"Die!!" the dragon moved with an unyielding will. Every part of its body acted as a weapon as it clawed, bit, and swung its tail at Soma.

"Weak!" Soma grinned. "I've killed hundreds of thousands of you beasts; what makes you think I won't kill you?"

"Bastard!" She raged. "You left my son for the vultures to feed on; I won't rest until you're dead!" The dragon went crazy. Its attacks became sporadic and faster as Soma went head-on with it.

Soma threw another punch as the dragon slashed at him with sharp claws. They both hit each other and sent shockwaves forth. Soma backed up and spewed blood.

"Damn it! You'll stand in Ouranos' way too?! Enough! Every damnable person tries to stop what I need to do to ensure life! It's only through death that I can change this world into life!" Soma got increasingly serious as he spoke each word.

Soma's eyes darted with insanity, smiling as wide as his mouth would open as he teleported around the dragon. He appeared near its underbelly and punched it repeatedly, his eyes gleaming with bloodlust.

She roared angrily as her belly bled. Golden light coalesced around her and turned into beams headed to perforate Soma's body. The light was so fast, and Soma already felt sluggish; he wasn't sure if he could dodge them in time!

Soma quickly teleported, but by the time he vanished, one of the beams of light pierced the middle his hand. He seethed and cried out in pain.

"You dare to hurt this body?!" He stared in horror at the gaping hole on his palm and coughed up more blood. Soma's body was in horrible shape, and even his soul was slowly crumbling. His chest heaved up and down in hot, bubbling fury. "Enough... Enough!" His anger exploded as he warped time and space.

"I'll show you... I'll show them all the true power of Ouranos!" Strange, purple light formed at Soma's fingertips. His nose and mouth ran with blood as he turned pale. He walked toward the creature, seemingly slow, but in reality, Soma was already near the creature's heart. Time... it's a very scary thing to lose! When the dragon saw Soma, it was already too late. He shoved the purple light into its chest and weaved it inside in the fraction of a second.

"What did you do?!" She howled as he couldn't feel her connection to any of the laws. Even the flapping of her wings could not stop her descent. With a loud boom, she fell to the ground kicking up plumes of dirt and debris.

Soma also descended haphazardly as he held his heart, shaking every so often. His skin was cold and white as porcelain as blood leaked out his mouth. He looked at the dragon in front of him who struggled endlessly and then turned to Riza.

"Finally. It's time to take back what is truly belonging to Ouranos." Sig'car muttered weakly.

"That won't be necessary." A tall man suddenly hopped off a lush tree.

"Another one to stop Ouranos?" Soma's voice quivered as the man approached. His condition looked even worse than the leaders of the Sun Empire.

"Rey, it's your time!" The man shouted and sent a green thread of power fourth. Soma reached out his hand to block it, but the thread passed through his hand and penetrated his soul.

"You... Dare to harm me?" Soma fell onto one knee. The rain-drenched his face and obscured his vision until it went black.

'It's now or never!' Rey gritted his teeth and ran to the bars in his soul. When he neared them, he realized the repulsive force lessened greatly after Kioko's soul attack. Still, it took him great effort to even bend those bars.

"I'm free...!" Rey excited declared and walked past the iron bars that once bound him. Just ahead he saw Soma struggling to get to his feet.

"Soma!"

Rey yelled at Soma, prompting him to look up at Rey. His crazed smile and wide eyes were fixed on Rey.

"You escaped and honed your will... Amazing, what a defier of fate! Even those you confided in have been strengthened by you. Well done-"

Rey launched a kick at him to shut him up.

"Enough! For every one you've harmed, I will give back to you tenfold!"

Rey screamed and attacked again and again. Soma's soul seemed to be unyielding as Rey struck him continuously. With each hit, his soul chipped away more, causing Soma to cry out in waves of excruciating pain.

"No more! Please, stop!" Soma pleaded.

"Did you stop when you killed Aizen‽ What about the others you massacred‽"

Soma opened his bloodshot eyes even wider as another punch fell on his body.

"Do you know what I regret the most‽ I don't only have to kill you, but my former master as well. The Hibari that gave me my past, my roots... you're forcing me to kill him too! Damn you, Soma! After everything you've done, all that remains is broken families and dead children!"

His anger had burst forth in a fury of rage. Even with all the pain inflicted on Soma, he kept his horrifying grin.

"The only regret I have is needing to killing Hibari along with you, Soma! May you never rest!"

Rey rapidly punched him until Soma's soul dissipated and his body faded. The empty void seemed to reflect changes as he felt less pressure, and the bars that separated his consciousness faded away.

'It is finally over with." Rey sighed and immediately left the void. He gently felt the cool wind and rain on his skin. Even the mud and nipping cold, Rey welcomed it like a breath of fresh air as he opened his eyes and sat up.

"Rey!" A worried voice called to him. He turned around just in time to see Riza throw him to the ground with a hug.

"Ow ow," Rey winced as he felt pain in his ribs and shoulders, "Riza, you're safe."

"Don't worry about me, you fool! You're the one who needed saving." Riza giggled slightly as she hugged him even harder. "It's been a while, Rey..."

"Ahem!" Kioko coughed loudly. Rey was fully intoxicated into the moment that he hadn't seen him standing there with a grin on his face.

"Master Kioko!" Rey got up and bowed. "Thank you!"

"The rest was all you, Rey. I merely weakened him enough for you to finish the job. Well done."

