Gen turned to his two companions, his amber eyes hard. "This is the challenge we came for. We didn't come to the Sky Ocean to run from hardship. We came to face it head-on." He said it with force, though a faint tremor undercut his words. "We can do this."
Liang understood the feeling. He tore a strip from his already-tattered robe and bound his bleeding forearm tightly. He gave a single, sharp nod. "Then we do it."
Kang Mao's face remained an impassive mask, his gaze locked on the three-tailed horror as if nothing else in the world existed.
The fight began not with a signal, but with a shriek.
The three-tailed Sky Demon *dove*. It didn't run or leap; it became a blur of obsidian speed, streaking straight for the center of their formation. At the same instant, the three one-tailed demons fanned out, their gill-sacks pulsing as they charged from the flanks.
Being at the forefront, Gen felt his resolve harden. The fear, the questions—they evaporated, leaving only the hard-earned, diamond-sharp focus that was his mark when death was on the line. As direct as ever, Gen never retreated from a frontal clash.
He shot forward, a golden cannonball against a tide of night.
His fist, sheathed in the humming density of the **Eternal Body, Second Door**, met the demon's leading claws.
At the last possible fraction of a second, Gen shifted his balance. He didn't block. He let the claws trace past his jaw. Sparks bloomed where they grazed his solidified aura, the shriek of energy on energy filling his ears. In the same motion, his own fist slammed into the exposed chest of the one-tailed demon.
***THWUMP!***
The impact sent a shockwave rippling outwards, kicking up dust and leaves. The Sky Demon was forced back several stumbling steps. On its chest, the chitinous exoskeleton had visibly hardened at the point of impact, taking the blow. A wisp of white smoke curled from the spot.
The Sky Demon let out a grating chuckle. "Intriguing. You are smarter than you look."
On the sides, the other one-tailed demons unleashed their attack. Jets of compressed, corrosive Qi shot from their chest-sacks, a lethal rain aimed at Liang and Kang Mao.
Liang, wreathed in his **orange-gold flame**, spun upwards, a blazing vortex. The beams whistled past him like a deadly storm, searing the air but finding no purchase.
Kang Mao didn't dodge. He stood his ground, and his aura *changed*. The lightning speed vanished, replaced by a profound, mountain-like stillness. The **Jingdao of the Born Monolith** activated. The corrosive beams hammered into him, one after another, with sounds like stones striking an ancient bell. They left nothing but faint, smoking trails of cold air on his reinforced skin.
"Let's eliminate the weaker ones and focus on the bigger one later!" Liang shouted from above. He summoned the **Kalash of Elements** once more. From its imagined depths, the pure white **Lightning from the Abyss** uncoiled, a jagged line of divine judgment streaking down towards one of the one-tailed demons.
Alarmed, the targeted demon tried to shift away, using its tail to whip itself sideways.
But Kang Mao was already there. His aura flickered from monolith to lightning. The **Jingdao of the Blitzing Dragon** propelled him in a wide, scything kick that connected with the demon's flank, forcing it stumbling back—directly into the path of the descending lightning.
The three-tailed demon, observing from the edge, let out a mocking laugh. Its figure blurred, shooting not at Kang Mao or the lightning, but straight up towards Liang.
Gen was already there. He interposed himself, the **End of the World Finger** condensing to a single, annihilating point at his fingertip. If his fists weren't enough, he would use his strongest offense.
Seeing the condensed, terrifying point of **Jingdao**, the three-tailed demon tilted its head. Then, it didn't dodge. It dove—into the massive, petrified tree root beside them. Its body seemed to *merge* with the ancient wood, a horrific use of **Heidow (Combination)**. It vanished into one side and erupted from the other an instant later, just as Liang's white lightning was about to strike its one-tailed kin.
Its three tails, moving with independent, whip-crack speed, shot forward. They didn't parry; they *met* the lightning head-on.
***CRACK-BOOM!***
This was the first time Gen and Liang had seen anyone take that lightning head-on. The impact was a searing detonation of light and force. Shockwaves ripped outwards, ruffling the silver leaves and making the very air crackle. The demon's tails smoked slightly, but they held, moving sinuously in the aftershock winds. They were sheathed in the same glossy exoskeleton as its body.
