"Where are we?" Ryuu asked looking around, trying to figure out what the present place actually is.

The three of them: Ryuu, Tenko, and Akashiro are presently standing on the edge of the cliff, beneath them stretching the vast colorful forest which from above seems very attractive ... but Tenko and Ryuu didn't enjoy its beauty at all.

What they felt upon arriving at the cliff is the smell of blood and horrific feeling that could stir a person's soul, luckily Tenko and Ryuu already had a strong soul which made them bear with sad cries coming from the forest.

"Ryuu... are we..."? Tenko thought as her light body already begun losing its strength bit by bit.

"Don't worry, I'm with you. Even if it is, Shiro wouldn't send us to our deaths." Ryuu comforted her in their thoughts, understanding what she wanted to ask about.

...

A strong cry resounded from afar inside of that forest followed up by another stronger one. The cries resonated a few more times before completely quieting down. The silence signified that the fierce battle between the two beasts ended, probably meaning that either of them died or even both finally left together losing all the strength of theirs.

"..." Even Ryuu was silent not daring to utter a single word now. Both Ryuu and Tenko didn't speak as if afraid not to anger Shiro further than they already have. If she really brought them here then that means only one thing: "Your suffering begins here!" Shiro said, making fine hair rise up on their bodies.

"... Meaning?" Ryuu gently probed.

"The meaning is ... survive!" Shiro said, as they instantly appeared in front of two massive bodies a few hundred kilometers away from mountain massif they were previously standing at with Shiro, but now ... it's only the two of them.

"Good luck! Don't let me down ... you little devils." Shiro's gentle voice reverberated through the world easing up the tension inside of the two.

"Whew... she doesn't have malicious intentions, that's good". Tenko said relaxing a little bit, but Ryuu was still as tense as before maybe even a bit tenser. "She doesn't, but they do ..." Ryuu said pointing at the direction where a dozen of black shadows competed with each other which would arrive first to prey on the dead bodies. There were about twenty or so of them, which made Ryuu deeply dread.

At that moment, Tenko transformed into the one-meter big fox as Ryuu hoped on her back and they madly rushed away from the scene in order to not become the prey along with the dead beasts.

"I have a bad feeling about this ..." Ryuu thought.

"Unfortunately, me too." Tenko's thoughts reverberated through their connected mind like an echoing voice.

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Somewhere on a secluded hill Ryuu and Tenko in her fox form, finally escaping from the black shadows group, came to a stop in order to build up their strength. In this god-forsaken place, the only one who can help you is you yourself and those who have earned your trust.

"Hah .. hah .. haaaa .. finally *plop* ran ... away." Ryuu exclaimed as he fell powerless on the ground along with the white fox panting fiercely as they completely lost all of the air in their lungs.

"What were those shadows, they had the same speed as us in our half-fusion state... that's just ..... insane!!!" Tenko shouted.

"Ne- ... hah ... nevermind, we ran away for now." Ryuu said catching his breath as he put the effort in to straighten into the half-sitting state as he hugged the soft fur of the fox near him.

Ryuu joyfully slid his cheek up and down along Tenko's fur as they enjoyed the safety which, right now, seemed as if very precious.

"We have to make a plan, or else ..." Ryuu didn't finish the sentence, but Tenko understood what he meant, after all, their minds were now one and the same.

"Which one are you best at controlling?" Ryuu thought.

"If I had to pick one, then ice". Tenko said.

"Ice, heh?" Ryuu said as his little purple eyes drifted to the golden ones of the ten-colored fox by his side.

Ryuu put his little hand on the chin as his brain already began forging the tactics the two of them are going to use for a while now.

After some time, the vision in his eyes became brighter several points as he stood up, directing his gaze and fixating it at the two golden suns near him.

"Did you understand everything I've thought about?" Ryuu asked.

"Um~" Tenko replied as Ryuu hoped on her back and the two of them soared instantaneously in a direction.

Their current destination was the edge of the forest since Ryuu noticed that as they were going in one direction, the spirit beasts became weaker bit by bit. What made him decide to head at the outer edge of the forest first, where spirit beasts were the weakest ones, is partly his curiosity about this world and partly their safety as well as the responsibility they carried right now.

"We shall prove that we can survive on our own!" Both of them shouted in unison as their shadows quickly disappeared from the previous scene.

.....

"Oh well, I guess they didn't need my help with those..." A beautiful and attractive girl stood at the top of the hill looking at the ten-colored light ball speeding towards the outskirts of the forest.

"Little brats, show me what you can do ... I have great expectations." The girl said as her form disintegrated and vanished into thin air.

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At this time, on the outskirts of a forest, two forms appeared out of the ten-colored flame.

"So the energy can change shape according to the situation ..." Ryuu said.

"Seems like it. The first time it was a sphere, now it's a flame." Tenko replied, obviously talking about the change in energy enveloping them as it had transformed into a flame at one point.

"We need to get a grasp on ourselves and our abilities during this time or we'll be losing out on this precious opportunity." Ryuu thought.

"Yeah, let's go. It's time to begin our little plan ... " Tenko said after which they climbed up a nearby hill in order to observe the surroundings.

"Isn't this a bit plain, and are there any spirit beasts at all?" Ryuu asked as his face showed dissatisfaction about their surroundings.

"I find it strange too, something seems off here..." Tenko said as she observed the plain-looking valley around them.

