Eye System

Chapter 113: Ice Leopard

Scarlet Flash

A claw mark formed of energy flew towards the ice leopard who managed to avoid the slash, but where the claw marks struck the snow-covered ground, there was a deep scar of 4 claws.

"Incredible" mumbled Lex in awe of the power he had managed to release by imbuing the idea of the Scarlet Flash and an attack with his Arctic Claws.

The beast was also shocked by the power of Lex's strike but wasn't intimidated by the strike itself and only felt nervous because of the eyes that he noticed had changed colours and were granting Lex power.

"Ashura you will weaken the beast and support me from the air, while I battle the beast in close combat" ordered Lex.

Receiving a squawk in affirmation from his Soul Pet, Lex seemed to disappear from his position, yet the rapid ice leopard noticed the disturbance above him and saw Lex who was a few hundred metres in the air after jolting himself up there.

'This kid is beginning to learn about the laws of space, but he is still too weak to accomplish anything or achieve a footing in the real world' thought Ashura to himself as he also seemed to disappear.

Ashura wasn't using the spacial element but seemed to somehow change into a shadow that was sliding across the ground towards the ice leopard.

Lex who was falling straight down onto the ice leopard, with his enhanced perceptivity noticed Ashura use some sort of shadow skill that Lex could sense was more profound than it seemed, but saved the thought until after the battle as he fell down with extreme momentum and force towards the ice leopard.

Reinforcing his body with energy and already having an extremely strong body, Lex wasn't worried about the impact as he had both his arms out and his fist clenched, so that his Artic Claws stood erect as he fell towards the ice leopard.

The ice leopard noticing Lex falling towards it at such fast speeds opened its mouth and formed another ice blast that it shot directly up at Lex.

Lex could evade with either jolting his body, or using Kano to drag him away, but he knew that if he did dodge the ice blast, he would lose his downwards momentum and he would miss out on being able to deal it a fatal wound.

He was gambling on his ability to deal with the strike and betting that he could deal a worse blow to the ice leopard from his position.

Confident in his sturdy body that was reinforced with his denser energy and wearing his thick and powerful organic armour that he formed with his Armadillo Armour Beast Power, Lex charged straight down and head-on into the ice blast.

Instantly Lex felt the cold penetrate into his body as it entered his bloodstream, his energy tracks and his bones as he felt his armour couldn't defend against such a penetrative attack that was aiming for internal damage.

Lex was shocked and wasn't expecting the ice blast that the ice leopard used to have such a weird way of attacking and was expecting more of a direct and external method of attack like he remembered Angela use.

However, it was very effective and seemed to ignore all defences and could seep through his armour and penetrate into his body, but falling at such speeds down, Lex was still generating force and momentum.

SWOOSH

Lex was like a lightning bolt crashing down from the sky and serving divine punishment, as his claws pierced deep into the ice leopard's back, that didn't have enough time to evade after using his ice blast ability on Lex.

Not only did the strike inflict a deep wound with the foot-long claws that he had that grew out of his knuckles, but the impact from such a hard fall was crashed upon the ice leopard fell straight down onto its stomach under the pressure of Lex's fall.

Slashing his blade across the leopard's back as he withdrew them, Lex flipped off the beast's back and landed on his feet a tens of metres away.

Both suffered from each other's strikes and stared each other in the eyes as they could both see they were evenly matched.

However, a sudden attack that the leopard never saw coming and by the time it noticed it was too late as two black ravens seemed to emerge from the ice leopard's shadow and slashed at its throat.

Despite it being a sneak attack and to a vulnerable position, Ashura was still unable to penetrate through the leopard's thick fur and returned into its shadow form as it slithered away as a shadow just like a snake.

"Ashura use your advantage in the air to deal support like I ordered" stated Lex sternly who saw that Ashura's sneak attack tactic wouldn't work against such a powerful beast who had such thick fur.

Lex burst towards the ice leopard as he attempted to burn away the ice blast's effects on his body that was slowing him down, as he rapidly circulated his energy wanted to isolate and remove the coldness that the ice leopard embedded into his body.

The ice leopard growled as it pounced towards Lex with its claws out and slashed at Lex's body.

The slash left a deep mark on Lex's armour that was made more brittle by the cold and the ice blast, but wasn't strong enough to pierce through as Lex jumped forth and thrust his closed fist into the beast's face.

Lex's Arctic Claws protruding from his knuckles pierced into the ice leopard's left eye as Lex kicked off the beast and made some distance between them, as the beast howled in pain and rage after losing an eye.

As it did so two black ravens continued to fly around the leopard and as they would fly past they would slash at the ice leopards body, with their sharp talons or wings, inflicting small wounds that they would exploit and siphon off small amounts of its blood essence, energies and vitality that were becoming open to them to suck through the small wounds.

Lex had a fulfilled smile under the helmet of his armour as he saw victory close by and he was confident that the rest of the battle would be much easier, but he was by no means underestimating his opponent and he was still cautious like he had learnt to do from all his experience.

With the continuous slashes from the flying nuisances and the loss of an eye, the ice leopard was bursting with rage as its locked strength and potential was becoming unlocked, which Lex noticed.

Humans were born with superior intelligence and that was their advantage that they exploited over beasts and beasts were born with superior bodies and strength comparingly which they exploited as their advantage.

As both evolved with their seemingly infinite growth potential over generations, beasts were becoming stronger and stronger and forming their own territories while humans were also becoming stronger as they formed their own civilisations.

Humanities root to strength was much more sophisticated and restricted compared to beasts who still hadn't reached a level of intelligence enough to comprehend cultivation and would merely battle, eat beasts and humans and sub-consciously absorb energy to increase their strength.

In the same way that humans and any other race did, beasts in moments of desperation or extreme emotions may break past their limits and gain a power boost, which is exactly what Lex was worried about occurring in his current battle.

"Ashura, increase the intensity of attacks" bellowed Lex who jolted beside the beast and dug both his claws into the beast's side and began to rapidly hack at it.

Lex was kicked by the leopard's hind legs as it attempted to distance itself away from Lex who continued to jolt to its position each time, not allowing it the time to rest and break past its limits as he relentlessly slashed at the beast and the two black ravens continued to absorb the leaking energy through the wounds that Lex was inflicting.

Hanging on to its life with a string only managing to stay alive because of its strong will and desire to kill Lex, it suddenly had a surge of power as its fur stood on end and it began to rapidly suck in energy.

"Not on my watch" roared Lex who saw the moment of what seemed to be the ice leopards chance to increase in strength as an opportunity to finish the battle.

"Full power Ashura" he shouted as he jumped down and puncture the beast's other eye and swooped under the beast.

Under the beast was the most vulnerable and had the least thick fur that was protecting its body as Lex with all the strength he could muster in his arms deeply slashed down from the ice leopard's chest down to its stomach as his foot-long claws managed to scrape against his internal organs.

There was an unstable influx of energy as the beast that was rapidly increasing its strength fell into the clutches of death during the power burst.

"Get away" screamed Lex who sensed the energy and remembering what happened with the swordsman.

If a peak Mortal caused a massive explosion, Lex was frightened of what kind of explosion the death of a Heaven Mortal that was going through an improvement would cause.

Lex without hesitation jolted his body as far away as he could as he launched himself off the mountain.

BOOM