The Fallen System: Gaining Bloodlines of the Fallen-Chapter 44: Spiritual Monster (2)

The scream that had echoed across the field was not a sound, it seemed more like an assault on the ears.

It vibrated in Cairen’s bones with a twisted frequency.

From the gray depths, the figure molded itself. It was not a beast of flesh and bone like the ones they had hunted on other days, but an aberration of gnarled roots and whitened flower petals that bled smoke. A tall and unbalanced silhouette that seemed to defy logic.

"Spiritual Monster?" Cairen murmured to himself, trying to categorize what his eyes saw and what his spiritual sense deciphered.

Ling, in front of him, did not move, but her entire body transformed. Her breathing, once almost imperceptible, became a low, controlled growl deep in her throat.

Every muscle was tense, like a bowstring ready to be released.

"They are not like common beasts." She suddenly answered Cairen’s murmur, her voice deeper and rougher.

"Nor wandering free spirits that emerge and drift in places with an abundance of Qi. They are... mistakes. Deformed, corrupted existences. This one in particular seems to be part spirit of the forest, part beast, and part pure curse."

She spoke with her silver eyes fixed on the creature’s silhouette. Then, in that moment, her eyes began to glimmer with shards of gold.

"When a soul, whether beast or natural spirit, is contaminated by a source of Qi in deep imbalance, like a spiritual poison, an accursed place, or a violent emotion. It unravels. It ceases to be one thing and becomes... this that you see."

Cairen absorbed her words, his mind processing the information quickly.

"You mean... a mistake of nature itself? Like a spiritual disease?"

"Exactly." Ling confirmed, and Cairen heard the low, dry sound of her joints adjusting, a forewarning of what was to come.

"Nature seeks balance. These things are the opposite. They are voracious, twisted, and seek to consume everything."

As she spoke, Ling’s mind worked rapidly, analyzing the enemy.

’The illusion it projected was dense... so dense it completely overshadowed the natural signature of wood Qi around us.’

’The gift granted by the heritage over wood is blind here. I can’t feel life in those roots, only distortion. The advantage I had simply for being in the forest will be useless.’

Ling thought, her golden eyes sparking with frustration.

But also, with a cold understanding.

’But if I cannot control the situation, I can break it. The brute strength of my lineage is always the answer. The monster’s distraction is no defense against absolute physical force.’

The spiritual monster emitted another scream, this time a wave of distorted Qi propagated from its core.

The flowers in the field withered instantly, their colors drained, and the air seemed heavier.

Ling did not move, but something changed.

A palpable pressure began to emanate from her, forcing the mist to recede in a circle around her.

"Cairen. Stay out of this. He’s mine." Ling said suddenly. And her voice, now sounding like a guttural command, was carried by a bestial authority.

Silence followed. Cairen felt the order not only in his ears but through the bond.

It was a wave of fierce possessiveness, a primal desire to confront the threat, to prove her strength against that being.

He opened his mouth, thinking to contest, but then he saw. It was not a gradual transformation but something like an eruption.

An intense golden radiance exploded from Ling, so bright that, for a moment, it dissipated the mist around her body.

Her silver hair rippled like serpents, and when it settled, it had turned into golden strands.

Her eyes were no longer silver but looked like two fused suns, without pupils, only concentrated fury and power.

The horn on her forehead elongated, becoming a curved, deadly blade of living bone. Etched with natural runes that pulsed.

With the sound of tearing flesh and bone, bony plates sprouted from her arms and legs, and sharp spikes erupted along her knees and elbows. Even her height seemed to increase further.

Her presence there felt like a storm of physical force.

Cairen felt all of it through the bond. They were not images, but a flood of sensations. A wild fury, an euphoria from releasing a power constantly restrained.

But beneath that euphoria, he felt a darker current. An ancient rage, a disdain for weakness, a desire to reduce everything before her to dust.

It was the essence of Ling’s lineage, no longer contained but invited to participate.

Cairen swallowed whatever words he had. To contest this version of Ling would not only be useless but also an invitation to danger.

