Chapter 178: 172: Beast Form

The clouds of dust and smoke settled, revealing the figure of Ryu, whose face was twisting with anger.

"Give her soul back!"

Rakash was dumbfounded, to say the least. "How. .. how are you still alive?"

Ryu didn't hear anything. His ears were ringing, and his mind was in a frenzy of thoughts about Seraphina, who was slowly turning to sand. The image of her pale face lying on the floor was enough to consume him with rage that he was going berserk.

He just lost Ferris. He couldn't lose Seraphina too!

"Give her soul back!" 

Using the strength of his whole body, Ryu leaped forward, and the floor cracked with his force. Using his momentum, he brought his gauntlets onto Rakash with so much power that Rakash's feet bore a hole into the ground as he defended Ryu's attack with his staff.

Rakash was still caught off guard and at a loss of how a mere halfbreed could survive one of his devastating spells. Then a pentagram revolved around his opaque eyes and saw the many pentagrams and runes inside Ryu's body.

"What are you?" Rakash flung Ryu aside, and Ryu was sent flying away.

Ryu didn't expect the skinny old elf to have so much strength in him. He somersaulted in the air and landed in all fours as his claws dug the rubles to decrease his momentum.

With another tap of his foot, Ryu shot towards Rakash with fury.

"Don't get cocky!" Rakash spat, and multiple beams of light burst forth from his staff and clashed against Ryu's body with a silent blast of glare.

Rakash's face twisted in a horrendous grin, but his expression fell when the blinding light ceased and a long theatrical swing stroke downwards onto his face. The swing slammed straight into Rakash's face with a teeth-rattling force. 

Rakash was surprised and bewildered at Ryu's unexpected power as he crashed into the ground, creating a large crack on the floor. 

Ryu felt the satisfying crunch of his punch connected against his enemy, but he was far from being satisfied. 

"Give me her soul back!" Like a deranged beast, he relentlessly attacked Rakash on the ground.

Rakash couldn't defend against the onslaught of attacks. But his face was still clam despite his flesh being ground into a paste.

The halfbreed was odd. Rakash thought. And he concluded that no mana attacks worked against him.

Then. .. Rakash caught Ryu's hands, and he laughed with a face as flat as his body. "It will be a contest of strength!"

A bone-jarring hit sent gratifying shockwaves vibrating in Rakash's feet when his kick connected against Ryu's side, sending Ryu spiraling in the air before he crashed on the stone floor.

Rakash jumped from the crevice and landed on both feet. His flat face and dislocated bones were healing at a fast rate. 

He then threw his staff away and assumed a fighting stance with a big smile on his wrinkly face.

"Let's see what you're made up, boy!" it was so long since Rakash felt the thrill and excitement of a fight. When was the last time that his opponent lasted ten minutes fighting him? 

Probably since his fight with Tethyt. Too long!

Ryu got up from the rubbles. With broken ribs, he wiped the blood off his face. It was a good thing that he was wearing a gauntlet, or else the bones in his hands might have broken against Rakash's might.

But Ryu didn't seem to register the pain. All he thought about was to save Seraphina. He was running out of time, and this was making him mad. He couldn't afford to lose someone precious to him again. 

With slit eyes and smoked coming out for his lips, Ryu looked more like a beast than anything else, and Rakash swore that there was a hallow of a terrifying beast forming behind him shrouded in the clouds of dust.

Rakash squinted his eyes. He must be seeing things, but there were also silhouettes of multiple horns on Ryu's head. 

"What is he?" Rakash's fine hairs stood on edge. There was a tingle of alarm crawling on his skin and biting into his limbs.

But instead of feeling despair, Rakash embraced the fear. "Ahahahaha! It has indeed been a long time since I felt this way! This is exactly why I can't get enough of power! It's so I can defeat stronger opponents and experience the thrill by doing so!"

Rakash's skinny body suddenly enlarged and filled out. Muscles rippled on his skin, and his body turned into a giant of nothing but bulking muscles. 

"Come, boy!"

RaAwWR!

Ryu let out a thunderous growl, and he charged into Rakash with abandon. Ryu swung his fist with a thunderous force and connected brutally with Rakash's fist.

The collision sent waves of force that flung everything around them away. 

