The Dark Flow

Hiro’s POV:

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“What? Aren’t you thinking a bit too much of yourselves? I believe that you are powerful, but there is no way that you could beat this whole group alone while being only at the early third stage,” Galen said with his brows furrowed. He clearly didn’t believe in us.

The other people present also started laughing at us and ridiculing us, thinking that we were idiots. Strength talks… as they say. The strongest person here was at the early sixth stage with ninety-nine Crypt since this place was the newcomers’. After a few lessons, we would be sent away to other ‘classes’, who have strength, similar to ours. All three of us activated our battle forms and our strength increased to eighty-seven Crypt, while Rin’s stayed the same. The cultivators present made surprised faces.

There weren’t many creatures who had human forms and battle forms and Blank covered our bodies Usually, only True Divine Beasts had it, along with a few weird humans with weird abilities. Galen’s eyes opened widely and then he looked at us with furrowed brows, while saying - “Do you have anything to do with the low number of newcomers this week?”

“I don’t know what are you talking about~ hehe,” Alice answered with a small laugh and a smile on her face, not telling him that it was Poirlion’s doing. Though… we would have killed them anyway. Galen shook his head sideways, but a small smirk slipped onto his face. Was he happy because the others died? Probably not… In that case, he is likely to feel happy because new ‘monstrous talents’ appeared in their school.

“Well, you can challenge them, but don’t cry if you will be beaten up,” He said with a knowing smile. “Are they really that powerful?” He thought in his mind, questioning someone. Hmm? Were we being sold out?

“Yes, treat them well. They will turn into important pillars of our school in the future!” Aiko’s voice resounded in his mind, so we were able to hear it.

[Fufu, now I understand it. She really wishes for us to discipline these lazy people, right?] Alice said through our bond happily, wishing to start.

“Alright! Don’t laze around! Prepare to fight!” Galen shouted as his voice reverberated through the whole area. He counted down from three and upon shouting ‘fight’, everyone rushed towards us. The first to reach us was the person at the sixth stage, but before she could do anything, Rin appeared from behind her and struck her in the back with a dark and shadowy Paw-strike. The woman spat out a mouthful of blood while flying through the air.

Both of us covered our bodies in Destiny's Descent, which was a mix of our martial arts. A hydra with twelve dragon heads, made of energy, covered our bodies. We also renamed our martial art as Twelve Chains of Bane since it was also a mix of the two. After merging, it combined into a single martial art in our minds, while holding onto their best aspects. It not only increased its output attack power after each strike but it was also a quick martial art.

The only problem was that… it turned so powerful, that we wouldn’t be able to go past the first six strikes because even our bodies would explode from the energy. Maybe we could force it out, but it would come with a lot of trouble afterward.

The woman, who flew through the air, was pierced through her heart by my tail. This startled many of them, but no one cared. Everyone was using only their strength, not their soul force. If we were to use it, then we would kill them easily since our souls were as powerful as someone’s at the second stage of the sixth level.

Rin roared and then suddenly disappeared from where she stood. Infinis’ ability was even more powerful than before, not to mention Rin’s shady abilities. She appeared behind a cultivator and tore off his head, while I spun my staff to protect myself from the incoming attacks. Everyone was truly powerful, but we were even more so. While I defended, Alice spun on her heels to evade a spear strike and while spinning, she used her tail to cut the guy into two halves, horizontally.

I jumped into the air as a huge explosion happened at my original position. One of them was standing at the back and kept collecting huge amounts of energies to bombard us. We could take it on, but we wished to fight seriously. Rin knowing what she had to do, charged towards them, through the darkness of our world. I spun my staff and smashed into the ground with a huge force upon landing.

The people around me were knocked away as a result of the shockwave. At that moment, I used the first move of Destiny's Descent to attack everyone around me. Our paw, wing and other such attacks could be used anytime, but upon using this martial art, their strength would increase after each strike. Those who were at the front were cut into two halves, though a few of them were able to protect themselves.

