“You’re still alive? Didn’t I already smash you under that rock like a bug?”

Sage’s voice was distorted in his true form, sounding very different from normal. It had a low and almost metallic quality to it. He’d thought things were coming to an end, only to find out he was very wrong.

“Silence, Beast. Just because you’ve inadvertently helped me, it doesn’t make up for all the damage you’ve already caused! Now, hurry up and die. Don’t worry, all your subordinates will follow you soon.”

She pointed her staff once again and the glowing red eyes brightened. Just like before, a specter appeared. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that green flame specter anymore. Instead it was the blood ghost, or at least a very similar existence appeared. It looked almost exactly like the spirit that had entered the huge mound of black oil earlier, except it also lost its lower half. It no longer had legs, its lower body fading away at the waist. It wasn’t as large as the green flame ghost, and was the same size as it had been before.

Well, looks like that staff can enslave and control spirits or something. Interesting.

He glanced at the staff and noted that the skull on top of it was still cracked. Before he could look for long he was buried under a flurry of sharp claws. The blood ghost had appeared right next to him and it didn’t delay, immediately assaulting him. It was even faster than it was before, and its claws came with such speed that he couldn’t keep up. Even seeing a few seconds into the future he wasn’t fast enough to dodge every attack it leveled against him.

Green scales flew into the air, spreading flecks of blood in their wake. The claws of the blood ghost sliced into him, but they weren’t razor sharp, they were burning hot. Each of those claws carried an immensely focused heat, such that it melted through his defenses. The shorn scales carrying only a small bit of blood before the extreme heat instantly sealed his wounds with burns. He tried to lash out with his tail blade, and armor his body up with more layers of Blue Icesilver, but it was just too fast. It smashed through the Blue Icesilver too quickly, and he had to use his tail blade to help block the rapid attacks.

“Didn’t I already tell you to die already? Give up already, I’ve got better things to do!”

Even though she was talking big, and the blood ghost was tearing him up, she didn’t do anything else but hold the staff. Sage guessed that it was taking all her effort to control this spirit, just like it had drained her to put it into the black oil, he figured it was taking her all to command it now. Too bad he couldn’t do anything about it, overwhelmed as he was by the blood ghost.

Hei Bai was equally upset, it looked like the little dragon was going to be torn apart in a few moments by the blood ghost, but its wounds were healing too fast. It avoided or blocked most of the attacks with Icesilver, buying it time to heal up from each hit that landed. They had already reached a stalemate, and after resurrecting herself into a golem body she was already worn thin.

“I thought you were a dragon, not a cockroach! Too bad you’re going to end up squashed, and then all your men will be turned into my loyal golems.”

Even though she seemed desperate, the blood ghost still held the upper hand. Sage healed the wounds that came his way, using Foresight to avoid the most grievous injuries, but being forced to take hits from others that were just too fast. The Life Nebula gave him an astonishing recovery speed, but even so it couldn’t keep up. He was using the Timeless Eyes, the healing ability from the Fat Grass Worm, and also forming layers of armor with the Blue Icesilver. He’d even used the Eye of the World to create water to soothe the burns he’d gotten earlier. In the beginning of this exchange he was even using Cosmic Traction to improve his dodging ability. So many powerful techniques being used all at once were draining him far faster than his natural recovery rate could keep up with, not to mention the strain it was putting on his Qi channels and meridians. If he didn’t have such a strong body there’s no way he could be using so many abilities at the same time.

As the fight wore on, he had to cut back on the abilities he was using. At this point, he was covered in burn marks and missing many scales. He closed his right eye, deactivating the Timeless Eyes. He even held back his strength from his regenerative ability, focusing all of his Qi into shaping thick panels of Blue Icesilver to cover the places where he was missing scales and to add a thick layer of armor to his vital spots. Then he rolled on the ground, twisting to the side so the blood ghost wasn’t blocking the path to Hei Bai. No longer concentrating on defense, he was struck three times along the way. The armor couldn’t actually stop the damage, it only reduced it. Instead of having inch deep furrows into his flesh, it only burned his scales or left burn marks where he’d already lost them.

The blood ghost charged towards him, but he had spun over to the side for a reason. He instantly released the majority of the air compressed within his lungs, catalyzing it with Qi and activating the Divine Breath technique to blast him backwards, directly towards Hei Bai. He rapidly flew out of its attack range and closed within just a few yards of the self proclaimed necromancer. His propulsion just about ran out at that point and he skidded across the dirt, rolling and sweeping his tail out, cracking the short whip at her.

Hei Bai swung her staff twice, the first horizontal swing made the blood ghost disappear and then contacted the whip tail. Blocking the strike with extreme precision. Then she flicked it back the way it came and summoned the blood ghost again, this time standing beside her. She swung the staff upwards, preparing to do something else with it, but was suddenly interrupted. The blood ghost had pounced towards Sage, but at the same time, a dark shape exploded out of the ground behind Hei Bai. A thick black worm, easily three feet in diameter, burst out of the ground and spread its mouth as wide as a person wall tall. It formed an arch and dropped upon Hei Bai from above like the nozzle of a giant, and disgusting, vacuum cleaner.

Hei Bai was gone without a trace.

For a little while. Only a moment passed, Sage was slashed again by the blood ghost, and then the big worm trembled. The insides of the Warp Worm were extremely tough, but that didn’t seem to stop it from writhing uncontrollably. Then it flopped onto the ground, lifeless, and Hei Bai slid out of its… rear end. Suffice it to say, she was not happy. She pulled herself to her feet and let out another scream. Just like the one she’d used to kill the Warp Worm a moment ago, it sent a shock into Sage’s spiritual sea.

In that off balanced moment, the blood ghost grabbed Sage around the neck like he was trying to capture a snake. Hei Bai was already celebrating, letting out a wicked laugh. She thought her foe had finally been caught and now the dragon just needed to get skinned.

Her foe, on the other hand, was not of the same mind.