Darkness. Agony. And a burning, sucking sensation in his lungs. Every breath tugged at the searing wound across his waist and abdomen.
Loa's consciousness drifted between grogginess and stabbing pain. His vision blurred, and all he could hear was his own bellows-like panting and the hum of blood rushing through his veins. He had long since lost all sense of direction. Driven solely by a survival instinct branded into his bones, he stumbled and "inched" forward. Every time his left leg touched the ground, a sharp, bone-gouging pain shot through his knee, sending waves of darkness across his vision. Only by using the sword in his right hand as a cane, driving it deep into the ground for support, could he barely keep himself from falling.
The burning in his meridians had not stopped with the end of the battle. Instead, like a wildfire erupting after a delay, it spread along the routes his battle-qi followed. This was the backlash from forcing his Wind-Thunder Two Forms Battle-qi beyond its limits to unleash that streak of Nine Heavens Wind-Thunder Sword-qi.
"Can't pass out... absolutely can't..." His teeth sank deep into his lower lip, filling his mouth with the rusty taste of blood. That self-inflicted pain barely preserved his last thread of clarity. "These beasts' bites hurt like hell! Goddammit, just wait until I'm level seven... or finish the transformation through the Wind-Thunder Two Forms Transformation Scripture. Next time, I'll be chasing you wolves down with my sword!" Loa muttered on as though hypnotizing himself.
He did not know how much time had passed. Perhaps only a few minutes, or perhaps as long as a century. Just as he felt the string called "willpower" about to snap completely, a new sound pierced the ringing in his ears and his panting, stubbornly working