The Seven Demon's Tamer

In the midst of this intensive battlefield that had once been the proud Red Eastern Guild headquarters, two figures stood facing an opponent that seemed to have crawled out of nightmares themselves.

The double-headed dragon was standing firmly, one head staring at Ryomen and the other at Zhou.

One head bore eyes that burned with orange flames, while the other glowed with deep crimson, as red as blood. Both stared with predatory focus at their respective opponents.

Ryomen was in his transformed state—a massive skeletal undead, to be precise, with hollow eye sockets that seemed to contain endless darkness and long grey hair that flowed with the wind.

The transformation had elongated his size considerably. Where once stood a decently impressive-shaped human, now evolved a towering skeletal figure around eight feet in height.

Also on the battlefield was what appeared to be a panda—but calling it a regular panda would be like calling a tornado a gentle breeze. This was Zhou in his transformed state, and the transformation had not in any way taken the cute and cuddly image of a panda.

It looked more like a gorilla in panda skin.

Zhou's face retained some human features, but his eyes were small and beady.

The first exchange had already given the two Sen enough warning not to charge in blindly.

The memory of their initial strike was still fresh and humbling—Zhou's full-strength punch connecting with the dragon's scales had felt like child's play.

Striking the dragon with their current offense was as ineffective as trying to split a rock with a knife.

Their eyes were locked, not making any move, their hair fluttering backwards from the gust of wind coming from the attacks of the others who had obviously engaged the other beasts.

Taking his stance, Ryomen was the first to break the stillness that had stretched between them for too long.

"Zhou," Ryomen called out, his voice carrying clearly and low across the space between them. "We have a slight advantage, so take your stance."

Zhou immediately dropped into his own fighting stance, his massive panda form settling into a crouched position. His red eyes never left the dragon as he waited for Ryomen to continue, knowing that Ryomen wasn't done.

"Its size is our upper hand," Ryomen continued, and in those simple words, Zhou could already begin to translate the entire picture that Ryomen had constructed in his mind.

*Vwoom.*

Ryomen had only given a clue, but Zhou's instincts could already decipher the entire strategy. The size was indeed a major factor and their trump card in this seemingly impossible fight.

The double-headed dragon was standing on all fours, yet it towered around fifteen feet high at the shoulder. Its length from snout to tail had to be at least forty feet, making it easily the largest opponent among all the familiars that had descended.

Each of its four legs was like a massive pillar—and the weight of each was apparently significant enough to crack stone with every step.

This was the first advantage they possessed: this dragon could never possibly be as fast as Draki or Valachi due to its incredible size and weight.

And they were right about that assumption. The dragon's movements, while fluid and controlled, lacked the extraordinary quickness that had made Valachi such a nightmare to fight against.

Where Valachi had such speed that could make his movements seem as if he disappeared and reappeared, this creature's movements were something any Sen could handle.

That should have been all, but Zhou, being a maniac as always, found a third benefit. The bigger a creature, the greater the quantity of blood to spray—this creature was just the size he loved.

All these factors combined to give both Sen a surge of confidence they hadn't felt since this nightmare had begun.

The fact that the three black-marked familiars had been split up among different opponents meant that they were going to have the luxury of facing this dragon with full concentration.

The overwhelming fear they had all felt at the beginning was gradually being replaced by growing determination.

The only thing they truly feared now was the possibility of anyone from their side being killed in this battle.

*Vwoom.*

Just as Ryomen had blasted himself forward after his brief tactical conversation with Zhou, Zhou also charged in after he analyzed everything within one-third of a second.

They were two combatants against a two-headed opponent. One Sen could engage each head, preventing the creature from bringing its full attention to bear on either of them individually.

"Haaaaaaaaa!!!"

Zhou screamed as he charged forward, the sound emerging from his transformed throat as something between a war cry and a roar.

His target was the left head, the one whose eyes burned with orange blaze. The double-headed dragon didn't possess just two heads—each head was supported by its own incredibly long neck that allowed for a range of motion of several yards.

The necks were easily twelve feet long each, covered in the same seemingly impenetrable scales as the rest of the creature, and appeared to be capable of striking while still maintaining their connection to the central body.

Zhou closed the distance with impressive speed, his powerful legs pushing his massive panda form forward. His plan was simple and direct—get close enough to land a devastating blow.

*Clang.*

The sound of Zhou's enhanced fist meeting the dragon's scales was like metal being struck by another.

Zhou's hand bounced off the beast's hard scales like he had just punched an unbendable metal wall, not even causing the slightest scratch or producing the faintest mark on the creature's hide.

The scales didn't even show scorch marks or scratches from the impact.

