Blood oath
The arena's stale air reeked of iron and decay. Before Dax stood a **Fangrot**, a poison-drenched lizard common to toxic marshlands. Its scales shimmered a venomous green, and its claws glistened crimson—not with blood, but with a lethal toxin potent enough to kill an ordinary human in minutes.
Dax crouched low, muscles tense. The **Earth Dragon Body** had toughened him against poisons—its hardened tissues slowed toxins, but didn't erase their sting. Fire already licked through his veins. He'd felt worse.
The Fangrot hissed, its tongue flicking between serrated fangs.
Dax grinned. Cold. Calculated. "Let's see how deadly you really are."
It lunged, wild and desperate—starving. Dax didn't flinch. He planted his feet, weight anchored deep into the earth. The Fangrot's claws slashed wide—too wide. He sidestepped and slammed his fist into its skull.
**CRACK!**
The beast staggered, dazed.
Dax's hand ached, but he didn't stop. He swung his arm like a cleaver, slicing at the beast's neck with the edge of his palm. Bone and scale cracked. The crowd, once jeering, quieted—surprise thick in the air.
But the Fangrot twisted violently, expelling a cloud of invisible gas.
*Shit—*
He breathed it in before he could stop himself. His lungs flared with heat. His vision fractured—two Fangrots now swayed before him, their outlines twitching like broken reflections.
*Hallucinogen. Smart.*
Through the haze, the real one shifted left. He caught the subtlest tell—the slight delay in its tail's movement.
The Fangrot zigzagged, claws aimed low.
Dax couldn't dodge fully. Its talons raked his side. Blood welled, dark and sluggish. But the **Earth Dragon Body** had done its job—the wound was shallow.
He grabbed the creature's claw, grip iron-tight. "Got you."
With a guttural roar, Dax twisted his torso and flipped the beast onto its back. His side throbbed, poison creeping deeper, but he forced the pain down.
He dropped onto the Fangrot, fists raining down.
**THUD! THUD! CRACK!**
The Fangrot screeched, tail lashing, striking Dax's back. With each hit, more venom seeped into him—he could feel it. Muscles numbing. Breath shortening.
But he didn't stop.
*If I slow down, I die.*
He drew on sheer rage, his punches turning brutal—more force than technique.
**CRACK!**
The Fangrot's ribs snapped like brittle wood.
The crowd's silence was suffocating now—gasps, a few turned heads. One woman shielded her child's eyes. Others watched, horrified but unable to look away.
"Even if I die," Dax growled, blood spilling from his lips, "I'll make sure your death's worse."
He stood, staggered once—then stomped down.
**CRACK! CRACK!**
The Fangrot's chest caved in. With a savage pull, Dax yanked his boot free, dragging shreds of heart and bone with it.
The beast twitched once. Then stilled.
The crowd didn't cheer. They only watched as Dax swayed, then straightened, his body soaked in blood—his and the Fangrot's.
*Another fight. Another step closer to freedom. But how much longer can I keep this up?*
He took one heavy step, then another, until a guard caught him by the arm and led him away. The crowd parted in silence as he passed.
Back in his cellar, he collapsed onto the cold stone. His bloodied hands trembled. The cracked ceiling blurred above him before darkness took hold.
---
Darkness swallowed him.
After experiencing the previous owner's memories, Dax appeared in a cold, heavy void. A low rumble echoed through the abyss, like stone shifting deep underground.
Dax floated, weightless, until the darkness fractured.
Cracks of gold light split the void.
**THOOM.**
Suddenly, he stood at the base of a towering mountain. Its jagged peaks tore into storm-filled skies. Thunder rumbled above, but it was the earth beneath him that breathed, each pulse slow and ancient.
Before him, a figure trained alone. Its fists struck the mountain's face—each blow booming like a war drum. Dust clouds erupted. Boulders cracked and split. The figure's skin gleamed bronze, covered in scales, his muscles layered like iron beneath stone.
Dax tried to move, but his feet were rooted.
The figure turned.
No face. No features. Just glowing, amber eyes.
"You seek strength… but strength is earned through weight—through stone, through struggle."
The voice wasn't loud, but it pressed against Dax's chest like a landslide.
The figure raised his arms wide. The mountain behind him rumbled, and the ground beneath Dax quaked.
"Bear the weight… or be crushed by it."
Suddenly, Dax's body grew heavy. His legs buckled as an invisible force pressed down on him—crushing, relentless. Veins bulged in his arms, his breath became fire in his lungs.
"Is this all you have?"
Dax snarled, his pride clawing its way to the surface.
"I don't break."
He slammed his fists into the ground.
**BOOM!**
In that moment, the **demonic scales** Dax possessed grew out from his body, protecting him from the pressure. Instantly, the weight vanished. Golden cracks split across his scales, light pouring into his core.
Then—silence.
When Dax opened his eyes, he was back in his room, but his body was different. He could feel it—every cell alive, coiled with raw, earthen strength and something **demonic**.
A deep, grounding energy thrummed through him.
And with it, the knowledge of the **Earth Dragon Body Technique**—not just the method, but the mindset: endure, anchor, and then… crush.
Dax flexed his hand, the air seeming to thicken around him.
"Heh. I'll take it."
Dax sat on his bed, recalling his experience. "We aren't so different after all ," he murmured. He felt a pang of sympathy for his predecessor—a life filled with struggles. But the current Dax had endured his own share of pain, perhaps even worse.
"We are one and the same. Your pain is my pain. Your struggle is my struggle. And your family is my family." His predecessor's wish had been to stand at the pinnacle of this world, and Dax was willing to fulfill it.
Taking a deep breath, he bit into his hand, allowing his blood to drip onto the ground as an oath. In that moment, a notification from Inerous flashed in his mind.
**Soul Synchrony: 100%.**
*Earth Dragon Technique: 2nd Layer (Acquired).*
*Master, a strange occurrence has taken place in your body. Synthesis has enveloped your very being, fusing your skill, Demonic Scales, with the Earth Dragon Technique.*
*Abyssal scales.*
Dax pondered deeply. He had never experienced this anomaly before. But he didn't dwell on it for too long—it was to his benefit, after all.