Aries studied the red mass through his blurry vision for a few moments, but he could make nothing of it. So instead, he resorted to using a different sense. He reached out his hand and placed it onto the surface of the red mass. Moving his hand in a distinct motion, he felt the texture of the red mass.
It had… a distinct texture to say the least. At first, it felt like wet would but slightly softer than normal, but then it felt like it was wrapped in skin, then it felt like bloody flesh, the viscous liquid catching between his fingers and coating his palm.
Feeling this, he quickly drew away his arms from the red mass and quickly flashed off the liquid from his hands, then jumped away from the mass.
Since he had reached his goal, there was no longer a reason not to use his abilities. He was currently a low-ranking being, without even a single mystical item, so his sight was integral to knowing his surroundings.
Channeling his chi, Aries pushed the flow towards his eyes and chanted the name in his mind.
'[Bright e—'
Before he could fully activate his ability, however, a sharp pain coursed through his shoulder as something sharp dug into it.
"Gah!"
A sound escaped his mouth involuntarily due to the pain, and his body flinched. Despite this, he still reacted, albeit a bit later than he would have liked. His hand quickly shot out and grabbed the thing that had dug into his shoulder, but as quickly as he grabbed it, it disappeared from his grip, leaving his hand empty, hovering over his bleeding shoulder.
Luckily, he had interrupted quickly enough to prevent flesh from being torn out of his shoulder, but it was still bleeding quite badly. Even with the combined healing ability of his halfway-awakened body and his constitution as a mythical creature, it would not be able to heal such a deep wound quickly enough for it not to be a problem in the battle, especially with his adolescent body.
This would, however, not cause Aries to falter. He was originally a being who had lived for countless eons and had surpassed divinity long before the even primordial periods of the universe. Such an insignificant wound would not be the deciding factor in whether he lives or dies.
Aries swung his hand forward from above his shoulder to make sure nothing was before him, then cast his gaze forward.
By this point, [Bright Eyes] had fully activated, allowing him to see despite the vile stench permeating the air. His eyes streaked around, catching glimpses of his environment and allowing him to piece together his current situation.
He was currently surrounded by mist, which, due to [Bright Eyes], did not affect his vision, so he could easily tell that he was in a clearing. Before him was a small, young-looking, red tree that was constantly leaking blood and pus. Instead of bark, the tree had rotting flesh covering its expanse. On the tree, there were many bloody sacks that contained the silhouettes of rats within them. This seemed to be the birthplace of the mutant rats that have been appearing in Lios.
He had no time to contemplate over it just yet, however, as just before the rotting tree, was the same owl he had met before, in the moon temple.
Locking eyes with the owl, Aries contemplated whether he should release his disguise or not. While he had quickly overpowered the owl before, he had been in his Manifestation form at the time, meaning he was stronger, but now that he was not sure if he could overpower it as easily.
The owl wasted no time and quickly swooped down, raring its beak. Aries put up his hands to block the attack. Instead of meeting the block, however, the owl's attack struck him from behind a gash in his back.
Aries grit his teeth and quickly turned around and threw a punch toward the owl, but just before it hit, the owl disappeared and repeated to his side, clawed into his abdomen.
Once again, Aries struck his fist toward the owl. Instead of striking the owl, however, he struck his own side as the bird disappeared. His fist landed on his torn flesh, causing a torrent of blood to gush out, a tearing pain to course through him.
'Damnit!'
Biting his lip, Aries scanned his surroundings, searching for the owl.
'Do I really need to deactivate the disguise?'
If he didn't, he might end up being unable to even touch the owl, but he was hesitating as the vile smell from the rotting tree currently assaulted his senses, making it hard to focus on locating the owl, and if he rid himself of the disguise, that problem would only get worse.
He eventually decided against it and steeled himself to endure the owls' onslaught of attacks while he tried to come up with a plan. Of course, he would still try to land a hit or two on the owl as he did.
As if not wanting him to have any time to think, the owl attacked once more. At the same time, Aries reacted almost instantly and launched an attack, but it hit nothing. The owl appeared behind Aires and attacked his leg, causing him to drop to his knees.
Before Aries had the time to react, however, the bird appeared somewhere else and attacked once more, leaving another deep gash on his body, this time on his arm.
After this, the owl pushed with relentless attacks, constantly appearing and disappearing. Aries reacted to most of them, but was unable to counteract any of them. Each of his attacks was met with empty air, while the owl's were always met with torn flesh.
Aries's mind churned, his gears turned, his body adapted. With each of the owl's attacks, he came closer to counteracting them. At the same time, his mind was looking for ways to catch the bird and deliver a devastating blow.
After enduring, countless attacks and going through many different possible plans in his mind, he was left as a torn and bloody mess, barely able to keep himself up. Only through his will and the tenacity of a mythical creature could he be left standing.
As his blood dripped and flowed down his body, pooling under him, the gears in his mind finally clicked. Now, he knew what to do, and now was the end of this damned slippery owl.