possible moment, jumping just as its maw snapped shut beneath me, the force of it tearing through the space I had occupied an instant before. I landed on the back of its head, but the creature wasn't still—it writhed and surged forward, its massive body never pausing—so I lost my footing almost immediately. Still, I refused to fall, forcing my fingers into the gaps between its scales and holding on with everything I had. The moment my vajra mantle came into contact with it, I felt it begin to burn away the snake's asura energy, eating into it like an unseen flame. The snake reacted violently, twisting and trembling, trying to throw me off, and although I was barely holding on, I knew this was the only opening I would get.
I forced my soul to burn through the remaining essence of the spider, consuming it completely, and directed the excess atma produced into the body of the snake. The vajra mantle flared brighter, fiercer—like the exhaust of a fighter jet—but this wasn't flame, it was raw energy, my life force itself spilling outward. For those few seconds, everything strained under unbearable pressure, until my grip finally slipped and I was thrown off, crashing hard against the ground. I got back up instantly and turned toward it, only to see that it was still standing.
On the back of its head was a seeping hole—a wound that should have killed it—but as I watched, it began to close, the flesh shifting and sealing itself as if rejecting death entirely. A chill ran down my spine as I realized that what should have been a fatal blow meant nothing to this creature.
I didn't rush it. I gave it time to recover—partly because I wanted to understand it, but mostly to return the favor. I didn't need no handicaps either.
When the snake was whole again, I could sense the difference—its asura energy had thinned, lost some of its density—and I knew we were both nearing the end. Still, even weakened, its energy remained too grounded for me to absorb. We stood facing each other in silence, unmoving, until it was the snake that broke first, turning its head toward the swarm behind me and letting out a low, distorted sound between a growl and a hiss. Its split tongue flickered through the air, and then the battlefield shifted as the swarm finally surged forward.
"So… it was holding them back this whole time…" I thought, watching them close in. A beast capable of control… far more dangerous than I had assumed.
This was the moment I should have felt dread, but instead, something else rose within me—something closer to ecstasy. The mighty snake, the one that stood above everything else, now needed help from the weak, and that realization alone pulled a grin across my face. I stood there, unmoving, inviting them forward as the swarm rushed past the snake toward me. Their asura energy flooded my senses—some resembling familiar animals, others twisted and incomplete, their forms barely holding together—but none of them matched the density or presence of the snake or the demon fox.
Up until now, I had only absorbed one at a time. That was over.
I closed my eyes again—not to defend, but to take. I focused on my core, in hope of linking to all of them at once, and immediately felt my consciousness strain as if it were being torn apart. It was like splitting myself across countless points of awareness, trying to focus on everything at once, and for a brief moment, I felt my sense of self begin to slip. The "I"… my ego… it started to fade, replaced by something larger, something beyond me. I snapped out of it just in time, barely holding onto myself—but it was enough. The connection formed.
Asura energy began pouring toward me from every direction.
The battlefield was swallowed by black currents as the energy tore free from the swarm and surged into my body, forming a dense fog that obscured everything. The creatures charged through it, their forms barely visible, but it didn't matter—vision had already lost its purpose. This was no longer a battle.
This was a massacre.
Everything in front of me was fuel.
The energy flooding into me was crude and inefficient, but it made up for it in sheer quantity, and I held nothing back. I let the vajra mantle draw in as much as it needed, expanding outward into a wide barrier to keep them from overwhelming me all at once. It was weaker in this form, less condensed, but enough to slow them, enough to burn away the weakest before they could even reach me. Beyond that, I maintained a second layer—a thin but highly concentrated coating of atma around my body—my true armor, and my real weapon.
Within moments, I was buried beneath them, attacks coming from every direction—below, above, all sides—until even the rising sunlight couldn't reach me. I moved without pause, striking again and again, erasing them one after another. Even with the overwhelming energy within me, my body and mind were being pushed beyond their limits. I was breaking myself apart with every movement, forcing strength through sheer abuse of atma, while at the same time being healed at an unnatural speed. But it wasn't perfect—I was breaking faster than I could recover.
"I don't know how long I can keep this up…"
Time lost all meaning. There was nothing except the next strike, the next body to crush, the next surge of energy. Again and again, I kept going, even when I felt like I had reached my limit, pushing past it every single time, refusing to stop until the swarm finally thinned… and then disappeared entirely. The frenzy continued.
I searched for another presence.
Another target.
Nothing.
Silence.
And then I understood.
Only two remained.
The snake…
And me.
My legs gave out, and I collapsed onto my knees, my body broken from deep within, my mind barely holding together. The snake watched me, still hesitant, something like fear lingering beneath its gaze, but it didn't retreat. It moved slowly, deliberately, closing the distance until its massive head loomed above me. I looked up at it, meeting its eyes one last time.
Then it struck.
Its maw came down and swallowed me whole.
Darkness closed in instantly as its jaws crushed inward, its asura energy surging, trying to break through my vajra mantle and devour me from within. But even now, even in this state, my mantle held.
Barely.
"...ha…"
One final push.
I gathered everything left within me—every fragment of asura energy—and offered it to my atma. Then I turned it outward, tearing through the core of the snake from within, burning away its energy completely.
The resistance faded.
The pressure vanished.
The snake disintegrated.
And I fell.
Back onto cold stone.
The world was quiet again, and as I lay there, I felt warmth touch my face. I opened my eyes slightly to see the sun rising over the edge, its light spilling across the battlefield.
It was annoyingly bright.
But… peaceful.