50 Bloody Armoured Dragon

His mother called this the Blood Armour, Armour created from one's own blood, one's own life energy, but controlled to a degree. It was only to be used in the most tense of situations: Life and Death.

The man dashed towards the kids. He wasn't any faster, but his presence was completely different. Absolutely terrifying.

Both Karni's and Siduo's hearts threatened to jump out. Was it because of this technique or was it just that their bodies naturally reacted like this to terror? They didn't care. They had to dodge.

They dodged to opposite sides, while the man simply charged through the middle, through the wall. Breaking easily into another room. He didn't look completely sane either. Was it a side effect? Or was the man simply in an outrage.

The big brother slashed with his arms downwards and the blades attached to them flew out like arrows, one aimed at Karni and one at Siduo. They were ranged as well? The two reacted appropriately. They were surprised, but they still saw them coming beforehand. The predictions were truly a cheat-like ability right now. Dodging wasn't too much of a problem.

They saw the blades grow back on his arms. The two glanced at each other. This had to be thanks to the special state. The life energy he was using up was allowing him to use soul skills to a terrifyingly quick degree.

The first soul ring of the formerly White Armoured Dragon lit up. His tail swiped. It was longer, sharper, formed by pure blood. Karni dodged while hitting the tail with his bo staff. He had to test how much his sound would affect it.

He hit the tail with his bo staff filled with the power of the third soul ring. The blood seemed to resonate for a second before absorbing the sound. Liquids were capable of transferring sound much smoother. And this being connected with the man's actual blood power? Well, the sound basically got lost in it. Siduo attacked from behind.

Well shit. Karni used his Purple Demon Eyes to try and get closer. The attacks were much more varied. His two attacks had more variables now. While the two strengthening abilities were far stronger. Attack, it was the attack power. Not strength or speed, but pure amplification of attack.

Karni managed to get close while Siduo was distracting the man with a combination of her speed and her Hundred Hell Claws.

Karni hit the head directly, but the Bloody Armoured Dragon only stumbled. "Shit." The blood felt like it dissipated the attack. Siduo's also likely to have problems. There was a defensive boost too.

"Not so cocky now are you." Karni saw two slashes go towards him. He couldn't dodge. His eyes shined brightly with the second soul ring as he forcefully put it on the charging foe.

Now he managed to dodge, but he still had trouble. The opponent was clearly affected for a second. Siduo used this chance to combine her third soul ring with the Mysterious Jade Hands and cut behind the knee. A single blue-black blade attempting to cut at the soft part of the leg.

Unfortunately she didn't draw blood; well, more blood. She only made a scratch in his armour, but she did eye a tiny change. The blood around the cut part flowed slower. The man shook off the forced visions and targeted Siduo, but then the visions came again.

Karni was making sure that he can't take advantage of them, but this was using a lot of his spiritual power. This corrupt policeman wasn't too far behind him in the spiritual aspect. He couldn't use it as much as he usually would. Even on Siduo, he could at most force it onto her 10 times.

In this case, he wasn't sure he could force 5. At the very least, the opponent's spiritual power wasn't at the level where it would forcefully disconnect his ability from Siduo due to shock.

The Bloody Armoured Dragon's Spiritual Power wasn't strong due to the blood aspect. It was because he was older and a Soul Ancestor. He had many years to build up his spiritual powers. At least the man wasn't at the Spirit Sea level yet. Everything would be over if that were the case.

The man stomped and used his strength to launch himself into Karni. A bloody footprint was left on the ground.

With the Tang Sect techniques and his own Drunken Movement Karni barely managed to dodge the double slash of the man's dragon blades. He quickly retaliated.

He hit the guy's back with the full force of his third soul ring and the guy stopped for a second. His blood started visibly moving.

"What's this? My blood feels like it's-" Siduo attacked, not letting him finish, but before she could hit, his speed suddenly increased and his tail swiped at her. She actually had to defend instead of dodging.

"Boiling. I feel great!" 

Karni was in shock as he saw Siduo being launched into a wall. Though she quickly got out and back into action. Did… Did he just make the guy stronger? Not only in attack and defence, but speed as well?

