Born in Blood



No seconds were wasted.

Polluting purple-and-green gasses spread from every orifice of Miasma Queen's body. 

As soon as it touched the air, it hissed ominously, permeating the atmosphere with danger.

Miasma Queen knew both her goal, and the Unforgiven's. 

With that restriction in place, all Usan needed to do was force her out of the boundary, run away and claim victory.

However, that's not what Usan did. 

A cloud of darkness started to spread from his figure, shrouding him fully, before continuing to grow in size. 

An instant after, he hurled the spear through it with imperceivable speed, but it wasn't difficult for the queen to swiftly dodge to the side.

As soon as the spear entered her domain of deathly fumes, it rapidly started to corrode, but not before Usan himself made it burst with a wad of scattering flames.

Nothing significant happened. The explosion of darkness was drowned by the sheer density of Miasma Queen's poison, puffing out of existence.

Evidently, the Unforgiven was not disheartened. 

A swarm of shadow-made spears formed around him and shot forward into the growing clouds of poison.

There was a little more power in those spells. The explosions were not enough to overwhelm the miasma, but to linger for a split second longer.

More and more spears followed, paired with severing arcs that cut through patches of the growing miasma – each of them stronger than the one before.

They weren't enough. Miasma Queen had centered her entire martial arts around toxins, poison and chemicals. Usan's corrosive darkness was a pale imitation of that.

Only then did Usan start to fly as far away as he could, shadows strengthening his speed to an amazing degree. 

The cloud of darkness condensed to form two massive hands, standing as guards in case the toxic cultivator started to chase.

"And you called the winged one a coward?!"

Seeing Usan's retreat, Miasma Queen cackled loudly and took to the offensive. 

Crack. Crunch. Crush.

Her entire body twisted and contorted, bones cracking into a streamline and serpentine form, skin hardening with sharp scales.

Even her facial structure started to change! Her tongue split through the middle, while her cheekbones and chin sharpened.

Miasma Queen no longer resembled the beautiful woman she once was, but a harrowing, wretched serpent masquerading as something human-like.

She lunged through the veil of miasma with unreal speed, like a huntress seeking prey.

The hands reacted by attempting to grab her midair, but they were too slow. As they tried to clasp down her like the jaws of a shark, she slipped right through their reach.

Still, the cloud chased after her, becoming the third pursuer.

And now, the vile snake-humanoid was flying after Usan like some sadistic murderer chasing their escaped victim.

Even Usan was briefly surprised. He increased his speed, but the woman matched it. 

A span of 100 meters was instantly closed between them, and the poison queen lurched at Usan with the swipe of her claws.

Usan was forced to stop his flight, meeting her fast charge with a quick thrust of his spear. A real, Rank 5 spear, not like the ones formed from shadow.

A sharp cling sounded through the battlefield as metal met bone, spear met claw. 

More than a dozen blows were exchanged in the following seconds, each strike with enough power behind it to shatter a decent-sized hill.

As the toxic woman entered Usan's death cloud, her scaled skin started to corrode… but not as fast as the Unforgiven wanted. 

Miasma Queen was incredibly fast, but her attacks lacked the usual strength that came with someone of her power. 

Her serpentine transformation gave her speed, but took away her offensive power. However, her scales were incredibly rigid.

Fighting physically with the Miasma Queen gave Usan a glaring disadvantage. Her corrupting poisons started to sting at his body and slowly chip away his energy.

Usan's shadows had long covered him head to toe, but the toxins slowly ate through them anyway. 

Not only that, but he was forced to use a spear, a weapon he didn't have as much proficiency with compared to the sword.

The poisonous queen smiled as she continued her flurry of attacks, but the Unforgiven did well to deflect them.

Eventually… that would change. 

Once Miasma Queen's poison oppressed the death cloud – which it was rapidly doing – the Unforgiven's body would eventually break down under the strain of her corruption.

Mental attack spells were being exchanged one after the other. 

Usan felt like his mind had been stung with arsenic, while the queen thought her brain had been pricked with thousands of jagged blades.

Despite their groans and grimaces, each of them were fighting tooth and nail. 

The toxic cultivator incorporated chemical potions to her fighting style. 

Each time their flask exploded, acid and ethereal snakes would shoot in every direction.

Usan's condition was getting worse and worse. Each time the poison was close to invading his nervous system, he was forced to cut off a portion of his flesh.

Despite her urge to laugh at the sight, a question soon arose in the back of Miasma Queen's mind.

Why did the Unforgiven even bother with a rule that restricted her movement? 

Even as they fought, the thought couldn't help but gnaw at the back of her head. Maybe he didn't know about her incredible speed?

Even her toxins overwhelmed the death cloud, and the Unforgiven was now fighting under her domain.

...Miasma Queen's question was soon answered.

With an unexpected burst of strength, Usan thrusted his spear forward, his shadow-like armor leaving his wounded body and merging with the weapon in one fluid motion. 

As soon as the shadows stopped covering him, Miasma Queen's toxins invaded his flesh full force. 

The pain he felt was indescribable, but he still managed to hurl the spear forward.

It was fast. Faster than the queen was. A condensed sphere of thick miasma encased her, but it was too ill-prepared, and the spear pierced through…

Miasma Queen chuckled bitterly. 

…then exploded.

A Rank 5 inscribed item was no joke.

The force produced by its explosion immediately sent Usan flying a distance of 300 meters, and even shattered his bones to a dangerous degree.

Fortunately, the voice rang out as the glow surrounding him faded away.

"Unforgiven Shadow wins."