Mad God – Reborn

Lulu quickly caught up to the fleeing cultivator, who also realized that he was going to be unable to escape from her.

"She specializes in speed, huh?" He whispered under his black mask, wearing a tight-fitting red-and-black outfit with a claw mark on his shoulder pads. "My eyes would trick me against someone with a light affinity." He thought, closing them before changing directions, pausing in the air for a millisecond only. Then he twisted his body in the opposite direction and flew straight towards Lulu, brandishing a sword that was coated in crimson-colored fire. His quick change of action, from fleeing to attacking, surprised Lulu, who managed to avoid him by only a hair's width.

"Huh?" Lulu exclaimed as her counterattack, aimed at his back, was dodged. He was turning towards her once again, slashing at the air, letting a column of fire rumble forward, burning up the oxygen in the air. "You are strong!" Lulu said as she flashed away, looking as if she teleported upwards, dodging the flames. Yet the moment it happened, another wave was already heading for her, just after she appeared. "Oh? Can you really keep up with me?" She moved once again, but another attack was aimed at her, the same as before. Her enemy was slashing at where she was going to stand in advance, sending an attack towards her. "No… You are predicting my moves?" She furrowed her brows, seeing his closed eyes under his half-mask and hood. "Are you at the second stage?"

"Not yet." He answered honestly. "But maybe this fight will be the thing that pushes me to it." He was holding onto his sword while speaking, taking the lead in the battle, attacking relentlessly as all his slashes pushed flames forward and left burning embers behind. Lulu was caught a bit off guard by it, as she was forced to focus on defense and unable to mount any counterattacks. She could only dodge and block, thrown off from her usual balance.

"I lost the initiative, and my blade is not for direct confrontation…" She murmured before gripping it more strongly. "Still… don't underestimate me!" She shouted, sending out a stab straight forward to the incoming wave of flames, piercing right through it.

"Hm?!" Her enemy flinched, raising his sword in a blocking motion as the tip of the rapier stabbed into it. "Ugh!" He groaned as he skidded backward in the air while on his blade, six smoking spots appeared after their exchange. "She struck me 6 times…?" He swallowed back the blood in his throat while Lulu was flying forward, sending piercing stabs towards his body again.

"I'm still not as precise as Master…" She grumbled, letting out a frustrated breath before smiling a little. "She could land her own attacks at the same point every time." Lulu thought as she clicked her tongue. She was trying to do the same so she could break apart her opponent's weapon. When her rapier landed on his body, it sent sparks flying as the armor on his torso lit up, laced with some kind of defensive energy, deflecting Lulu's powers. It was giving him a chance to gain distance between them again.

"Not good!" He gasped at the last moment, turning his body sideways as much as he could because Lulu appeared right behind him. If he had continued flying backward, he would have impaled himself on her blade.

"Damn your reflexes!" Lulu chuckled as they once again built up a small distance between them. "Are you afraid?" She tilted her head with a grin, watching her enemy fly away from her, his face soaked with sweat.

"Don't need to try and rile me up; it won't work." He said calmly, yet his voice was a bit weaker now as he tried to regulate his rapid breathing.

"Okay, okay, I get it; you are a cool guy." She rolled her eyes. "Then, Mr. Icey-Micey, are you prepared for phase two?"

"Phase what?" He snapped his eyes wide open, but what he could see was blinding light only. Lulu pushed out her hand, blasting out a thick energy beam, swallowing his body whole. From the ground, if someone looked up now, they would see a thick, white beam pulsating strongly high above them, with the colors of the rainbow constantly sparkling and swirling around it. When it finally died down, the body of the Ironclaw cultivator fell to the ground, his armor destroyed, leaving only small pieces of it on him. He was dragging a white smoke trail behind him, heading towards the ground, powerless.

"Hah…!" Lulu moaned with a proud grin, gasping for air, watching the falling body before finally realizing something. "Shit! I wanted to catch him alive!" She shouted as she flew after him, only catching his ankle at the last moment before he would crash into the earth below them. "Is he alive?" She murmured, placing down the unconscious body and kicking him a little. When he moaned in pain as a reply, she let out a relieved sigh. "Huh, that was close!" She twitched her mouth, not wanting to think about how she almost screwed up while she placed a collar on the unconscious body.

"Lulu!" Yanda's shout arrived as he was seen speeding through the air, finally landing beside her. He was breathing heavily, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Hahaha, what, were you worried~?" Lulu giggled, hugging his arm with a grin.

"N-not really." He answered, clearing his throat. "I was afraid you forgot we needed him alive."

"Fufufu, your left eye always twitches a little when you are telling a lie... Anyways, don't worry, my prince, he is alive!" She laughed but did not let him go as her legs were shaking. She clung to him so she could stand, finally feeling the exhaustion that hit her after spending all of her energy on the last attack.

"Hmph. Sure, sure… let's bring him back to the city. We still need to sort things out and search the whole courtyard!"

"Okay, okay, just… let me rest a little!" Lulu moaned, completely relying on him to support her weakened body.

