"Will anything change if I state my reasons?" Brangara stared at Geugeu with a taunting gaze, "Will you deliver yourselves on a platter if my reason is convincing enough?"
A Tangible Nature of Razor Rat condensed outside his body as Brangara jumped inside the Empyrean Snapper's body through the cut on its neck.
Astral World—Bloody Affection x10!
The Empyrean Snapper's blood flowed into his mouth as Brangara consumed it voraciously, sending it straight into his belly. Astral World rapidly digested it and funnelled Prana into a Tangible Nature of Bloody Leech, one that was gained from the oldest Decaleech.
As it had been developed the most, it was the easiest to elevate to the 2-Life Stage, which happened in a matter of minutes. While this was happening, Brangara surfed through the stream of blood flowing into his mouth and approached the heart of the Empyrean Snapper to consume it, only then sighing a bit in relief, 'I got the first Nature of Subtle Terrain Domination.'
'It's not an issue even if I don't consume the rest of its body immediately.' He thought. After all, even if the Empyrean Snapper's blood floods into the Dralh Sea, its body gets targeted by Phells, or the Bludders swarm upon it for consumption, it didn't matter.
They'll die from the shockwaves of the resulting fight between him and the Cooter Clan. And the flesh and blood spilt from it would all be in the region. As long as he had Bloody Affection. Brangara was capable of extracting it out of the seawater and consuming it exclusively.
Right as he consumed the Empyrean Snapper's heart, he used Shredded Lunge to break out of its body, appearing underwater, only to be targeted by thousands of water blades that formed small gashes all across his body.
'I can endure this.' Brangara thought upon observation, understanding that his healing speed was fast enough to tank the attack without any defensive measures. As long as he manages to flee to safety for a couple of seconds, he'd manage a full recovery, 'Then, it's time to target them in earnest.'
A tunnel of gravity formed before him, resulting in a powerful undercurrent, through which Brangara travelled. As he wasn't a water-based Pranic Beast, his speed in aquatic conditions wasn't worth commenting about, especially against the Empyrean Snappers.
Hence, the solution he devised was to rely on the Nature of Drifting Tunnel. Once the tunnel of gravity appeared, water began to fall through it, reaching speeds vastly superior to Brangara's swimming speed.
Hence, all he had to do was fall through this tunnel and be carried by the falling stream of water. Externally, the tunnel could shape up and wind in any direction he pleased, and even flow directly under the water surface.
Through it, he could move around to confuse the senses of the Empyrean Snappers further. Of course, it wasn't easy, as the moment his Drifting Tunnel began to expand, twisters formed in the water, originating from the Empyrean Snappers.
They were shaped like drills, filled with water blades, intending to shred him apart. As the water drills headed to his location, Brangara twisted the Drifting Tunnel, evading them, "Keuk!"
A water drill twisted abruptly and slammed into him, causing hundreds of gashes to form on his skin and draw out blood. But an instant later, the spilled-out blood returned to his wounds as the gashes healed.
The Nature of Bloody Affection was perfect in minimising his injuries, allowing him to retract any blood spilt out of him through an injury. The attack halted him for the fraction of a second, using which dozens of water drills closed in on him, forcing him to use the Nature of Shredded Lunge to flee to the surface.
The Drifting Tunnel collapsed due to the surrounding water pressure as his figure leapt out of the water and unleashed a flurry of wind blades, defending against thousands of Cloudy Fists headed his way.
"Kill him!"
"He dares kill our Deity!"
"Destroy the bastard!"
The Cooter Clansmen surfed across the water surface on cloudy platforms and raced towards him, condensing Cloudy Fists with various powers to target him.
"You think mere Cooter Clansmen can harm me?" Brangara snorted as he used Shredded Lunge once again, unleashing a flurry of wind blades at the end of his leap which killed hundreds of Cooter Clansmen.
"How dare you!" Geugeu roared and unleashed a bolt of lightning as thick as a human, paralysing Brangara.
Using the opportunity, four Empyrean Snappers extended their necks and huddled in close up, overlapping the Spirit Weapon range surrounding their heads.
Primary Nature—Subtle Terrain Domination!
The four Empyrean Snappers combined their usage of Subtle Terrain Domination to draw in a sphere of water and condensed it into a dot dozens of times smaller, sharply spiking its density. They created a hole in the pressure applied on the dot of water, causing the immensely pressured water to gush out in force, resulting in a Water Laser.
Only after a dozen seconds of its motion did vapour cones form, displaying the sheer velocity with which the Water Laser moved. Due to Geugeu's powerful lightning bolt, Brangara was paralysed for a second, during which, the Water Laser slammed into him, drilling a hole through his chest.
It easily punctured through the layer of blood armour he covered himself with and headed towards his heart.
Astral World—Shredded Lunge x19!
Astral World—Drifting Tunnel X10!
