Above the far-reaching oceans continuing on endlessly in every direction, a pair of golden wings gleamed in the bright sunlight. The dragon’s eyes watched below ever carefully, their gaze penetrating the deep waters for countless miles. For weeks now, he perused the oceans to locate a very specific creature, two of them in fact. The first took mere days as he easily killed and assimilated its bloodline, but this second one remained evasive. In the first place it was rare to find these beasts alone, many of them intelligently used their uniqueness to gain the support of something greater.

Of course, he sought out the final two Elders to complete the final Nexus mission of this tier.

Yesterday a trail finally appeared though, as a master tier catfish clearly possessed the signature black skin of an Elder. A dangerous foe even for him as it already transformed into an Elemental Body and often travelled with a small entourage of master tiers. So, like a fisherman, he quietly flew about with eyes transfixed on the gigantic sea beast.

This thing easily compared to himself in size as it boasted a length of 7 metres, with thick skin and muscle to output impressive strength. He watched its tail slam into a master tier swordfish once. It died afterwards, but at that instant, its durable bladed nose shattered like glassware!

Well, it was no wonder Elders received such ferocious legends about them. Eyes which shone through darkness and black skin of battle coated in legends, this was the second time he saw such a bloodline release its full potential. But hadn’t he already killed one fish like it?

Today, the giant catfish travelled separately through the deep ocean crevices and reefs, underwater currents pushed it along such that it zipped through the murky waters at breakneck speeds. Darkness covered its trail, but his eyes kept a careful track, up ahead, he saw a perfect spot to dive down into the waters and cut it off. His body flipped upside down in the air, and with a hearty flap, the dragon fired into the soft ocean waves.

Like a cannonball he fell, and in a blink of an eye, hit the water… But only passing through the boundary like a tranquil petal slipping through a pond’s surface. The small waves consumed this minute entrance, and his body slipped downwards through cracks and caves to meet the catfish so far underground. At this depth, some volcanic vents spewed ash and magma, covering the landscape, but such things hardly damaged him any longer. It didn’t take long for his foe to realise that something approached, reminiscent ghostly eyes glared his way as the black skin glistened like a night sky.

The head of his True Will appeared immediately, its haughty eyes glared into the catfish’s for but a moment and threw its mind into a deep disarray. Stuck in place, it even drifted away as he snorted gently.

Domination Force, now upgraded to Dimension Force, completely locked down all things derived from blue. Water and ice most notably, but also less common powers like the reality sub-type of dreams.

And finally, divinity rushed through his body combined with the Auric Spirit, all topped off with a coat of liquid silver to bubble out from his golden wafer scales and cover his head, neck, and legs. While tough enough, as the liquid transformed into a full set of armour composed of neatly overlaid plates, even forming special claw covers to aid in attack, he still summoned out a black orb for this battle.

Because why would he ever be stupid enough to give his enemy a chance? It very well might mean his death, as he learnt from the experience of others.

Pain drew the catfish from its inflicted fear, holes perforated its toughened body, but rapidly sealed as hundreds of spots gleamed on its surface. Mana surged from the rapidly injured beast, and it healed faster than he inflicted the tiny holes drilled all the way through. No longer did it stay in place too, as it looked about in the underground tunnels it was intersected in for an escape.

The way back resulted in a quick death, the tunnels in this place pushed everything in a cycle and acting against any flow was simply wasteful. This catfish obtained its intelligence long ago too, it recognised a dragon easily, even guessing why one attacked all of a sudden. But from the gap in mana, it presumed its chances of success were reasonable… And then it met a True Will for the first time in its long life.

Only one method for survival appeared in his sight, and without further thought, charged towards the dragon with full might. It forced mana towards its fins, activating an innate ability, but then forced into subtle confusion as no effects came out even as mana was consumed. This made no sense to it, even further as it clearly sensed how the markings within its body resonated with the blue-coloured dimension.

Still, Akevorax stood in place as the ramming fish headed straight to him. Not at all scared as his tail snapped forward and its spiked tip jutted into its skin, forced inside and broken off as the gigantic flesh sack slammed into him and smashed the soft serve dragon against a wall.

Scales smashed to dust, ice cream oozed out along with various sweets sprayed about, and yet he didn’t feel fazed or worried. Instead, the scales stitched themselves back together instantly, and in a slightly slower time his insides refilled as though unharmed, albeit still crushed in some places as the fish held him against the wall. It repeated its pushes a few times, thinking it ensured the fragile dragon’s destruction.

