BOOM!
Leon gasped, his entire body jolting. The explosion wasn't in his chest, nor his veins. It was deeper — far deeper.
Inside him.
His spirit core.
He felt it vibrate, then rupture, as if a sealed chamber had burst open within his very soul. Spirit energy flooded outward, crashing through every vein, searing every muscle, reforging bone and flesh. His entire body shook violently as the barrier crumbled.
Second Stage of the Spirit Warrior Realm.
Leon staggered, clutching his abdomen as if to steady the storm inside him. "M-my core… it broke through?"
His eyes widened, breath shallow. He had heard of this — the core was the heart of cultivation, and each breakthrough was like splitting a mountain with bare hands. It wasn't supposed to be easy. It wasn't supposed to be fast.
Yet before he could even grasp the new strength surging through his body—
BOOOOM!
A second explosion erupted from his spirit core.
Leon gasped, nearly collapsing as another shockwave of energy surged through him. His aura burst outward, cracking the ground beneath his feet, black flame-like essence coiling from his skin. His core roared again, breaking past another barrier.
Third Stage of the Spirit Warrior Realm.
Leon stood frozen, eyes trembling in disbelief. "N-no way… two stages… at once?"
His hands shook as he pressed against his abdomen, feeling the core pulsing inside like a second heartbeat. He had heard of prodigies with eighty percent affinity who sometimes forced one fast breakthrough… but two in a single breath? That was the kind of legend whispered in awe, not lived.
His muscles thrummed with strength. His senses sharpened; the ruins echoed clearer, sharper, every detail of the spirit beast ahead burning into his sight.
"This… this is insane," he whispered, breath ragged.
Yet even as shock gripped him, a deep, primal excitement stirred in his chest. This was real. He had leapt two walls in an instant. His wasted past life seemed like a distant joke.
But the monster before him shattered his thoughts.
The Stage 5 beast roared, its spirit aura surging like a tidal wave. The ground split beneath its claws, the air rippled with killing intent. Its six blazing eyes locked onto him, merciless and hungry.
Leon's disbelief hardened into resolve. His fingers clenched around the beast bones, his aura rising to meet the storm.
"I broke through twice…" he muttered, obsidian eyes burning. "Then I'll make it worth it."
He stepped forward, spirit energy swirling around him like a storm.
He had broken through not once… but twice.
It shouldn't have been possible. Ordinary cultivators clawed for years just to take a single step, and even prodigies who stood at the peak of their clans rarely forced more than one breakthrough in such a short span.
But Leon was different.
For six brutal months, he had slaughtered without rest. Every beast he killed had poured fragments of spirit energy into him, fragments that accumulated, layer by layer, until his body and soul could no longer contain them.
Now, that dam had burst.
The torrent of spirit energy had crashed into his core, and with it, the unique force of his black element — an element that thrummed with unknown power, deep and unyielding. Together, they had torn down two barriers in succession, forcing him from the First Stage to the Third Stage of the Spirit Warrior Realm.
Leon's chest heaved as he tried to process it. The black flame in his soul pulsed, cold and consuming, yet it carried strength unlike anything he had ever felt.
"This… this power…" he whispered, his voice trembling. "So this is what it means… to climb."
He flexed his hands, obsidian eyes burning. The strength in his limbs, the speed in his step, the clarity in his senses — everything was sharper, stronger, alive with energy.
And before him, the Stage 5 beast roared, shaking the ruins, its killing intent pressing down like a mountain.
Leon's lips curled into a bloodstained smile.
The ruins trembled as the Stage 5 spirit beast advanced, each step like a drumbeat of war. Its body dwarfed Leon's, a towering abomination of sinew and bone. Six burning eyes glowed crimson, fangs as long as Leon's arms dripped venom that hissed when it struck stone. Jagged bone spikes jutted from its back, humming with faint spirit energy, and its claws radiated power sharp enough to rend steel.
When it roared, the air itself seemed to shatter.
Leon's legs tensed, his weapons gripped firm. This was no ordinary monster — its spirit aura pressed against him like a mountain, making even breathing feel heavy. Yet where six months ago he would've collapsed under such pressure, now his stance held steady.
His muscles thrummed with the strength of his double breakthrough. His movements, sharpened by half a year of endless combat, carried a precision and control born from necessity. He was no master — not yet — but he was no longer the fumbling fool who swung blindly.
The beast lunged.
BOOOOM!
Claws tore through the air, a strike that could have cleaved three men in half. Leon sidestepped with sharp footwork, twisting his torso to let the claw skim past. The ground split where he had stood, stone shattering into fragments.
Leon countered instantly. His right-hand weapon slashed downward in a diagonal arc, biting deep into the beast's foreleg.
CRUNCH!
Black ichor sprayed across his arms. The beast howled, its massive frame staggering.
But it was fast.
Its tail whipped around, bone spikes whistling like spears. Leon dropped low, sliding beneath the strike, and came up inside its guard. His left-hand bone stabbed upward, puncturing the softer flesh of its abdomen.
The beast screeched, its six eyes burning hotter. Spirit energy pulsed through its body, and with a violent stomp it released a shockwave. The ground buckled. Leon's body flew back, crashing into a half-collapsed wall. His ribs screamed with pain, blood bursting from his lips.
He spat red, forcing himself upright. His obsidian eyes burned with resolve.
"Not enough."
