Chapter 290: Dogs And Wolves (15)

“That was ages ago...!” Riarc kicked Horus in the stomach as he charged.

Horus slid back across the ground.

Riarc tried to seize the moment and attack, but his clenched fist began to tremble. “

Kgh...!

”

A sharp, searing pain coursed through him like needles tearing at every inch of his flesh.

Is it because of the restrictions of the Law?

He hadn’t used enough of the Stigma’s power to be restrained yet, which could only mean one thing.

Far in the distance, Vega had collapsed in Kwon Oh-Jin’s palm and was gasping for breath. “

Haa, haa.

”

Riarc worriedly stepped toward Vega.

However, Horus came barreling in like a thunderbolt and smashed his shoulder into Riarc’s chin. “Keep your eyes on me!”

Riarc flew nearly five meters into the air and slammed into the ruined fountain again.

“Didn’t you see how Kalike died just now?” Horus glared at Riarc with blazing eyes.

Losing focus in the middle of a fight was no different than offering up one’s life.

Riarc staggered up from the wreckage and nodded as he wiped the blood from his lips. “My apologies.”

Now wasn’t the time to worry about Vega. He needed to focus on the enemy standing before him, his childhood friend and irreplaceable comrade.

“Here I go,” Riarc said.

Blue lightning blazed through the strands of his silver mane.

Crackle!

They locked eyes, and the two wolves kicked off the ground at the same time.

Boom!

Charging straight at each other, Horus swiped with his claw first.

“

Hup!

”

His claws lengthened like blades and slashed down diagonally. A dark aura enveloped the claws and burned like fire.

Riarc, still charging forward, stomped hard. The ground caved beneath him as he shot up.

“Don’t you dare!” Horus stomped and looked up.

He thrust his claws together like a spear toward Riarc in the air.

Crackle!

Riarc twisted in midair using Lightning Steps and dodged Horus’s claws. His fist, crackling with lightning, smashed into Horus’s solar plexus.

“

Kugh!

” Horus crashed down like a meteor.

Thud!

Lying on the ground, he looked up at Riarc floating above and freely shifting directions with lightning footholds.

“When did you learn that trick?” Horus asked.

“A hundred years is a long time.”

Riarc had locked himself behind a wall, but that didn’t mean he had idly wasted time within it.

“I see.” Horus nodded with a smirk. “You're right. A hundred years is a very long time.”

His black mane bristled as he crouched low on all fours.

Horus’s eyes glowed a burning red as he growled at Riarc. “

Grrrrrrrrr!

”

The oppressive bloodlust felt like stepping into a den of starving wolves and threatened to suffocate everything around them.

Riarc’s face stiffened. “That’s...”

Horus had entered a berserk state, which drew out the beastkin's ability to its absolute limit. To enter the berserk state, certain conditions had to be met.

First, one needed to possess thick enough beast blood to allow this state. Only purebloods among beastkin could achieve this.

Second, the body had to be strong enough to endure it. Most beastkin would instantly die from the boiling blood once they entered a berserk state.

Third, a full moon had to be up in the night sky. Only under a full moon, when beast blood was at its strongest, could the berserk state be triggered.

“How the hell are you in a berserk state in broad daylight?” Riarc asked.

However, it was the middle of the day. The sun hadn’t even set, let alone a full moon appearing. Even if Horus met the first two conditions, entering the berserk state should have been impossible. Through some kind of trick, he managed to do it during the day.

“Didn’t you say so yourself? A hundred years is a long time.”

On top of that, even while in the berserk state, Horus remained lucid enough to carry on a normal conversation.

“

Hahaha

. I see.” Riarc gulped and clenched his fists.

He kept a wary eye on Horus’s movements. Those eerie, flaming red eyes kept flickering left and right.

Boom!

Suddenly, a jolt of searing pain ripped through Riarc. In a moment that couldn’t have lasted more than a heartbeat, Horus vanished like a ghost and reappeared right in front of him.

“

Ugh!

” Startled, Riarc instinctively raised his arms to block his face.

It wasn’t a calculated move, but a reflex born of raw instinct.

Horus’s fist came crashing down on Riarc’s forearm.

The ground beneath them caved in as if an excavator had struck and forced Riarc back.

“

Grrrrrr!

”

Horus didn’t stop there. He launched a flurry of punches too fast for the naked eye to track. His strength and speed reached an entirely different level from before.

Blasted by the relentless blows, Riarc became battered like a rag doll and flew back.

“

Kugh!

” He coughed up a mouthful of dark, clotted blood due to his insides being reduced to a pulp.

Horus looked down at him with glowing red eyes. “Compared to all that big talk, you’re not much, Riarc.”

