Evolution of the Ruined Heir

Chapter 295: Night

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Malakai and Nyx blurred through the forest at fast speed.

They had both become nothing but streaks of red, tearing forward before colliding in a clash that shook the earth.

Malakai’s eyes were flushed crimson, streaks of red snaking through his frame. He moved at a speed he’d never achieved before, sending out attacks with explosive speed.

Meanwhile, Nyx’s eyes were normal. There were no red veins snaking across her body. Her expression remained the same cold mask she always wore.

But her movements were even more insane. Every single one of Malakai’s attacks was met with a swift counter, the sound of multiple booms shaking the forest.

’I can’t crack her.’

A day had passed since they had both started their sparring, and it took this long for Malakai to realize that he couldn’t get past Nyx’s defenses, no matter how much he tried. And oh, he had tried everything.

Brute force, feints, every trick he knew. Yet, he couldn’t land a single hit. Nyx wasn’t using Bloodflow, and she had limited her strength greatly to accommodate his, yet it felt like he was fighting a massive behemoth.

’She has no weakness.’ Malakai deadened that thought. That wasn’t it. ’I’m too weak to see and exploit any weakness.’

He felt like that was a better way to describe the situation. They’d sparred more than he’d like to remember, and he’d lost every single one. If Nyx had a weakness, he couldn’t see it.

Regardless, the current situation was one that was nothing short of delightful to Malakai.

If sparring with Renlo was sand, this right here was a treasure chest filled with pure gold.

Nyx was, by all means, a monster. Malakai could visibly see his improvement with every second he spent fighting her.

During this one day, he had learned more than he had in months at the clan’s training ground.

His improvements weren’t just focused on battle sense. His blood control had also improved significantly.

He had been right about one thing, Nyx was a treasure trove when it came to knowledge on blood manipulation. Malakai had learned so many useful skills just by training with her.

There was a whole lot more he could do with his blood aside from Bloodflow, Blood Hardening, and Blood Clotting.

The first improved the flow of blood through his body and boosted his strength and speed.

The second hardened blood and increased the strength of an attack or defense.

The last was best used for healing wounds.

These were the blood arts the clan’s training focused on. They were important, no doubt, and were decent considering they were teaching novices about blood manipulation.

But Nyx had opened a whole new world to him. A world where his imagination was the only limit. In just one day, he had learned four new uses:

The first was the ability to compress his blood in selected limbs and release it in an explosive burst. He called it Bloodcoil.

He had also learned to solidify blood in the soles of his feet or palms to stick to surfaces. Blood Anchor, he’d termed it.

The next technique he learned was the second best, according to him. He called it Pulse Silence. It allowed him to temporarily halt his heartbeat and minimize blood movement to avoid being detected.

The last, and by far the best, was something he named Oxyflow.

In simple terms, it involved hyper oxygenating his brain, sending a surge of oxygen from his blood to increase his processing speed beyond normal.

Using this, Malakai found the world moving slower than ever, his perception spiking.

It had taken a day, and now, he used all of these blood arts in tandem.

He ran up the trees to evade Nyx’s crushing blows, slowed down his heartbeat to avoid detection, and then increased his perception and attacked with explosive force.

It did nothing to shake Nyx, but Malakai lived for the progress.

The battle eventually ended with Malakai crashing into the earth. He breathed heavily, but there was no sense of failure in his gaze, only calculation.

He began replaying the fight in his head, trying to discover what he could do better. Nyx realized this and simply stood silently to the side.

She observed Malakai as though looking at a unique specimen. She had never seen someone like him.

Not only could he manipulate vita outside his body, but he had learned four blood arts, techniques that should have taken weeks or months to learn, in a single day.

If she had heard that someone had done such a thing, she would’ve called the person a madman.

“You’re staring. Something on my face?” Malakai said.

Nyx was pulled out of her thoughts. She turned to see Malakai staring and cleared her throat.

“N-no M-Malakai,” she said, then added after a second, “You improve quickly.”

“All thanks to you.” Malakai rose from the ground. “Thank you.”

Nyx was caught off guard. She glanced down, trying to hide the flush creeping up her face.

“I-it’s nothing.”

Malakai was speechless. He didn’t know what to make of this protector of his. Nyx was a devil on the battlefield, but it seemed her weakness lay in relationships.

’I’m one to talk.’ He shook his head with a wry smile. He, of all people, knew how long it took to admit that he cared for Renlo.

Malakai clenched his fists as he was reminded of his friend’s predicament.

“Any word from Laila?”

“Nothing yet.”

The night wasn’t full yet. It was evening time, but the sun had set. The second day since the ambush.

’We’ve wasted too much time.’ Any second wasted here was dangerous. Renlo could be dying right this instant.

Malakai let out a breath and decided to keep himself busy. They had to wait for the captain to respond before they could make any move. He was about to ask Nyx to continue the spar when he felt a presence approaching.

He glanced at Nyx and relaxed when he saw her calm expression. It was an ally.