Solar Blood Masters

Raphael, Lu Jade, and Thienika stood amidst a gruesome scene.

"Ugh…" Raphael's huge frame shuddered as he surveyed the carnage. "Most of these… belong to the Kepfu."

Green goo and entrails splattered the cavern walls. It was a gruesome tapestry of violence, evidence of the Devil Horn Rhino's brutality.

"That rhino is a monster." Lu Jade trembled as he looked at a particularly large Kepfu corpse. Its jaw had been completely ripped off.

"Indeed, but look!" Thienika pointed a finger toward a pile of Kepfu Eggs that nestled within the black goo.

"We're RICH!"

They rushed forward, eager to claim their prize. Their eyes shone with an avarice that only intensified as their black flags updated:

…

Raphael – 223

Lu Jade – 164

Thienika – 17

…

While Raphael, Lu Jade, and Thienika were busy collecting the Kepfu eggs, a gruesome scene unfolded behind them.

This was a shifting of life, or rather, that which defied death's grip!

Those severed head pieces scattered across the cavern floor… they began to glow with a faint red light. And as that light intensified, the pieces… they began to move. They were inching closer, pulled by an unseen force!

It was both terrifying and hypnotic.

First, the snout. It twitched. Then a massive, lower jaw lined up and clicked satisfyingly into place as the tongue, fat and slick with gore, throbbed.

Two nostrils, black as coal, flared. An eye snapped open. And then another. And lastly, the Devil Horn – that horn that had sent Raphael hurtling through the wall – extended with an ominous crackle.

Pam Long's head was whole once more.

His monstrous body rose from the scattered pile of entrails.

First, the chest. It was ripped and torn, but those wounds were knitting back together with alarming speed. Those broken ribs, reconnected! Muscle and sinew re-formed! Then came the arms, those massive, meaty appendages with claws as thick as tree trunks. And finally, his legs, those powerful, thunderous hooves that could crush a thousand skulls in an instant.

Within seconds, he was fully restored.

"Hmm…" He cracked his neck and stretched, savoring the sensations of a revitalized body.

He smiled. 'That felt GOOD! Such a pleasant inconvenience, dying. However…'

His eyes narrowed as he stared ahead.

"Those creatures…!"

His gaze settled on three figures, who were engrossed in harvesting the Kepfu eggs.

"Stealing MY treasure?! How audacious! I'll crush them!"

…

"Wow, there's another fat one!"

Just as Raphael extended a hand toward another mound of Kepfu Eggs...

CRACK!

The earth rumbled. A series of fissures snaked towards them, and from above…

WHOOSH!

…a massive chunk of earth, resembling a giant fist, came hurtling down!

"Big Brother! BE CAREFUL!"

Lu Jade warned Raphael.

He turned!

BOOM!

The earth fist slammed into his palm.

He caught it. But…

CRACK!

A red horn, glowing with potent solar energy burst through the earth! It struck Raphael in the gut, sending him flying backward with a grunt.

He crashed into the wall.

"WHAT?!"

"That rhino… he wasn't DEAD?"

Lu Jade and Thienika's eyes widened with shock, as they saw Pam Long standing amidst a sea of shattered earth. He was fully restored. Bigger. And even more menacing than before.

"Hmmm?" His gaze settled on them. "Tranus… so that fool failed to kill you. No matter, I'll finish the job myself, THEN I'll claim ALL those eggs! Hahahaha!"

"The hell you WILL!"

Raphael burst forth from the rubble and slammed a fist into Pam Long's face.

"Take this!"

BOOM!

"Hmph."

But the rhino caught his attack. He grinned, "You're slower than I remember, bull." He then twisted Raphael's hand, sending a jolt of pain that had him roaring. And with a terrifying display of strength, he lifted him and slammed him to the ground!

Before Raphael could even react, Pam Long was in the air!

He came crashing down upon his chest.

CRASH!

"Argh!" Raphael coughed blood!

"BIG BROTHER!" Lu Jade cried out in alarm, he began to slither towards his fallen friend, but Pam Long's monstrous palm extended.

"Solar Bolt!"

A blazing orange energy beam shot forth.

It was aimed at Lu Jade,

But…

WHOOSH!

Thienika dashed forward.

"REGAL COUNTER!"

She deflected the blast with a powerful thrust of her staff, and sent it flying back at Pam Long.

"That… won't work!"

Pam Long simply caught the blast! It was as if that orange beam was an insect he'd swatted, so easy. And before Thienika could even comprehend those abilities…

He slammed it into Raphael's head!

