Chapter 31: Clash

Dorian had a split second to react.

This was his first time ever meeting another member of the Flock. As he took an instant to think up what to say, he went over what the bear had said.

It had sent out ‘ten thousand clones.’ Even if all the other members of the Flock had started out like him, with nothing, it still shouldn’t be only at the Sky Class after the time they’d been alive.

Therefore, this must be one of its clones. And if it sent out ten thousand of them… there was no way each clone would be super strong.

He had casually blasted it back with a single punch while using his Flame Claws Ability. Though it had regenerated, he didn’t feel very threatened by the bear in front of him. He mentally nodded as he ran over these facts in his head, coming to a decision.

He either told the bear he was the Firstborn, lied and picked a different number… or didn’t give a number at all.

“What number am I? Hmph. Only trash would depend on their number for strength. You may call me Dorian.” Dorian’s voice was domineering, hedged with confidence. Perhaps he should have used a fake name, but he mentally shrugged. No one here knew his name yet.

He decided to bluff his way through, instead of revealing he was the Firstborn. He felt like it’d be better to hide that particular fact until he was extremely powerful. Bearing such a title would no doubt attract the eyes, and perhaps envy, of other members of the Flock.

Their goal here, at least the one set by the Godking, was to create the perfect being. There was no telling whether other members would be friendly or not.

“Huh, you’re not wrong.” The bear nodded its head, seeming to take what Dorian said in stride.

“That form… a Titan? I see, you must still be in the one hour adaptation period, huh? Not a bad form, though lacking in beauty.” It studied Dorian’s tiny body, an odd look for such a large bear.

It was then that Dorian remembered he was in a humanoid form, and also naked. He blushed slightly, unable to stop himself. At least his skin was red and hid the blush. His form was that of a toddler right now, so it hardly mattered. But still, he couldn’t help himself. Some core habits died hard.

“Well, Dorian, I’ll cut to the chase.” The bear continued,

“I’m building an allianc-”

Before it could finish speaking, however, a yell interrupted it.

“DIE MONSTER!”

WHOOSH

An invisible bolt of force blasted forward, about a meter above Dorian’s head, and slammed into the bear. This bolt of force was powerful, strong enough that it severed the Sky Class bear’s body in two, obliterating it. Black blood spattered the air as the top half of the bear was sent flying, its lower half falling to the ground a few meters away.

Dorian’s mouth twitched in shock as he mentally berated himself. He had almost forgotten about the Wizard behind him.

Several of the warriors ran forward, surrounding the lead wagon and staring at Dorian. A few of them held their swords towards him, on guard, while the others ran to tend to the downed fighters.

The Wizard stepped forward, a look of exhaustion in his face as he looked down at Dorian, confusion, curiosity, and alertness mixed on his face.

Off in the distance, several of the bears collapsed onto the ground, leaving only a single bear remaining standing.

“Now that was uncalled for, huh, Wizard?” The same deep voice with an odd keening background rang out as the last bear walked forward, glaring at the Wizard that had just killed the first bear.

“All I did was try to kill you and absorb your bloodline.” Mello shook his head sadly as he rolled his shoulders, adjusting, and turning his attention back to Dorian. The constant drizzle of rain began to lessen, changing to just occasional droplets.

The Aethmen, guards and Wizard alike, stared at the bear in shock and horror. The Wizard shook with fatigue as he clasped his hands together, looking as if he might keel over in moments.

“Like I said, Dorian, my new friend. I am building an alliance between members of the Flock. We all possess powerful Abilities and bloodlines. While our goal is ultimately the same, there is no reason we cannot ally together to slaughter any in our path. The 30,000 Worlds are far from friendly to us, and standing alone is a foolish option.” The bear smiled, its sharp teeth gleaming.