Alice used her Dragon’s Tail and made a powerful blade of energy. She swung it in an arc and cut another batch of sheep into two halves. The ones who were at the back were also attacked by Rin. She started attacking them one by one and although they tried resisting her strength but it was futile. At the moment, she was even stronger than us, not to mention her speed and defense after her evolution. The attacks simply bounced off of her scale covered body.

[And that’s our little angel! I’m so proud of her~] Alice said in her mind happily with an affectionate voice. A smile slipped onto my face upon seeing Rin cutting up these people like vegetables. We probably looked creepy… Realizing that they had to attack and defend as a team, they stopped charging at us randomly, like a group of idiots. They had to protect each other and attack together. They stood in a circle around us, in groups of five, which of two were preparing ranged attacks, while the other two turned their weapons into spears, swords, hammers, shields, and such weapons.

“Well now… that’s a colorful group, don’t you think, Alice?” I asked happily with a smiling happily. Now that was more enjoyable! These people weren’t idiots and they weren’t weak either. Simply, we were much stronger… Those who had shields stood to the front and charged towards us with short swords in their other hands.

“I think so,” Alice answered while stomping on the ground, causing the earth to explode. Huge trees grew out of the ground and covered their views on us. One of them used fire magic to burn it down, but we were already behind two of our targets. Rin was still eating away on their ‘ranged fighters’. Their blood was flowing on the ground, turning it red. I roared loudly with an inhuman voice while appearing behind these slow people. A huge dragon head appeared in front of me and swept the guy away. All he was able to make a surprised face as he turned around.

A woman appeared behind me and she was about to try piercing me, but Alice jumped down from above and landed on her back, piercing her head in the process. The ground cracked upon contact. The forest quickly burned down. All the others saw was only a few more corpses around us, but they didn’t care about it. Another group charged towards us. Some of them cast earth magic and made huge stone walls appearing behind us, while they also shot Chaos Magic towards us.

I used my staff as a baseball bat and smashed the Chaos Bolt with a bright face on. Alice made a somersault, to evade the incoming attack from behind, while the others also charged towards us. She stepped on the back of the charging guy, who fell straight into my spear. His heart was pierced and I loaded my Hydra Qi into his body, making it explode. His blood and matters splattered on my scale covered body, while a bright smile was on my face.

Rin appeared behind us, out of nowhere. If not for our blood bond, then we could barely sense her presence. A truly terrifying monster! All three of us jumped forward towards our opponents, who welcomed us with the tips of their spears. All of them used their energies and formed different kinds of energy attacks. Some of them had the shape of a bear, while others had the shape of a lion, etc. There were even a few who used something much better, like Dragon or Hydra shaped attacks. Though to their despair, we simply stole their energies to recover our own.

Such unclear and weak energies… I grabbed onto Alice’s arm and threw her towards them. They made surprised faces upon seeing such a thing, but they welcomed her with releasing their energies. At that time, Rin appeared under Alice and then disappeared once again, along with her. They traveled beyond the world we could perceive. That was Rin’s ability. That was what the Abyss was about. A place which couldn’t be understood or perceived by us. It was beyond our space or our time.

They appeared behind them, with Alice on Rin’s back. I stood in place and took on their attacks. Evading would be very hard, so I would rather defend… Using magical attacks would be completely futile, so instead of that, I poured my energy into my Destiny’s Descent, and my whole body. That jelly-like layer under my scales lit up with a light, which was similar to that of a sun. A green light shone on everyone, blinding them slightly. I used Hydra’s Paw to smash the first batch of attacks and then I used Hydra’s Tail to attack in an arc. This was my third move and I felt my body getting burdened more and more, but it was worth it.

Those two strikes alone destroyed every incoming attack. Alice turned her weapon into a hammer as she swung it in an arc from behind them. They were focusing on controlling their attacks, so they didn’t have time to escape. Her hammer smashed a few more of them into bloody pulps. A group of people appeared from behind me and released another batch towards my back. It was really sudden, so I wasn’t able to defend myself, but it was futile. They trickled my scales a bit, but nothing serious. I turned around with a smiling face, while my back was smoking.

