Death...?

The fire caused a pain unlike anything Minos had ever experienced before, so deep that he could even feel it burning his soul.

At this rate, not only would his body be reduced to ashes, so would his soul, so without a second more to waste, Minos rapidly ran the Heaven Forsaken Furnace Technique.

Beyond a few mortal creatures, Minos had never tried to absorb a demonic beast or a cultivator, much less one as powerful as this.

But with no other choices and nothing to lose, he decided to go for it, sacrificing everything within him to increase its power.

As the Heaven Forsaken Furnace Technique kicked into action, Minos could feel strands of the beast's power flow into him.

Unfortunately, the beast was just too strong, so Minos's absorption only worked at a snail's pace, not nearly fast enough to do anything.

Beyond that, the blue flame was rapidly melting both his and the beast's flesh, causing the two to fuse into a horrifying looking abomination.

Soon enough, Minos's body from the neck down was completely melted, his incredible vitality being the only thing keeping his mind intact.

But as the blue flame kept spreading, it soon encompassed his head as well, rapidly melting through his skin and bone.

Soon enough the entire world went black, his eyes turning into dust from the intense heat.

At this point, both him and the beast had been reduced to a slurry on the floor, their indomitable souls being the only things keeping them alive.

With his vision deprived, Minos could only operate within his soul space, looking out towards the endless star-like apertures, a final comfort before he died completely.

But even this place wasn't safe, the blue flame so miraculous that Minos soon noticed it began spreading around in this place, as metaphysical as it was.

From the edges in, the blue flame rapidly ate away at his 'stars,' getting closer and closer towards his soul at the center.

"So this is it, huh?" A voice suddenly said.

"I guess so. I suppose I'm not the one after all." Minos smiled, already extremely familiar with this strange phantom man.

"Heh, maybe not, but hey, at least your death was an interesting one. Rest assured though, as amazing as this flame is, it isn't as amazing as we are."

"That's good. I'd be pretty heartbroken if I was the one who caused the Heaven Forsaken to cease to exist." Minos laughed.

"Hahaha, don't worry about the Heaven Forsaken, it's a curse that won't die so easily, but to be honest, while we won't die, you will, after all your soul is about to be turned to ashes…"

"Is that so? What a shame, and just when I thought the future was looking bright." Minos sighed, looking back towards the blue flame that was inching closer.

"... There's still one thing you can do." The phantom man suddenly added.

"Really?" Minos said, turning towards him.

"You can burn your soul and use it to increase the strength of the Heaven Forsaken Furnace Technique, which might just give you enough strength to turn the tides."

"Of course the far more likely outcome is that your soul is just burned up even faster, but from the looks of it, you don't have much time anyways."

"I might as well try then. Thanks."

"No problem, after all, your victory is my victory, and your defeat is my defeat." The man smiled, vanishing once more.

As he vanished, a new strand of information appeared within Minos's mind, teaching him how to ignite his soul.

After quickly mastering it, Minos turned his eyes towards the blue flame that was only a few seconds from submerging him, his legs crossed as he floated peacefully and activated the technique.

As the technique triggered, Minos's entire soul-body was instantly ignited in a deep-red flame, his soul slowly consumed from the bottom up.

However as his soul burned, he could feel his strength increasing rapidly, so without a moment's waste, he once again activated the Heaven Forsaken Furnace Technique.

This time, rather than a weak suction, it was like he had turned into a black hole, the effect so strong that the blue flame around him was also being rapidly consumed, fusing into his soul.

But the more he absorbed, the faster his soul would burn, the red-flame taking on a tinge of blue as the blue flame became one with it.

Still calm, Minos didn't stop his absorption, his soul having already been consumed by half.

Not realizing it, the blue flames that surrounded his physical body, that had long since been reduced to ashes, were also being siphoned into his soul.

Soon enough, both him and the beast's bodies were finally free from the blue flame, Minos having pulled it all into his soul space.

However unlike Minos, who's physical body was long since dead and gone, the leopard-like creature still had a strand of vitality, its body having not been completely destroyed.

Just as the leopard-like creature was about to jump in joy, it felt an suction power act against it, its body far too weak to fight it.

Like that, Minos proceeded to not only devour the leopard-like beast, but even devour the ashes of what was once his body.

Not leaving a single piece of dust, Minos absorbed everything into his soul, soon enough coming eye to eye with the leopard-beasts soul.

Suddenly finding itself in this strange place, the beast let out roars of anger and horror, but ignoring it, Minos just kept absorbing, the beast falling into his soul, quickly burning up like a comet descending towards earth.

Despite its fierce struggle, it was futile in the face of Minos's power, its soul almost immediately becoming one with his.

By this point, the only thing left of Minos's soul was his head, and he was already certain he was going to die, but as the leopard-like beast's soul fused into his, something miraculous happened.

With this final surge of outside power, Minos seemed to make it over the precipice, his soul finally finding the last bit of strength it needed to complete its battle with the blue flame.

Absorbing the last piece of the blue flame, Minos suddenly felt a relief he had never experienced before, his soul feeling so light that it was like it could detach from his body.

With the blue flame and the leopard-like beast's soul devoured, Minos's soul underwent an evolution, being rapidly rebuilt, though not in its original form.

As his soul was reconstructed, Minos took on a new appearance, a thick black-mane of hair that rapidly grew down to his waist coupled with cat-like ears on top, and piercing-blue pupils, the same ones the leopard-like beast had.

His facial features also became much sharper and more attractive, three whisker-like marks appearing on each side of his face, adding even more majesty to his appearance.

After that, his body was recreated, somehow even more attractive and proportional then his old one, as if each muscle was hand-crafted by the heavens themselves.

His height was also increased, from his previous 200 cm to around 220, finally crossing the seven-foot mark.

However just as Minos thought the transformation was over, he felt a pain appearing near the back of his waist.

Suddenly, a single black tail rapidly grew out, a blue flame even more intense then the one the leopard had, appearing on top of it.

But it didn't stop there, and after the first tail, another followed, then a third, only stopping when nine tails had appeared, each one carrying a blue flame.

At this point his soul transformation was finally over, which seemed to cause a change in the outside world as well.

From the remains of both his and the leopard-like beast's body, a blue flame began slowly spreading.

As the flame spread over their remains, it seemed to give the dead flesh a spark of vitality.

With the vitality spreading, the remains quickly began morphing, slowly levitating upwards fusing together into one floating sphere.

Suddenly, from the sphere, a leg popped out, then another, then a pair of arms, and finally a head, soon taking on the exact same appearance as Minos's soul.

As the body gently levitated back to the floor, Minos's eyes instantly flung open and his cat-like ears unconsciously perked, his familiar surroundings reminding him that he was actually alive.

Lowering his head, he looked down at his body that was both familiar and not, the old wrinkly skin from before having been replaced by a tight smooth one.

Lifting his hand, Minos looked down at his fingers, each nail being replaced by a razor-sharp claw that he could fortunately retract and extract at will.

With a little thought, the long nails quickly retracted, though the extremely sharp-tips made it clear that they still weren't normal.

Reaching out, Minos grasped at his extremely thick and long hair and pulled it towards his eyes, soon spotting the black-hairs that had replaced his gray ones.

He also felt the nine foreign appendages on his back, but fortunately just like his new claws, he could control them with ease, twirling them around a bit just for fun.