Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Then kill them all just like they want!" Seadrei shouted. "If they don't mind becoming tools is someone else's folly. They don't deserve to be alive in the first place."

A group of five enemies charged toward the sea emperor, trying to impale him, but soon he separated their upper from lower halves… all of them exploded in the next moment, but he jumped backward with insane speed and avoided the explosion.

That confirmed it… they knew that they had magic bombs on them, and they didn't care about that at all. When he saw that, Rain got annoyed… wasting their lives like that when they knew that they wouldn't have a second chance…

"Since it is like this… then so be it," Rain thought. "These guys are a lost cause…"

Rain charged toward the enemies in all directions, and then palm struck their chests again and again. Their bones cracked and pierced their organs as they flew into the distance before they exploded a few seconds later.

The skill Iron Fists leveled up.

The champion's path received 440 experience points.

The skill Iron Fists leveled up.

The champion's path received 450 experience points.

…

Rain was determined to turn their power into his and make good use of it… so he killed the humans nonstop. His friends realized his intentions and decided to support him… thanks to that change in the group, their side began to advance more and more through the enemy's lines.

Before not so long, the group reached the city, which means that they crossed at least half of the path toward the king and Joanis. They left a sea of blood and corpses on the way, but they didn't lose their focus despite that.

When they reached the area, they found still a large number of heavily armored soldiers blocking the streets and their paths, and Rain was also able to see the special soldiers commanding several of those groups… he wondered why they only revealed themselves now, but they didn't have much time for that.

Rain finally had a clear view of the king and Joanis, and this time, he probably could reach them in a few seconds, but getting closer to them without knowing how to undo that barrier was a waste of time.

While Rain was thinking of that, he suddenly saw the king raising his right arm, and in the next moment, the atmosphere changed. He didn't have any relics with him, and he wasn't supposed to be a good mage either, so Rain wondered what was the meaning of that.

In the next moment, everyone began to hear disturbing sounds coming from behind, and when they turned, they saw the bodies of the fallen soldiers exploding, not like before, but just like their blood was unable to stay inside them.

Everyone looked at that with surprise and shock in their eyes… they couldn't understand the meaning of that. Still, eventually, Rain could see the blood slowly moving before staying still for a while…

"Get back! Raise your guards, and don't let the blood touch you!" Rain shouted with all their might. "It is a trap!"

Everyone understood the severity of the situation… they could see how the whole blood that had been shed was being controlled by something, most likely by the king. They immediately tried to leave the barrier with all their might, but soon, blood spikes emerged from all directions and moved toward them…

Rain kicked the ground and then raised a massive earth wall with his strength alone and then blocked several to the blood spikes, but soon they destroyed that. His friends and allies tried to do something similar, but eventually, they failed as well… they used their weapons to block the sea of blood advance, but they eventually were overwhelmed.

Everyone began to be hit by the blood spikes… but they didn't feel any pain. They just got glued to their bodies and eventually were absorbed. Rain panicked when he saw everyone suffering from that: his father, his friends… him, and the sea emperor fought until the end and kept punching the blood for a while, but eventually, even they were overwhelmed.

Everyone tried to fight back, but the blood eventually began to control all of their movements, even of the sea Emperor… that was the king's plan all along… using the blood of the fallen soldiers to get a much more powerful army. That was the magic that they were planning to use to defeat the dragons and subjugate them.

The bodies of everyone started to turn red, and they became unable to resist… panic and horror could be seen through their eyes since that was the only part that they could control. Little by little, they became puppets for the king.

"How dare you!" The sea emperor shouted while emitting his bloodlust that could make all the soldiers in the city tremble in fear. "You dare to control the sea emperor? After using my brethren like tools for your stupid cause? Is your insolence endless? You will die here, human king! Mark my words!"

The sea emperor resisted for a while… even though more and more blood began to enter his body. At the same time, he felt a shiver when he realized that Rain wouldn't be able to resist for that long and he would be a troublesome adversary to deal with without his magic…

Still, when he looked to the side, the sea emperor was flabbergasted… Rain's body was imploding from the inside out… the enemy had no intentions of controlling him. They only wanted him dead.

The blood that entered Rain's cells eventually exploded and destroyed it. Every single part of his skin was damaged like that… if he were to open his eyes, they would be the first to go down, and he would be done, so he resisted the pain and tried to understand how the enemy's attack worked… he couldn't leave until he had a clear way to stop it.