Their faces became startled, upon realizing that their attacks weren’t working and they stepped back in fear. They finally started realizing that nothing they did, worked against us. Alice turned her weapon into a halberd and attacked the people on the ground while sitting on Rin’s back. Realizing that they were at a disadvantage, they flew into the air. We were waiting exactly for that to happen. Both of us roared with an inhuman voice and used Hydra’s and Dragon’s Breath.

Everyone was swept away and a few of them also gained heavy injuries. A few of them, who were at the fifth stage, sprung up from the ground, with angry and annoyed faces. They probably had had enough of being beaten up. I furrowed my brows upon feeling something they shouldn’t have done. They started collecting their soul forces. Did they want to attack us seriously? If that’s the case, then they are going to pay a heavy price…

Rin jumped towards me and sat down next to me, while Alice also stopped beside me. “Are you sure that you want to do it?” She asked with her head tilted to the side and a cold smile on her face.

“*Grrr* Fuck you, bastards! I don’t believe that you are truly so powerful! All of us worked hard to get where we are! Should I simply let myself get beaten up by you just because of you are True Divine Beasts? My soul force is surely stronger than yours, there is no way that you can stay alive after my next attack! Guys, cover me!” One of them, who was the strongest, shouted loudly.

Galen, who was watching our battle all along, furrowed his brows upon hearing his words. His arms were behind his back originally, but after hearing such things, he moved them in front of him. I saw him squeezing his fists. Would he kill him if he were to attack us with soul force? That’s quite interesting if I do say so myself. “Your decision, but you can only blame yourself for your fate,” Alice said with her bloodlust completely released.

The elf guy, who talked before, stopped in place for a moment in his fear. Our bloodlust alone was like a mind attack… “Those who don’t want to die, step aside!” I shouted as I started converting my energy into a Destiny’s Descent. I intended to release it as a ranged attack. It would be my sixth move, which would surely destroy all of them, along with their puny attacks. About two third of them stood to the side, not wishing to participate in breaking the rules. I nodded at them and waited for our enemies’ attack to arrive.

Alice put her staff beside her while holding onto its handle. We were still full of energy, thanks to Necros’ ability, so we didn’t have to fear running out of energy after this attack. Our remaining opponents collected their energies into a single attack, which took the shape of a chimera. There were demons, beastmen, humans, and elves, so it was nothing surprising. We felt that they also poured large amounts of soul forces into their attack, wishing to destroy even our souls.

Alice smirked upon noticing this and she started petting Rin on the back of her neck. She sent her energy into my body, to make my attack even more powerful. We better prepare to escape after I shoot this… “Taste this, you bastards!” The elf shouted as they sent their attacks towards us, with me in tow. They started laughing, thinking that it would kill us, while we made fearful faces. But not because of their attack but because of our attack! It simply went past theirs, crushing it as if it would have been a marshmallow and struck them.

It was a big sized attack, so it engulfed all of them. Our souls were at the fourth stage of Baby Soul, so they had zero chance to resist it. My attack exploded like an atom bomb and a blinding light covered everything. The gray matter beyond space was probably flooding out by the time we wished to escape. I touched Alice’s hand, while Rin ‘grabbed’ onto her back as if she would be Rin’s cub. That gray matter, strangely enough, flowed around us, but didn’t touch us, nor did it come closer than fifty centimeters.

Could it be that Rin was using this to move? She was moving through this matter, which was untouchable even for cultivators at the tenth level? I can only wonder what the Abyss truly is. As we have got to know it, it is also connecting the universes and we can enter other universes through it. Its space and time are also completely random and different compared to the outside worlds. That gray matter slowly disappeared and what we found in front of us was Galen, who had a despaired face.

Upon noticing us, his face turned into a happy one as he laughed out excitedly. “Hahaha! God! I thought that we lost such geniuses for a moment! I wanted to teleport out with you, but your attack was too quick and the Dark Flow already covered everything! But how did you stay alive in it? That should be impossible!” He couldn’t help but question us. Naturally, our enemies disappeared and turned into nothing but dust.

