Chapter 244 - Fox
Ensis fell straight down without making a single sound. It was like watching a silent movie.
His clothes fluttered in the wind without any sound as he got closer and closer to the boy that was resting with his back against the tree stump.
*SLASH*
A crescent slash of black energy came out of the blade and cut the boy cleanly in half.
No, it didn't cut all the way through.
*Crumble*
The blue light surrounding the boy shattered into a hundred pieces like a broken mirror and flew away with the wind. His eyes opened wide as he looked at Ensis slowly land on his feet in front of him.
Even when his feet touched the muddy ground they made no sound whatsoever.
"Wha-"
The boy reacted pretty quickly and jumped back. He waved his hand and few more talismans materialized from thin air. With a thrust of his right hand, all of them turned into rays of light and shot towards Ensis.
Ensis bent his knees once again and held the sword in front of him. When the lights got close, the sword moved several times, so fast in fact that even Hao Xuan wasn't able to catch its movements. They simply looked like shadows in his eyes.
The shadows connected with the lights and pierced through them like a helpless chicken, cutting them into two.
It didn't even take a full second for all this to happen.
By the time Ensis put down his sword, there were already a few slashes on the boy's body. They weren't very deep but still spurted out blood continuously.
He looked at Ensis with a stupified expression, not even willing to believe it after watching it with his own two eyes.
Each of those talisman lights moved extremely quickly and all of them followed completely random paths. To destroy all of them and with such precision, it would require a level of skill that was not easy to come by.
Ensis looked at him expressionlessly.
"Give up. My master has some business with you. You will not escape here alive if you keep this up."
The boy's visage turned dark. His glare became even sharper as he carefully surveyed his surroundings. Not finding anyone else nearby he looked back at Ensis somberly.
"Do you know who I am? Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"
Ensis didn't even bat an eye at the boy's threat, still standing in front of him calmly with his longsword in grasp. A few seconds passed and it seemed like he was actually being cautious now.
"Are you a god?" Ensis inquired.
The boy frowned, "A god? Of course not!"
Ensis shook his head, "Then it doesn't matter who you are. You are at my master's mercy. Surrender, or die."
The boy's expression hardened like stone.
"Fine, you leave me no choice then," he mumbled with gritted teeth and after some hesitation, waved his hand once again.
Ensis looked up at Hao Xuan for confirmation who shook his head in response, mouthing the words "Let him."
So Ensis obeyed. He didn't make a move and waited for the boy to do finish whatever he was doing.
A talisman twice the size of previous ones appeared in front of him. The boy bit his thumb and dropped the few drops of blood onto the talisman. It's light getting brighter and brighter by the second.
Right now it just looked like a blue ball of light.
"Unseal!" the boy shouted as the ball of light encompassed his body.
"Argh!" he fell down to his knees while clutching his head.
His size started increasing and only stopped when he was over 20 feet tall. The boy had turned into a giant white fox with three tails.
Each of his tails was the same length as his body at over 20 feet. He looked down at Ensis icily.
"You brought this on yourself."
Ensis's expression finally changed into a half-smile.
"You're pretty brazen for a mere three-tailed pup. Is this it?"
The now boy turned fox responded with a sudden tail swipe. The three tails shot forward like a three-pronged spear at breakneck speed.
Ensis quickly jumped back and landed behind the mud creature that was thrashing about madly. The tails pierced the creature and came out from the other side.
"Hmph!"
The fox harumphed and the tails forcefully pulled apart, sending parts of the mud creature all over the place.
A dark brown core fell down into the water. This was the creature's beast core that held all of its essences.
Hao Xuan watched on as the Fox and Ensis clashed over and over again in a span of a few seconds. The fox was much slower but each of its movements were extremely powerful. Every attack would send portions of the ground flying all over the swamp.
Hao Xuan couldn't tell the cultivation level of the boy at first but as soon as he turned into the fox his power was displayed in full force. He was a peak level Demonic Beast.
The longer the battle went on the more Ensis got pushed back. His cultivation was almost an entire realm lower than the fox so it was only natural. The only way he was able to hold on for this long was because of superior technique, control, and speed.
Hao Xuan stood up on the branch and looked behind him.
"What the hell took you guys so long?" he asked Kuo who had just jumped up and landed behind him.
"This area is out of range of the Ether beasts ashes. There are a lot of other monsters nearby as well," Kuo explained with a chuckle. He looked at the fox and Ensis fighting a few dozen meters in front of him.
"Who is that?" he gestured towards Ensis.
Hao Xuan shook his head as he took out his glaive, "My personal guard. Don't worry about him. Just help me get the fox under control, I need it alive."
Kuo seemed like he had more to say but held back, "Yes." he turned around and looked at the several dozen soldiers below him that were increasing in number by the second.
"Onwards! Attack the fox! Bring it down but don't kill it!"
"Yes!"
All of them shouted and sprinted towards the white fox in full force.