Chapter 421: (Interlude) Ravena

Diana Ravenborne had taken her time choosing her pocket realm. It was faint, but each of the shards floating in the celestial fog radiated an aura that allowed one to guess what was lurking inside. Of course, it was still a gamble at the end of the day. But Diana felt like she had won hers.

"Everything in here is just so delectable," she smirked, raising the savage monster she had impaled with her claws off the forest floor. The little bastard snarled viciously at her despite the life leaving its beady eyes. Reaching up with her other hand, she wrapped her fingers around its legs and pulled. There was a brief shriek of pain from the monster, followed by a sickening crack and shower of blood as Diana tore it in two. Demonic mist moved at her command to block the impending splash of putrid monster blood, a lesson she had learned after the first time. It had been a real pain to clean out the smell.

Letting the two halves fall to the ground with wet thuds, she crouched down and retrieved the grey beast core nestled among some decayed leaves. Rubbing the dirt off it with her finger, she popped it in her mouth and bit down hard. Her fang pierced the core's glass-like surface, and demonic Qi gushed out and down her throat.

Closing her eyes, she filtered the demonic Qi through her spirit roots to morph it into demonic mist Qi and absorbed it into her soul. "Ahhhh, that's the good stuff," Diana spat the now dulled beast core to the ground and straightened up. Her body felt warm as the new power flowed through her. Licking her lips, she glanced around the haunted-looking forest. It was an endless wasteland of half-dead necrotic trees and swirling demonic mist. The only life she had encountered were a few monsters, all of which she had slaughtered and devoured.

After all, this is how monsters grew in power, and as a half-demon with a soul attuned to a type of demonic Qi, she grew in power by killing and eating others. Yet she wasn't too comfortable doing it around her friends at the Ashfallen Sect. Only in here, away from judgmental gazes, did she feel truly free.

"The monsters are quite weak for a supposed peak Star Core pocket realm," Diana grumbled as she glanced around to pick a direction, "I wanted to pull ahead of Stella, but I suppose treating this as an appetizer for the upcoming beast tide is good enough."

Beside the roaming monsters, the air here was thick with demonic mist Qi, so once she found a place to settle down and meditate, she expected to progress a few stages, possibly pulling ahead of Stella. Now that they were both at the 7th stage, Diana saw an opportunity to best her friendly rival and reach the Nascent Soul Realm first. The jealous look on her face would be hilarious.

The reason she hadn't begun cultivating yet was simply that there was something wrong about this place. She felt like she was being watched by something in the swirling shadows, and things didn't add up. These monsters, while quite ferocious, as they lept out of the mist and tried to devour her face, were ultimately quite weak. They were only in the beginner stages of the Star Core Realm at best.

Yet this place's Qi is at the peak of the Star Core Realm. Such dense demonic Qi should be the perfect breeding ground for monsters, yet there are so few, and they are weak.

The decayed leaves crunched underfoot far too loudly in the eerie silence of the forest as she continued forward in a random direction. Her eyes scanned the swirling mist, and her spiritual senses were on high alert, yet to an outside observer, she appeared on a casual and careless stroll. The only explanation for these weak monsters is that a predator lurks in the mist, and it must be whatever is watching me. Should I call out to it? It's really unsettling.

Diana paused in place. Her raven wings sprouted from her back on instinct, and strength from her bloodline flooded her body. Her claws extended to their zenith, and her fangs poked her bottom lip. She turned around toward the sudden oppressive spike in spiritual pressure she had felt. Sure enough, approaching through the mist was the outline of a figure cloaked in shadow. Their movements were eerily fluid as if they were one with the swirling mist. Around them, the dense fog took on a bright blue tint that rapidly spread outward like a plague.

"A bloodline holder," a man's voice echoed from every direction as if the encroaching mist itself were speaking.

Diana had lived long enough to know that anyone interested in bloodlines was to be avoided at all costs.

"Who are you," Diana narrowed her eyes, trying to get a read on the incoming foe. They were strong, at least in the upper stages of the Star Core Realm. Due to the mist, she couldn't get an accurate read on them, but his method of approach was all she needed to discern the situation.

He's been watching me from afar for a while and chose a moment when I wasn't distracted to attack. That can only mean one thing: he believes himself far superior to me.

