The Sun-touched finally decided I was a threat.

  It roared, charging towards me with speed that surprised me, its crystalline claws extended.

  I waited until the last possible moment and then activated Phantom Strike.

  Even though I only had a fraction of my full power, the technique allowed me to slide through its defences like smoke.

  My fist struck its chest, bursting through the crystalline armor to crush the vital organs underneath.

  The monster’s loud roar stopped abruptly as it dropped to the ground.

  “Good job,” the Skybound said with approval. “You’re naturally talented.”

  I didn’t get the chance to acknowledge the praise.

  A howl of anger signaled the arrival of a new Sun-touched; this one bigger than the first one.

  The new creature’s patterns were more complex which probably meant it had a greater connection to the red sun’s powers.

  “Master,” Azure called out, “this one appears to have physical abilities similar to second-stage Qi Condensation cultivators.”

  The warning arrived just in time.

  I barely dodged a swing that would have split my head wide open.

  The crystalline claws had passed mere inches from my hair.

  This creature really was faster and stronger than the first, and it was clearly furious about the fate of its companion.

  “Forty seconds left on the enhancement,” Azure reported as I barely missed a fatal strike that would have crushed my rib cage.

  I continued to dance around the Sun-touched’s attacks, but each motion put me closer to the claws’ deadly path.

  One of the Sun-touched’s particularly brutal swings caught my sleeve, and the red talons shredded the cloth and inflicted several shallow cuts along my arm.

  The attack was a painful reminder that even with the red core’s power, I was still very far from invulnerable.

  “Thirty seconds left,” Azure reported as I slid out of the way of another attack.

  I launched a counterattack at its center, using every bit of strength the red core provided.

  The impact felt like hitting a brick wall.

  The Sun-touched barely wobbled while my knuckles protested in agony.

  Before I could retreat, a backhanded strike hit me in the ribs.

  I tumbled to the ground, feeling something crack.

  I turned the fall into a roll, barely avoiding the follow-up strike that made a crater where I had landed.

  “Fifteen seconds left.”

  This wasn’t working. I needed some sort of advantage to level the playing field.

  As I circled the creature, catching my breath, I sensed something.

  Plants.

  The presence of plants in this world was something I could feel due to the World Tree Sutra.

  The nearby weeds and grass felt dim but alive.

  And there, half buried in rubble, a slumbering vine that used to climb the village walls.

  The Sun-touched charged again, and this time I was prepared.

  I reached out with my will and made contact with the vine as I had a hundred times before.

  The red core's power ran through the connection and transformed the unassuming plant into something else altogether.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  The vine erupted from the earth, now a deep red and covered in thorn-like protrusions that resembled the crystalline claws of the Sun-touched. They wrapped around the Sun-touched's legs mid-charge, and the thorns dug into its crystalline hide. The Sun-touched's momentum worked against it, sending it crashing into the earth.

  "Now!" Azure encouraged as the Sun-touched thrashed against the red vine.

  I picked up a fallen iron sword.

  It was already notched from a previous battle but it would have to do.

  The Sun-touched's crystalline armor was almost impenetrable, but all creatures had weaknesses. At the base of the skull, where the creature had to flex to turn, the crystal formations were thin and had small spaces between the plates.

  I thrust the blade into that area with every ounce of strength provided by the red core.

  The sword plunged in with the sound of shattering glass.

  The blade broke, steel had no chance against the crystalline body, but it had gone deep enough.

  The Sun-touched convulsed. Its massive form writhed as that internal light began to fade. The crystalline formations that appeared so unnatural in life now dulled and clouded like sea glass. The blazing eyes that burned with fury now faded, and the crimson tattoos that had pulsated with power went dark.

  As it died, the body of the Sun-touched began to change.

  The crystal formations disintegrated into powdered crystals, revealing a corpse that almost looked human.

  Once its spasms ceased, I felt the red core's power fade away.

  The crimson lines receding from my skin returned me to once again being trapped in a mortal shell. The vine shriveled and crumbled to dust, ending its short period of demonic transformation.

