Ryu swept his glaive forward with all his might.
The change was too sudden. The beast had been certain that Ryu's inner organs would have shattered after forcibly stopping a full powered strike midway. But, not only did that not happen, Ryu's speed suddenly shot upward again, causing him to appear behind the far more important and powerful hind leg.
While injuring a front leg would have hindered the Fire Tiger to some extent, the loss would have only been around five or ten percent. But, the loss of a hind leg would cause a drastic fall upward of maybe even thirty percent!
This wasn't even the most vital point. Spatial rings were great creations, but their flexibility of use was incredibly lacking. One could only take objects that were both ownerless and in contact with the ring. In addition, during the extraction process, the form an object took when it exited the ring was dependent on how it was placed into it in the first place. Therefore, something like switching weapons in the middle of battle wasn't something anyone would rely on a spatial ring to do.
However, Ryu had something far better than a spatial ring! Every Heavenly Pupils inheritor had their own inner world, allowing them a certain control over Spatial Qi. This allowed far more flexibility than spatial rings. Not only could Ryu take in objects as long as they were within his vision without having to touch them, he could also extract said objects as he pleased and in whatever position he wished. There were of course limitations to these abilities that were linked to why Ryu had yet to use his stocks of Qi Whispering, but its usefulness was undeniable.
All of these things seemed useless on their own, but together they added up to a wholly dangerous situation for the Two-Winged Fire Tiger. Before it could react, Ryu's strike had already landed upon its achilles tendon.
The familiar sound of metal strikingmetal resounded. As expected, the sturdy exterior of the Fourth Order Fire Tiger wasn't so easy to penetrate. However, Ryu's face didn't sink into despair as one might expect. Instead, he roared with all his might, his Glaive Qi soaring to a new height.
Pshu
A seemingly insignificant cut barely two inches deep appeared on the Fire Tiger's hind leg. At this moment, it was quickly trying to move away. It was so shocked by Ryu's momentum that it panicked. It had already forgotten that Ryu was a mere Peak Opening Realm expert even though it could crush even Lower Spiritual Several realm ones. It loss itself to fear, affected by Ryu's confidence and overbearing nature.
This might sound like a simple affair, but it wasn't. When Ryu's battle intent soared, the Ancient Beast blood within his veins had roared as well. The problem was just that his Body Realm was so weak that it wasn't enough to use his bloodline to suppress the Fire Tiger. However, the beast became unable to ignore the difference in quality of their bloodlines once Ryu decided to fight it head-on.
Its instincts suddenly took over, telling it that it should run. What was it, a mere tiger, in the face of a Dragon, Qilin and Phoenix? It was nothing. None of its achievements meant anything.
By the time the Fire Tiger woke itself from its stupor, realizing how ridiculous its thoughts were, it suddenly felt a danger many times that of before.
The Fire Tiger's head spun, only to find itself looking at the image of a shadowy deity with a blinding sun to his back. This deity held a bow as black as night while energy uncontrollably surged toward him.
At that moment, the images in the battle arena began to flicker once more. As Ryu's Spiritual Qi quickly drained, trying to maintain the connection between him and Heavens, his ability to control the Visual Jade faltered as well. His Mental Realm simply wasn't refined enough to split his mind between two difficult tasks to a level of perfection.
The fear the Fire Tiger felt now was far more real and tangible than anything it had felt previously. Before, it was the irrational fear of the potential of Ryu's bloodline that shook it, but now, it was the reality that it faced right now.
It didn't know what to do. With its cultivation, it could soar into the air and kill Ryu now before his attack grew large enough to threaten it any more. In fact, considering it had wings, it could fly long before it became a Fourth Order beast. However, it still hesitated.
In that instant, it forced itself to calm down. How many battles had it fought? How many corpses formed the stairs that built its current cultivation? Just how many times had its life been on the line just like this? It spent its whole life building to the point it could own such a large expanse of territory alone, how could it allow this ant to do as it pleased?
It was then that the Fire Tiger decided to dodge. It knew that its moment of hesitation had lost it the opportunity to take the initiative, so it primed itself it run.
It turned its head decisively, slamming its hind legs into the ground and charging forward at a speed far greater than even Ryu's. It zig-zagged along the ground. With its intelligence, it could tell that Ryu's mastery of the bow was far lower than that of his glaive. It was confident that at its peak, it could dodge this coming attack ten out of ten times.
Unfortunately… That was only at its peak. Just as the Fire Tiger turned its body to take another sharp zag, trying to distance itself from Ryu, an audible popping noise that was reminiscent of the snapping of a metallic cord resounded through the desert plain and the battle arena.
A howl of pain escaped the Fire Tiger. It couldn't understand what had just happened. Its hind leg? It was injured? That was impossible! That puny human's attack barely made it an inch into its body!
What the Fire Tiger didn't understand was that it had played directly into Ryu's hands. Ryu knew from the very beginning that his strength wasn't enough to slice the tendon of a Fourth Order beast… But who could harm a Fourth Order beast more than itself?!
The achilles tendon was fragile part of not only humans, but also most beasts. Even the smallest micro tears could develop into devastating injuries if left unattended. Yet, not only had the Fire Tiger left his unattended, it applied pressure on it again and again, trying to escape Ryu's arrow!
As its body curled up in reflex, springing into the air involuntarily, it realized it was too late for regret. An arrow of pulsing light, swirling with spear, glaive and halberd qi careened through the air, screeching with a sound that made the Fire Tiger's ears bleed.
Its last sight before the arrow shattered its skull was a pale faced Ryu, falling from the skies like a gently blowing leaf.