“This is all an Elemental Body can achieve? I hoped for more,” he taunted the fish in Beasten, but the words clearly did not work despite its deepened frown.

With the path open, it fled with its life as the strange dragon possessed too many unknown means. His ridiculous regenerative ability put it to shame, and while it had yet to reveal the true power of its skin and bloodline, a dreadful feeling in its crystalline heart urged it to escape with a sliver of hope.

Unfortunately, that hope died moments later as Akevorax spoke a single word unknown to its ears. The silenced dimension of blue regained its usual interactions with the real world as he said, “Siltuum.” In his heart, the waters of the worlds acted to his command, waves toppled cliffs at will, and the currents changed at the simplest breath uttered. The word of Draconis meant one thing.

Flow

Normally cyclic flows within the tunnels changed, an experience completely unknown to the catfish who lived here for decades now. Uncountable volumes of water flushed through this spot every hour, and yet somehow the dragon, with a single word, now changed this flow into a vortex wrapped around its beefy frame. A whirlpool which trapped him and contained him at the centre, giving no leeway or hope as it received repeated attacks from the dragon towards its Mind and Soul. In the end, the lack of a substantially better fight left him annoyed. He was always wildly stronger or weaker than those he fought, never on a truly level playing field. Well, except for that one against Lostradus.

[Killed Level 98 Great shadow catfish (Elder)! Received 241% EXP]

In retrospect, being close to its level did give him a massive advantage in the first place. To expect a fair fight when he solely needed it to die was kind of idiotic. Any creature knew that only a quick kill preserved their strength best… And against a group, it could destroy their structure immediately.

The death of someone important tended to do that.

* * *

A group of six walked down another worn dirt road for miles without a destination. For the past week, they’d moved east at the end of winter to make their deadline. A hunting event which took place during springtime as the starving beasts of a particular mountain range sought food from greener pastures beyond their home. Long hibernations left them hungry, and with what strength remained, they launched countless attacks on farms and villages nearby.

And so, the lords of that land periodically hired tens of thousands to deal with the mess every year. It often worked out rather well since most attacking beasts were those who struggled in winter, bronze tiers to be exact.

Their group took the job as it offered easy and reliable payment, even more so given it contained three Steel ranks and three Sprouts of different pathways.

“Anna, don’t fly around needlessly!” Korridan shouted out as he massaged his forehead, once more she cheekily rose up with the winds at her call. They lifted and pushed her about with ease, and even at her level, she flew at speeds most birds showed jealousy at. But for the group, it resulted in an obvious waste of mana, not that she listened much, the expenditure of such simple movement didn’t bother her. Also, her wind spirit very much liked it.

From the side, Mala nudged him and said, “You’re too soft on her. On both of us, really.” The mocking yet charming smile was clear enough an explanation.

“I can deal with you perfectly fine, how is she worse though?” It was clear that he didn’t at all refer to their attitudes, and a sign of exhaustion almost showed as he thought back to last night.

But that was almost every night, really.

“I’m not really sure myself…” While Mala pondered for a few seconds, she quickly wiped off the curiosity and replaced it with a refreshed laugh as the situation was even more humorous than she originally thought. Still, she liked this outcome most and spoke gently to Korridan, “At least she is like this, it was horrible making her pick between us.”

He agreed with a grunt, at this point hardly paying attention to the empty surroundings.

“AHHHHHH—” A wailing scream from Anna came ahead, but they couldn’t see her. As the path moved around a hill, it blocked their sight of her as they all exploded into action. They hoped she screamed once more, or let out some sort of signal to warn them of what attacked, but only silence came from up front.

And as soon as they moved around the mound of earth, easily a hundred metres or so away, they found a massive bear tear through her clothes with its maw. Trying with strong jaws to chew through the quality material, and clearly succeeded with every bite, her chest already exposed and a chunk of flesh torn out. The reason for her cut off scream grew apparent as you looked further up.

Not at her head, but rather the fragmented mush of bone and brain smashed onto the dirt path.

A single killing blow from a gold tier beast; an absolute gap in strength and defence. All it took was a single attack which she wasn’t prepared to block or evade, a cruel reality as beasts of this level almost never appeared here. They rarely attacked humans as well, yet she ended up on the receiving end of one’s hunger… killed in one blow as any serious hunter aimed to achieve.

There was no time to adapt or react, only the barest chance to force off the bear to bury a destroyed corpse. Not a single one gathered tears as the shock still hit them, and instead, they took the time to lay a grave not too far from the road for her to rest in.

A grave left in a field of orchids.