First Phase

Fwoosh!

Sou's feet moved at high speed as he scaled the enormous peak. He used small fire bursts in succession to give himself a bit more lift-off with every wind-engulfed step.

"How big is this anyway?"

"Doesn't that mean my cover has been already blown?"

"Can I count on you all if things go south?"

"Tch... so harsh." Sou stepped on the ground even harder, giving him a considerable amount of boost.

"May, c'mon, show some support!" Sou cried for support.

"You too? Sigh... I guess I have to do it myself then."

"Even Junko... Hm?"

"GROAAAARRRRR!!" four Blues roared in unison.

"It's really annoying when you are so aloof, but I can this is a blessing in disguise. I can at least ready myself beforehand."

"A puny human dares to kill our brethren?!" A Blue shot a fire breath at Sou with intent to burn him to ashes.

"This is a bad match-up."

"So you have yielded but we shall not show you any mercy! Die!"

The breath hit him and his surrounding, turning everything into boiling liquid.

"Hmph! That should take care of that human brat."

The Blues shrugged and turned to fly away when they a small chuckle. They quickly turned their distressed faces towards the laugh.

"Heh... I meant for you all." Sou said shrugging off the dust from his shoulders.

"What?!"

'How is a brat like him still alive getting by a Dragon's fire?'

"Don't think too hard. You are not gonna find an answer even if you do."

Slash!

The Blue's head fell off into the misty clouds hovering below them.

"That's 146. More 4 left." Sou said with the flame blade pointed towards the other three.

"ROAARRRRR!!"

{Someone has used 'Roar'}

{Neutralizing the effects of 'Roar'}

"Roar, huh... nice try but that's not enough to take me down!" Sou dashed towards the one who used Roar and was about to swing his extended blade through the mouth. Suddenly, a huge claw struck Sou from the side which sent him flying in the opposite direction of the cliff. As he was falling, he used Mana's Authority on the Blue who hit him right before he went outside the skill's range, and used it to pull himself towards the Blue.

"This is payback!" Sou raised his right heel making 180 degrees with his other leg and dropped it on the Blue's head, making it flip in the air. While it was halfway through its flip, Sou called forth his flame blade, stabbed it in the Blue's chest while hanging onto the peak using Mana's Authority and twisted it rapidly causing the dark blood of the creature to gush out like a fountain, drenching the other beings. The Blue's wings stopped flapping and the creature itself fell to the bottom of the peak.

"147." Sou rolled his gaze to the one he wanted to finish first.

The Blue's movements stopped for a moment when he saw Sou's cold and deadly stare, but quickly livened up as his intention to escape without any potential damage took over it. The Blue flapped his wings heavily to ascend but was interrupted by a strange force that kept it from flying.

"Why? Why? Why?!!"

Its eyes went to Sou's body and saw his right palm pointed towards its body.

"You! What did you do?!"

"No need to know." Sou threw himself towards the peak using Mana's Authority by his left hand and blasted off from there, readying his flame blade to run through the Blue's head.

"Don't think you are the only one who can use flames like that!!" the Blue snapped and used its Flame element to make a sharp blade twice its size. The other Blue also did the same after seeing its comrade's attempt to survive.

"Die!!" screamed the other one while swinging the blade from behind

Sou dodged by hair's breadth and instantly appeared in front of the vertically held blade of the Blue in front of him and swung 'his' flame blade.

"Ha! That's usele-"

Before the flame blade touched with the other one, it disappeared from Sou's hands and after his hands passed the blade, flame again spread across his arm and took the shape of an extended blade in an instant which sliced through the Blue's neck, chopping it off. Immediately after the slicing, Sou kicked his feet off the Blue's body, lifting himself above the other Blue. He spread his arms and bent his body backwards, performing a beautiful swan dive. When he was about to fall upside-down, he spun his like spinning top and regained his previous posture. Afterwards, he used Mana's Authority at the Blue, pulling himself towards its face and slashing the Blue's diagonally.

"And that's 148 and 149."

{You have gained a large amount Experience Points}

{Evaluation will take some time}

"What? These guys only amounted to this? Such a disappointment."

Tring!

{You have unlocked the 'First phase'}

"First phase?"

As soon as he said it, a great surge of energy akin to mana started to flow vigorously. He felt like his insides were burning. The extreme burning sensation started from his chest and spread throughout his body at a high speed. He tried to endure but to no avail. The pain was too much for him. Veins started to pop up all over his body. Groan and heavy panting made their way out of his mouth. Even tears started to come into sight in his eyes.

After a few minutes or so, he calmed down a bit. He still felt the pain inside him, but it seemed like he got used to the pain. The pain was unfathomable, but it was not the pain only. With it, came great power. He felt like he could destroy a small city with minimum effort.

"What the hell? No. Can't waste any time here thinking. Gotta use this power."

Sou steeled his body and blasted off. He felt like his speed has increased tenfold. His previous speed was nowhere near the current. He kept at his pace until he reached the top. When he reached the top, he only found a space, seemingly a platform, empty.

"Now... Where are you?!"

Dum!

A large creature landed in front of Sou from above, shaking the entire Valley of Blues with the footstep.

Sou looked up to scale the figure's height.

As soon as his gaze and the figure's gaze met each other, Sou fell to one knee. His body screaming at him to run from there.

A quenching pressure that buries your toe in the ground and plunders the strength from your knees, a power that you can't imagine to match and makes you yield to it, a presence so majestic and frightening that makes your guts seem useless- that was what Sou was experiencing.

"So... you are the main boss..."

***