Bloody Beast on Two Paths

[WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SCENES OF SELF-MUTILATION OF A MINOR THAT SOME READERS MAY FIND DISTURBING! DISCRETION IS ADVISED!]

Once his answer left his lips, Daniel was enveloped in an aura of Revel. A similar cloak of energy came over Maggie as well though hers was green and Daniel's was red. The young boy thought little of it and charged at the blonde woman. He ran towards her on all fours like he was some kind of beast. As soon as he was close enough he leapt into the air and tried to kick Maggie. However, Maggie blocked the attack with her left hand and landed a punch on Daniel's chest that sent him flying.

The boy was sent hurling across the ring and crashing into the ground. He almost fell out of the ring but he stopped himself in time by stabbing his fingers into the ground and slowing himself down. Though he had not taken any real damage from the hit, it had felt different from other times. It was as though the aura around him had sustained the damage for him instead. Just then both contestants had the aura around them dissipate. Maggie raised her finger to her mouth and asked another question.

"How would you rather die, by burning or by drowning?" She asked.

From the contestant waiting room, Adira kissed the back of his teeth with his tongue.

"She has that Revel Art," He grimaced.

"What are you talking about?" Sola asked.

"It's that chick's Revel Art. It's called Two Paths. The user gives you a question with two answers, and depending on what answer you pick you get a buff or debuff related to that answer while the user gets the effect of the other answer,"

"Why doesn't he just refuse to answer?"

"There are only two ways to not answer the question," Adira stated. "You either have to be deaf or unable to speak. If not, you'd be compelled to speak by the Art,"

"Hmmm," Daniel thought to himself. "I'd rather be burnt to death. It's less drawn out,"

Again, another set of auras surrounded Daniel and Maggie. This time, the red aura that surrounded the boy looked like it was made from fire and the green aura surrounding the woman was like a bubble of water. Daniel charged at the woman again, leaving scorch marks as he went forward. He threw an overhead punch at Maggie but his attack was stopped by the watery aura that surrounded her. The blonde woman grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him to her aura. His eyes tensed as the auras reacted volatilely to each other, causing a burst of a stream to come forth as his fire was extinguished.

The two auras were vanquished leaving Daniel red as a beet while Maggie had come out of the encounter unharmed. She placed her foot on his chest and kicked him backwards. Once again, the rough-haired boy found himself near the corner of the ring. However, this did not put him into his dismay. Rather, he was elated. He smiled widely revealing his mouth full of fanglike teeth. His yellow eyes were more beastlike, his irises slit like some form of animal. Daniel jabbed his fingers into his wrist and slit it open. He raised his arm over his head, pouring his blood over himself.

"He's finally doing it!" Adira grinned.

"Is that his Revel Art?" Sola asked. The grey-haired man had had his interest piqued by it when Adira had mentioned it had something to do with his blood.

"Yep! From what I heard, they used to call that kid the 'Bloody Beast' before Walker beat him and took him under his wing. Whenever he covers himself with his blood, he's able to draw out more of his species' full power,"

"His species?" Sola raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Daniel's one of the Thirio," Adira replied.

Sola's insensitivity was replaced by shock. The Thirio were one of the oldest races in Yubila. No one knew where they had come from, only what they had come from. Destruction. Like a plague-like frenzy, they went to every planet and sought to consume them in their entirety. They were nigh impossible to kill due to their abnormal physicality. The only reason the galaxy was still in existence was due to the creation of a bio-weapon that eliminated the species, or at least that was what Sola had thought.

"Well, technically, he's only part Thirio," The bearded man said. "Okay, more of 1/4th Thirio but he has their genes. By spilling his blood on himself, he uses his Revel to replace the lost blood with one that's more like that of a pure-blo Thirio. However, because of how supercharged the blood and cells he makes with his Revel are, they revert to their original genetic consistency over time,"

"You seem to know a lot about Revel Arts," Sola commented. Adira rubbed his nose with his finger as he smiled.

"With a Revel Art like mine, you'd need to know about other Revel Arts so you can neutralise them properly!" He exclaimed.

Daniel's blood-soaked hair began to grow out, making it a long gradient of black to dark red. The blood on his skin hardened into a crimson carapace. The beast boy leaned forward with his claws on the ground, ready to pounce. He pounced towards Maggie at breakneck speed but not before she could place her finger on her mouth and speak her next question.

"Which is less resilient, rock or paper?"

"Paper!" Daniel yelled.

A thin aura covered Daniel while Maggie was encased in an armour-like aura. She ran forward and pierced through his paper-thin aura and hit Daniel's chest. However, her hand did not go through his carapace despite the weakening effects of the paper aura. The beast boy pulled his hand back and punched through the rock aura around Maggie. Though the blow did not content with her, she was still knocked back by the force of the attack. As she rolled away from the boy she felt the small box Edgar had given her. It was inevitable that she would need to use that.