[It's Time!]
"Kee...hehehehehe!" Virala laughed uncontrollably like a maniac as he began to walk towards Brangara, watching bone mist burst out of the sand dunes like geysers and gradually reduce visibility in the region to zero.
Prana gradually circulated through his body as his heart rate continued to increase.
Mystic Nature Art-Kinesis Pump!
The Skill of Kinesis Pump worked by using the control characteristic of a Mystic Human in that they could treat their bodies as a Spirit Weapon. Kinesis Pump infused the power of psychokinesis in the heart seamlessly and steadily raised its heartrate. Thereby, the speed of the blood flowing through the body increased.
Normally, unleashing Natures such as Eddy Blades required preparation, as the necessary Prana could not be accumulated in the palms immediately. Even when Brangara used them, he first concentrated Prana into his fists before activating the Nature.
But now, after Virala activated his Kinesis Pump Skill, the rate of blood flow across his body had reached a staggering amount, enough for the Prana being carried by the blood to amount to dozens of units in every body part.
Of course, that wasn't even the end. As Virala continued to walk, his heartrate increased without a limit, gradually heating up his body. It was something he derived from Mystic Bone Art, for that cultivation technique worked by raising the heartrate akin to the individual in a state of sprint, even if their body was at rest.
And using this faster blood flow, it raised the digestion speed, which was the fundamentals through which Mystic Bone Art performed its function. Virala had copied this characteristic of raising his heartrate, bringing his to its maximum possible amount even when he was in a state of rest.
Normally, the heart rate increased once one started to move from a state of rest. As the heartrate spike generated by the Skill of Kinesis Pump was considered as Virala's heart rate during a state of rest, the moment he started to move, it increased even further.
'I'm ready.' Virala stared at his fists while his body grew hot, 'I can accumulate over 500 units of Prana in a second. That's more than enough to go all out!'
He was gradually preparing himself for the actual fight against Brangara. All the puppets he had sent until now were only to get a grasp of Brangara's capabilities. His heartrate continued to increase as Virala riled himself up to the limit, ready to unleash his pinnacle might at a moment's notice.
Bang!
Brangara shredded apart another puppet of Virala and snorted, eyeing his surroundings verily uon seeing the geysers of bone mist. He extended his finger into one and noticed a faint layer of bone covering the finger, 'This is tusk bone powder of an Empyrean Tusk.'
'What exactly are they trying to achieve through this?' He wondered while looking around, unable to see any more Virala puppets in his vicinity, 'There's no one here.'
"Is that all?" He roared, intending to trigger the others into action, so that he could slaughter them, "I thought after all the preparations you've made, you bastards would be raring to have a go at me. But is that it? Are you scared? Already?"
"It was an appetiser." An Ewworm dug out of the ground beside him, announced snarkily and exploded spontaneously, "Now, feast your eyes on the main course!"
Brangara tensed up in response as he expanded his Prana detection means, only being met with noise as all the tusk bone powder was registering hundreds of prickles on his skin. He expanded his power of Subtle Terrain Domination and pushed the bone mist away, clearing the air to regain his bearing.
'Come! Wherever you come from, I'll hit you all!' Air condensed into a tiny nail before his fist, steadily raising its density as he charged up a powerful attack through Subtle Terrain Domination. However, as the air cleared out and visibility returned to normal in his Spirit Weapon range, Brangara was surprised.
79 figures were revealed in total, all in human forms, exuding an extremely familiar presence. As the bone mist was pushed away, it revealed their figures, turned into ivory sculptures.
"No...no! NO!" Brangara only had a glance at them before he sprinted in their direction, his face scrunching up as he approached the closest ivory sculpture, "This face...no, what is he doing here?"
"PannBuntara, MavvBuntara, PelliBuntara..." Brangara uttered the names of all the sculptures in a fluster, 'They are all my Boar Kings!'
"Dammit!"
"This is my first dish. It's tasty, right?" A one-metre-long Mystic Ewworm jutted out of the ground and commented with a twisted sense of satisfaction, "Spoilers, it's alive."
"You have sixty seconds to clean the layer of bone over their bodies. Be any slower, they'll suffocate to their deaths. Maybe you can remove ten or so...Hahaha!" The Mystic Ewworm bellowed as it was diced into hundreds of bits and turned into a molten sludge.
"I'm never making a choice ever again!" A foul taste filled his mouth, but Brangara couldn't understand why. However, he spent a fraction of a second accessing the Information Slip made out of Sumatra Gold-in his pocket- and recalled the scene from the Second Major Disaster where Resha made him choose between his wife and his children.