As it spoke, it began to step forward, towards the guards and Wizard surrounding the wagon. Its body expanded slightly as its muscles grew, mighty strength concentrating in them. Its eyes flashed a dark red, threatening,

“As for you maggots… Your bloodlines will make a fine addition to my collect-”

THWUCK

THUD

Mello’s voice cut off as the huge bear was sent flying, its right arm disintegrated due to the force of Dorian’s blow.

In the moment that the bear had started to run forward, to attack the guards and Wizard, Dorian had stepped forward and intercepted it.

Black blood seeped out of its arm as the bear flipped through the air and landed roughly, crashing into the ground. It twisted to its feet in an instant, the fur on its neck raised as it glared daggers at Dorian.

“You dare to attack me?!” Mello’s voice was filled barely hidden rage. At the same time, however, a slight hesitance could be seen in his eyes.

“Are you gonna do something? Or just stand there and bleed?” Overwhelming confidence dripped off every word Dorian said as he stepped forward, stamping the ground hard and causing cracks to appear.

Was it better to be friends with a killer? Or to be feared by a killer?

Dorian’s mood was grim as he faked an image of a mighty figure, his head held high.

If he was truly a powerful beast, there would be no reason he would deign to ally with someone weaker than him, nor would he show even a single sign of fear. This first impression was incredibly important to maintain, especially if he encountered this member of the Flock, or any of its allies, ever again.

There was a chance that Mello was being honest in his attempt to ally with him. But this was a kill or be killed world, and Dorian doubted whether the bear’s intentions would remain good.

And, regardless of everything, wanton slaughter was wrong. Killing in self-defense was understandable, but attacking innocent people just because? That crossed his bottom line and wasn’t something he would allow.

Mello’s bear snout twisted in a cruel smirk,

“Hmph, you’re just like number 11, huh? Just because you started strong means nothing and-”

Before the bear could finish speaking, Dorian launched himself forward at it. A look of rage appeared in Mello’s eyes as he snarled, his body trembling. The bear stabbed its claws forward, intent on impaling Dorian’s tiny body.

Before he reached the bear, however, Dorian smiled. A warm feeling rose in his chest.

He then spat out a huge wave of flames, glowing a bright emerald green.

Mello’s eyes opened wide in shock and rage as he saw the Draconic Fire blazing towards him.

“You bast-” The bear’s last words were cut off as the green flames collided with him, and killed the bear instantly, searing it completely.

THUD

The corpse of the bear fell to the ground, burnt completely through. Its entire body was melted, not a single spot left unscarred. The smell of burnt flesh rustled into the air, combatting the tangy scent of rain.

After his Emerald Flames reached their maxed out growth level, they had become stronger, and more powerful. Their potency was, in Dorian’s opinion, scary strong.

And these were only the flames of a Grandmaster Class Dragon. He shuddered as he thought of the power a Lord Class Dragon would hold.

A sudden stillness swept over the caravan as the green flames burning on the body of the bear began to go out slowly, sizzling in the light rainfall.

Dorian slowly turned to look at the various Aethmen, and then gave them a friendly wave.

“Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?”

..

“That sly bastard…” Mello rumbled, an undercurrent of anger crackling out and creating a miniature shockwave.

A huge wave of water blasted outward from the small island he had been meditating on, shaking the confines of the mid-sized lake. A hint of a Lord Class Aura snapped outward, sending any nearby beasts fleeing.

The island was only a dozen or so meters wide, with a single, small tree slightly off center. Brown dirt and rock cluttered the rest of the island, giving it a wild appearance.

The island was set in the middle of an 800-meter wide lake, shaped like a circle. The lake water was a deep, dark blue, filled with small aquatic life, and a few Earth Class Aqua Turtles. The lake was surrounded by a large forest, about two dozen miles away from the grand city of Mill, the largest city in the Bullion Kingdom of the Planet Yelter.

A normally peaceful, tranquil area, hidden away, with nothing interesting in it.

