Fenrir's Journey : I Shall Devour The Heavens!

The golden scroll burned by the Grand Elder was a unique item that had a soul imprint sealed within it. When used, it could alert the person that had created the scroll that something had happened, no matter how far away it was when activated. This had been given to the Grand Elder by the Leader of the Searing Sword Palace with the intent of alerting the massive organization if someone tried to poach their new Spiritual Lands.With the soul imprint ignited, the Leader of the Searing Sword Palace, Li Shimin, immediately gave the order to mobilize their forces. He even led the group personally as, when the imprint had been released, he could feel an overwhelming sense of dread. Since he would not allow the Abyss to fall into the hands of their enemies, he would not risk sending a small force and entrusting the matter to another.What Li Shimin never anticipated was that, not even a quarter of the way to their destination, what appeared to be a violent storm made its way toward them. Unlike normal storm clouds, however, it was formed from a billowing, bluish-black, cloud which, upon closer inspection, turned out to be a massive wave of wolf-like monsters, the smallest of which was more than five meters in length.For a brief moment, Li Shimin felt like he was experiencing a waking nightmare but, as the Leader of the Searing Sword Palace, his trepidation was immediately replaced by contemptuous wrath. He saw a larger wolf leading the group and, seated atop it, what appeared to be a young woman so it didn't take him long to realize who he was dealing with.Rather than charge directly to meet the horde of Demonic Beasts, Li Shimin directed his men to form a complex formation that matched an ancient constellation. He stood at the very center, serving as the core of the formation that, once active, took on the form of a massive saber wreathed in flames. It had seventy-two of the most powerful Cultivators on the entire continent floating within its light-based structure, each perfectly mirroring the actions of Li Shimin as he extended his hand toward the horde, shouting, "Burn in the flames of purgatory you foul Demon...!"Drawing a line that seemed to bisect the heavens, the saber instantly reached the horde of what they assumed to be Demonic Beasts. Due to the contrary elements, the saber was actually able to deal an incredible amount of damage to Fenrir's pack but, while many of the wolves had been destroyed, the luster of the saber had reduced along with the amount of flames.Li Shimin didn't realize what had happened at first but, after seeing the bluish-black cloud of energy corrode the structure of the saber, he realized what the wolves were comprised of. This caused his pupils to turn into pinholes and, rather than focus on the pack of wolves, he immediately turned his attention to Fenrir who, at the time, was standing in the air like a Goddess of Death looking down upon them.Understanding that it would be disastrous to draw out the battle, Li Shimin performed a forbidden technique that was unknown to the people comprising the formation. They suddenly felt their vitality waver and, in less than five seconds, many of them had started to bleed from every orifice. Despite this, they were unable to break away from the formation and, even after some of them turned into mummified corpses, they continued mirroring the actions of Li Shimin as he attempted to finish off Fenrir in the shortest amount of time...(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Disgusting...')