*ROAR!*

The dragon head responded immediately. The sound that emerged from its throat wasn't merely a roar—it was infused with one of its abilities.

The force of the roar was so intense that it lifted Zhou completely off his feet and drove him backward through the air like a projectile.

*CRASH.*

His massive form sailed through the air for nearly thirty feet before crashing to the ground with incredible force.

"Damn," Zhou managed to gasp, his voice muffled by his face being pressed into the dirt. His enhanced panda form was tough, but the sheer force of that sound attack had been overwhelming.

"I put everything I had into that punch! At the very least, I should have given it a headache!"

The wave of crushing force from the ongoing roar continued to press down on him, making it almost impossible to move.

Zhou could barely sense his fingers, let alone command them to help him rise. His entire body felt as though it were being compressed by an invisible weight that was steadily increasing.

The roar clearly wasn't mere sound; with the power behind it, it was definitely amplified with gamma energy, pressing Zhou with oppressive force to the ground.

When the roar stopped, Zhou had already been completely immobilized.

'I am down already!' he thought in his mind, wishing his mouth was capable of moving enough to speak out.

But his situation was about to become significantly worse, and Zhou noticed it quickly with the side of his eyes.

"No, no, no, no. This can't be happening. Not like this. Not when I haven't even gotten started yet!"

The pressure in the air began to change again, and Zhou, with his face pressing against the ground sideways, moved his shaking eyeball in horror to stare at the dragon head that had put him in this state.

The creature was preparing a second attack, and this time it wasn't going to be mere sound and force. This time, flames were gathering in the dragon's throat—flames that burned with such intensity that Zhou could feel their heat even from this distance. The orange fire built and danced within the creature's mouth, growing brighter and more concentrated with each passing second.

*Recover Flow*

The technique activated just as the dragon's head snapped forward and opened its jaws to release hell itself.

*BWWOOOOOOOMMM!*

The sound of flame consuming everything in its path filled the air with a roar that outclassed even the dragon's earlier sound attack.

The fire was a pure orange blaze, something unlike any fire on planet Terra.

The fire burned with such incredible heat that it didn't just incinerate everything in its path; it melted the very ground beneath it, turning solid earth and stone into bubbling, red-hot lava that lightened the darkness of the night.

The flame lasted for what felt like an eternity but was probably only around five to ten seconds. When it finally died away, a perfectly straight line of destruction marked where the attack had passed.

Everything in its path had been reduced to molten fluid.

Ryomen, who had been engaging the other draconic head—the one with red eyes—froze in the middle of his own combat and slowly turned toward the field where Zhou had been fighting.

His hollow eye sockets widened in what could only be described as shock as he glanced at where Zhou should have been a second ago.

For a moment, the realization of what had just occurred almost made the stoic Ryomen falter. The possibility that Zhou had just been reduced to ash was almost undeniable.

But then, in a gesture of annoyance, Ryomen scoffed and turned away from the scene of destruction.

"I hate it when you don't value your life, Zhou," he commented aloud, his hollow voice carrying loudly.

"Yeah, yeah," came Zhou's voice from directly beside Ryomen, causing the skeletal Sen to turn to him without the slightest bit of surprise. "Where's the fun when there are no spices?"

Zhou was standing right next to Ryomen, his massive panda form intact but clearly showing the effects of his narrow escape. His fur was smoking, masking him in black cloud.

Parts of his black and white coat appeared scorched, and there were small patches where the fur had been burned away entirely, revealing skin that was reddened but not seriously damaged beneath.

"*Recover Flow*,"

Zhou chanted again, this time with enough time to spare to perform the technique properly.

As soon as he healed, he wasted no time.

"*Affinity of the Cursed Panda: Bamboo Forest Dominion!*"

As soon as Zhou chanted these words, the entire nature of the battlefield began to change drastically at such speed that should have been practically impossible.

From the ground itself, from every crack in the devastated earth, countless bamboo stalks began to erupt with violent force.

These weren't the gentle, swaying bamboo shoots one might find in gardens or even forests.

These were bamboo stalks infused with Zhou's gamma energy and shaped by his affinity's default. Each stalk was easily six inches in diameter and rose to heights of thirty or forty feet.

More importantly, they moved as if they were alive, bending and twisting through the air with flexibility that even Chinese Bamboo didn't possess.

The bamboo stalks that emerged from the ground intertwined around the dragon's legs, torso, necks, and even attempted to bind its massive wings. They moved with such coordination that it was clear they were controlled by Zhou's will.

The dragon recognized this threat early, but by the time it decided to react, it had already been entangled.