“Dark Flow? What is that?” Alice questioned with her head tilted to the side. There was a leaf in her hair from when we made the forest, so I pulled it out of her hair, which caused her to chuckle.

“You don’t know what it is? When that matter beyond space flows out, we call it Dark Flow. It consumes and destroys everything and that is why I’m really curious how did you stay alive? Please, won’t you tell it to me? My old bones can’t bear so much curiosity!” He kept questioning us shamelessly, not caring about his ‘position’. I guess ‘face’ didn’t matter that much in front of such miraculous things.

“Well, the truth is that we have no idea. It was Rin’s doing. Probably an ability of hers,” Alice answered with a shrug of her shoulders and an unknowing face. Elder Galen looked at Rin with his brows raised and teleported next to her. He touched her on her right shoulder, but his hand was quickly torn off thanks to Rin’s bite.

Even his symbiote was penetrated by her teeth. He pulled back his handless left arm in his surprise while saying - “Ouch… how fretful. She must have a truly powerful bloodline if she reacts this strongly to strangers. Usually, companions aren’t this vengeful…” We chuckled upon hearing his words. He wasn’t angry just because of losing a hand. It was already growing back with a visible speed. He was at the cultivator at the seventh level… it was nothing much.

He walked around Rin, with his right hand on his chin and started inspecting her from afar. Rin was following him with her eyes and when he reached behind her, she kicked him in the stomach. We laughed out loudly upon seeing such a scene. Thanks to his strength and to the laws he knew, he only slightly grunted upon taking the attack. “Ah! Such a dirty player! She was waiting for me to reach behind her, only to kick me? You should educate her in the future… I’m not a bad kind of person, but there are elders who would have punished you or her for such a thing…”

“*Chuckle* A- Alright, haha, we will do something about it. Rin! Could you?” Alice said with between her laughing as she put her hand on Rin’s head. Rin started purring happily and then sat down. “Truth be told, instead of guessing, why don’t you ask us about her race?” Alice said with another laugh. Elder Galen looked at her seriously for a few seconds and then he started laughing heartily as he slapped on his forehead.

“Hahaha, indeed. That would be easier! It seems like I’m truly too old. So? What is her race? Quickly, tell me!” He said while still smiling.He leaned forward in his curiosity, waiting for our answer. I don’t know how Poirlion knew of her race. Especially just from a look at the egg at that time, but probably he gained knowledge of it somehow.

“She is an Abyss Panther, which we got after completing a dungeon. Its level was way above ours, so it rewarded us heavily. We also had to get our hands on Universe Crystals to make her hatch, which happened by chance and now here she is.” I explained and he kept nodding while listening to my explanation.

His face was composed as he said - “Fumu, fumu, Abyss Panther… LIKE HELL! A FUCKING ABYSS PANTHER?!!?” He shouted out the second half and then he continued his shouting while holding onto his head. “THAT IS RANKED AS FIRST ON THE LIST OF COMPANIONS! I DIDN’T BELIEVE HER TO BE SUCH A CREATURE BECAUSE THAT SEEMED TO BE TOO UNREAL!”

“God… this is the weirdest trio I’ve ever seen in my whole life! A No.1 Abyss Panther companion, and two True Divine Beasts, one of them being a Hydra, while the other one is the Dragon! I swear that if anyone can name a weirder group, then I’m going to kill myself here and now! No. I’ll serve that person!” He kept on his whining, which made us smile. “Ugh… if only I’d have had half the luck you have. So unfair! Maybe people hate divine beasts because of their unfair aspects? Yes, that must be the case!” He started muttering to himself, thinking of reasons why people hated our kind.

We couldn’t help but laugh at him. The other students, who didn’t participate in ‘killing us’ were looking around, at each other, with an unknowing face. They also made respectful faces while looking at us. After being beaten up, they realized that we weren’t in the same league. Now, this might sound stuck-up, but I’m just stating the truth. We weren’t the kind of people who degraded themselves, just to make ourselves look less humble in other people’s eyes.

