Solar Blood Masters (154)

Chapter 154 - Mental Discipline

A flurry of black wings could be heard all around the arena as Raphael’s Shadow Bats swarmed Lingshi. They were eager to tear into his ancient flesh.

But the Painting Sage was unfazed. With swift strokes of his ‘Lucid Dream’ brush dipped in crimson, he painted slashes of death across his canvas.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Crimson energy materialized around him and with each stroke, dozens of Shadow Bats exploded into puffs of black smoke. Yet, as quickly as they were destroyed, more materialized from Raphael’s massive black wings, as if an endless tide of shadows was at his command. It was a terrifying, and magnificent display of power that had the spectators gasping.

“How many bats does this bull HAVE?!” Lingshi’s brow was furrowed in annoyance.

He’d faced formidable opponents before, sure, even armies of a thousand serpents, but this bull's endless swarm was proving to be… a troublesome distraction. His brush moved faster, his strokes more frantic, yet those bats, they kept coming!

The crowd was stunned.

They'd expected Lingshi to obliterate Raphael with a single, decisive stroke. But he hadn’t. Not only had this bull withstood his most potent attacks, but he’d also managed to push the Painting Sage into a metaphorical corner with those endless waves of shadowy minions.

This was unheard of.

A mere 2nd Layer Nightmare Calamity forcing a 9th Layer Nightmare Calamity, a scholar of war whose wisdom and power were legendary, to expend so much Solar Essence? It was a spectacle that had them buzzing with excitement and disbelief.

Those whispers of “Is Lingshi going to lose to that bull?” were quickly overshadowed by Lu Ignis’s booming rage.

“LINGSHI! What are you WAITING for?! End this CHARADE! My daughter is in TROUBLE! We don't have time for this nonsense!”

Lu Ignis's words snapped Lingshi back to the present. He glanced at Lu Ruby, who lay mangled and bleeding near the edge of the platform, and his eyes narrowed.

“Indeed. It’s time to get serious.”

“World is my Canvas!”

BOOM!

A blinding, multicolored light exploded outwards as hundreds of World Canvases materialized around Lingshi. They formed a dazzling, kaleidoscopic barrier. The sheer force of their emergence obliterated the remaining Shadow Bats, sending their black forms scattering like dust in a hurricane.

But… Raphael was gone.

Lingshi surveyed his canvases. Each one displayed a different section of the platform, capturing every detail in intricate strokes of black ink.

“Where are you hiding, bull?” he hollered.

“Over here!”

Suddenly, Raphael’s voice boomed from above. Lingshi looked up!

A golden figure, radiating an aura of immense power, descended like a vengeful god. Raphael was soaring towards Lingshi with his arms coated in flames. But that wasn't the most shocking thing.

At his rear, the Ignitor Sun Cycle was spiraling, a monstrous disc of crimson and gold, blazing with a heat so intense that the very air itself warped and popped!

"That’s… Lu Ignis’s Sun Cycle?!” Lingshi gasped.

He couldn’t comprehend.

"When… When did that bull acquire it? So he was buying time with those bats to fuse with the Sun Cycle?”

He didn't have time to ponder.

Raphael was almost upon him!

Lingshi quickly dipped his brush in white ink. He was about to erase that Sun Cycle from his canvas.

But… Raphael teleported!

He materialized beside Lingshi and cocked his fist.

BOOM!

Raphael's fist connected with Lingshi’s jaw! The impact was devastating. On contact, Raphael’s fist exploded into flames!

The blaze spread rapidly, incinerating the canvases closest to him. They curled and blackened, then their painted worlds dissolved into wisps of smoke and ash.

Lingshi was sent crashing into the platform.

A massive crater formed.

And then…

“Helios Stream!”

WHOOSH!

BOOM!

From Raphael’s horns, a beam of golden fire unlike anything they’d seen before, erupted! It was a torrent of pure Solar Essence, amplified by Shao Jin's ancient power and the ‘Ignitor Sun Cycle’s’ infernal heat. The beam slammed into Lingshi’s bamboo grove!

His shell, once a vibrant green, now smoked and turned a horrifying red, cracks spread across its smooth, polished surface, then splintered, sending shards of jade-green bamboo flying.

Lingshi’s ‘World Canvases’ that were further afield from the blast, exploded! Their painted realities vanished, their frames turned to ash! Even his collection of paintbrushes, his most prized possessions, were obliterated!

“Damn BULL! You dare act so arrogant?!”

Lingshi hollered hotly. It was a furious bellow that had the spectators trembling.

He was truly enraged, a sight no one there had witnessed before, not even Lu Ignis. Gone was the scholarly demeanor, the calm, calculating gaze. Now he was a raging tyrant, his ancient eyes blazed with a fury that could incinerate even the very heavens.

“You think I need my canvases for the likes of you, a mere 2nd Layer? I’m going to DESTROY you ALL!”

He vanished in a blink, then reappeared beside Raphael, and swung his massive tail like a colossal club!

WHAM!