He was reminded of Tang Wulin. How his own bloodline collaborated with sound as well. The Dragon's Roar, the vibrations of the blood. The man said his blood was boiling?

His thoughts were interrupted. He had to dodge. Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track truly was a heaven sent in situations like these.

Siduo rushed from the back and attacked with the combination of her Hundred Hell Claws and Mysterious Jade Hands. This time, it felt like she hit the water, like no damage at all was done. She didn't see the blood slow either, it was moving erratically.

The man tried to grab her, but Karni used his Vision Bestowal on him for the third time. Siduo managed to dodge. She was shocked. The Mysterious Jade Hands at least affected him before, was it the boost he just got?

Karni attacked from behind, aiming for the head. He didn't get a boost when he hit the head.

The man was becoming reckless. Eyes brimming with craziness and excitement. He didn't see Karni's attack, and he stumbled in front and Siduo took action. Her Hundred Hell Claws fused with the Mysterious Jade Hands, no. Towards the end even her third soul ring flashed.

She put some scratches into him. It worked! The Mysterious Jade hands affected the blood, but only with sufficient power. Ice can be quite effective on the bloody armour. Even a boosted one. Unfortunately, while she pierced through the blood armour, the blood itself didn't seem to slow down this time either.

The man circled and tried to clear the two with his tail but failed. Siduo used this chance to target his neck with the Mysterious Jade Hands infused Hell Slash. At the same time, Karni aimed for the head again, the Bo Staff brimming with melody.

The man didn't hit. Just as they connected, both of them saw the prediction ahead of them. Their eyes went wide. They couldn't dodge in time. A simple tail swipe, but one used at a perfect moment.

Both of them got thrown into a wall, only temporary blocks put up at the last second. Karni's focus wavered, his abilities interrupted, he wasn't a good defender. He spew out some blood and looked towards Siduo. The man was approaching her.

He cycled the Mysterious Heaven Technique in his eyes. The Purple Demon Eyes forcefully applied his second soul ring on Siduo.

She managed to activate her first soul ring just in time so the man couldn't grab her. Meanwhile, Karni's head was hurting. He's used up his spiritual power relentlessly. He was in a bit of a daze.

Siduo circled and slashed, but the man was clearly in charge. Her Mysterious Jade Hands were working perfectly with her soul skills, but the man followed her closely, not letting her get meaningful hits in.

Her two soul rings shined, but this time, she kept her Mysterious Jade Hands. She had to. Activating one of the soul skills at the end just wouldn't do it at this point, otherwise she would just stay a wild cat running away with small scratches, waiting to be caught.

The hundred slashes of icy colour slowly turned into one, as the final, icy blue and black blade sliced at the man.

He put his own blades up as a defence, but was actually pushed back in that moment, clear open wounds were showing. More blood was added to the already bloody armour.

"Fine." The man turned around and reached towards Karni.

"Kiki!" She shouted all of a sudden. Karni finally saw the man in front of him. He managed to dodge. Reactivating his first soul ring as well. His mind cleared up for a second.

"So fucking slippery!"

The man launched at Karni again, but Karni's stomach wanted to turn upside down when he saw it. The man actually had two predictions. Did he figure it out?

Karni dodged. The silhouettes changed. There were four now. Siduo watched with wide eyes as well. No matter what one would think about Karni's technique, whether it be reading the mind or seeing the future, if one was indecisive, they couldn't be completely sure of the result.

The man smiled widely seeing the panic on their faces. He finally got it. He was correct.

His second soul ring shone and he charged at Karni, then changed his mind and made a single step to change direction towards Siduo.

She managed to dodge, but he used his tail to trip in quick succession. Karni started to charge, until a sudden explosion of energy happened that knocked both the Soul Ancestor and Karni back.

A small tiger appeared in the room, more black than white, but a clear tiger anyway. Karni looked with giant eyes. She completed her self fusion! How?!

She pounced upon the man and he didn't care. He reinforced his armour with his fourth soul ring again, while activating his third and second rings for additional damage.

The two hit each other. Another explosion happened, but this time it seemed small, more contained, yet stronger than before for some reason.