  I winced at the pain in my side.

  Without the red core's protection, every injury felt twice as severe.

  But it didn’t matter, I was alive, which was something I couldn’t say the same for my opponents.

  That would have to be enough for now.

  To my surprise, the Skybound clapped its hands together. "Extremely rare," it said, as if it was truly impressed. "Most Rank 1 Skybound cannot manipulate elements at all. Those who display such promise early... they often achieve great things. Of course, providing they survive long enough."

  Before I could respond, the Skybound ascended further into the sky.

  "Watch carefully," it ordered. "This is how a true master deals with pests."

  What followed was simultaneously beautiful and terrifying.

  Crimson-tinted ice formed throughout the battlefield, each structure perfectly positioned to pierce or ensnare the remaining raiders.

  The first Sun-touched warrior to realize what was going on actually bowed.

  "Great One, we serve the same—"

  Its words ended abruptly as ice pierced through its chest.

  The remaining Sun-touched warriors began to retreat from the entity they had clearly expected to lead them.

  "Our Lord, why do you betray your own ki—" Another fell, encased in solid ice mid-plea.

  "We are blessed by the same sun!"

  This Sun-touched managed to evade the first ice spear, only to be skewered by three more.

  Their incredible strength proved irrelevant against the Skybound's powers.

  The last Sun-touched, cornered against a half-demolished wall, raised its arms in supplication. "Please, we are your children! The Red Sun chose—"

  Ice sprouted from the Sun-touched's chest, silencing it forever.

  What caught my attention was something that I had never noticed before.

  From the dead, streams of essence rose and flowed into the Skybound like crimson vapor.

  The reason I could actually see it this time was probably because of my own red core.

  My eyes widened as I realised what was happening.

  The Skybound was not merely slaughtering them; it was harvesting their power for itself.

  When it finished, the surviving villagers stared up at their unexpected savior with a mix of fear and bewilderment.

  No one seemed to understand whether to flee, fight, or bow in gratitude.

  "Come," the Skybound said, ignoring the villagers' reactions altogether. "We have to leave for the academy."

  "Tomas, don't go!" Maya pushed through the crowd. “You can’t just leave with that thing!"

  I looked into her eyes and remembered all the ways I had seen her die.

  "I'm glad I could keep everyone safe this time," I said softly, trying not to reveal that according to the Skybound, I would need to one day return and kill them all.

  Before she could respond, movement at the back of the crowd caught my eye.

  Tomas' father, the miller, was forcing his way to the front.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  How could I explain to this body’s family why their son was leaving with a being known only for murder and devastation?

  "Maya," I said quickly, "tell my parents I'm sorry and to take care of themselves.”

  “But Tomas…"

  I didn’t stay to hear what she had to say, I turned away and sprinted over to the Skybound who was already flying away.

  "A clean break is usually better," the Skybound commented when I caught up to it. "They'll move on, forget. And when you return, well, they won't be able to recall anything ever again."

  I said nothing, concentrating instead on maintaining a steady pace with its hovering form.

  "Master," Azure said, "the red core is actively sucking in power from the red sun overhead. Given that rate, I estimate that it will restore to full power in roughly five minutes."

  I looked upward at the crimson globe in the sky, sensing the connection more clearly now that Azure had mentioned it. Like a plant drinking in sunlight, the core was gradually replenishing itself, taking in fragments of that reality altering power.

  "Is that safe?"

  I remembered how direct exposure to the red sun’s light drove humans mad.

  "The Genesis Seed appears to be filtering the power, similar to how it filtered the power when we first absorbed the core," Azure said. "Any maddening qualities inherent to the red sun are being removed, leaving only pure power. Very efficient, really."

  "Thank you, Azure," I said. "That helps, but right now, I am more concerned about what type of 'academy' teaches its students to sacrifice their home villages."

  The village vanished as we moved toward the mountains, where the red sun illuminated the peaks with hues of blood.

  Somewhere ahead were answers about the power I had stumbled into.

  I just had to live long enough to discover them.