"If you've found this place, there's only one thing you could be seeking, daughter of Ravena. The question is if you deserve it." With a low chuckle, the figure raised his hands, and the vibrant blue mist around them squirmed, condensing into innumerable tendrils that exploded out toward her like a flurry of ravenous serpents.

Diana darted forward, meeting the attack head-on. Nothing could be gained by standing her ground or retreating when faced with a foe attacking with intangible limbs. The only chance of victory was going for the head. The world blurred, and her focus tunneled as she skillfully darted and weaved between the tendrils. Her wings collapsed on her back and fanned out when necessary to balance herself as she kicked at the ground for more speed. Any tendril she couldn't dodge, she cleaved through with Qi-wreathed claws.

Rotten trees and the earth exploded all around her as the tendrils missed their mark.

How can mist have such tangible strength? Diana couldn't help but wonder. Her own demonic mist was only helpful in disorientating an opponent by suppressing their spiritual senses and summoning phantoms as distractions. But this man's demonic mist seemed to have far more power and control behind it.

Blood pounded in her ears, and her breath was coming out raggard as she put those thoughts in the back of her mind and continued to close the gap. Almost there. Before her, the man was motionless—his silhouette was barely visible through the swirling haze, as if mocking her advance.

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One more large tendril came at her, and she barely managed to get through it without losing too much momentum. The man was too cocky, and she planned to make use of it.

"Do you think you can cut through my mist?" His voice thundered through the forest from all directions, and Diana's eyes widened as she quickly evaded the mist that had solidified into a wall between them.

"I don't need to cut through your damned mist," Diana hissed under her breath as she lept up and kicked a nearby tree to gain more height, obliterating it in the process. Spinning in the air overhead, she summoned a dagger to her hand and eyed the silhouette. "I just need to kill you." Using her rotating momentum, she hurled the dagger directly at the man's head. It pierced through the mist like an arrow, but just before it made contact with the man, he vanished, dissolving into the fog. Her dagger harmlessly struck the forest floor with a dull thud.

An amused chuckle echoed behind her, "Eyes can be deceiving."

Diana had barely processed the voice behind her before gasping in pain as a claw raked down her back, effortlessly tearing through her defenses and ripping off one of her wings. The force of the attack sent her plummeting to the ground with a thud. Her recovery was swift, thanks to her bloodline, which gave her immense endurance. She staggered to her feet and looked up. Only the light of a crescent moon sneaking through the fog between the harrowing branches of the dead trees greeted her.

Her eyes darted around, but there was no sign of the man anywhere. She hissed in pain and staggered forward. The searing wound on her back was burning with foreign demonic mist Qi that was eating away at not only her flesh but also her very soul. It was necrotic and difficult to contain as it began spreading down her back and to her legs, immobilizing her. Every step was torture.

"Shit," Diana cursed as her spatial ring flashed with silver light. A small dark fruit appeared in her hand, and she quickly devoured it. Ashlock had explained the effects of every one of his mythical fruits, and Diana had memorized them.

The Corrosive Aura fruit allowed a cultivator to consume other Qi types to replenish their own Qi reserves for a short time after eating the fruit. It tasted terrible, like rotten flesh, but she swallowed it. The effect was almost immediate. Her own Qi darkened as it gained a corrosive property, allowing her to devour the foreign Qi invading her body and turn it into her own.

"Ahhh," she let out a satisfied groan as the intense pain faded and she regained control of her body. She also debated bringing out the Mystic Realmwarp fruit but refrained for now. While the situation seemed rather dire, she had too many questions for this man. How did he know the Ravena clan that was said to be extinct? Was he part of it? His affinity certainly suggested as much.

"That's quite interesting," the fog called out to her. "Usually, my phantom claw technique is enough to kill. I knew there was something special about you."

Diana wiped blood from her mouth with the back of her hand and glared into the blue fog, "Why are you attacking me? Are we not cut from the same cloth?"

Laughter echoed through the forest as silhouettes appeared, each indistinguishable from the last. It was as if she were surrounded by a whole army, but she knew better.

"Now that I know your game, you can't trick me like before," Diana sneered, "A few illusions aren't going to do much."