The beast lunged again, this time faster. Its claws glowed faintly with spirit energy, slicing arcs of raw force into the air. Leon ducked under one strike, rolled aside from another, his body moving with an instinct drilled by months of survival.
And then he struck.
Both weapons lashed forward in an X, carving across the beast's shoulder. Flesh tore, blood gushed. The creature roared, swiping back with feral fury. Leon bent at the waist, the claws whistling inches above his head, and drove his knee upward into the beast's wounded leg.
CRACK!
Bone fractured. The beast stumbled.
Leon seized the opening. Spirit energy surged from his core, black flames flickering faintly along his arms. He roared, thrusting his right-hand bone upward with both hands.
The jagged weapon punched into the beast's jaw, ripping through tongue and palate, bursting out through the top of its skull.
The monster convulsed, its body shuddering violently.
"GUHHHHHHHHHHRRRHHHH!"
It slammed into the ground, crushing stone beneath its weight. Its six glowing eyes flickered, then dimmed to nothing.
Leon staggered back, chest heaving, his arms trembling from the force of the final strike. His body screamed in pain, but his grip on his weapons never faltered.
The black flame in his core pulsed, and the faint warmth of victory — the spirit energy of the slain beast — surged into him. His wounds began to knit, his lungs steadied, his vision cleared.
He wiped the blood from his mouth, his obsidian eyes fixed on the fallen monster.
"A Stage 5 beast…" he muttered, voice hoarse but steady. "And I cut it down."
His lips curled into a faint, bloodstained smile.
For the first time, Leon felt it fully.
He was not just surviving.
He was rising.
Leon barely had time to steady his breath when the ruins trembled again.
BOOM… BOOM…
Two shadows emerged from the dust. Massive, hulking, both as monstrous as the first — Stage 5 spirit beasts, their bodies rippling with power, their six glowing eyes fixed on him with murderous hunger.
Leon's chest tightened. His arms still shook from the last kill, blood still dripped from his lips. His body screamed for rest, but there was none to be had.
The beasts roared in unison, the sound splitting the air like thunder.
And then they came.
CRASH!
The first lunged low, claws sweeping to tear his legs out from under him. The second leapt high, its maw snapping down toward his head, fangs dripping venom that hissed as it struck the ground.
Leon's instincts screamed. He twisted, sliding backward at the last instant. One claw ripped open the stone where his legs had been, while the second's jaws snapped shut a hair's breadth from his face. Venom sprayed across his shoulder, searing flesh, and the pain tore a cry from his throat.
But his body moved. Six months of slaughter had forged his reflexes into steel.
His right-hand bone weapon slashed upward, carving into the beast above. Blood burst across his face as the jagged edge ripped through its jawline. At the same time, he ducked low, thrusting his left-hand weapon into the leg of the beast below.
Both howled, staggering, but not stopping.
The wounded one above crashed to the ground, slamming its tail like a whip. Leon rolled away, but the strike clipped his ribs, cracking bone and sending him tumbling across the ruins.
CRACK!
He gasped, blood filling his mouth. His vision blurred, but he forced himself to rise. His black element pulsed faintly in his core, spirit energy rushing into his veins, dulling the pain enough to keep him moving.
The beasts pressed together this time, flanking him. One circled left, its claws dragging sparks from the stone. The other circled right, venom dripping from its maw, each breath thick with killing intent.
Leon's grip tightened. He could not outrun them. He could not face them one by one.
He had to fight both — here, now.
The first lunged again, claws aiming for his throat. The second dove low, fangs aimed at his legs.
Leon exhaled, his feet shifting with sharp precision. Instead of retreating, he advanced.
He spun sideways, stepping between them at the last second. One claw grazed his chest, tearing flesh but missing his heart. The second's fangs snapped shut, biting into empty air.
Leon's weapons lashed out like lightning.
His right-hand bone stabbed into the beast's eye, bursting it in a spray of blood. His left-hand weapon drove deep into the other's shoulder, twisting with a savage roar.
Both monsters howled, thrashing wildly. Their massive bodies smashed into him, hurling him against shattered stone. His bones screamed, his lungs burned.
But his hands did not let go.
He ripped the weapon free from one, tearing its shoulder apart. He yanked the other's eye weapon sideways, gouging deeper until half its skull caved in.
The beasts reeled, but their rage only grew. One slammed a claw down, pinning Leon's leg. Pain exploded through him as bone cracked. The other swung its tail, smashing into his ribs, nearly snapping him in half.
Leon roared through the agony, spirit energy surging from his core. Black flames flickered along his arms, feeding his broken body just enough strength.
He raised both weapons and slashed wildly, carving into flesh, tearing through sinew. His left-hand weapon split the pinned beast's jaw apart, black blood spraying across the ruins. His right-hand weapon punctured the other's throat, ripping upward in a torrent of gore.
Both beasts convulsed, their roars echoing as their bodies shuddered violently.
And then —
THUD!
THUD!
They collapsed, their massive frames shaking the ground as silence followed in their wake.
Leon fell to one knee, chest heaving, his body trembling violently. His leg throbbed, his ribs burned, blood dripped from half a dozen wounds.
But he was alive.
The spirit energy of the slain beasts surged into him, knitting wounds, dulling pain, flooding his veins with faint warmth. Not enough to heal him whole — but enough to keep him standing.
He raised his head, his obsidian eyes blazing with defiance.
"Two… down."
The ruins rumbled again.
More shadows stirred in the distance.