Stars shined bright in the night sky, twinkling like countless eyes blinking as they looked down on the planet. Up here in the mountains, sunlight and starlight spread their light across the surface more easily than in Tyjuku forest.

The humans knew some things about the two creatures who fought a fierce battle below them. Both the Blast-Foot, and Stepping Raccoons were well known species in the mountains, it was fine if you crossed paths with a Stepping Raccoon, since they were a race who weren’t quick to kill.

But if you ran into a Blast-Foot all you could do was curse your rotten luck. Anything that entered their view was immediately identified as prey, unless they fought to prove it was otherwise. Forcing the creatures they came face to face with to fight with their lives on the line gave them a good feeling.

Maybe you’d have a chance to get away if the Blast-Foot had a full stomach, they were more intent on finding a sheltered place to let their bodies slowly convert the food into useful energy. They were a real menace no matter what in other people’s eyes, more than once entire hunting parties, and area patrol squads were found slaughtered, with huge holes from vicious claw wounds on their bodies.

In this area near Hunchback mountain, there were two Blast-Foot, this one here, and an even more terrifying mature Blast-Foot. There were a few herbs the Clover family lusted after really close to where the two beasts operated. When Patriarch Fourleaf overheard the report given by a senior member of the family to the mistress, he laughed like a madman with his face pointed to the sky.

His outburst startled the mistress, and the senior member relaying their report, then following that, an even more frightening thing came out of his mouth. Hearing the news seemed to drive him crazy, the magical herb researcher demanded to be part of the herb’s extraction, nothing else could reassure him that the plant will arrive at it’s destination safe and sound.

The mistress could never agree with risking the life of their hen that laid the golden eggs, if something happened which could threaten the patriarch’s life while he ran around picking herbs, the Clover family will be finished. The plant that made Fourleaf so anxious to acquire it was called gland decalcifying frond, even the Mohawked man who wasn’t a key member knew of it.

Raven had once said that if they were ever able to get their hands on the prized herb, he would immediately become the one the Clover family placed their hopes on. It was too bad you needed to go pass a high slope, right where the mature Blast-Foot made it’s nest, to reach the herb.

The only skilled warrior the Clover family had to deploy was Raven, there were no other strong figures that they could trust with such an important mission. Only someone who has sincerely sworn allegiance to the Clover family was suitable to know about some of this advanced knowledge.

The mature version of the creature they were looking at now stood in the way of a special task the previous Clover family patriarchs have handed down, but only Fourleaf, and the family’s mistress knew of this plan that had been passed down to generations yet still hadn’t come into fruition.

A group of Clover family subordinates stood on a surface of rippling air, the Mohawked man was the second in command behind Raven, a silver lizard hung around his neck like a chain, making him look like a bandit leader.

Their pupils shrunk as they looked at the beast of their nightmares, even Hawkbow, the top human hunter in Greywolf village, and the one who trained Raven in the way of the bow, was considered trash in it’s eyes. It was an existence that those who were acknowledged as elites would make way for.

Raiken could feel the stiffness in the Mohawked man’s body, these birds have left quite the impression on Greywolf village, even their strongest warrior, a member of the Bloodhound clan, who had a high fire affinity, and managed to become a more powerful variant of their species didn’t dare to test his blade against it.

Mohawk man and his crew knew they were nothing in front of beings on that level, they could only show their backs to them, not even in their fantasies with themselves as the hero would they dare to face them. While they were up high in the sky, out of reach of the Blast-Foot, it was still too close for the human’s comfort.

Down below, pulped plants, dirt, and wood chips rained down, the Blast-Foot tore through the tangled clump of grass the raccoon rolled in. After all of it’s raging it still didn’t find the raccoon, it’s raptor gaze looked through the drifting curtain of smoke, and splinters, searching for any sign of where it’s prey could be.

Since the raccoon drew it’s blood, the bird wouldn’t give up looking for it easily, abruptly it’s body went totally still. Both of it’s powerful talons were planted firmly on the ground. It’s chest didn’t move, indicating that it was also holding it’s breath.

A minute passed like this, with the bird just standing there motionlessly like it died on it’s feet. Until, like a match struck in the darkness, it’s eyes flashed, regaining focus. It’s ferocious gaze snapped in a direction over it’s shoulder, a cloud of dust was raised up with a swish as a ripple moved from it’s legs, to it’s waist.

Before anyone could get what was going on, the bird’s figure shifted, and it turned into a dark streak slashing through the sky.It’s form became visible again for a moment, it twisted in the air, a flap of it’s wings created a cushion of wind, when it’s nails tapped the wind all you could see was the tail of it’s shadow, darting off into the distance.

