Alfros wasn’t originally a realm that catered to Divine Beasts, but after being inhabited and ruled by them for so long, it had developed something of a preference for their kind.
The flames of this realm did not judge or discriminate, but to say that it wasn’t easier for a Divine Beast to contact them was a lie.
After all, the young Kitsune was able to do so only moments after hatching out of its egg.
Flames roared with such ferocity that they made the sound of a swelling storm. The heat around Atlas began to rise significantly, making him frown.
[Astral Step]
Without hesitation, he turned around and dashed away from the city center.
He couldn’t have done so at a more perfect time.
ROOOAAAAAAR–!
The Kitsune let out a furious roar of freedom. Gargantuan, billowing waves of flame pushed in every direction, consuming the remains of Gearven and turning anything that could burn into ash.
Atlas felt the heat of those waves singing the hairs on the back of his neck as he ran from them. The wall of fire chased him and chased him until he was completely outside of the borders of the city and then forced him several hundred meters further before dying down.As he turned around to face the burning embers of Gearven, a figure landed beside him.
"You survived?"
Feng Ziran’s first words weren’t anything like kind, but Atlas didn’t take offense.
"I won’t die to a young beast. No matter how much potential it has, it is still a child."
"I see…"
Feng Ziran looked at the young Kitsune with a strange expression. Her original thought was that it had learned an unbelievable amount of knowledge from its bloodline memories to get strong, but her assumptions were wrong.
"It did not become strong by studying. It became strong by instinctually following in the path of its captors. This left it with a kind of incomplete and unstable strength that it cannot control effectively."
This much could be seen by its inability to use its flames in any meaningful way. It had raw power, but that was the end of it. Read exclusive adventures at empire
"And its mind…?"
Feng Ziran knew more about inner worlds than Atlas did. He still saw it as a mental realm, but he was unaware that he had been deeper in the Kitsune’s psyche than any other being ever had.
Its energy had melded into his mind in such an esoteric manner that even he was currently only vaguely able to feel the effects of leaving the mental realm, but those traces had more meaning than he knew. ṞÃNꝋ฿ĚŠ
As such, he was unable to answer Feng Ziran’s question the way she wanted, but he was still able to give her a proper response.
"Chaotic."
That one word described it better than anything else ever could.
"It does not remember joy, and it does not know peace. It has never felt anything that isn’t a negative emotion before, so you can imagine that nothing I said or did mattered."
Feng Ziran still had the hope that they could save the young beast, but Atlas’ explanation hinted that his thoughts were different.
To say he wanted to kill the fox was a stretch, but he didn’t believe the current scenario left them any room to show it the better sides of the world.
Especially when it had no other memories to remember about the goodness of life, what could small experiences do?
It needed time, and it needed a great change. They had the ability to provide it with neither of those things at the moment.
How was Feng Ziran planning to save it?
Atlas already communicated to the fox that they would be enemies if it left its egg. Both he and it knew that despite having no hostility towards each other specifically, they would have to fight to the death.
They seemed to have a mutual understanding that Feng Ziran wasn’t a part of, but as they were so far from the beast, she couldn’t feel the energy vibrating between them.
She only looked at the fox in pity.
And she continued to do so even as Atlas charged into battle.
No, was her expression the same? There was still an aura of pity there, but her face had paled as she realized something.
’Wait
She looked between Atlas and the Kitsune.
’Isn’t that child’s aura equivalent to at least a World Core Realm expert?’
Why was Atlas charging at it like it was of his same level? It was much stronger than him, to the point where she wondered if it was better to call for reinforcements!
Only, before she could make even a single move, the two sides had already met. It was far too late to stop their conflict.
[Astral Step]
Using his fastest movement technique, Atlas turned into a blur of light before he found himself in front of the Kitsune again.
[Fist of the Mountain King]
Booooooom!
He didn’t waste any time and used an attack that was guaranteed to do great damage to anyone. The city was already burned to ash and destroyed, so there was no point being considerate of it.
Atlas’ blow blasted away half of the city around the Kitsune. The beast itself was enveloped by the smoke and dust that were produced by the ensuing explosive force, but Atlas could still see it.
[Intrinsic Foresight]
He watched at the slowest speed as the force of his qi slammed against the fox’s smooth fur. Oddly enough, while a portion of the force was indeed reaching the target, most of the energy slid off of the beast’s fur as if it were water on glass.
In the end, the Kitsune didn’t move even a single step. It merely had some small cuts painting specific portions of its fur red.
Atlas’ eyes narrowed.
[Earthen Spires]
He slammed his foot into the ground and created a line of erupting earth that finally burst from the ground when it was directly under the Kitsune, forming into two jagged spires of earth.
[Flow Like Silk]
As the attack reached its target, Atlas disappeared into a flash of blue as well. He cut through the air and the atmosphere, drawing a line of the same color in the air.
Shiiing!
The sound of a sword being swung cleanly resounded, but the cut was not made by a blade. A huge line appeared in the Kitsune’s fur, mirroring the trajectory of the line Atlas drew, but…
’...I only cut fur.’
He barely cut into the Kitsune’s body. Once again, there was a small line of blood created where the attack landed, but Atlas barely even slashed its skin. Its flesh and internals were completely unharmed.
"Tch!"
Atlas clicked his tongue. He knew it would be like this.
In the mental realm, he could imitate a level of strength that matched the fox, so when their competition came down to one of skill, he was always guaranteed to win.
But that was no longer the case. He was restricted to the strength of his current Dao comprehension and current skills. He had his current cultivation, which was two whole realms below the beast.
And those weren’t just any two realms, they were the final two realms of the entire Mortal stage of cultivation.
The difference between the two that was once minimal had become a great gap that Atlas was forced to overcome.
But, just like the fox itself, even when faced with improbability, he kept charging forward.
As long as he kept moving forward, he was bound to get somewhere, right?
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