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While Lulu and Yanda were raiding the Golden Mane group, Toobu was walking towards several large warehouses, around 30 kilometers away from the city of Aifenhorn. The forest around it had long since been cut down, and now the ground was covered with gravel, with giant brick buildings dotting the landscape. Toobu's task was much more straightforward than Lulu and Yanda's, as it had been confirmed long ago that the whole place housed resources for Ironclaw.

Coming close, he did not even try to hide his presence, letting everybody inside know he was not here with friendly intentions or as a lost traveler.

"This is for my Master…" He whispered, letting out an ice-cold breath as the ground beneath his feet frosted over, spreading a layer of ice in all directions. From the air, energy was siphoning into Toobu's body at incredible speed; a visible reddish hue was appearing around his arms, growing brighter and brighter, letting out streams of smoke.

The stronger cultivators present already realized that an attack was imminent. The weaker ones could only tell it right after hearing Toobu's loud yell as he punched out. His fist sent out a blast of energy that formed the silhouette of a giant, flaming fist as it traveled towards the compound gate with a whistling sound. Before even making contact with the metal gate, the heat from the fist easily melted it. The guards there had no time to scream; their bodies just lit up, turning them into human torches. The long chain fence melted like cheese above the open flame, and what was even weirder was that Toobu kept his arm stretched out. When his flaming fist broke through, he opened his palm, and the spell of his followed his motion.

"Freeze!" He shouted, bringing it down as his spell slammed onto the ground. The shocked people had no idea what was happening, but suddenly, they found their feet stuck to the ground. Thick ice was spreading everywhere below them. It was sneaking up on their legs, locking them in place. Toobu's spell mimicked his affinity, absorbing heat from everywhere around it, and it froze the ground in a huge area, while the hand itself burned even more intensely. The incoming energy continuously fed it until it reached a critical state. "Burn everything down!"

Toobu's next words were spoken coldly. It was followed by a loud and violent explosion. His spell let loose all the energy that it had collected so far, resulting in a huge mushroom cloud. It reached high, expanding towards the sky, wiping the depot off the earth's surface. It left nothing behind, just the scorched and blackened ruins and ashes of people in a smoking crater. Watching the destruction filled his heart with a sense of relief, something that he had been longing for a very long time by now, since the day that he lost his Master. His mouth opened wide, letting out a long sigh. He wiped his eyes free of tears and, watching the depot's complete destruction, felt a bit better.

"And now you are out of energy." A female voice arrived, and, not far from him, a woman floated in the sky, panting heavily. She barely had any clothes on her, while her long, brown hair was falling down behind her in huge chunks, and her skin had nasty burn marks in multiple spots. All the result of Toobu's previous attack. "Die!" She screeched, producing a huge golden bow and arrow, taking aim at Toobu, who just smiled. He flicked his sleeve, holding four paper slips between his fingers.

"Yes, I am. But you are still fucked!" He replied with a crazy grin as a drop of blood flew out from the tip of his fingers, finishing the four formations on the Instant Fire spells, letting loose huge fireballs with an angry roar.

"What?!" The woman screamed, shooting out her arrow. When it hit the first fireball, they consumed each other, exploding in a loud blast. The remaining three simply whizzed by, striking the stunned woman without a miss. "Who are you?!" Her last screech came before she was blasted apart by Toobu's attacks. The explosions were tearing her body to shreds as blood, guts, and misshapen, smoking limbs were scattered everywhere.

"You don't need to know, bitch!" He spat, watching the rain of fire and gore, closing his eyes in the end, taking deep breaths. "Don't worry, Master, I'll burn every last one of them to ashes!" He whispered a solemn vow not just for Leinor's memory but to himself, too. He knew that this would help him keep his emotions in check, never losing to the cold, calculating self that made sure his attacks were precise, perfect, and accounted for any possibility that might arise, just like now.

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Further away, in the opposite direction, at another outpost belonging to the Golden Mane group, Kyu was happily sitting amongst a smoking ruin of a building complex. Around her, dead bodies littered the ground while she was eating different raw metals and crystals as if they were gummy bears. Her demonic form had already grown into a huge monster, reaching more than 10 meters in height, as she waddled around in it, stuffing her mouth and happily humming a tune.

"This is the best! So many yummy snacks, and they are all mine, nyahahaha!"

"You left nobody alive?" Ren's voice came as a clone of hers floated downwards from nowhere, and Kyu could clearly sense that it was not her real body.

"Um…" She lowered her head, looking around a bit ashamed, as she was too excited while battling with them. "They couldn't take a hit from me, Mom! It was not my fault!"

"Ahaha… relax! I'm not angry!" She patted her head with a smile. "It doesn't matter. The others are going to bring me enough people to get information out of them. The things here are all yours! Eat as much as you want!"

"Really?! Waaah, thanks, Mom! You are the best!" She laughed loudly, slapping her belly with her two paws like drums.

"After you finish, go and meet up with Lulu and Yanda. Help them transfer the prisoners to Thunder Valley."

"Huh?" She tilted her head, surprised at Ren's words. "Not back home?"

"I'm making sure there is no interference." Ren answered, "If Ironclaw wants to do anything to them, they are going to need to infiltrate the territory that is most loyal to me. Let us see if they have the balls to do that!"