Born in Blood

The sun was at its zenith, casting shadows that danced across the glades – displaying a vicious battle between man and beast.

Rank-3 Lion's were disturbingly more ferocious than its predecessor. Its innate abilities grew substantially, able to manipulate its magma to shoot in short or large quantities – and even coat their bodies with it.

They charged.

Lloyd stood his ground – his group closely behind him, awaiting orders. He instantly sheathed his blades and tensed his hands.

Wind gathered on his palms, whirring violently before taking the form of a wind-made spear.

He exchanged a nod with one of the fire elementals in his group, before shifting his focus back to the rushing lions, roaring violently and swarming all around them.

Assuming a throwing form, he hurled the spears, just as his subordinate launched a burst of fire to coat those attacks.

The spears burst with flames, gaining a boost of speed. It continued until piercing one, two, three lions and eventually exploding. It would've continued for longer, but one of the lions vomited a wall of magma that blocked its trajectory.

Nonetheless, the lions were incapacitated, and Lloyd instantly shot forward with his team – sending whirring slashes of wind.

Liam had a split second to admire that move, but heaved a deep breath and worked on finishing off the maimed beasts with him.

Slowly, the tides of the battle favored the valiant cultivators. Although the spell casters in the back looked pale and tired, they constantly used elixirs and pills to replenish their mental energy... but it was slowly running out.

For the majority of the clash, the beasts were incapacitated long enough from the spells, for the weapon wielders to finish them off.

Although this tactic worked at the start of the fight, the Lava Lions were cunning. They all backed off simultaneously and used long ranged attacks - mainly streams of magma.

They needed to end the battle soon.

Meanwhile, the cultivators continued to chip away at the Rank-3's – the horde was visibly getting pushed back, and the battle was seemingly becoming one sided.

The cultivators continued pushing them back further and further, with Lloyd's group in the lead. Eventually, the peak Rank-3 Lion's emerged, which required the group leaders to work together in taking them down.

Liam's body was drenched with sweat and blood while he panted heavily, and the same went for Yannis. Lloyd and Emma were tired too, just a little less than the rest.

During the battle, Lloyd was forced to use his spells to cover for his group, showing off the destructive and precise capabilities of the wind element. Using the same spells multiple times made him pale, but he didn't look weak.

'I'm close to the breakthrough, I can feel it.' Liam thought, his body feeling heavier by the second while his face was pale. His blades never stopped moving from the moment the clash started.

Roars, battle cries and metallic sounds vibrated through the air.

Finally, the Lava Lions slowly regressed back into the tree line, and smiles spread on everyone's faces.

They were about to roar in triumphal victory, but their expressions turned grave just a second later.

Liam frowned, retracting his consciousness just before--

An explosive roar tore through the entire region, popping the ear drums of nearly all the cultivators within the forest.

Liam barely covered his ears right before the roar, but they still got maimed.

His insides shook uncontrollably due to the mighty sound waves vibrating through him -- with his mental sphere feeling like it cracked due to the mountainous pressure.

The Rank-4 lion emerged from the horizon, taking slow, prideful steps as it did so.

Its molten pupils reflected pure pride and strength. Its presence alone was daunting, like a mountain. If the dragon from Liam's childhood had the sky as it's domain, the ground was certainly the lion's.

Ripples of heat naturally exuded from its figure, causing the air to vibrate and shake. Not to mention soar in degrees.

It seemed as though time had slowed.

Liam couldn't move a muscle. The previous roar had caused his body to spasm and quiver. Yet, there was an unexplainable dread that caused him to freeze.

Lloyd was a short distance away. He looked just a little better off than Liam, but veins bulged on his neck as he tried to stay conscious.

Behind him, Emma and Yannis were doing strangely well – as Emma had just conjured up a thick wall of rock for cover, but had a protective shield surrounding her and Yannis' body.

Liam felt his life flash before his eyes. There was no fear in him, just solemn regret – of not accomplishing what he dreamt of. Of not touching the stars. Of not doing enough. Of being weak.

"Beast!"

Abruptly, a single syllable thundered from above – the voice of which was deep with a trace of excitement.

It came from a tanned, broad shouldered man, floating in the air and donning a blue robe – failing to hide his bulging muscles.

His blonde hair was styled to a military cut, while his menacing green eyes were fixed on the towering beast.

A disturbing grin formed on the tanned man's face.

The man tensed his arms, causing it to sputter with a flicker of flame. The tiny wisp of flame steadily grew to the size of a small building, taking the shape of a blazing fist – flaring violently.

Liam's strength returned to him, and so did his senses. He instantly activated the fleeting foot spell, every muscle in his body working at full strength to run away.

"Let's see who's fire burns greater!"

The two arms collided with the Rank-4 beast, who roared again in response.

BOOM!

Liam was sent flying. His entire body scorched, and his consciousness hanging on by a flimsy thread. At the same time, an awful pain suddenly assaulted his feet.

Liam creaked his neck to look at the source of pain, finding a rocky spear tip lodged between each of his tendons. Before his vision faded, he glanced at Emma, who held the spear the tip belonged to – a wry look on her face as she picked Yannis up and ran away.

Liam's body tumbled down a dark but familiar canyon, the bottom of which looked like an endless abyss.