The strange thing is that, even for the outskirts of a bloody forest, it's too quiet as if it's the sheer opposite of the place they were at not long ago.

"Anyway, let's find a place to occupy for now but be on guard at all times, this silence is not good for us at all". Ryuu said as he jumped down from the tree and went in a direction that he randomly selected. Their first goal should be to explore the area and find out how strong the spirit beasts were here.

As they were slowly advancing, Ryuu noticed that the silence and surrounding plants remained the same at the outskirts of the forest.

"Should we go in deeper?" He thought. "What do you think?"

"Maybe, I think that this is the absolute 'safe-zone' and we won't find anything much here, so why not try?" Tenko said.

"Okay then, let's try." He said as they slowly ventured deeper and after a while, their guess turned out to be right.

In front of them stood three boars with gloomy red stripes going through their bodies as they maliciously stared at two little invaders preparing to take an action.

"Evil boars? A perfect target for practice. Tenko ..." Ryuu said, not needing to finish his sentence as both of them knew what comes next.

Tenko quickly disappeared from the scene as Ryuu slowly approached the three boars in front, as if provoking them to attack.

As expected, the boars reacted the right way Ryuu thought they would - all three of them rushed with no coordination right in his direction.

"Let me try alone first." Ryuu's thought reached Tenko.

"Sure." She responded.

As they conversed in their mind, Ryuu's arms were already covered in fine ten-colored scales which appeared on the upper side of his arm, unlike the previous time when his spirits awakened or when they held a ritual.

Right now, this was his own strength and power with which he successfully made the whole hand turn into a dragon claw and claw tips turn pitch black about 2~3 millimeters.

As the partial dragon transformation took the place, Ryuu already felt a sublimation as his sensing abilities became sharp to the extreme, as a beast should have. The dragon's traits awakened, making his eyes ten-colored and the pupils instantly became vertical glaring at his opponents.

As the three boars rushed in his direction, their movements became slightly slower as they came under the influence of Ryuu's dragon aura which made a perfect opportunity to strike.

Ryuu would certainly not let that opportunity slip away as his body almost instantly appeared near the boar furthest in the back.

*CRACK~!* A fierce, bone-shattering sound reverberated as the third boar came to a complete stop, its body losing all its strength and falling on the ground. On its neck, five trails of blood slowly seeped out as Ryuu removed his claw from the boar.

In that split-second, Ryuu took the chance to crush boars' neck as his sharp claws drilled into its spine crushing it and taking the boar's life away.

The way it died could be called cruel and merciless. It couldn't even fight back nor cry out and after a split-second, it was already dead.

The two boars noticed their friend who got killed and mad rage instantly got over them, learning from others' mistakes and not daring to be careless, as their eyes became blood red and dark-red stripes on their body emanated a faint crimson glow.

Just as their attacks were about to hit Ryuu, his body vanished and quickly reappeared near the first boar as a painful scream escaped from its mouth for a while, before falling with a *thud* and remaining silent.

This one wasn't as lucky as the previous to get the instant and painless death.

The suffering of this boar far exceeded the previous, since Ryuu decided to test his arms' grip strength - choking it with his bare hands as the boar struggles to break free but in vain. Can it be so easy to break free from Ryuu's dragon claws? Only in your dreams!

As Ryuu finished his job with the second boar, his gaze fell on the third one which remained frozen in place, trembling in fear from the previous sight.

As Ryuu saw the spirit beast who was dreading him, an idea suddenly appeared in his mind.

"You won't really try it, will you?" Tenko's thought resonated.

"What do you think?" Ryuu said with an evil smirk appearing on his face.

The one remaining boar was frozen in place and has already been staring at Ryuu as it already knew what would happen - only death awaits. But although it knew what comes, it couldn't move an inch from its position.

It's not that it didn't want to, it's that Ryuu didn't give it a chance to as his mental strength abruptly fell on it.

In the boar's eyes, Ryuu was a palatial form which could crush it with a single step as a deep dreading invaded its heart.

Ryuu was steadily going in the boar's direction with each step increasing the pressure he released combined with his dragon aura.

*clack* *..clack* *....clack* *THUMP!* heavy footsteps resonated in the boar's ears as the horrific form of Ryuu approached nearer, closing the distance between them.

Ryuu had already mastered the control of his emotions on the Earth, and now it came to practice. The violent rage and bloodlust seeped out from him merging with his dragon aura which made a great horror wreck havoc in the brain of a poor boar and then ... *thump* it fell.

The boar fell as its brain literally broke from the agony of Ryuu's oppression and unable to support itself, it fell awaiting its death. But is this the end of its suffering?

Ryuu was standing in front of the boar who already lost all of the strength to resist as his claws madly penetrated the head of a boar, plucking out its brain and taking away its life.

Tenko suddenly broke the silence: "Madman!", she said.

"What?" Ryuu turned his attention to her and asked.

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"You are a madman! What evil boar, the hell? YOU are the evil one here!" Tenko screamed.

"Now, now. I just wanted to test my abilities, and besides, if I didn't kill them they'd kill us." Ryuu replied.

"That's no killing, that's a one-sided massacre, the pure slaughter!. They didn't even have a chance to resist!" Tenko reprimanded him.

"Okay, I won't do it again ... I think, hehe" Ryuu said with a light smile while scratching his head.

"Ahhh... okay, let's go on". Tenko said as she waved her head helplessly.