Shifting his weight, Ryu landed another attack on Rakash that connected against his face while Rakash's fist hit Ryu straight in his stomach.

"Argh!" Ryu let out a battle cry and continued his series of punches and kicks. He didn't stop his attacks, nor did he take a breather to inspect his injuries.

"Ahahaha!" Despite broken bones and torn skin, Rakash was enjoying his bout with Ryu, and neither one of them was stopping nor steeping away in their contest of strength.

Battered, bloody, and broken, Ryu's bones were jutting out from his fingers and elbows while the bones on his legs were cracking from just holding his ground against Rakash's attacks.

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Rakash was in the same predicament, but he was in a better shape because he could heal his wounds. But his mana was depleting fast as he healed himself. The halfbreed attacks were brutal while his body was sturdy as a God! 

And Rakash didn't know how the boy could keep standing and fighting with a body that was near collapse.

Then Rakash noticed that Ryu was barely breathing, and his slit eyes were turning cloudy. Was he reaching his limit? If so, then why the fuck could he still fight with so much strength?

Ryu had lost consciousness a moment ago, but he didn't know that. His body continued his barrage of attacks, raining down a series of jabbing blows, besieging Rakash with powerful strikes until one vicious shot landed.

Rakash was sent flying on the wall, and he spouted a mouthful of blood as his eyes bulged. He remained posted on the stone wall as the muscles in his body withered away, and he was slowly turning back into a skinny old elf. His wounds weren't healing like before as he ran out of mana.

"Ehehehe. .. it's still my win. .. ," croaked Rakash. He was confident that Ryu was long dead. His heart had stopped beating. He was sure of it. His bones were torn, and the bones of his hands were mostly crashed while his gauntlets cracked, and piece by piece, it fell onto the ground.

RaAwWRR!

But to Rakash's horror, the halfbreed was still standing behind the smoke of dust, and the pentagrams inside his body were revolving around and around at an alarming rate while runes glowed over his skin.

Rakash gasped when the smoke cleared and revealed the beast hiding behind the cloak of human skin.

"Y-you. . ." Rakash then understood how Ryu could survive his attacks, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

"No wonder. .. you are. . ."

Rakash didn't finish his sentence when Ryu appeared before him, distorting and cutting space around him. Dark violet lightning crackled on his skin. The multiple horns on his head spread through his back, and his enormous tail smashed into the ground.

In a moment of savagery, when Ryu lost consciousness, his beast took over and overwhelmed Rakash with brutal strikes, pulverizing his body with no chance of recovery.

But instead of fear of his impending death, there was a hint of a smile on Rakash's face. He had sought power all his life. He lived for power. And there was no better way to end than in the hands of a powerful foe.

Rakash faced the ceiling, and his opaque eyes glowed in satisfaction. "Superb. . ."

Rakash's flesh was ground into tiny meat and turned into particles while his newly accumulated souls floated above where he once stood. At the same time, Ryu stopped his barraged of attacks and released a fiery smoke from his mouth.

Argh. . .  a low grumble vibrated in his chest before he let out another deafening roar, and he flopped onto the ground. His horns and tail disappeared from his body while the gears of pentagrams paused and resumed their normal course.

.. .

.. .

Yu. .. Ryu. . .

"Fe. .. Fe. .. rris. . ." Ryu could barely open his eyes. He felt like he had no limbs. The pain clawing at him was numbing.

He was so tired. .. so tired. . .  and his eyes closed.

Wake up, you dope. .. they're going to die. . .

Ryu gasped, and through the blurriness of his vision, he focused his thoughts onto Seraphina's lifeless form.

"Se. .. Sera. .. phina. . ." Ryu couldn't do anything about Ferris's death, but this time. . .  it wouldn't be the same with Seraphina.

He didn't know how he did, but he managed to snatch Seraphina's soul and crawled towards her. He was starting to smile often and open up, and they had just formed a bond. If Seraphina died too. .. Ryu didn't even want to think about it.

Only Seraphina's head was left, and Ryu didn't waste a second and plunged her soul into her chest.

"W-wake. .. up." Ryu pleaded. Tried as he might in forcing his eyes open, his consciousness faded.

.. .

.. .

Only half of Seraphina's face left before the sands came swirling over her and formed her frame.

.. . 

.. .

*gasped

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A/N

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