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!*

This time, both heads roared simultaneously, creating a sound that was so tremendous that the ground shook with the force of an earthquake. The sound waves didn't just carry force—they were infused with invincible destructive energy that ravaged everything in its path.

Zhou and Ryomen both immediately dug their feet deep into the ground, bracing themselves against the tremendous force that was about to hit them.

Despite being as prepared as they were, the sound attack was overwhelming. The sound waves struck them like a physical blow that almost lifted them off their feet and sent them flying backward.

All the bamboo that had been wrapped around the familiar—every single stalk that Zhou had summoned and carefully positioned in binding that had been wrapped around the dragon's form—was torn away by the sheer force of the dual roar.

"Wow," Zhou exclaimed with genuine appreciation, even as he struggled to maintain his footing against the continuing sound attack. "That was one hell of a roar. I'm actually impressed."

The roar finally died away, leaving behind a battlefield that had been cleared of everything except the combatants—Zhou's bamboo forest was gone.

However, the dragon wasn't finished. Having cleared away Zhou's entangling attack, it was now prepared to retaliate with something far more than mere sound.

The right head—the one with red eyes—began to open its massive jaws, and within its maw, flames began to gather.

"This is going to be..." Ryomen began, his hollow voice trailing off.

"Extremely troublesome," Zhou finished. They were right, especially since the distance between them and the beast had stretched quite far from all the sound attacks.

"Move!" Ryomen shouted, though his voice carried clearly without the need for raised volume.

*ROOOOOOOAAAAAR!*

The blood-red flames erupted from the dragon's jaws, starting with a tunnel shape, advancing forward with destruction. The fire moved faster than either Sen could run, expanding outward in a cone that would have engulfed everything in its path if there were still something left other than the combatants.

Zhou and Ryomen both sprinted in opposite directions, their enhanced speed allowing them to stay just ahead of the expanding blast of flame. The heat was so intense that even at the edges of the attack's range, they could feel their skin beginning to smoke.

*Cursed Panda Technique: Bamboo Bridge!*

Out of thin air, a pathway began to form for both of them—a bridge made of the same reinforced bamboo he had used in his earlier attack. The bridge extended from their current positions directly toward the dragon, creating a route just beside the ongoing blast of flame that allowed them to close distance while it was busy attacking.

Unfortunately, the other head wasn't just going to watch things play out while doing nothing.

*ROOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!*

The sound attack struck the bamboo bridge, shattering Zhou's carefully constructed pathway and sending fragments of bamboo flying in all directions. Once again...

"*Affinity of the Graveskull: Death Wish!*"

Ryomen chanted desperately, his hollow voice almost lost in the face of the dragon's.

"*Cursed Panda Technique: Gamma Amplified Bamboo Wall!*"

Zhou shouted simultaneously with Ryomen.

The two Sen were quick enough to react. Ryomen activated his familiar affinity while Zhou quickly created an obstruction for them to stop them from being blown into the still ongoing flame release from the red-eyed dragon.

Zhou's technique raised a massive wall of bamboo that erupted from the ground directly in front of them, but this wasn't the same bamboo he had used before. This bamboo was infused with concentrated gamma energy, making it significantly more durable and resistant.

The sound attack struck the bamboo wall with tremendous force, but this time Zhou's defense held. The wall cracked and swayed under the assault, but it didn't shatter completely. More importantly, it provided them with protection from being flung into the continuing stream of blood-red flame that was still pouring from the other dragon head.

When both attacks finally ended, Zhou found himself hanging from his own bamboo wall, his claws dug deep into the bamboo. His body was nearly as damaged as the last flame attack he escaped, but he was alive and still capable of fighting.

"We're still alive," Zhou exclaimed with a grim grin spreading across his panda features. "Let's go again."

He activated his Recover Flow technique, feeling the energy flow through his damaged body and begin the process of healing his damaged body parts. The technique, in just a few seconds, brought him back to his prime.

"You ready, Ryomen?" Zhou called out, expecting to hear his partner's dry response.

But no response came.

"What u..." Zhou turned sideways, and his cocky expression was slowly replaced with a terrified expression spreading across his face.

Zhou frantically scanned the area where Ryomen should have been. There was nothing—no ash or any trace that the Graveskull Undead had ever existed.

The realization finally dawned upon him—he was too occupied to remember placing an obstruction for Ryomen the moment the sound blast came.

Even with his Death Wish technique activated, which should have granted him abnormal durability, the flames had been too intense, too overwhelming.

The blood-red fire was not the type to burn or melt; it consumed everything in its path, and Ryomen's skeletal form had been no exception.

Even the ground where it had struck wasn't melted to molten lava; rather, a dark endless pit could be seen.

Ryomen had died.