While the humans trembled in disbelief at the Blast-Foot’s display of mobility, Raiken’s crimson eyes sparkled with ideas. He’d already seen through the beast’s bloodline, it had a formidable ancestry, one of it’s kin had grown so strong they were on the verge of becoming a deity of the skies.

It’s ancestor was a sacred bird that caused a heaven tribulation cloud to manifest itself onto the physical plane, with the intention to crush it’s way of spirituality. This ancient bird was fearless, it once went around the world challenging the strongest entities under the heavens, it’s way of spirituality was to be the greatest under the sky, but not beneath the heavens.

As it was in the midst of evolving it’s spirit crystal matrix into a spirit refining orb, the heavens became aware of it’s spirituality, for a creature to want to rise to the pinnacle in whatever corner of the myriad constellations they occupied, it should be with the heavens as their halo, thus those who wanted to become divine beings yet shunned the heavens, was equivalent to saying you didn’t need to be under the heavens to perform amazing feats.

So with the heavens will to crush the sacred bird’s way of spirituality, a heaven tribulation cloud manifested itself, the ancient bird was enraged to be interrupted in such a crucial moment, a battle that shook the earth erupted as the bird went to battle to let the heavens know it’s wrath. It was a battle that toppled an entire continent, in the end, a seal was placed on the sacred bird’s wings, which would be passed down to it’s descendants.

The heaven defying bird was to never fly, nor rule the skies again, it was brought heavily back to earth by the domineering will of heaven.

Raiken was able to experience it as if he lived it himself, he could deeply feel the bird’s strong feelings of unwillingness. At first he had the thought of enjoying whatever delicious meal that could be made of such a highly leveled bird. It’s level of refinement wasn’t too low, it’s flesh, and blood were bursting with energy, and in a year or two it could even reach the stage of crystallizing it’s spirit matrix.

Now that he had witnessed how awesome, and valiant it’s ancestor looked fighting the heavens to firmly stabilize it’s way of spirituality with his on eyes, Raiken became reluctant to kill the bird. He really admired those creatures that fought to be the masters of their own fate, most were simply satisfied with the hand they were dealt, they likely will never delve deep enough to explore their gifts.

“Still, it’s blood essence would be useful if it was refined into magical life essence”, Raiken thought to himself as he rubbed his brilliant silver snout. The sacred bird’s bloodline had seriously declined from the power members in the previous generations had at their disposal, yet they still were able to become local tyrants in the Sky Whale mountains.

The sacred bird’s blood had a ton of potential, it wouldn’t trouble Raiken at all to refine it to a point where it reached a grade similar to a direct descendant. While he was delighting over the possibilities this world presented him, the humans were sighing in relief at the Blast Foot’s departure.

Seeing the Stepping Raccoon with it’s strong sword-play still get beaten back by the Blast-Foot reaffirmed it’s dominance in their hearts. As long as it had been running around the mountain troubling everyone, none of the tribes were able to put an end to it’s rein of terror. Those who went forth bravely ended up as corpses under the beast’s talons.

To the clans, and tribes in these surrounding mountains, the Blast-Foot was a formidable foe, but Raiken merely saw it as a source of rich ingredients for him to train his spirit arts. Even though it moved nearly a hundred meters away in seconds, cutting a dark trail below the skyline, it still wasn’t out of his reach.

As the Blast-Foot glided with it’s feathers fluttering in the wind, it’s senses scanned the earth, not wanting to miss a single detail. Earlier when it rolled away into the bushes, the raccoon made full use of the short time it was out of the Blast-Foot’s line of sight, carving a tunnel through the ground with it’s keen sword skills. It would’ve gotten away unnoticed if the Blast-Foot hadn’t sensed the energy from it activating the technique underground.

It was just as Raiken said, the raccoon was an excellent escape artist, each revolution of it’s sword was actually a hundred cuts, chained together and rapidly executed, they were all narrowed down to one movement, flicks of it’s wrist with alternating speed and force caused the blade to buzz as it rotated. The rocks and soil were chopped and ground up as the blade transformed into an enclosed circle, the raccoon traveled at a speed which didn’t lose out to the Iron Bodied Moles that were the terror of the underground.

Spirit energy moved together with the blade, and sparks lit up the dark tunnel, the raccoon was like an excavator as it sprinted forward among crumbling rocks. It was angered that it was forced to abandon the nest it spent a good amount of time scouting out, the route the Blast-Foot came rampaging on was too close to the nest. The raccoon had originally planned to wait until it’s cubs knew how to wield weapons before relocating to a place with richer spiritual energies.

