Zachariel was teleported mid-air, immediately falling down. He remained calm and carefully took a glance at the area while he was still high in the air.

`The lake's over there, north of where I am.`

He then gathered wind mana essence and casted, `Shockwave!`, multiple times right below his figure, trying to slow down his falling speed.

He fell on a muddy ground again.

Zachariel wiped off the mud on his face and then observed the dark environment.

He waited for a while but nothing happened.

`No fighting this time?`

Zachariel decided to run in the direction of the lake.

`It's quiet. Something big might be lurking here.`

He casted shadow steps and carefully trod the path. He jumped off a tree and suddenly met the big paw of a demon beast.

`Shockwave!`

He pushed himself to his right, evading the paw just in time.

Zachariel somersaulted and land himself back on the ground.

A demonic chuckle resounded in front of him, "As expected of a Knight's Trainee. You are deserving, young brat."

The leaves softly rustled and a huge figure showed itself.

It was a shadow wolf, 5 meters high, towering over Zachariel. Its red eyes fiercely looked at the small human, baring its fangs with saliva dripping down its mouth.

The wolf's paws were long and sharp, shining under the dark environment.

Its thick hide and fur swayed as a cold breeze flew over.

Zachariel readied himself, `This is going to be a tough fight. I can't kill it. Maybe I can do something else instead.`

The aura that the shadow wolf emanated was too strong for him to handle in a prolonged fight.

Zachariel went in the lake's direction again.

`Propulsion!`

He increased his speed but the shadow wolf was able to catch him.

It swiped its paws at him but Zachariel backed away.

The shadow wolf sniggered.

`Darkness Beam!`

Zachariel casted down below the shadow wolf's belly.

The demon beast didn't expect it and was hit hard and flat. Zachariel used this moment to charge at it and cleaves it down on the wolf's forehead.

He wanted to put the demon beast in a daze and give him a slight advantage of running towards the lake.

His attack hit the shadow wolf and he ran away.

The shadow wolf shook its head and howled violently.

The ground shook as hundreds of dark wolves chased Zachariel.

`Shockwave!`

Zachariel pushed the smaller ones away.

The big shadow wolf suddenly stopped and opened its mouth wide. A dark orb was produced as it gathered a huge amount of dark mana essence, then fired a darkness beam to Zachariel.

The trajectory hit accurately at where Zachariel was supposed to take his next step. He didn't hesitate to brake and jumped backward.

The darkness beam hit the area a hundred meters forward, producing a large explosion. The leaves fluttered and Zachariel felt threatened by the shadow wolf's darkness beam.

Several shadow wolves jumped at him. He gathered qi essence on his arms and swung his polearm, cleaving the shadow wolves into two.

The other shadow wolves followed and Zachariel quickly executed them.

The big shadow wolf jumped at him but Zachariel was fast enough to dodge it and ran away again.

`This must be a commander-level demon beast. How unlucky.`, Zachariel cursed.

A commander-level demon beast could only be tackled head-on by diamond-level fighters.

`I won't be able to outrun it! I need to cripple its legs somehow!`

Another darkness beam was sent to him again.

Zachariel stopped running and chose to face the pack of shadow wolves.

`This thing's been stuck in my head for so long. I wonder if it would really work.`

His mana essence suddenly turned into water, `Water Stream!`

Water poured above him, flooding the area and dragging the smaller shadow wolves away.

The other shadow wolves jumped to the tree branches.

The commander shadow wolf observed Zachariel's movements. He was wary that the little human was up to something.

His red eyes glowed, ordering the shadow wolves to continue their charge while he waited at the back.

`Commander-level demon beasts are really something.`, Zachariel thought, `Multiple Water Serpents!`

The water on the ground suddenly moved, forming into numerous water serpents that struck the advancing shadow wolves.

The serpents coiled around the bodies of the shadow wolves while biting their neck with strong force.

Howls of pain filled the area as the shadow wolves tried their best to get out of the dangerous situation.

The serpents tightened their coils, crushing many of the shadow wolves. Blood gushed out, painting the area red.

The serpents evaporated after a while, leaving only tens of shadow wolves standing alongside their commander.

Spherical mana cores laid on the ground, shining. Zachariel picked the close ones and instantly absorbed them.

`The way my body absorbs these things are peculiar. Shouldn't it take some time?`, he wondered.

The remaining shadow wolves attacked. Some of them launched darkness beams while the others lunged at him.

Zachariel gathered dark mana essence and casted shield projection to gain back some lost mana essence using the darkness beams from the enemy.

He then moved agilely while slashing at the approaching shadow wolves.

Even though there were fewer of them, they were still elite-level demon beasts.

Zachariel would dodge the darkness beams while defending against the swipes and lunges from the other shadow wolves.

One shadow wolf misstepped and Zachariel punched its stomach with brute force. He then held the polearm and vertically slashed the shadow wolf.