"Illusions?" the man's tone was full of disbelief. "How can you be so clueless regarding your lineage? Do you know what people call us when they hear of the Ravena clan?"

"What?"

All of the silhouettes encircling her in the blue mist suddenly sprouted wings of comparable size to hers and synchronously leaped up into the air with eerie silence. They didn't flap their wings to stay airborne. Rather, they remained motionless like paintings in the mist.

Only one thing moved, a single silhouette that had stayed behind on the ground. Identical to the others, it looked straight at her with a blank face.

"We of the Ravena Clan are known as the immortal demons of the mist," the single silhouette raised their hand, "You will learn this lesson with your body. First came the tendrils. Now comes the legion."

Lowering their hand, one of the perfectly still silhouettes in the air barreled down toward her. Diana instinctively raised her arms in a cross to protect her head and was glad she did as an immense force slammed into her, knocking her clean off her feet. She twisted in midair to land somewhat cleanly and faced off against the foe. It was a faceless man with raven wings similar to hers made entirely out of condensed mist.

Diana's eyes widened as the realization set in. Just like how the tendrils of mist had enough force to smash trees, this warrior of mist likely carried the same punch. Her eyes darted to the sky. There were hundreds of them.

Maybe the others are all illusions, and only this one is real? Her eyes narrowed. She had no way of knowing. The mist warrior didn't seem keen on her finding out as it didn't give pause and surged toward her like a specter.

Diana went for an overhead slash to cleave it down the middle, and she did... but her hands hit nothing. The warrior simply dissipated around her attack like a regular fog and casually reformed behind her. Diana spun on her heel to counter, but it was too late. The mist warrior had reformed in less than a second and had already returned her gesture with an overhead slash. She blocked it with her wing, but the sickening crunch of bone indicated its fate.

Stripped of both wings, she was stuck on the ground, trading blows with the mist warrior. It mirrored all of her attacks and any attack it landed on filled her body with foreign Qi that ate away at her soul. If not for the Corrosive Aura fruit, which gave her a chance to fight back, she would have long been dead.

Enough! Her Star Core raged as demonic mist poured out of her. If she didn't go all out, she was going to die here, so holding back to preserve her Qi was a fool's errand. To her surprise, her demonic mist carried the Corrosive Aura from the fruit. As it washed over the mist warrior, her corrosive Qi clashed with it in a cacophony of hissing and crackling. It tried to fight back, but after a few seconds of staggering backward, the mist warrior melted into the fog and never reformed.

Okay, at least they can be defeated. But there's no way I can win without knowing where the cultivator's main body is. His cultivation is at a higher level than mine, so he has more control over the surrounding demonic mist. The Corrosive Aura fruit helps me close the gap, but this is too much.

Diana decided to flee after buying a precious few seconds as her mist bellowed out and clashed with the man's Qi. Bringing out the Mystic Realmwarp fruit from her spatial ring, she was about to eat it when not one, two, or even three mist warriors barreled toward her. No, the entire legion of mist descended upon her in a flurry. There was a loud hissing as they pushed through, ultimately overwhelming her demonic mist with sheer numbers.

They were all real, Diana thought in disbelief. Before she could even bite the Mystic Realmwarp fruit, a fist of mist hit her square in the face, knocking the lights out of her.

***

"Agh!" Diana gasped as her eyes snapped open and quickly sat up. She instinctively grabbed her face as the last thing she remembered before her world went dark was the pain of her nose being crushed to smithereens—it was still there, untouched. Huh? Bringing her hands down, she next noticed the cold sensation of the rock under her. Looking down confirmed her fears. She had been stripped bare of everything, including her spatial rings and the Mystic Realmwarp fruit.

Checking the rest of her body, all of the injuries she had sustained were gone, as if it had all been a dream. Even her wings were back in perfect shape. Using them to cover herself, she stood up and surveyed her surroundings. There was nothing but mist-covered black rock as far as she could see.

"Is this hell?"

"Some people call it that," the mist answered. "But hell is where demons are made, and someone like you belongs."

The swirling mist condensed into the silhouette of a man, this one far more detailed than any before. He looked at her and smiled in a way only a demon you had sold your soul to could.

"Now, child of the Ravena Clan," he reached out his hand, "Do you wish to learn the ways of a mist demon?"