Siduo was back on the ground, though far away. She was thrown back from the force. She was in her human form, but something was weird. Her self-fusion wasn't stable before. Even now, she had clear ears that were that of a cat. White stripes were on them, but they were mostly red. Her eyes were slits instead of normal human eyes.

"Impressive. A shame that you couldn't control it. You might have defeated me." He walked next to her. Karni finally panicked and charged towards the man.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

He was already holding her by the neck. A shit eating, cruel grin on his face.

"Finally caught you. Now then. How about you tell me who exactly you are and how you know about this?"

Karni's heart was beating. It was the same. It was exactly the same. Wait no. She didn't look like that in the vision. Did the fact he told her about the vision influence this change on her that she forcibly brought? Was she originally not supposed to fuse there? Damn it! Everything backfired!

"Well!?" He choked Siduo by the neck. Siduo coughed in a frustrated, stubborn look that looked more menacing than before because of her changed eyes.

"What an angry little bitch. You really aren't leaving me much choice huh? Well you might sell highly with that nice constitution of yours. Hey kid, if you want her to live, you know what to do." He actually turned her towards Karni. 

She looked at him and opened her mouth, saying noiselessly. "I trust you."

Karni was staring into her new eyes. Her new form. He was slightly shaking, but for some reason, the change that she brought with her own actions, the change in future and mainly, the ferociousness in those eyes… She calmed him. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. The man smiled, thinking that the kid was about to tell him everything.

But Karni's eyes remained closed. And the sound was growing larger. Karni nodded to himself. He had to give up.

"You! You really want her to die? You must only be ten! Don't be a fool!"

Truthfully, the man didn't want to actually kill children. He just wanted to know things. Unless… What if they were truly unwilling to cooperate? He would be forced to become cruel.

"Stop you fool! You want her to die?"

Karni had to give up. Give up control. He didn't hear the threats. He was in his own world right now. His heart was beating way above the human limit and he was listening to it.

Suddenly, the music that usually played in the room quietened. The man was distracted by that.

That's right. Karni listened. He had to give up control of the sound. He had to listen. He had to hear everything. The sound of the music? It was his and his alone. He didn't control it. He was its owner. He was a part of it. He was its guide. His martial soul was arrogant towards any sound that existed wasn't it? And the martial soul was his soul. Well then. I guess it's about time he became arrogant as well.

His own heart once enabled him to apply more Stacks. Why did he throw away that principle? Let the heart guide him. Let it control him.

The music his martial soul made was always under his control. But the one in the room? He didn't control it. He was part of it.

The rain. So beautiful, wild, yet… peaceful? It was not allowed to be in this room. It was too controlled here. That sound? It belonged to the staff. There, it should cause chaos.

Thunder. Right, thunder. The aftereffect of lightning. The sound travelled far and wide, but the one that made it here? It should run freely in his staff. All the sound of the room, the outside, his power, in the free of his hands, of their normal limitations, of self control. They should go and be free in his martial souls, where they can run wild.

This sound that the martial soul is making because of all this power it absorbed? Not allowed. It has to stay inside. He was wrong. He shouldn't give up control, he only had to decide what not to control.

A sudden melancholy could be felt inside Karni's staff. The sound stuck in it, it decided to… cooperate with one another? "I won't let you out. Be angry. Feel that suffocation and fight me." What was this sound he felt inside? The chaos… transformed.

The man felt a sense of doom with the uttered words. "What?" 

Karni opened his eyes and did a simple thrust. The room was deadly silent. The man suddenly started convulsing. He let go of Siduo. His blood. It was stronger than ever before! But… but it was running completely wild!

He was shaking. Like having a seizure. The body was not under his control. His mind was barely recognising what was happening. The sound was trying to break free of the blood. And then? It went dark.

Karni fell on the ground struggling to keep himself seated. His mind was weak.

Siduo looked at Karni, rubbing her throat. "You… You comprehended the element's heart?"

"I… don't know."

Siduo just looked at him amazed. Then she remembered that the man they fought might not actually be defeated yet. Who knows if he can still recover?

The man was still full of blood, but it was clearly from the injuries now. Siduo checked his heartbeat. It wasn't there. Karni killed him. At that moment, words that Karni once told her came to mind. How he didn't yet want to become part of this world. Not in the sense of needing to kill anyway.

