In recent history, three invasions had been recorded. Brully Invasion, Death Knell Invasion, and Mudropper Invasion. These Pranic Beasts were born when a ginormous Cosmic Being's corpse was assimilated into Sumatra Continent.
It was why their powers operated at a scale beyond the comprehension of the denizens of the Continent. These three Races weren't as 'balanced' when compared to other Pranic Beasts of the same Grade.
In the First Major Disaster, even if only for a second, using the power of a Grim Knell, Asaeya was able to destroy the Empyrean Boar King's senses. No other Silver Grade Pranic Beast's power was capable of causing such a massive effect on Brangara.
Similarly, using the Mudropper's power at the Sanrey Plains, Inala created the Sandy-Grey Bombs, which when detonated created an endlessly expanding Sandy-Grey Void for a day. He had detonated those bombs at the Dralh Sea and the effect was overwhelming.
It didn't make sense that the source of such devastating power originated from a Silver Grade Pranic Beast. One of the strongest Silver Grade Pranic Beasts was the Centinger. And even its power didn't come anywhere close to the feats displayed by both the Death Knell and Mudropper.
The race of Brully was also the same. Its power was self-focused, but that made it even more scarier. After all, unlike both the Death Knell and the Mudropper, Brully was a Gold Grade Pranic Beast.
The quartet of pioneers during the Brimgan Founder's generation created a setup precisely to prepare Sumatra Continent against such invasions and ensure the natives of the Continent became stronger as a result.
And that indeed happened. Death Knell was a scary Pranic Beast. However, its power could be countered by a prepared Shock Lizard. After being targeted once by Asaeya, Brangara had already prepared a defensive means against it, which prevented the effect of Kinked Rupture from reaching him.
All he used for this was an Iron Grade Pranic Beast, Shock Lizard's power. This was merely one of the many other creatures that appeared to counter the powers of the Death Knell. As for Mudropper, it was harder to counter this power, since it was the Sandy-Grey Void itself.
However, there existed Pranic Beasts who could resist the effects of the grey sand. Sumatra Continent's border was composed of a certain substance that was immune to grey sand. There were creatures born out of these whose powers ran counter to the Mudropper.
Of course, the law of Sumatr's survival of the fittest was applicable to them too. Born to counter the race of Mudroppers, they eventually became extinct after Mahira Tusk almost wiped out all Mudroppers.
Moreover, Mahira Tusk herself was an absolute counter to the Mudropper race. And with the Nature of Weaponisation being the innate ability that all Mammoth Clansman could obtain, if Mudroppers were to ever become commonplace, the Mammoth Clan would retaliate against them.
The Pranic Beast races that countered Mudroppers too might make a return. The Quip Clan searched for such races but couldn't find them. However, considering how massive Sumatra Continent was, there were bound to be a few still alive.
After considerable thought in regards to the three Invasive Races, Inala selected the Brully. Since it had happened too long ago, not much about a Brully was known these days. Only the Brimgan Empire had records related to them.
Inala planned to visit the Brimgan Empire in the future. But his first stop was the Varahan Empire as he intended to research upon Vara Human Avatars, 'I believe that is the key to figuring out the means to obtain my Mind path Secondary Nature.'
Moreover, the three Invasive Races hadn't hit their evolutionary limit. In the Brimgan Founder's memories, the race of Brully enslaved Free Humans and turned them into Ravaged Tribesmen.
Maroppa entered the Gold Grade through the same method too. That was enough confirmation for Inala. The Brully too could evolve into a higher variant through the Free Humans. And that was probably the key to obtaining a Soul path Tertiary Nature.
Inala's eyes trailed to the side and focused on DaraBuntara, 'He's currently at the Body Stage. Considering his body has reached maturity, there's a chance he was at the 2-Life Stage or beyond before he sustained repeated deaths. That means...'
Prana steadily surged into his ears as Inala strained his ears, splitting its functions in a one, half, and zero ratio similar to his internal organs. The same information perceived by the ears was split into three sets of information.
First set was when he was fully awake. Second was when he was tired. And third was when his body was in a state of rest. The three states processed the same data differently, which allowed his brain to perceive new information from the existing data.
And then, he perceived faint vibrations at frequencies inaudible to the human range. These frequencies came from the disturbance at a spot being nullified through a Nature. The subtle correction created a frequency of vibration shouldn't have been perceivable to any living being.
Only the Brully was an exception, since at every moment, its body was in three different states. Unlike the Death Knell and Mudropper whose abilities were strategic, Brully was built to fight. The three sets of internal organs weren't just to remain awake perpetually, but also to process information, which allowed it to process all sorts of information in three different
formats.
And when the brain combined the three sets, information that couldn't be perceived originally was perceived into, which made a Brully extremely sensitive to everything, whether matter or energy. His senses would be sharper upon reaching maturity. But even at present, Inala was able to sense some existence stealthily shadowing their group, 'Of course.'