Mello calmed down as he quickly regained control of his emotions. His humanoid body trembled as he folded his hands tighter, the blue skin and scales that covered him shivering. His dark green eyes glimmered in the afternoon light, however, his anger still burning.

His appearance was very similar to the race of beings known as Aeth, save for his delicate blue skin and scales, and the pair of gills found on the side of his neck.

Mello knew he needed to keep a low profile on Yelter.

It was a world controlled by the Aurelius Family, and his own encounters with those damned Vampires had already proven annoying enough.

Even though he was a very powerful Pseudo-King Class Beast, his strength was stretched thin at the moment.

He shook his head as he looked down at his humanoid form. It was a weak pittance when compared to the majestic, beautiful form he had been gifted by the Godking. He shuddered with pleasure as he remembered his strong, powerful neck, those luscious blue scales and that beautiful mouth full of thousands of sharp teeth.

It nearly brought a tear to his eye.

But, alas, when he used his Ten Thousand Heads Ability, it was impossible to project himself at full strength. This Sea Aeth form was barely a tolerable substitute. He had wanted to have one of his clones bring back a bloodline from one of those Aeth’s and that damned bastard has interrupted him.

It mattered little, he would just target a different caravan. Still…

“Just like the EleventhBorn. Arrogant but powerful.” He muttered, his eyes grim.

Should he send over a few clones to attack Dorian? He might force it to reveal its true form, and if he got lucky, snag some of its powerful original form’s bloodline. He had a couple decent Pseudo-Lord Class clones on Taprisha, after all, there was a chance.

He shook his head after a moment, the memory of those Draconic Flames washing over him burned into his mind.

He tried to go over the information stored in his Soul Spell Matrix to match the Ability, but found too many possibilities. He smashed his fist down on the small island in frustration, causing it to sink slightly deeper into the lake, its earthen foundations cracking.

At least he had been able to identify the form the new Flock-member held as a Titan. That was valuable information. That meant it would have the Condense Ability soon, making it even stronger.

It was clear from its actions that it was a high number, probably much higher than he was. It would be foolish to confront him directly.

He couldn’t accurately judge its strength when it was in a new form’s adaptive period, but he guessed that its original form was a Draconic one, and a strong one at that.

“Just like that arrogant EleventhBorn…” An odd grin appeared on Mello’s face as he came to a realization,

“He’s headed to Taprisha, right? That was the direction the Eleventh was heading in… It seems we landed in a relatively close cluster.” Mello smiled wider.

“I can work with this.”

..

Helena looked around imperiously as she stepped atop the Giant Black Bat, maintaining her calm composure. The beast was large and strong, a Grandmaster Class transport beast often used by high-class members of the Aurelius Family.

It had a huge wingspan, and its body size alone was nearly ten meters in length and several meters in width. It had black, leathery skin, and a bulbous, dark face with beady grey eyes.

The giant bat could carry up to twelve people at once, and fly at an extremely fast speed.

It was currently standing at the edge of the plateau that hosted the Castle of Darkness, the home base of the Aurelius Family, and where her hero, Highlord Marcus, lived.

She smiled, looking back as a few other members of the Aurelius Family joined her. She didn’t have any personal subordinates, but since she was technically serving under General Carus in the Reavers, she had borrowed a few of his men, including a Blood Tracker, several Grandmaster Class Blood Wizards, and two Blood Killers, powerful assassins that specialized in surprise attacks.

Blood Trackers were masters of Blood Magic that focused on communicating with the laws of the world in regards to the blood of various creatures. The field of magic was very similar to Fate Magic, but it had its own unique twists and was often paired with physically tracking and finding other clues left behind by a target.

She finally had a chance to prove herself, especially after her embarrassing performance when the Highlord faced off against the Shade King. She blushed with shame at the mere thought, quickly shaking her head as she regained her focus.

“Alright, everyone ready up! We’re taking the World Bridge to Torrin, and after that, to Taprisha!”

“Let’s move out!”