Astral World—Eddy Blade X20!
He went all out, for only then could he hope to protect himself and fight his enemies. There was also no point in holding back, as he intended to conclude the fight as realistically soon as possible.
The Eddy Blade expanded in the direction of the Water Laser, intending to divert it, only to be treated as an aerofoil. The Water Laser's path remained unchanged. If it continued in this fashion, his heart would be torn off.
A tunnel formed before him, opposite to the Water Laser's direction of motion. This field of gravity pulled upon it, causing it to slow down ever so slightly. This was enough for Brangara to react as he used the Nature of Shredded Lunge to move a few centimetres, positioning his rib bone in the direction of the Water Laser.
The Water Laser wasn't able to pierce through his rib as fast, which allowed him to position his hands before him, using them to tank the attack next. Step by step, Brangara bought enough time to react, relying upon the wind blades generated at the end of Shredded Lunge to scatter the piercing end of the Water Laser.
He assumed Celestial Boar form, watching the Water Laser barely penetrating a few metres into his body before its rate of penetration slowed down due to the accumulating muscular pressure.
[Again! Condense more!]
The group of four Empyrean Snappers communicated with each other once the immensely compressed sphere of water had ejected out most of its contents, resulting in a drop of pressure, causing the speed of the Water Laser to slow down until it fell below sonic levels.
Seeing the effectiveness of the Water Laser, more Empyrean Snappers huddled in groups of four to begin condensing it too. In the meantime, the stronger Empyrean Snappers embraced close combat, buying time for the Water Lasers to be charged up.
"Tch!" Brangara reverted to human form and leapt towards the closest Empyrean Snapper, only to be met with a fierce gale that halted his momentum. Six Empyrean Snappers focused on unleashing powerful gales to slow his leaps.
Their necks were each 10 kilometres long, allowing them to huddle close and coil atop each other despite their large bodies. The area of their back spanned 16 square kilometres. In terms of size, it was similar to a square with sides of four kilometres.
Depending on its age, the height of the mountain growing on its back varied, with it typically ranging between four to six kilometres for mature Empyrean Snappers. Due to their sheer size, more than four Empyrean Snappers couldn't huddle close enough to pool their strength together.
As another Water Laser headed his way, Brangara reverted to human form and used Shredded Lunge to flee to the mountain on the back of an Empyrean Snapper. Immediately in response, the various Spirit Pools accumulated on the mountain spilt out to form a geyser that targeted him.
Brangara circled around it, using the mountain to defend against the Water Laser. And upon arriving at the opposite side, he assumed Celestial Boar form, broke off a large piece of the mountain using Shredded Lunge and hurled it at the sphere of water being condensed by a group of four Empyrean Snappers, "Oh no, you don't!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
He destroyed the mountain into pieces and threw them at the Empyrean Snappers, forcing them to use their Subtle Terrain Dominance for defence. After all, when the boulders slammed into the condensed water sphere with force, the pressure buildup within it was ruptured, the shockwave resulting in a steam explosion.
Brangara used Drifting Tunnel similar to Resha's Gravity Funnel, relying upon it to ensure his projectiles struck the target without any room for error.
Once the mountain on the Empyrean Snapper's back was mostly cleared by his throws, Brangara tanked the latter's attacks with his body and condensed an Eddy Blade. He applied Shredded Lunge on his body tangentially, using it to spin himself rapidly.
And in that fraction of a second, when his spin reached its peak, he unleashed the Nature of Eddy Blade, for an instant. And as he arrived at a halt, a clean line formed on the Empyrean Snapper's beck closer to its base—where the neck was attached to the body.
Another Empyrean Snapper died as Brangara rushed into its body in human form to consume its heart. Meanwhile, its blood gushed into him, using which he began to replenish his rapidly depleting reserves of Prana.
With ten Natures of Blood Affection, the influx of blood created a powerful vortex at the entrance to his mouth. Once he swallowed its heart, he assumed Celestial Boar form and activated Shredded Lunge to emerge out of its body, all while using his larger stature to consume its blood faster.
"Great!" He grabbed its ten-kilometre-long severed neck and gobbled it, using Bloody Affection to increase the rate at which he slurped upon it like a noodle, "This should allow me to fight for a while."
To increase his rate of consumption, digestion, and Prana generation, Brangara condensed all the Prana in his body, setting aside only the bare minimum necessary to keep his Tangible Natures active.
Prana condensed in his Spirit Container, soon accumulating to the same value as his maximum capacity, which was 18,000 Prana. There was a spark following that, resulting in his Spirit Container increasing from one to two units.
2-Life Stage!
"Now, I can make use of it faster." He grinned and began to slurp the Empyrean Snapper's neck faster, rapidly using the nutrition to begin building his second body. Once he finishes the process, he'd have the power of two bodies, fully able to wield his 2-Life Stage strength.