"Hm. Fine. He’s all yours. I’ll be watching." Cairen suddenly said, his voice sounding strangely calm amidst the storm of energy from the monster and the beast Ling.

He crossed his arms, his eyes and spiritual sense focused to learn any small detail.

Ling waited for nothing else. The ground beneath her feet did not give way, it exploded. A small crater of earth and pulverized roots marked her starting point.

The mist was swept aside by the brutal speed generated. Her advance was a series of uncontrollable impacts, each step a demolition, crushing soil and roots in her path with a force that was both magnificent and terrifying.

The spiritual monster, realizing the qualitative shift in threat, reacted.

Columns of roots, thin and thick as oaks, burst from the ground, whipping the air with a sinister hiss, imbued with distorted Qi that could corrode anything they touched.

But Ling did not dodge. She spun her body in the air, a golden whirlwind. The horn-blade on her forehead traced an arc of pure light.

The column of roots that stood in the way was not cut, it was disintegrated in a small flash, reduced to ash.

She roared, a sound completely different from the monster’s scream. It was purely primal and filled with authority.

She hurled herself at the creature’s trunk, a tangle of pulsing roots and dying petals. Poisonous thorns and tendrils of smoke tried to entangle her.

But they shattered against the bony plates of her arms. She completely ignored these minor attacks, finding it a waste of time to react.

Her fists, now wrapped in a dense golden aura as solid as steel, struck the monster’s core. Each impact did not produce a thud but a muffled boom.

Like thunder beneath the earth.

The creature’s distorted Qi tried to defend itself, but Ling’s bestial energy was an overwhelming tide, burning away the corruption with pure brute force.

Cairen watched, his spiritual eyes capturing every detail. He saw the webs of distorted energy unraveling under the golden aura.

The illusions the creature tried to project burned before they could even form, unable to penetrate Ling’s mind and aura of concentrated fury.

’It’s truly frightening... her physical strength seems to have increased at least fivefold in this state.’ He thought with cold admiration, mixed with a touch of disgust.

The field of flowers around them quickly withered. The roots that had once moved now shriveled and twisted in agony, losing their color and vitality under Ling’s blows.

The illusory poison in the air dissolved, and the white smoke that clouded the senses dispersed.

In less than a minute, the fight was over. What remained of the spiritual monster was nothing but scraps of crushed roots and petals. The distorted Qi was completely dissipated, purged by sheer force.

Ling stood upon the wreckage, her breathing ragged, a restrained growl still escaping her lips.

Her golden body pulsed with residual adrenaline, as if still unsatisfied.

Through the bond, Cairen did not feel relief or triumph, but hunger. The hunger of a beast.

He approached, each step cautious. Her aura was unstable, dangerous.

"That’s enough." His voice cut the air, firm and clear, a contrast to the animalistic fury emanating from Ling.

"Deactivate your lineage ability. Your mind is not normal, I can feel it."

Ling’s fully golden eyes turned to him. And, for an instant, he saw only a predator, not the princess.

He hesitated no longer. With a swift movement, he cut his palm with the blade of the chain. Without ceremony, before she could react, he sent a thread of his blood directly into Ling’s open mouth.

The effect was immediate and profound.

The Plague of Serpents in his blood, the Narakai Lineage, had no corrosive power over her. On the contrary, her golden aura shook violently. Ling’s eyes flickered, her uncontrollable fury giving way to a moment of confusion.

The gold in her hair and eyes receded quickly, revealing the silver beneath.

The bony plates and spikes withdrew into her flesh with a unique, disturbing sound. Until only the pale, slightly trembling princess remained standing, breathing deeply.

She looked at him, and for a second there was only the void of post-transformation exhaustion.

Then, a slow and genuinely satisfied smile curved her lips.

"You... are truly useful. It is the first time I could fight freely without fear of losing myself, knowing you could bring me back."

The gratitude in her voice was real, but to Cairen it sounded like a confession that he was there as a healer for her. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"That’s enough." He suddenly said, his voice firm.