He escaped in the opposite direction of where his mate was going, the Blast-Foot was a monster that hunted other strong beasts, it specialized at weeding out prey, Valkyu was betting that it would search for traces of him instead of going after his mate. Fighting was what it enjoyed doing the most, the beast probably wouldn’t mind spending the whole night to find him.

The Raccoon was also a high caliber beast, eating it’s flesh would provide the one who consumed it large amounts of refined spirit energy, this was another reason, other than the raccoon shedding it’s blood, for the Blast-Foot to chase it in a frenzy.

All of this culminated into a wild pursuit in the night, the force from the Blast-Foot’s earlier moves was almost spent, it glided towards the ground and came down lightly. Although the bird seemed like a wild beast, It wasn’t dumb by a long shot, any beast that lived long enough to reach a higher stage had broken through quite a few layers of refinement, this was a shedding of their former selves, an overall increase to their physical or spiritual attributes, depending on which school of refinement innately suited them.

The Blast-Foot’s way was the refinement of the body, it’s 6th sense was already unlocked thanks to it’s uncommon lineage, since the raccoon surely couldn’t fly, the only other route for it to escape was underground, realizing this didn’t take the beast long either. It’s body paused, going completely still, taking a deep breath through the two holes on top of it’s beak, the Blast-Foot tucked it’s legs beneath it, taking a seat on the ground.

The bird looked like it was resting, but it was actually toggling through it’s senses. It’s 6th sense tied it’s sense of hearing together with the wind, increasing it’s range and giving it a wider coverage. The sounds of insects crawling through the grass could be heard clearly inside of it’s ears when it entered this state, it was experienced enough at it by now to know what were the normal sounds of the night.

True to it’s status as an apex predator, the Blast-Foot calmed down from it’s early rage, now it was going into hunting mode, first the target had to be found before it could unleash it’s anger, otherwise it’s senses would be dulled by it, if the prey got away there will be nothing to vent it’s frustration on.

Ignoring the normal sounds of the night, such as the leaves waving in the wind, the pattering noise of an unknown creature off in another direction pissing on the ground, or some unfortunate fellow’s death-cry as they breathed their last breath, and the silence returned to the night.

There was no place the wind couldn’t travel to, in the isolation of the underground, sounds were even easier to detect when they bounced off of solid earth walls. They also made echos, these were what the predators underground used to find potential prey.

The Blast-Foot sat completely still, listening to the air circulations beneath it, every now and then it would open it’s scissor-like beak, spitting out glowing yellow breaths at the ground. After that, it waited for several wind patterns to float back up, it tilted it’s head towards the wind pattern in order to listen to the sound it contained.

None of the things it heard stood out, there weren’t any signs of someone digging in a hurry, it listened for a while, trying to identify the different sounds the wind brought to it. Just as it was about to move to another spot to continue it’s surveillance, it heard a sound that made it halt mid-motion.

It started off as a low rumble, like a pile of boulders grazing against each other, the Blast-Foot didn’t have enough time to listen for more clues before the ground shook beneath it. Even it couldn’t help showing a startled expression on it’s ferocious face as it scrambled to it’s feet.

A look of uncertainty could be seen in it’s eyes, it stared at the ground as if it was measuring an enemy. The trembling in the ground was becoming even more intense, forcing the Blast-Foot to adjust it’s balance. This was entirely out of the Blast-Foot’s expectations, whatever the source of this rumbling was, it seemed to be coming up from somewhere deeper underground.

When something hugely unexpected like this occurred, it put the Blast-Foot in a high state of alertness. With every second that passed, the rumbling became even more ominous. Leaves fell down from the treetops, they looked like a green wave trembling on the ground. In a direction of 60 degrees, and over a 100 meters away from the Blast-Foot, cracks started to scar the ground, big sized chunks were being pushed up, it appeared as if there was a large amount of activity going on beneath here.

The ground in a diameter of 10 meters was being pushed upwards, tremors rocked the area like a giant beast rattling it’s cage. It bulged like a bump ready to burst at any moment, after the rumbling stopped, leaving a pressuring quiet to fill in it’s absence, a loud boom exploded in the night, shaking everything up.

Smoke churned, covering up the view of the scene, a blast of stale air came and stirred the surroundings. It was like a breath from somewhere that rarely saw the light of day. When it wafted over to where the Blast-Foot stood alertly, the beast’s eyes narrowed as it looked towards the waving smoke. A red light crawled up it’s body, it noticed the earth under it’s feet had abruptly ceased shaking, there was something about it that put the ferocious bird on guard.