“Truth be told, we don’t know too much about her abilities. When the ‘Dark Flow’ happened, she did something and that matter evaded us. Do you know anything by any chance?” Alice asked with her head tilted to the side. Unfortunately, Elder Galen didn’t know much more either.

He shrugged his shoulders while saying - “I don’t know too much either. She is a very rare kind, even rarer than a True Divine Beast. I’m not saying that her kind is stronger, and there are only a few people who came upon her kind, but she is surely the rarest being, possibly in every universe. That’s all I know… there aren’t any recordings of her abilities in this academy and probably in the others either. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you in this.”

“So normal humanoids know more about us, True Divine Beasts, even going as far as knowing of our abilities, mostly… yet they don’t know anything about her?” Alice said as her pointing finger stopped in front of Rin’s face, who reacted by licking it with her rough tongue. It always felt so weird and tickling. I laughed at Rin’s reaction, while Alice cleaned her finger by using her energy.

“Ehm… yes. But now that I think about it, you didn’t use the skills cultivators learned of when they were young. I don’t know about your skills either? What’s with that? Did your bloodline change or what?” He started questioning us, but we wouldn’t give information about such things.

Both of us simply laughed at his question, not telling him that we were using things, which were way above what other True Divine Beasts used. Realizing that we wouldn’t tell him anything, he got back to work. “Okay then, laugh all you want. I’ll die in my curiosity, I guess. Now that I think about it, I wasn’t curious for many years. Yet now here I am… Alright! Follow me, I’ll show you your places. You should meet with worthy opponents. These newcomers are good, but they are like vegetables in front of you. I’d rather not get them killed because they can’t control their wrath.”

He stopped close to us, spread his arms and upon clapping them together, all three of us disappeared from our original positions, and appeared at a different place. “Hello, Genotan! I brought you fresh meat! “You should take good care of them! They will surely turn into important members of our school in the future!” We heard Galen’s thoughts. At such times we were truly happy that we had such an ability!

“Okay…” A simple answer resounded in his mind. Galen nodded and then disappeared from where he stood. Genotan was a mix of two races. An ogre and a naga. Weird pair indeed, but we weren’t different! Well, we were still of a similar kind, but… whatever. He was middle aged and he had a muscular body and he stood at two and a half meters tall. He had patches of greenish and bluish scales covering his joints. Instead of hair, his head was also covered in scales, which looked like a riverbed. There was a long bobber on his back along his spine, which ended in a relatively short, but thick tail. Like a lizard man's tail.

His tusks were also peeking out at the sides of his mouth and he had a trident in his hands. Such a classic! “Hello, rookies. My name is Genotan as you have heard it. You must have performed really well if Galen brought you here, but don’t get over your heads. This is a group of monsters and you will have to work hard to keep up! Especially considering that you are only at the third stage…” He said with deep a deep voice and then went silent. He probably wasn’t a man of words.

“Hmmm- fight with each other, you should be perfect opponents your auras are also very similarly power-” He started bullshitting, but we didn’t even listen to his words. I didn’t interrupt him because he seemed to be the type who wouldn’t bear such a thing and considering that he was at the seventh level as well, I wouldn’t risk a beating. Well, he would pay the price in the future if that were to be the case. As he finished his monolog, we answered.

“Sorry but that can’t be. We wouldn’t be able to hurt each other.” He raised his brows and crossed his arms as he questioned us - “Not? Why so? Should I show you how to do it?” This guy is annoying… [Should we show you how you are going to be beaten up in the future? Stupid ogre.] Alice thought unhappily. We understood that such things would drive others to work harder and to advance quicker. But it would be counterproductive considering our races.

“It’s because we are soul-bonded, so don’t bother with it,” I said with a serious face. Genotan appeared in front of me and looked deeply into my eyes, with his face almost touching mine. His powerful aura was completely released, but we were immune to it. On one hand, because of the white pill, and on the other hand, we weren’t fearful children either... Is he testing our courage? I smirked upon realizing that, which made him leave and then do the same with Alice. She didn’t fear him either and looked deeply into his eyes, which surprised him.

