Second Awakening

On an open stretch of snow.

Old Ninth faced an elemental-type Awakened, while Little White Tiger faced a summoning type.

At first, the two Awakened from the Three Suns Society could suppress their opponents with their second-awakening strength, but they soon noticed a problem.

These two brats grew stronger the longer they fought.

"A summoning-type Awakened is always weak in person. Old Fifth, kill this brat first!" the summoning-type Awakened called to his companion.

After waiting a long time without the elemental-type Awakened coming to help, Old Fourth turned around and was shocked to find Old Ninth pinning his companion down and beating the hell out of him.

"Flame Burst!"

Old Fifth lay on the ground, his hands pinned firmly beneath Old Ninth, and opened his mouth wide.

A mass of flames surged up Old Fifth's throat. Like an evil dragon in a movie, he breathed fire straight at Old Ninth.

"Old Ninth!"

Little White Tiger was horrified.

"He's fine," the Silver-Patterned Tiger's voice sounded in Little White Tiger's mind. "Among the Four Great Demon Ancestors, the Silver-Patterned Tiger specializes in offense and defense, Old Bird in speed, that turtle in vitality, and the Two-Headed Snake in elements and mutation."

"Flood dragon scales can absorb any element and make it their own."

Everyone watched in shock as blue smoke rose from Old Ninth's scales, which grew redder by the moment.

Boom!

Flames erupted all over Old Ninth, making him look like a Hellfire Demon.

"Holy shit, you have that skill too?" Little White Tiger was stunned.

Old Ninth turned his head blankly. "I only just fucking found out myself."

Both of them had only recently awakened and barely understood their own abilities.

Besides, Old Ninth did not yet have a Demon Ancestor's soul inside him.

"Done breathing fire yet?"

Old Ninth gave a vicious grin and shoved his hand into Old Fifth's mouth.

The flames stopped abruptly.

Under Old Fifth's horrified gaze, Old Ninth tore his tongue out by force.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

The elemental-type Awakened clutched his mouth in agony.

"Old Fifth!"

Old Fourth, who was fighting Little White Tiger, cried out.

"Old Fifth can't talk anymore. Want me to pass on a message?" Old Ninth raised the severed tongue in his hand and smiled.

Little White Tiger seized the opening and punched Old Fourth away.

Seeing that Old Fourth had barely been hurt despite taking the blow, Little White Tiger demanded irritably, "What's my special trait? Why does my attack power feel so weak? What happened to offense and defense?"

"Useless."

The Silver-Patterned Tiger cursed, turned into a streak of white light, and surged into Little White Tiger's forehead.

"Relax your body. Let me."

Golden light shone in Little White Tiger's eyes.

Freed from the Silver-Patterned Tiger's interference, the Flash Shadow Wolf opened its bloody maw and lunged at Little White Tiger from behind.

"Watch closely. Tiger-Bone Silver Skin!"

"Little White Tiger" roared.

His shirt instantly tore apart, all the hair on his body retracted into his skin, and markings identical to those on the Silver-Patterned Tiger appeared across his flesh.

Clang!

The Flash Shadow Wolf's claws scraped across Little White Tiger's skin with the sound of grinding metal.

"What does it feel like?" the Silver-Patterned Tiger asked.

"Steel."

"Bullshit. Feel the opponent's attack. Silver-Patterned Tigers grow stronger as we fight because we can absorb physical attacks, turn them into our own energy, and hit back."

Little White Tiger spun around and punched the Flash Shadow Wolf.

The blow punched straight through its chest, and it crashed heavily to the ground.

Old Fourth stared at Old Ninth and Little White Tiger in disbelief.

"Y-you... what types are you?"

The abilities the two displayed were completely beyond his understanding.

Little White Tiger seemed to be a summoning type, but summoning types generally lacked physical strength.

Yet Little White Tiger's physical strength far exceeded even that of an enhancement type.

Old Ninth seemed to be an enhancement type, yet he was immune to elements.

Old Fourth felt his entire worldview collapsing.

"Watch closely. This move is a closely guarded secret of the Silver-Patterned Tiger Clan."

Controlling Little White Tiger's body, the Silver-Patterned Tiger curled both sets of claws.

A ripple passed through space.

The space around his claws began to distort.

"S-space... impossible... impossible..." Old Fourth's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

Spatial Special Ability belonged to the unknown type and was extremely rare. The Human Race had failed to fully understand it even after more than a hundred years of research.

"A Silver-Patterned Tiger's claws can cut through space and ignore defenses."

The Silver-Patterned Tiger murmured, "Here we go."

Bang!

Little White Tiger shot toward Old Fourth like a cannonball.

"L-little Wolf!"

In desperation, Old Fourth called for the Flash Shadow Wolf to save him.

A dark shadow flashed in front of Old Fourth, and the Flash Shadow Wolf bared its teeth at Little White Tiger.

"Sky-Splitting!"

Little White Tiger roared.

His claws carved five silver streaks through the air, tearing space apart wherever they passed.

Without encountering any resistance, the claws split the Flash Shadow Wolf in two along with the space it occupied.