During this time, a shadow wolf sneakily went on his back and bit his left shoulder. He groaned with blood gushing out of the shoulder.

He withdrew his polearm and grabbed the shadow wolf, knocking it to the ground. Qi essence gathered in his right leg, stomping the head of the shadow wolf.

Blood sprayed on his face. He remained calm despite the wound he received.

This time, a shade of green emanated in his eyes and Zachariel felt he was as calm as never before.

He grabbed the polearm and rotated to the left, dodging a darkness beam. He held his polearm and swung it around.

Two shadow wolves were caught in his attack, piercing the eyes of one of them while bashing the head of another.

As he continued to rotate, the polearm was flung away to a location.

A low whimper resounded as a shadow wolf fell to the ground.

Zachariel gathered both wind and dark mana essence and qi essence to his feet, jumping to a tree where another shadow wolf was hiding.

He gathered qi essence on his left arm, twisting it slowly counter-clockwise.

It hit right in the stomach, making the shadow wolf vomit blood in the process.

He grabbed its neck and twisted it, killing the poor demon beast quickly. The wound in his shoulder was healed a long time ago.

The commander shadow wolf observed all of this from a distance.

`This brat… changed. That wound earlier shouldn't be easily healed. The bite of a shadow wolf is poisoned and it should've corroded his internal body.`

He then eyed Zachariel.

`His eyes… and a shade of green. That shade is familiar. This feeling comes inside my head. It's telling me this has something to do about how I became a demon beast.`

He snickered.

`A human of all that?! How ridiculous!`, he rejected such thought.

"Human brat, time to die!", he coldly proclaimed, charging a darkness beam.

Zachariel didn't wait for it to finish and sprinted right under the shadow wolf's jaw.

He delivered a strong punch, closing its mouth and canceling the spell. The cancellation disturbed the shadow wolf's mana flow, numbing its senses.

Zachariel then readied his polearm and slashed at the wolf's legs.

Unfortunately, the wolf's defense was stronger than he expected. The dark mana essence surrounding the wolf's body was extremely potent that it nullified most of the force he exerted on each slash.

Zachariel backed away.

"You can't do anything, brat! I will be your death!", the wolf mocked at him.

[ Warning: Extreme Killing Intent Detected ]

[ Target: Host ]

[ Assessing further parameters ]

[ … ]

[ … ]

`It's here again!`, Zachariel was shocked, `What's it going to do this time… Ah!`

[ Assessment complete ]

[ Initiating emergency procedure – Code 144 ]

[ Deploying emergency state ]

His body jolted. He sensed that something was moving rapidly inside his body.

It felt like a heartbeat, yet slightly different.

`Is this a new kind of essence?`

After that, his sense of pain became dull, and his mind clearer.

His focus reached new heights and the different essences in his body were excited.

A black lotus mark emerged on his forehead. His red eyes became grey and absent-minded.

Zachariel, however, did not feel any difference at all. He just thought that the thing inside his head was augmenting his strength because of the danger he was in.

Sets of knowledge and information were introduced to his mind as well. It went through as if he was reminiscing an old memory from the past.

"Is this your powerup? Am I supposed to be defeated?!", the shadow wolf mocked, "Don't be ridiculous!", bellowing.

Its bellow generated shockwaves, cracking the bark of the trees that were near it.

The shadow wolf vanished without a trace, appearing right beside Zachariel with its sharp paws layered with dark mana essence already swiping at the little human.

'Claws of Darkness!'

Zachariel was able to follow through its moves, scrutinizing the shadow wolf's attack while preparing to defend himself.

He gathered qi and dark mana essence, augmenting his body while projecting a shield in front.

The force of the shadow wolf's attack was reduced by a tiny bit, swiping through the shield and hitting Zachariel's body.

He was flung away with blood dripping off his mouth.

`How naïve of me!`, Zachariel cursed.

He thought that he could match up against the shadow wolf's strength with the temporary improvement of his body.

`I could only dodge, and counter-attack quickly!`

He somersaulted and landed on the ground.

The shadow wolf didn't give him time to relax as it charged up a darkness beam.

Zachariel's eyes twitched for a moment before a thought appeared in his mind and he softly incantated, "Plunder."

The shadow wolf was dumbstruck, `Where did my darkness beam go?`

It looked at Zachariel with wide-opened eyes.

`Whe… when did he cast a darkness beam, and how come it's this strong?!`

Zachariel was holding a darkness beam of the same size and magnitude that the shadow wolf casted earlier.

`Darkness beam!`

Zachariel attacked.

The shadow wolf tried to dodge but a fraction of the beam grazed its body, leaving a large burn mark on its right foreleg.

'Boom!'

The area behind the demon beast was destroyed. Wisps of dark mana essence floated around, crippling the life of every living thing wherever it went.

`Did he just… stole my attack?!`

This angered the shadow wolf and it howled again.