"How did you know I won before I said anything?"

"Your aura, Rey. The energy you unintentionally release; think of it as your fingerprint. We sensed your unique aura and knew you had woken up."

Rey blinked and understood after he thought about it.

"I see," Rey looked around and saw people on the ground wearing robes engraved with the Sun Empire's blazing sun and the dragon struggling helplessly.

"Sonalius!" Rey ran over to the passed out man. Priest Kioko also walked over and touched his forehead.

"Overexertion, he... damn, using a forbidden technique like this!" Kiko sighed as he shook his head. "Forbidden techniques empower the body to a high degree. Tell me, how much is your life worth?"

Rey and Riza stood unable to answer that question.

"Exactly. Who can put a price on your life? It's priceless... and so if you burned your life, what would you gain from that? The energy you'd receive is astronomical just like the cost! That's what this man has done, though. For temporary power, he even burned away his life to swiftly increase his strength."

Priest Kioko sighed.

"Still, I haven't seen such a technique used before; I've only heard of it in writings. After all... how does one convert their life into energy?"

"But he'll be okay?"

"Yes, his wounds have already been healed. He'll need some time to recover from this weakened state though. For now... we need to deal with that beast and bring aid to these matriarchs and patriarchs!"

Rey, Riza, and Kioko turned to look at the struggling dragon-like creature.

"Let me." Riza turned and faced them with a smirk. The familiar red Ophanim engraving appeared on her chest.

'Wait... This placement... seems off?' Sig'car's shirt was also torn like this the last time he used it. But for a girl...

Before she had a chance to think anymore, her shirt was torn and fell to the ground as she sprouted three pairs of wings that covered her body. Riza's face turned red from embarrassment as she realized that her chest was exposed. She quickly turned around and a set of wings stuck to her body, hiding her breasts from being seen. Riza glanced at Rey and saw he was blushing.

"I saw nothing! J-just go!" Rey stuttered awkwardly.

"F-fine!" She stammered off trying to calm down. As Riza walked, she felt the seemingly boundless strength she had when using the powers of Ophanim. She walked up to the struggling dragon and used her dagger to slash its underbelly. It was extremely tough to cut through, however. Even with her newfound strength, she struggled to make noticeable progress. The dragon thrashed as well, making it difficult to kill.

"You dare harm me‽" The dragon roared and tried to move her body, but no matter how hard she urged herself to get up, there was little response.

Riza walked up to its big, beautiful green eyes. Her knife plunged in and blood leaked out. With a shrill scream, it swung its tail and stomped its legs as much as it could, but Riza paid no heed and continued to carve away at its eye. After a few minutes of cutting away inside the creature's head, she saw the creature's pink, fleshly brain. Power surged to her dagger as Riza thrust it into the dragon's brain. It gave out a final cry before submitting to death.

"Rey," Riza climbed out of its eye as it twitched, "come cultivate! This will surely help you out greatly."

Rey ran over, not wanting to waste one bit of that creature. When he past Riza, he blushed slightly and shook his head. Riza, as perceptive as she was, noticed Rey and felt another wave of embarrassment overtake her.

Blood leaked out of the giant dragon-like creature's eye as Rey stepped in. The squelching of flesh, the smell of coppery blood, and the sight of a blood river made Rey hold his breath for a moment. The path of cultivators... is filled with gruesome death! Rey chose this path, and this is what he'd relinquish all to chase. He took a deep breath in, his lungs filled with moist air. Rey sat down and soaked up the creature's blood.

Whenever Rey connected to the creature's blood, his understanding and perception surged. He could interpret the space law with clarity. And, the greater the quality blood he used as a medium, the greater the effect was.

It was as if all of Rey's life, whenever he cultivated, it was in his sleep. But at this moment, he felt truly awake! He noticed how complex the space law was as his perception of the world increased without end. Without restraint, Rey greedily took all the knowledge he could comprehend and kept growing. He could feel his power growing with each moment. Adept level 5... Adept level 10... Adept level 15... Finally, his energy and understanding reached the peak of the Adept stage. He became an Adept level 20!

Rey was in awe as he kept refining his energy. Finally, he seemed to have felt the law become vague and more complex.

'This is the level of an Evolved? I don't know how much I can understand so quickly...' Rey thought as he seemed close to touching the Evolved rank. He tried to decipher the complexity he felt, but before he could, the blood lost its effect and became useless. Rey sighed and felt greedy.

When Rey walked out, he realized it was already dark out. He saw Riza laying down near the creature and was bewildered. He realized she had weaved together leaves into a make-shift shirt to cover herself with.

"It's already night?" Rey blinked and felt bizarre. Wasn't it just mid-day?

"Rey! Finally, you're out of there. I almost thought something went wrong."

"What do you mean? I was only in there for a few moments." Rey furrowed his brows.

"A few minutes? It's already been over six hours!" Riza stood speechless.

Rey's face was of utter shock. It really did feel like a few moments! He was fully engaged with comprehending that he completely lost track of time.

"That man, Kioko. He rushed the officials and Sonalius to the nearest town already. He told me to watch over you while you cultivated so you were safe."

Riza sat up and looked at Rey with a grin.

"That aura, you're a peak Adept too?"

Rey nodded seriously, "Even an Adept is still too weak..."

"Then let's keep getting stronger!" Riza stepped forward with a glint in her eyes. "Let's go, we have to get back to Sonalius."

"Yes!" Rey smiled and they left for their next journey.