Gen's frown deepened. He remembered the false deity in the Tower of Wonder. Milky Beasts could faintly understand the principles of the Wheels as they evolved. That one had used basic **Jingdao**. But this… this demon could not only use **Jingdao**, it had just used **Heidow**. And perhaps more.
"Don't get distracted!" Kang Mao barked.
Gen snapped his head back. The three-tailed demon had closed the distance while he was thinking. Its first tail whipped down, a black blur aiming to crush his skull.
Gen threw himself backwards. The tail-tip struck the ground where he'd stood, smashing a crater a foot deep, missing his face by an inch and massing his vision with kicked-up debris.
The demon pivoted in mid-air. The second tail stabbed forward, faster than a crossbow bolt.
Gen dropped flat, letting the tail spear the air above him with a sound that made his ears ring.
As he fell, he slapped his palms on the ground. The **Swords of Infinity** diagram ignited beneath the demon. A beam of annihilating light lanced upwards.
The third tail swept horizontally, a scythe meant to bisect him. Gen had no room to dodge.
He let the Swords of Infinity beam erupt, clashing with the sweeping tail.
***SCREEE—BOOM!***
Sparks of conflicting energy bloomed, buying him a precious half-second to roll aside. But his beam of light was short-lived. It was literally *cut* through by the descending tail, which plunged deep into the earth as if bearing the weight of the sky itself.
The three-tailed demon looked down at him, mockery in its alien eyes. "This thing is cool. But it has no power in it."
On the other flank, Kang Mao blitzed forward, clashing directly with another one-tailed demon. But as he was about to land a blow, he blurred again, letting the **Jingdao of the Blitzing Dragon** shine. He appeared behind the creature, his arms closing around its neck in a vice-like lock.
"NOW!" he roared.
Liang, hovering above, got the cue. Frustration that his strongest attack had been carried so easily fueled him. He poured everything into the **Kalash**. It shone blindingly bright. From within, the white lightning bloomed again—not one bolt, but a torrent of seven intertwined strands of judgment, descending in a focused column.
The lightning hammered straight down onto the immobilized demon. It pierced through its skull with a sickening *pop-hiss*, just as Kang Mao vanished from behind it. The lightning continued, digging a smoldering trench into the earth.
Seeing one of its kin destroyed, the three-tailed demon blinked twice in Liang's direction. "Now you seem… intriguing."
However, Liang was panting, his chest heaving. He sagged in the air, his head swimming, muscles trembling with violent strain. The poison from the initial claw wound was a cold fire in his veins, sapping his focus.
"The three-tailed one is poisonous!" Liang warned, his voice slurred.
Gen and Kang Mao nodded grimly. They knew it. The moment their **Jingdao** faltered, the toxin would rush in, and it would be over.
The three-tailed demon seemed to shrug. Then it changed. Its exoskeleton rippled, flowing over its body like liquid armor until not a speck of its underlying form was visible. It became a sleek, impenetrable obsidian statue.
Then it looked directly at Gen. "After evolving, I had all the time to observe the greedy cultivators who roam this ocean. I learned a few things. Let us see if my **Fendow** is ready."
As it spoke, something horrifying happened. Its presence seemed to *split*. A ghostly, more bestial version of itself—a snarling, mindless engine of aggression—shimmered into existence above its physical body. It had used **Fendow—Separation** to sever its intelligent, evolved consciousness from its primal, predatory essence.
Gen's face darkened with dawning horror. He understood. The demon was separating its intelligence to return to a pure, aggressive state, and it could use **Heidow** and **Fendow** to merge and unmerge with this primal avatar at will. Its mastery of the Wheels was more fluid, more instinctual, than any of theirs.
*Was this the real power of an Adult Milky Beast?*
Before Gen could finish the thought, the three-tailed Sky Demon moved.
Gen's body tensed, every ounce of his being pouring into his **Jingdao**.
But the demon, having shed its hesitation, didn't come for him.
It dove, with pure, predatory instinct, straight for the weakened, poisoned, and dizzy Liang.
Its goal was clear: eliminate the lightning first.