It moved slower due to the wound it received. The shadow wolf appeared behind Zachariel, trying to chomp the little human.

`Darhesdava Ivarhanis!`, Zachariel casted, pointing at the mouth of the shadow wolf.

The shadow wolf paused. Suddenly, its mouth dislocated out of nowhere.

It groaned weirdly in pain with its grating voice.

`What's the real purpose of that damn mark?!`, the shadow wolf cursed, `Fucking powerups! Always messing with my plans!`

It tried to relocate its mouth with great difficulty.

`Can I purge it?`

The shadow wolf gathered all of its dark mana essences, wanting to cast a vortex in order to try to absorb or diminish the mark on Zachariel's forehead.

It was at that moment when a choking sensation hit the shadow wolf. The 'world' became hostile and brutally assaulted his body with a mysterious force.

`Wha-!`, it suddenly became paralyzed.

Zachariel noticed this and punched its face. The shadow wolf was taken down, giving Zachariel the chance to cripple its legs temporarily.

He slashed at the already wounded foreleg multiple times until blood poured out. Zachariel then fled far away.

He was so fast that only a trail of dark mana essence remained.

`Damn it… he's getting… away!`

The shadow wolf wanted to move but it couldn't do so. The demon beast couldn't understand what happened.

`The mark… seems to have… some sort of… protection…!`

Even its mind was affected as well.

`Fuck! What… an emba…rrassing mo…ment!`

To think that the shadow wolf was defeated by a young brat whom it could've easily defeated.

Amidst his worry, a bird's screech resounded high in the sky. Every time it flapped its wings, the winds would become so turbulent that it almost affected space itself.

`That fucker… is… here! What… a… bad day!`

A huge silver-winged Arcahorn perched atop a tree branch. It was jeering at the demise of the shadow wolf that lay on the ground, helpless.

"What a useless dog! It can't even bite on an easy prey!", the Arcahorn mocked with a feminine-like voice.

"The demon beast race is going to lose face to the Knights should they know about this!", the Arcahorn snorted before leaving.

The shadow wolf was able to recover after a while. Its senses were still numb and were having a hard time finding its balance.

`That damn brat! And that… fucking bird! I hope Big Brother Forro won't blame me for this…`

The shadow wolf limped back to the opposite direction of where Zachariel was headed.

As Zachariel pushed his way back to the lake, a series of violent protests and riots were occurring at the Imperium Capital City.

"Justice for the McKenzie!"

"Where's Prince Kane! He should be executed! He killed tons of innocent people!"

"Damn it, move you damn guards. Block these idiots!"

People shouted here and there.

In a corner alley near the area, two hooded people and one dressed as an Imperium guard gathered, planning something.

"Let's go."

One of them gathered fire mana essence on their left hand, while another readied a set of small needles coated with poison.

The one dressed as an Imperium guard readied his fists.

He gathered qi essence and punched at an unsuspecting bystander, knocking it down.

Its acquaintance nearby was shocked by the sudden twist of events, with the guard trying to land a fist on him.

He retaliated.

A fight ensued and the people noticed this.

"Hey, what are you doing?! Why are you assaulting an Imperium guard all of a sudden?!", the 'Imperium guard' reprimanded.

"Shut up! You're the one who's assaulting people out of nowhere! How dare you call yourself an Imperium guard!"

The guards saw this and tried to apprehend the two when a fire column spouted right below where most people gathered.

Some of them were burned to death while the others were wounded, lightly and severely.

The public panicked.

Some of them blamed the Imperium guards for the sudden attack and retaliated while the others flee.

Another round of fire columns spouted at the position of the Imperium guards, wounding many.

The guards wanted to strike back when needles suddenly struck the neck of some of them.

They felt drowsy and out of focus. Hallucinations drowned their minds as the image of everybody else turned into horrific demon beasts.

"Hey, are you alright?", a fighter wondered the strange actions of an Imperium guard.

The guard blew him away, "Stay away from me you damn demon beast!", unsheathing his sword and slashing it at the fighter.

The fighter didn't expect it and was cleaved into two. Its gut spilled out and the people became more horrified.

An Imperium guard wanted to reprimand him, "Hey, why did you kill him-?!", when the same person slashed it, killing the guy instantly.

The chaos worsened as everyone aimed to kill one another.

"Shit! Guards, pacify these unruly people! Cripple them if necessary but do not kill them! Understood?", the captain guard ordered.

"Yes sir!"

"Someone go to the Imperium Palace and the Headquarters to report this damn incident!", he bellowed.

A lieutenant acknowledged his order and went out.

The captain guard noticed a hooded person standing far away, looking at him with a wide grin on its face.

It turned around and walked to an alley where the captain guard couldn't see it.

"Damn rebels! You and you, come with me! We're going to catch some rats!", the captain guard followed to where the hooded person vanished.