The claws passed through the Flash Shadow Wolf's body and left five bloody marks across Old Fourth's chest.

Thud!

Completely drained, Little White Tiger collapsed into a sitting position.

The five silver claw marks lingered in the air.

Old Fourth dropped to his knees in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Old Fifth had also gone completely mad.

He wrapped both arms around Old Ninth and burned his own life force, turning all his energy into flames and pouring them into Old Ninth's body.

"This is bad. He's trying to make Old Ninth burst," the Silver-Patterned Tiger warned. "There's a limit to how much elemental energy the Two-Headed Flood Dragon's scales can absorb. Old Ninth is only at his first awakening. He can't absorb too much, or his body will explode and kill him."

Sure enough, Old Ninth's face contorted in pain.

Crack!

A scale split open.

Crack, crack, crack!

The sound of shattering scales rang out again and again.

Little White Tiger shouted weakly, "Let fucking go! You're going to burst!"

He wanted to help, but letting the Silver-Patterned Tiger take over his body consumed his energy extremely quickly. Now Little White Tiger could barely even stand.

His face flushed red, Old Ninth stubbornly shook his head. "I just want to see who dies first today."

Little White Tiger felt like crying. Old Ninth's madness had flared up.

Whenever he got like this, no one could talk him out of it. He was stubborn enough to die for it.

Old Fifth's body visibly wasted away. He was also forcing himself to hold on.

Time ticked by. Every scale on Old Ninth's body cracked, and blood seeped from beneath his skin.

Old Fifth smiled. Old Ninth had finally reached his limit.

"Old Ninth!"

Little White Tiger struggled to crawl toward him.

Old Ninth turned his head blankly and grinned. "It's fine. I'm definitely outlasting this bastard today."

Roar!

In the final moment of his life, Old Fifth chose to self-destruct. Fierce flames instantly lit up the night sky and swallowed Old Ninth.

"Old Ninth!"

Little White Tiger lay sprawled on the ground, tears sliding down his face.

From within that searing blaze, a dragon roar shook heaven and earth.

Boom, boom, boom!

Heaven and earth changed color.

Dark clouds obscured the Blood Moon, and lightning flashed amid thunder high above.

"N-no... impossible..."

With only his last breath left, Old Fourth murmured, "Awakening... second awakening... why would it... cause a phenomenon... in heaven... and earth..."

Every awakening strengthened or mutated an Awakened's ability, but only one kind of awakening could trigger a phenomenon in heaven and earth.

That was the ninth awakening. It only happened when a member of the Human Race stepped into the demigod realm.

A Nine Awakenings Powerhouse, in the demigod realm.

A being whose flesh had attained divinity.

Old Ninth's second awakening had triggered a phenomenon in heaven and earth. It was utterly unheard of.

Roar!

A red "snake," as thick as a thigh and over ten meters long, flew into the sky to receive the baptism of lightning.

"Is that... a flood dragon?"

Little White Tiger stared blankly at the "snake" churning through the sky.

It resembled a dragon, yet was not a dragon; it resembled a snake, yet was not a snake.

Its snake head had no horns, and four bulges protruded from its belly.

Boom!

A massive bolt of lightning struck the "snake."

Whoosh!

The scales on its body began falling off, especially those around its head.

Boom!

The second lightning bolt descended, and the "snake" let out a cry of agony.

Golden scales actually began growing on its head.

Boom!

A third bolt of lightning gathered in the sky.

But Old Ninth's snake fell helplessly, turning into a streak of red light that burrowed into his body.

"It's over. Old Ninth's flesh can't withstand heavenly lightning."

The Silver-Patterned Tiger was horrified.

Once that bolt struck, Old Ninth would surely die.

Old Ninth weakly tipped his head back to look at the sky. Knowing death was certain, he mocked himself. "Strike me dead if you've got the balls."

With that, Old Ninth slowly raised his middle finger toward the sky.

Boom!

White-and-purple heavenly lightning roared down toward Old Ninth.

"Buddy, I'm off."

Knowing there was nothing he could do, Old Ninth turned his head with a bleak smile.

Lying on the ground, Little White Tiger mustered his last bit of strength, suddenly rose, and lunged toward Old Ninth.

"Are you insane?"

The Silver-Patterned Tiger raged.

"That's my fucking brother! If we die, we die together!"

Little White Tiger roared, "Old Ninth, don't even think about leaving me behind!"

Smack!

The two brothers collided.

Old Ninth panted heavily. "You're fucking asking to die!"

"Then I'll die with you." Little White Tiger grinned.

The two brothers met each other's eyes.

Yes, at a time like this, neither would abandon the other.

"Fuck you! Heavenly lightning, earthly lightning, whatever you are-take this!"

"Take this!"

Both raised their middle fingers toward the sky.

Swaying on the verge of collapse, the two helped each other stand and threw back their heads in a long roar.

Roar!

Dragon Roar, a tiger's cry.

"Brother, time to go."

"Time to go."

The sky lit up, and the heavenly lightning slowly descended.

Before the lightning even struck, the ground had already been scorched black.

(The first three chapters have been slightly revised. You can go back and take a look.)