'Can't believe I forgot something so important!' He scowled and spent a second to analyse the 79 sculptures before him, using his Prana detection means to determine that his descendants were indeed inside, and their presence was gradually dimming, an indication that they were about to suffocate to death. These sculptures weren't fakes meant to distract him. 'I'll save them all!'
Tangible Nature Minor Treasure-Gracious Inheritor!
He brought it out as a few Tangible Natures of Centingers jumped out of it, unleashing an artillery strike spontaneously. Immediately in response, Brangara used the power of his Major Treasure of Subtle Terrain Domination to take control of the artillery strike and transformed them into mist.
Centingers were natural counters to Empyrean Tusks, even if they paled in strength in comparison to the latter. Hence, within the time limit, he planned to use the power of Bone- Melting Artillery alongside Subtle Terrain Domination to accurately shave through the layer of ivory covering his descendants.
Screeching noises were created as layers upon layers of ivory were instantaneously melted
and vaporised by Brangara, steadily thinning them down, taking care to avoid harming his descendants. But time was running short, especially since he was focused on all 79 sculptures
at the same time.
'Wait!' He suddenly thought in realisation, controlling his urge to smack his face into oblivion, 'That bastard made it seem like a delicate situation, as if I have to perfectly remove the bone layer, otherwise they might die. However, they are Boar Kings! Even if I shave off a portion of their bodies, they'll recover in a matter of seconds!'
He had purposefully been lead on falsely. And upon using his Prana detection means, Brangara had verified Virala's claims. However, in doing so, he reinforced the constructed bias, which made him waste more than half a minute needlessly.
'I just need to free up their nostrils. Once they are able to breathe safely, I can take my time
freeing the rest of their bodies! And even if I by mistake shave off a portion of their noses, it's not an issue. They'll grow it back in a few seconds!' With that thought in mind, Brangara hastened the power of Subtle Terrain Domination to rapidly drill across the noses of all 79
sculptures.
In a few seconds, he managed to penetrate to the flesh for all 79. However, that's when he realised the viciousness of the enemy, 'Dammit! FUCKING BASTARD!'
"Told you...you are running out of time!" As if to mock him further, another Mystic Ewwor, jutted out of the sand and cackled at him, only for Brangara to destroy it in anger.
There was a column of bone trailing within the nostrils. Basically, it had filled the entire
windpipe and even the lungs. The only way to save them was to either shave through all the bone filling up their respiratory system or yank it out and allow the robust Prana of the Boar Kings to regenerate a new set of organs in their body.
'I only have one choice left!' He didn't hesitate and carefully used Subtle Terrain Domination
to gather wind and pierce through the bodies of all 79 Boar Kings. Once it had wrapped around their respiratory system, he surgically removed them all at the same time, resulting in a geyser of blood gushing into the air.
"Heal! Heal!" Brangara muttered in a fluster as he felt Prana surge into the hollow Boar King bodies and rapidly regenerate a new set of lungs. Right before the time was about to end, and the blood in their body was about to solidify due to a lack of oxygen, the lungs finished forming, resulting in the bodies gasping for air frantically.
Brangara hurriedly pushed a fresh stream of air into their lungs. But before the Boar Kings
could finish their recovery, a geyser of bone mist burst out from underneath them, intending to turn them into ivory sculptures once again.
"I won't allow it!" Brangara roared as he cranked Subtle Terrain Domination to the limit. One
side was delicately pushing fresh air into the lungs of all 79 Boar Kings while the other side was filtering out the bone mist to retain pure air in their vicinity.
But that would only stall the situation. So, Brangara had to also focus on shaving away the
ivory layer on their bodies. Performing so many actions at the same time was no different from controlling dozens of Spirit Weapons, reducing his psychokinesis efficiency to its bottommost level possible.
His Prana was being consumed at an exponential pace as the strain dealt to his brain was also
extreme. He was purposefully straining himself to the limit to perform the task, 'Just a bit more...almost there...!'
A few minutes later, he gasped and collapsed to the ground, "Are... Are all of you alright?"
He heaved a sigh in relief as the Boar Kings began to get up one after another, fully recovering
to their optimal states in a matter of seconds. They silently converged around a slightly
strained figure of Brangara, and then...
All of them uttered in unison, in absolute hatred, following which they launched their attacks
at him, "How long do you intend to make a mockery of us,"
"Virala?"