BOOM!

"NO! Raphael!" She'd made a terrible miscalculation.

"Damn that rhino…" Lu Jade watched as his Big Brother's form convulsed from the blast. He'd have to avenge them.

He slithered past Thienika.

"Phantom Willow Tail – BIND!"

His tail whipped around Pam Long, aiming to crush him, but…

"Hahaha… You're WEAK, serpent! PATHETIC!"

The rhino simply… caught his tail.

He squeezed, "You think you can hurt ME with those flimsy vines?!"

With a roar of amusement, he yanked on the tail, but before he could slam Lu Jade against the cavern floor, the serpent was now coiled around his thick body.

"I'll make YOU… MY PRISONER!" Lu Jade hissed as he squeezed, those muscles of his radiated those ancient energies that he'd been holding back!

His scales pulsed emerald green.

"CRUSH!"

He strained his massive form, those muscles rippling beneath his scales. His grip tightened until Pam Long's ribs creaked. But to his increasing dread…

His enemy simply… laughed.

"That's all you got?!"

The rhino casually exerted his monstrous might.

And in that moment…

BOOM!

Lu Jade's form exploded! He burst apart into dozens of smaller serpents that splattered across the ground.

"What?! He exploded?!" Thienika gasped. It was a technique she hadn't seen before.

"Hahahaha! Neat trick, snake! But it'll take more than THAT to hurt ME!"

The small snakes, unfazed by their separation, began to slither towards each other, merging and re-forming into Lu Jade's true form.

"Oh?" Pam Long was baffled, but this admiration didn't last long because as he straightened to unleash a counter blow, a dark shadow engulfed his form.

"ABYSS NYLON!"

From the ground below, Raphael's shadow had spread out! It lashed upwards, entangling the rhino in a web of blue-black tendrils.

Then…

CRACKLE! CRACKLE! CRACKLE!

"AAAAAAAA!"

Millions of volts! They coursed through those threads.

They were all expecting a scream of agony. But all that emerged was a deep…

"Humph."

They stared, horrified.

Pam Long simply… grinned!

He flexed his massive frame and caused a tremor.

BOOM! CRACKLE!

And the Abyss Nylon…

It shredded! It exploded into a black mist as those strands disintegrated!

"You PATHETIC creatures! What do you fools hope to achieve?" He snickered menacingly. Then his red horn became brighter.

"After consuming the Fairy Queen – Izabella's Solar Consciousness a few centuries back…" He grinned, "I gained an immunity to most mundane damage, pain, even your most potent techniques. There's only ONE being that can destroy ME, snake! Only ONE!

And until she arrives, you three are but… ants, destined to be crushed beneath MY magnificent horn!

KUWAHAHAHAHA!"

His laughter had Raphael, Lu Jade and Thienika trembling.

"He… He's IMMORTAL?!"

"How…?"

"He can't DIE easily?!"

He remembered how his Shadow Bats cut Pam Long to pieces, yet he revived like nothing happened, and now, he easily brushed off their attack.

Raphael glanced towards Thienika. His last hope rested upon her ancient wisdom.

"Grandma! Is this TRUE?!"

Thienika frowned, she closed her eyes as memories of those butterflies that had once graced her branches and their horrifying consequences to those who dared offend them came flashing through her mind.

"I can't be certain that he's immortal, Raphael. But…" She paused, as she remembered a particular encounter. "Void Emperor Sindoll's personal guard... her butterfly fairies... I recall how they were indestructible, impenetrable. It could be true that this rhino has assimilated a similar power."

"What are we sssupposed to DO if we can't HARM him?!" Lu Jade panicked. "Oh gods, oh gods! We're doomed!"

Their desperation, their fear, only amplified Pam Long's sense of power. He began laughing, and his body began to radiate a potent purple-red energy.

"PREPARE to DIE, fools! I'll make your deaths SWIFT and PAINFUL!"

…

Lu Ignis, the Bronze Serpent Emperor, watched this confrontation unfold on one of the screens above his throne.

He shifted on his trident with a hint of smug satisfaction. He recalled those deep gouges the golden bull had inflicted weeks earlier. And a smile had his scales glistening with those embers burning brighter.

It would appear fate had a way of balancing things out.

"That rhino… He possesses such an ability? Hmm, this indeed is… an unexpected development, hahaha! It seems… I do not need to intervene. That bull's demise is guaranteed."

He took a sip of wine, savoring the anticipation.

"Those who dare challenge my authority? Hmmm, such arrogance. Such foolishness. You've all been weighed and found WANTING."