He reappeared at his original position and said with a nod - “Not bad. In that case, you can select your own opponent. But you can’t fight together. You are bonded so that would be unfair against the other pairs and although fairness isn’t a part of life, but at times like these, I find it to be necessary!” He stopped talking once again and waited for us to select an opponent. The twenty some people were looking at us curiously. A few of the guys also ‘inspected’ Alice with their eyes more closely, but nothing too offensive.

“And what about Rin?” I asked while looking at Elder Genotan, who raised his brows and his face turned into a surprised one upon noticing her.

“Hmm- does anyone have a companion here which is at least at the seventh stage? That monster of yours is visibly more powerful than a monster at the early fifth stage…” He said with his brows raised while looking at the people present. One of them, a girl, stepped forward. She was dog girl, with dog ears and a dog-like tail. She was quite cute… as a dog.

“My companion is at the seventh stage and his race is a Windscar Dog. I think that he would be a perfect opponent for your panther,” she said proudly while wagging her tail. Genotan nodded, while Rin also roared in her approval. I hope that she wouldn’t get hurt. I wouldn’t want that. We also pointed randomly at two people. Alice targeted a guy, who was ogling at her body, while I decide to target another such person. They should learn where to look… Both of them were at the early seventh stage, with the strength of one hundred and eleven Crypt.

The normal value should be a hundred and nine, so they had quite a lot more than average cultivators. This was indeed a place for monsters. In my battle form, I had only eighty-seven Crypt, which meant that this would be a hard battle alone. “Alright, the others also select a pair. Just like usually, rookies had the option to select their first opponent. Now step aside and watch the show until you get your turn, maybe you will learn something,” Genotan said with his usual deep voice as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

He explained everything in a way, which helped in understanding how things were. He indicated with his hands for one of us to go. I guess he wanted to see how we would fare. “*Tch…* You should have selected someone weaker. The guy said annoyedly. He wasn’t looking down on me. He was simply annoyed that he had to fight against me. Well now, that’s interesting. For a moment, I thought that we were at the part where everyone would look down on us and then after badmouthing us, we would beat them up.

I jumped forward and stood in the two kilometers big circle, which seemed to be really small for our speed. “Oh, by the way, you can’t fly above twenty meters,” Genotan remarked while raising a finger, which was followed by a swing of his arms. We were cut off from the outside world and he put us into a cube or so to say. That was like a jump for a mortal… Since we don’t know laws, my only way to escape from here would be to crack space and run out, but without Rin, it would cause my downfall.

[I don’t like this… He is shutting away my mate! What should I do?] Alice felt anxious, which also affected me.

[Hey, hey! Calm down. It’s not like I’m too far away. You are only making it worse for me as well.] I quickly soothed her. It would be wrong for me to fight with such a mindset.

[You are one to talk… I’ll see how you will feel when it’s my turn.] She answered while making a pouting face. I felt really well, knowing that I was loved so much, but I had to focus. I turned around, with a smile on my face. I felt truly happy and instead of getting affected by her feelings, I overwrote hers.

“What now… are you done with your lovers’ chit-chat?” My opponent said as he took a defensive position. Genotan counted down and then shouted start.

“What’s your name?” I asked, feeling curious. He smirked as he said - “Are you worthy of knowing it?” I furrowed my brows, feeling annoyed by such words. He chuckled and then answered, telling me that he was called Hitoshi. He was a fox-man mix, which was visible thanks to his furry, lush tail and his fox-like ears.

I nodded and then told him my name as well. I didn’t like how he checked out Alice, but he seemed to be someone who should be respected. Hahaha, who the hell am I lying to? I don’t care about respect. He could die for all I care… Maybe I would be the first to step on him. I’m not a good man. Fuck everyone who dares to look like that at Alice! [Woah! So much passion. I feel hot~] Alice said with an excited tone. I looked behind, only to see her rubbing her thighs together. Such a pervert… I love her!

Hitoshi indicated with his finger for me to attack. I activated everything I had and jumped towards him in my battle form. This is going to be my first serious battle!