'He should be pretty important in the Wean Clan.' Inala thought as he observed DaraBuntara for a few seconds and closed his eyes.
The team lead by Falrami carefully moved through the wilds, exercising extreme caution. Only after entering the Varahan Empire could they relax, for now they were within walls of
safety.
"Report DaraBuntara's capture to Lord Mesupoh..." His words were cut short as Falrami's eyes trailed to the back of his head. Stabbing out of his forehead was wooden knife, nothing special other than the force exerted from the hand gripping its hilt.
As he hadn't activated his Human Avatar, Falrami was caught off guard and killed once.
"Dammit!" His second body appeared at the farthest end of his Spirit Weapon range, intending to erect some distance between him and his attacker. 'How are they within our borders?'
"Guh!"
"Kyah!"
"S-Stop!"
In one full swing, the soldiers escorting DaraBuntara were killed.
"My team was killed just like that?" Though he was in a state of shock, his training took control of his actions as Falrami turned around and spontaneously fled deeper into the Varahan Empire, racing towards the closest military base.
He was currently in the streets of a scant populated city, ignoring the Free humans shooting expressions of concern and confusion towards him, wondering why a soldier was fleeing in such a sordid state.
"Move! Move away!" Falrami shouted as he weaved into a crowd, 'There's less than two kilometres before the military base comes within my Spirit Weapon range. As long as I manage to communicate with them, my attackers can be dealt with.'
'Dammit! After everything I've been through to capture him, this shit has to happen!' He cursed mentally, but his limbs were swift.
"Hey! Watch it!" His vision spun suddenly as Falrami shouted instinctively upon tripping to the ground due to a drunkard who came in his way suddenly. "Are you..."
"Eh?" The drunkard was a middle-aged man with a pot belly, letting out a loud burp before Falrami, too intoxicated to even tell day and night apart.
'I don't have time to waste!' Falrami cursed and sprang to his feet, his eyes darting around the place to find any traces of his attackers. Suddenly, his vision was blocked by the drunkard, whose large frame behaved like a wall in such a hasty situation. 'I didn't want to do this!'
"Fucking move...!" He cursed and activated the Blessed Influence of Ring Blade, intending to sever the drunkard into two. Most of the drunkards were a nuisance to society anyway, mostly slapped with a series of criminal charges. So, even if he were to kill one in the middle of the city, his punishment wouldn't be too severe, considering the situation at hand. Reporting to the military base took priority above everything.
In a flash, a ring of Prana rotated with his body as the centre of axis and expanded, making contact with the drunkard. However, the expected shower of blood didn't appear, stunning Falrami. In terror, he watched the Blessed Influence of Ring Blade be absorbed into the drunkard who suddenly assumed his Vara Human Avatar form, "That's...impossible!"
"Gah!" Veins popped across his body as his Blessed Influence of Ring Blade was stolen by the drunkard and absorbed into the latter's Human Avatar. The forceful extraction cracked his Human Avatar and severely damaged his Spirit Container.
Right at this time, taking advantage of his shocked exclaim, the drunkard inserted a bottle of
alcohol into his mouth and tapped it, causing the contents to flood his stomach. Falrami became tipsy instantly, which affected his circulation of Prana, causing it to repair his Spirit Container at a slower pace, which was unfortunately not enough to prevent the latter's
shattering.
"Goodbye," The drunkard slipped a stronger alcohol into Falrami's mouth and left it as is while he wobbled his way away, reverting to human form. Their earlier interaction seemed like a squabble between drunkards, which wasn't all that rare in such outskirts.
Rather, a Blessed Influence was rarer, which was why the citizens couldn't even recognise it
and simply thought of it as an Eddy Blade or something similar. There were too many Natures in the Empire and the average citizen didn't know about them all.
Only a soldier could recognise them all, thanks to their intensive training. Hiccupping and
burping to an irritating extent, the drunkard waddled through the crowd that avoided him, sporting expressions of disgust at him.
A few minutes later, once he was away from the main streets, Prana circulated through his
body as he popped a vial in his mouth. Sweat dripped out of his skin, carrying with it all the alcohol he had ingested. Within a minute, he was fully sober as the Drunkard's figure disappeared. Soon, he had rushed to a secluded spot within the forest expanding out of the city, seeing a group of Wean Clansmen surrounding DaraBuntara in a protective formation, having just completed their disposal of the soldiers.
"Falrami's heart stopped beating." The drunkard said and bowed to one of the Wean Clansmen, "There were plenty of witnesses, so I'll flee to another city."
He then stared at DaraBuntara for a moment and expressed with a tone of anger, "You should
train more once you return."
"Yes..." DaraBuntara nodded sullenly and watched the drunkard walk away, unaware of the expression of shock and excitement in the eyes of the Brully sitting nearby.