Tales of the Endless Empire

Chapter 391: The Blood-Curse’s Prey

Finding a good opening against Aris was easier said than done. The white birdman was an expert—he must have fought for a long time and had plenty of experience in aerial combat. He kept pressuring Thalion without giving him a single chance to retaliate.Thalion tried to strike Aris with bloodthorns, vines, and bloodline flames to apply the curse somehow, but so far, everything had failed. Aris didn’t let anything get close to him. His white aura repelled the flames if they came too near, and he could intensify it whenever necessary.

The vines were good for forcing Aris back and giving Thalion a moment to breathe, but whenever Thalion did so, Aris switched to his staff and fired a barrage of wind spells before charging in for melee combat with his two swords.

Thalion didn’t want to waste too much blood—anything he spilled simply fell into the poisonous mist below and vanished. He hadn’t fully recovered yet and couldn’t afford to waste resources this early in the fight.

“You fight quite well for a newly integrated one, but it won’t help you escape,” Aris monologued while drawing his blades and diving directly at Thalion. “But please, stay in this form. I have a special place for your head on the wall. Maybe I’ll put little lights behind your eyes so they look real.”

“Twilight Slash!” Aris shouted out of nowhere, forming an X with his blades and releasing a massive wind attack in the same shape. The power behind the skill was so great that Thalion didn’t even consider blocking it with bloodclaws—he simply dodged with Telekinetic Dash. Aris didn’t waste a second and immediately followed up with another strike, this time using only one blade while charging power into the other.

Thalion had enough of running. He needed to seize momentum and create an opening to apply the curse. He unleashed another manawave to disrupt Aris’s attack and followed it with Mistform, diving beneath the birdman to stop his skill from behind. Thalion wished he had been a bit closer, but his control over Mistform still wasn’t perfect—at least it was fast as hell.

Dark red flames were still scattered across the air, and Thalion seized control of them, fueling them with mana and firing them at Aris from every direction. At the same time, he unleashed a jetstream of dark red fire from both hands, hoping to overwhelm him.

Surrounded by flames, Aris finally hesitated before releasing a skill similar to Thalion’s manawave—white, wind-based, and powerful, but not strong enough to repel everything. Thalion’s jetstream tore through the white wave, and several threads of flame slipped through, slamming into Aris’s back and clinging to him.

It took a brutal effort to force the flames close—Aris’s aura kept pushing them away—but a sharp scream echoed through the sky as the flames stuck, burning feathers and forcefully applying the curse. Thalion poured mana into the flames, but another white manawave blasted them apart. Still, he had accomplished what he needed. Aris was infected with the Curse of the Blooded Templar.

Now Thalion only needed to distract him long enough so Aris couldn’t cleanse or counter it. He had already covered half the distance with Telekinetic Dash, bloodclaws charged. Confused by the curse, Aris reacted too slowly. One claw slash connected, cutting across his side and delivering another dose of corruption.

Thalion didn’t stop. He switched to a far more aggressive, brutal fighting style. The more Aris focused on him, the better the curse could spread. Thalion also stopped holding back his blood, firing bloodthorns whenever Aris tried to create distance.

Aris attempted to flee. His blades vanished and he pulled his staff into one hand. In the other, several colorful berries appeared, which he swallowed right before Thalion’s next strike. He managed to dodge Thalion’s claws—mostly due to Thalion’s inexperience in aerial combat—and pointed his staff to retaliate.

But then he saw the bloodthorn.

It didn’t come from Thalion’s hands—it shot out from one of the vines growing from his back, fired directly by the Sanguis Impera. Aris realized it too late. The thorn buried itself in his shoulder.

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Thalion and the Sanguis Impera acted instantly—this was their golden opportunity.

The bloodthorn didn’t stay still. It began to grow inside Aris’s body. The berries he had swallowed had already weakened much of the Blooded Templar’s curse in his veins, but now, with the thorn inside him, Aris faced an entirely different problem.

Not only was the thorn constantly infecting him with the Curse of the Blooded Templar, it was also draining his blood—and worst of all, it had begun growing through his body. It took a moment before Aris realized what was happening.