It snapped it’s beak together, a crisp sound issued like a pair of sharp scissors, the circulation of energy in it’s body caused the air to strongly flow around it. The grass under it’s feet was tossed from side to side, it wasn’t in a rush to attack, the bird really wanted to see what kind of mighty fellow will appear after that explosive entrance.

“Shit, even if today wasn’t my lucky day, it still shouldn’t be this terrible!” A voice came from somewhere inside of the smoke, sounding frantic, and full of frustration. With a whoosh, a break was opened up in the screen of smoke, the raccoon came tumbling out, blood was leaking from the top of his head. After coming out of the smoke, he didn’t pause to check his surroundings, a startled and anxious expression still lingered on his face when he looked back at where he came from.

He didn’t keep looking for long though, he tapped his foot on the ground, turning into a streak moving rapidly away from the smoke. The Stepping Raccoon came out on the other side of the smoke, because it covering up the area, the Blast-Foot was unable to capture his figure. Even so, there was something else locked onto him in it’s place, and every step he took would alert it of his position.

He couldn’t help but curse as an excited chitter reached his ears, alongside low wretched and terrified squeaks. A large head, with two sharp metallic pincers in front a large mouth full of blade-like teeth slowly came out of the smoke. It’s head was bathed in a red sludge, crushed limbs, and the broken bodies of rat-like creatures stuck out of it. Their bodies were crushed when the beast broke through the ceiling underground towards the surface.

As it’s body slid further out the smoke, rocky spikes could be seen on it’s back, some of the Dire-Rats that were riding on it earlier luckily survived it’s burrowing. They were clinging to the spikes with looks of wild panic in their eyes. This furry worm like creature was a monster the Dire-Rats paid elemental earth crystals to transport their fighters throughout the underground expanse.

It was called the Earth Child Wurm by the civilized races living underground. They were a well known species of relatively intelligent monsters who were unable to forge tools, they were smart enough to realize they needed resources to boost their refinement speeds. The issue was solved when the other intelligent monster clans noticed the ease with which an Earth-Child Wurm navigated the underground expanse.

Some of the more ambitious sorts saw the potential in packing their broad backs with fighters to be transported straight to the battlefield. The Earth-Child Wurm was a carnivorous creature that hunted prey who sometimes fought back fiercely, they wouldn’t be concerned at approaching a battlefield, quite the opposite actually, such an event was considered a banquet to the Earth-Child, a rare chance to feast as much as they wanted.

Those sorts of arrangements were a win-win for them, they can make piles of elemental earth crystals, while eating tons of meat on the side when they dropped whatever clan’s warriors off to the battlefield. This particular Earth-Child came across a raiding party of Dire-Rats on one of it’s forays, it tried to eat them at first, the rats appeared to be healthy and well fed, some of them had even broken through two or three layers of refinement, their bodies would be full of nourishing, delectable meat.

A moment before it could begin it’s rampage, the high ranking female Dire-Rat acted swiftly, she couldn’t afford to lose any of her elite fighters in a battle that wouldn’t bring benefits to their clan. She was a veteran who had led those linguistic Dire-Rats that were useless in battle, but skilled at communication, safely through the underground expanse to trade for training materials.

Her group wasn’t the first or only one to encounter the Earth-Child Wurm, their method of communication wasn’t difficult to decipher, any of the smarter Dire-Rats could imitate the sounds. After a few clashes between the high ranking female Dire-Rat and the Earth-Child, it was finally convinced they weren’t an easy meal.

When the Dire-Rat female succeeded at getting her intentions through to the Earth-Child, with a palm full of elemental earth crystals held enticingly in front of her, the beast immediately became cooperative, it was even prepared to roll over and do tricks. The Dire-Rat clan saved a lot of time and energy with the Earth-Child transporting them, it also joined their battles when they came across opposing forces, they’d been more than satisfied with it’s services thus far.

Before this incident, everything was going fine, it was just another day of searching the underground expanse for magical crystal fluctuations. The Earth-Child was it’s usual self, always on the lookout for beings of energy refined flesh to eat, but things started going badly when it jerked to a stop in the corridor they were going through. It moved it’s head around slowly, giving off the air of someone probing for something.

The rats were confused at it’s actions, when they were beginning to lose their patience and were about to ask what’s the deal, the Earth-Child let out a happy chitter that sounded like screeching metal. It rammed it’s head against the ceiling, causing the whole corridor to shake, the Dire-Rats on it’s back nearly jumped out of their hides in fright as they watched it. Large slabs of rock began raining down, amidst the rumbling, the Earth-Child’s excited chitters rang out.