Raphael was swatted away like a fly, and he crashed through a newly formed barrier that Lingshi had erected around the stage in a split second. It glowed faintly as those symbols appeared. These runes weren’t for decoration, rather they were his prison, a barrier that would ensure this arrogant bull wouldn’t escape, not even in death!

He landed with a sickening thud.

But he was already back on his feet with his fist blazing!

WHOOSH! CRACK!

“HELL FIST!”

A humungous fist, radiating flames hotter than Gastaroid’s, slammed into Lingshi’s face.

The impact had the spectators gasping. They couldn't believe their eyes.

The Painting Sage had been punched by a mere bull!

Lingshi staggered back. A few more bamboo stalks were ripped from his shell and fell into that fiery palm. They crackled. They turned to ash.

He roared.

Then, with a flick of his hand, his ‘Lucid Dream’ brush materialized. He slashed at Raphael, creating two black slashes of energy that crisscrossed to form an ‘X’ as if erasing his very form, but his efforts were not met with the desired results, for that energy had a life of its own! It wasn't simply ink he commanded!

The 'X' slammed into Raphael, sending him hurtling backwards.

He crashed into the barrier!

It shuddered, but held firm.

Lingshi materialized beside him and with a stomp, drove him deeper into the stage!

A massive crater formed.

Raphael was trapped!

But…

He was faster!

“Shadow Teleportation!”

He vanished in a blink, and reappeared above Lingshi with a thunderous roar.

"GOLD PRESS BLIZZARD!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Hundreds of spectral hooves, blazing with the Ignitor Sun Cycle's infernal heat, materialized above Lingshi, and they rained down on him with terrifying speed and force!

"Hells Hooves!"

BOOM!

“KYAAH!”

Lingshi screamed as his shell cracked, his legs buckled, and his bamboo grove withered and turned black! He was being driven deeper into the stage!

Huge cracks spread across its surface, as those foundations threatened to crumble.

Lu Ruby and Lu Jade, seeing their companions' distress, paused their duel and stared in awe, those flames of vengeance was replaced for a few moments by a morbid curiosity and a shared respect for that bull’s power.

“Hell Chains!”

Raphael’s hands materialized those fiery shackles he’d stolen from Hellphet and tossed them toward his fallen opponent! The chains snaked around Lingshi’s limbs, binding him tightly. At the same time, Lingshi was being influenced by Gold Press Blizzard.

Then…

“Heliosphere Hazard!"

BOOM!

Five spheres of golden fire materialized above him. They began to grow larger, more potent, more terrifying with every passing second as they aimed at Lingshi’s shell!

On impact, a sonic BOOM rang out!

"Damn you! Damn you all! ARGHHHHHH!"

Lingshi roared in agony. It was as if he were fighting Gastaroid all over again, but this time, it wasn’t simply brute force he was facing, rather he was trapped within Raphael’s Hell, a place without mercy.

This humiliation, this pain…

It wouldn’t stand!

With a final, desperate burst of power, he ripped through those fiery shackles that bound his form, and soared out of the inferno. His shell was steaming and his bamboo grove charred and almost extinguished.

He glared at Raphael. "You’ve done well, bull. You’ve forced me to the brink of anger. And now… you will taste excruciating death!”

Lingshi’s ‘Gem of Knowledge’, embedded in his forehead, flared with a brilliant, emerald light! He raised a hand, palm open, towards Raphael’s massive form and…

“Mental Discipline!"

WHOOSH!

A beam of pure, green energy shot forth. It pierced through the air, passing through Raphael’s defenses, his scale prison, his Abyss Nylon, before penetrating his very core, his Solar Essence!

“My… mind…!” Raphael stumbled! He could feel his consciousness fading.

It was as if a thousand icy needles were piercing his very soul, ripping it apart.

The attack wasn't simply a physical assault.

It was a mental invasion! Lingshi’s will was trying to dominate, to crush Raphael’s very being!

But then…

“ARAAAAH!”

Raphael screamed senselessly! He pushed back against the mental onslaught with an inner strength that had even Lu Jade and Thienika staring in awe, and Qi Fenwei’s wings were now ruffling with a newfound respect, but why?

He had tasted something similar within Kwan Yuu’s Logia Mist. And within that purple haze, he’d learned a valuable lesson…

To survive, one had to embrace the chaos, to become one with the very madness that threatened to devour.

His eyes blazed with a renewed vigor. He lunged himself at Lingshi in a last-ditch effort.

BOOM!

Raphael’s head slammed directly into Lingshi’s ‘Gem of Knowledge’!

A blinding flash of white light erupted!

The impact reverberated through the arena!

The two figures were thrown backward, landing heavily at opposite ends of the stage.

“Big Brother!” Lu Jade flew over and caught Raphael.

…

On the Emperor’s platform, a wave of shock and disbelief washed over Lu Ignis.

“How is that bull… still alive?! Lingshi unleashed his Mental Discipline! A technique capable of crushing even a 1st Layer Emperor Calamity’s will! Yet that bull, a measly 2nd Layer… he survived?! How?!”

He glared at Qi Hawk. “How many relic did you equipped that bull with, you feathery bastard?”