He tried to rip the thorn out, which was probably the worst thing he could have done. The thorn had already grown several vines that were anchored deep inside him, and after the first attempt, Aris seemed to give up on dislodging it.

His body was extremely vulnerable to this kind of attack. Compared to the wyvern, the difference in durability was staggering. Instead of healing himself mid-battle, Aris did something else entirely.

His white feathers began to glow, his aura intensified, becoming even more powerful than before, and with a predatory expression he pointed his staff at Thalion. A heartbeat later, dozens of wind-forged needles shot toward Thalion, reminding him of the fire spell Kaelir had once used to snipe him as Eagly.

The Sanguis Impera responded instantly, feeding even more power into the thorn. The vines on Thalion’s back retracted as the Sanguis Impera fully focused on the embedded thorn and nothing else.

Thalion summoned his bloodclaws and let his aura surge outward. It wasn’t nearly as strong as Aris’s, but the insatiable hunger within it might be enough to make Aris hesitate. Thalion had no intention of running. Running would mean admitting that Aris was stronger and that would make it far easier for Aris to kill him. No, he needed to stand his ground and bite back. His bloodline-empowered attacks were still nothing to scoff at.

After using the form in the tutorial that pushed his bloodline through his human shape—empowering the already uncontrollably potent bloodline to new heights—Thalion never expected to be overpowered so easily. But to be fair, Aris was likely several hundred years old and fifty-one levels above him. That explained a lot.

Still, Thalion couldn’t wait to evolve. If the level difference weren’t so massive, he would likely kill Aris with one hand. As things stood, the fight was far more difficult than it needed to be.

He wondered what Ankhet’s limits had been in his prime. When Thalion fought him, Ankhet had used only a fourth of his full strength and carried a shard of Amun-Ra’s soul inside him, constantly trying to wrest control.

There was no doubt Ankhet would have killed both Aris and the Chosen easily. Against Ankhet, you had no chance if you couldn’t see the ghostly doppelgängers that shredded your soul on contact. Thalion had no idea how strong D-grades truly were, but he wouldn’t be surprised if Ankhet’s full power exceeded even them. With his soul stockpile at full capacity, Ankhet might even have carried an artifact like Thalion’s amulet to store them.

Thalion’s thoughts snapped back as he dodged a slash from Aris’s blades with Mistform. Aris didn’t hesitate and flew right after him, but it was already clear that if he didn’t kill Thalion soon, he was done for. His right arm hung limp, vines sprouting from the shoulder, and his chest wasn’t faring any better—thin, crimson-stained vines were beginning to emerge there too.

If Aris had gone all out like this at the start, it would have been dangerous, but now—fighting with one arm—it was manageable. Still, the pressure he applied was insane. Thalion had to constantly dodge with Mistform; Telekinetic Dash was too slow and created too little distance. Normally, too much distance would be bad since it made it harder for the Sanguis Impera to grow through Aris’s body, but Aris was catching up so fast it barely mattered.

Thalion countered with claws, launched bloodthorns, and fired manawaves to slow Aris or create an opening for Mistform. It didn’t take long before Aris began visibly weakening, grunting as pain pierced through his resolve. The Sanguis Impera was merciless, continuing to drain his blood while expanding its vines deeper and deeper.

A few exchanges later, Aris’s aura weakened drastically. Thalion no longer had to flee and instead focused on assisting the Sanguis Impera’s assault. Not only had its vines spread throughout Aris’s body, but the curse had finally begun to take hold—one of Aris’s eyes already glowed a dark, ominous red.

“What… what is happening to me? What is this? How can a mere F-grade possess such a potent curse?” Aris growled, staring at his trembling hand.

Thalion wasn’t in the mood to explain. It was better if Aris didn’t understand what was coming. In truth, Thalion himself had no idea how the curse would affect such a powerful foe. Until now, it had only overtaken weak enemies or those already on the brink of death, like the wyvern. Empowering a strong candidate like Aris would be something entirely new.

Thalion thought as he plunged his bloodclaws into Aris’s chest, injecting another wave of bloodcurse.

Aris screamed and convulsed in the grasp of the Sanguis Impera and Thalion. Neither was willing to show a shred of mercy.