Riarc silently wiped the blood from his mouth and got back to his feet. He tried to steady himself and clench his fists again, but staggered as blue sparks burst from him.

Snap! Crackle!

“

Gugh!

”

The restrictions of the Law that bound Celestials finally began to take hold of him too.

Even Horus furrowed his brow, sensing something off about Riarc’s condition. “What’s going on with you?”

“It’s nothing...

Argh! Aaaagh!

” Riarc dropped to one knee as he curled inward.

An indescribable, overwhelming pain tore through him as if warning him that it would tear him apart if he took one more step.

Kwon Oh-Jin stepped toward him. “That’s enough, Riarc.”

He grabbed Riarc’s shoulder and gently pulled him back.

Riarc shrugged off his hand and shot him a sharp glare. “What do you think you’re doing, kid?”

“The restrictions of the Law are affecting you, aren’t they?”

“That’s—”

“I’ll finish this.”

Kwon Oh-Jin turned to face Horus with his spear.

A head-on fight against Horus would be nearly impossible to win without Vega’s blessing, but Isabella and Song Ha-Eun arrived just in time after resolving the situation in the village.

“Mr. Oh-Jin!”

“Oh-Jin! We’ve cleared out the enemies near the village!”

With the three of them together, they could handle even the berserk Horus.

“You’ve held out long enough,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

While Star Spirits faced fewer restrictions compared to Celestials, that didn’t mean Riarc didn’t receive any. If he continued using his strength, the restrictions of the Law would tear him apart.

However, Riarc simply laughed and stood up again. “Held out long enough? Don’t talk nonsense, kid.”

Grinding his teeth, he took a step toward Horus. Even that single step felt like being slashed by multiple blades.

“This is a fight between us wolves.”

He couldn’t let anyone interfere, even if that interference was the very restrictions of the Law created by transcendents.

The dim blue lightning around him violently flared like oil being poured onto a dying flame.

Crackle!

Cracks spread across Riarc like shattered glass, and blood gushed out from between his torn flesh.

“H-Hey! What’s happening to your body?!” Song Ha-Eun shouted in horror.

He looked like a glass pane struck by a hammer, covered in web-like cracks and ready to shatter at the slightest touch.

“

Guh. Aaagh!

”

The more he drew on his Stigma’s power, the more unbearable the pain became. Biting his lip, Riarc took another step forward.

Kwon Oh-Jin watched his back with a stiff expression. “Riarc...”

“You said it yourself, kid.” Riarc turned to face him with a smile. “If it's something that can be solved by enduring, then it’s nothing.”

If pain was the price he had to pay, he would gladly bear it just like Kwon Oh-Jin.

Riarc took a deep breath and raised his head. An illusion of the wall that he couldn’t and hadn’t crossed in a century, the shackles of fear that had bound him, appeared before him.

Riarc suddenly started laughing without warning. “

Hahaha!

”

The wall that had once seemed impossibly high and utterly insurmountable now seemed flimsy and frail.

“So, this was all it was?”

He clenched his fist, and blue lightning blazed. The Stigma etched into his chest glowed like a star. Agonizing pain surged within him as if threatening him, “How dare you think of crossing that wall?”

“I’m not crossing it.”

The restrictions of the Law intensified, causing chunks of his flesh to crumble and fall like shattered cubes. The searing pain scorched his sanity like a wildfire.

“Do you think...!” He stomped down and roared.

Boom!

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

He didn’t care if he fell apart.

“Do you think you can bind me, Riarc Khan, with this?!”

He hurled his fist at the wall before him.

Crack!

The wall that had imprisoned him for a century split and began to collapse. Beyond that crumbling wall stood Horus, grinning widely at Riarc.

“

Khahaha!

You’re still ignorant as always!”

“Horuuuuus!”

“Riarrrrrc!”

The two wolves charged.

The ground trembled, and the grand castle began to collapse.

Rumble!

The two wolves raced toward each other in a straight line and clashed.

“

Kugh!

”

Just like that, a hole the size of a basketball appeared in Horus’s chest. Riarc’s fist had driven straight through him.

Horus chuckled even with his chest torn open. “

Khahaha!

What a splendid blow... Riarc.”

“Don’t be dramatic.

Kugh.

” Blood gushed from Riarc’s mouth.

With a faint smile, Horus placed his hand on Riarc’s arm, still lodged in his chest.

“I was born a wolf... but lived like a dog,” Horus said, full of regret. “But thanks to you... I get to die as a wolf. Thank you, Riarc.”

With those final words, the red flames in Horus’s eyes went out, and he finally collapsed to the ground.

Thud.

“Rest well...” Riarc reached out and gently closed the faded eyes of his long-time friend.

Then, he stood tall and pounded the left side of his chest three times.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.