Despite the power she had gained, Fenrir was struggling a lot more than she had expected against the group of people from the Searing Sword Palace. She found it very difficult to gather the Yin and Ice Elemental energies from the atmosphere due to the saber producing Yang Elemental flames that tyrannically pushed away other energy sources.Fortunately, Fenrir had an extremely large amount of energy contained within her body and, while it was harder to devour than other types of energy, she was able to consume the flames produced by the saber to supplement her reserves. This caused a slight burning sensation in her body but, when compared against the pain and hunger she felt as a result of her loneliness, it was like a tiny ant bite.After evading a solid beam of flames, Fenrir's jaw seemed to unhinge slightly as a beam of midnight blue magical energy caused several shockwaves at it tore through the air. She attempted to swivel her head in an attempt to chase after the flaming saber but, with reality-defying speed and agility, it was able to perform complex aerial movements to escape her attack.The longer the battle was drawn out, the more anxious and frustrated Fenrir felt. This caused her bestial features to become more pronounced, complete with jagged teeth and slit-like pupils that gave her a frenzied expression as she shaped her shroud of devouring energy into extensions of her claws, slicing through the air as she attempted to grab the flaming saber.As he was already burning the life force of his own people to push the formation beyond its natural limits, Li Shimin had bloodshot eyes as he guided the saber into a complex snaking pattern, his voice turning high pitched as he shouted, "Die, you filthy fucking animal...!"With blood now streaming from his own orifices, the speed of the flaming saber more than doubled in an instant and, though she managed to evade to the side, a huge gash was made in Fenrir's flank. Most of her right side was torn out and, due to the intense heat of the saber, the wound had already turned into a ghastly black mess of burnt flesh.Despite the pain she experienced, Fenrir's eyes only glowed with greater intensity as the burnt flesh began to flake away, revealing a wiggling mass of viscera, organs, bones, and muscle. At the cost of her reserves, she was quickly regenerating at a rate visible to the naked eye, causing Li Shimin to literally puke blood when he saw her floating in the air without any discernible difficulty.Before her wound had even healed fully, Fenrir slouched forward like a predator about to pounce on its prey as she shouted, "DIE...!" in a feral and raspy voice. The devouring energy around her body condensed rapidly and, like a tempest tearing across the sky, she began chasing after the flaming saber directly. At the same time, a blood-red moon was blazing with intense light at the center of her forehead and, though her fur was already spiky, it began to form dense clumps of sharp fur that gave her an even more terrifying appearance.With his trump card failing to secure victory, Li Shimin could only aim for a pyrrhic victory as Fenrir was just too strong and fast for him to continue fighting. Even with a large section of her body burnt to a crisp, she hadn't been slowed by the slightest amount. Rather, as the fight was continued, her speed gradually increased while his own was reduced due to the loss of his men's lives.Refusing to die with his back to the enemy, Li Shimin reversed the trajectory of the saber and, using all the energy in his Golden Core, burned his very life itself to empower his attack. His flesh began to quickly atrophy away while the few lucky survivors still maintaining the formation turned into dried up corpses as Li Shimin performed a suicide charge toward Fenrir, his own eyes with intense red light even as they sunk into his blackened eye sockets.(Fenrir's Commentary: 'GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAH...!')

Little more than a minute after the alarm had been sounded, the Grand Elder had appeared at the mouth of the Abyss with a stern expression on his face. He could see Fenrir floating in the air and, with her wolf-like ars and tail, it wasn't difficult to ascertain whether or not she was a human.With his expression darkening further, the Grand Elder pulled out a string of prayer beads and a vajra as he shouted, "Vile creature! I will rip your soul from your body and refine it for a hundred years! You will suffer for antagonizing the Searing Sword Palace...!"Hearing the man's words, Fenrir just snorted through her nose as her aura turned into a total of thirteen massive wolves, each formed from Devouring Laws. This caused the Grand Elder to inhale sharply and, for a brief moment, he continued retracting his statement and trying to settle things in a more peaceful manner.Unfortunately for him, his fate had been decided even before he uttered the hateful name of the Searing Sword Palace. Thus, without the need for a verbal response, Fenrir raised her paw, pointing a clawed finger toward the Grand Elder and sending her pack to hunt him down.Feeling an irrepressible sense of dread welling up inside him, the Grand Elder didn't even consider trying to stand his ground and fight. Instead, he fled like a bolt of lightning toward the sky, his body shrouded in vermillion flames that caused the surrounding temperature to skyrocket.Without moving from her spot, Fenrir watched as her wolves, seemingly with a mind of their own, gave chase after the fleeing Grand Elder. They were slightly faster than him so, while she was forced to give chase to prevent the man from fleeing beyond her range, he didn't require her to lift a finger as another ripple of foreign Qi was absorbed into her ever-expanding reserves.What Fenrir didn't expect was, moments prior to his death, the Grand Elder pulled out an ornate scroll covered in gold. It burned with a brilliant light before fading out of existence just as his body was ripped to shreds by the voracious pack of wolves. Though he had tried to deter them with a few powerful blasts of Qi, this had only made the wolves even stronger so he knew there was no escape.When the Grand Elder vanished, Fenrir appeared like a blur at the point where he had burned the scroll. Her paws waved through the air, sending small ripples through the void that drew her senses to an area far to the north. Though she didn't understand the exact purpose of the scroll, her instinct told her that several powerful enemies were now chasing after her.Rather than flee, Fenrir's eyes turned sharp and, instead of thirteen wolves, her shroud expanded to create more than a thousand, each flanking her. This left her standing at the head of the pack as one of the wolves, nearly three times the size of the others, walked on the air to nuzzle against her. Fenrir gave the amalgamation of Devouring Laws a scratch under the chin before ultimately climbing onto its back and saying, "It is time to hunt..." in a husky tone of voice.(Fenrir's Commentary: 'Come...I will devour you all...!')

Chapter 98: Intercept