She activated her third soul ring and slashed into the man's neck.

"Sisi! What are you…" Karni looked in awe.

"I couldn't risk it."

Karni gazed at her for a while with mixed emotions, then looked away. "We need to call someone."

"Mm." Siduo mumbled. Fearing that he will judge her again. But… It was worth it.

"First we can call Teacher Ye, then the detective. I still have her number."

"Okay. I'll call Teacher Ye." Siduo offered.

"Alright." Karni took out his soul communicator. He went next to the wall, leaning on it so he wouldn't fall.

The two soul communicator's rang at the same time.

"Hello, is this detective Lu? … Hello. It's Val Karni. From the incident about 8 months ago."

… … …

"You two!" Teacher Ye was here in minutes. She arrived before the detective. She was a Soul Emperor after all.

"This was the one thing I forbid you to do!"

"I'm sorry." Both of them spoke honestly.

"And this boss is trying to break through to become a Soul Sage? Are you two fucking imbeciles?" It was the first time that Teacher Ye cursed at them.

"You." She looked at Siduo. "What happened to you?"

"I failed my self-fusion. And now I'm like this." Her eyes were now round, but they would naturally change into slits when her emotions were stirred in the right way. Her human ears also disappeared, only the cat ears remained higher up.

"At least I feel stronger than before. Physically at least. I don't know if it's permanent or not."

Teacher Ye sighed. There wasn't really much she could do there. She had to focus on how to fix the rest.

"When will the police come?" She looked at Karni.

"She said 10 minutes."

"So we have 5 more left. Good." She stepped towards the other three that were still knocked out.

Then she put her hands on them. The two could feel the immense soul power she was emitting. Their bodies, or rather, the muscles convulsed a bit before stopping.

"Now they're just normal humans. They'll be put into prison this way. There'd be complications otherwise."

The two looked in shock. Was she covering for the two of them?

"Listen here. This is what we'll tell them. We'll omit the truth, say it in a shortened manner, but don't lie. We need them to get a wrong idea on their own."

… … …

"Do you have any evidence that these aren't just confiscated stuff?" Detective Lu arrived and was currently asking questions.

"Yeah. This is all the data we gathered."

"You kids…" She was looking over the data on a computer she brought with her. "This is both stupid and dangerous. But… I can't deny that you were efficient."

"Please don't encourage them, officer." Teacher Ye looked sternly, but respectfully.

"My apologies. Miss." Detective Lu was very respectful towards Teacher Ye as well. This was an influence that came from power.

"If the chief was really involved, it would be hard to get to her. In fact, I suggest that the two of them are under constant watch when she returns. I'll be on the line when she does. This runs far deeper than what I can help with."

"That's good enough. The school will protect them. As for going outside?" She looked at the two of them, who were wearing innocent looks right now. Siduo's ears hung a little, it really added a layer of guilt.

Teacher Ye had trouble believing that the two brats caused all of this when they acted this way.

"You two can enjoy this until this chief comes back. You killed her only son. She won't let you off the hook, even if it was in self defence. You will be permanently stuck inside once she returns. Even if it takes until your graduation."

The two looked full of shock. That would be… four and a half years! They won't be able to leave school for four and a half years?

"But what about my family?"

"They can visit, they know the staff here. Everything you need to survive is in the academy."

"I must ask." The detective interrupted. "Give me a week. I should be able to put up a trial. We must do this before the chief returns, otherwise the children might be in danger."

"Thank you detective." Teacher Ye nodded. "We'll do everything in our power to help. The academy has invested far too much money into these two."

She then turned towards the kids again. "And if you think about going on private retreats on your own when the chief of police returns? You can say goodbye to your school life. You can say goodbye to your life."

The two were completely defeated. They really messed up this time around. "Yes, teacher."

Siduo swore to herself. She'll learn to do the googly eyes of cats someday. Then she'll try to ask the teacher again. Hopefully their punishment can be lightened.

Meanwhile, Karni glanced one final time at the cut Siduo gave to the chief's son, his eyes unfocused.