Eternal Primordial: Tragic Soul United

It happened so fast that Horo didn't register what happened right away, he didn't even feel the danger in time, but his instincts made him move right after hearing that sound because it was right next to his ear. 

He suddenly felt a tearing pain on the back of the shoulder he used to throw that punch. 

And then he heard blood dripping. He now knew what happened, but he wondered how. 

As he was thinking he heard Alma chime in "Father you have to be careful, as you have guessed that beast is proficient in the used of space. It imbued its claw attack with its space affinity, and it was able shred through your black light armor."

He responded in disbelief "Seriously, what kind of luck do I have to run into so many dangerous beast, and then an anomaly like this."

Alma replied as if she was trying to console him "Well, you can look at it as luck." 

He was about to ask he what made her say that, but she continued after the pause. 

"I don't know if the beast just isn't smart enough, or if it's affinity is just not high enough, but it could have completely bypassed your armor to lop of your arm entirely." 

The thought made Horo shiver. He knew that this beast was much more intelligent than all of the other beast he ran into so far just off of the look in its eyes, now after just a couple of exchanges it elevated his weariness of its intelligence. 

The beast obviously knew something was protecting him, but the first gear of black light usually didn't give opponents the chance to see what it was that protected him because it would immediately disappear after initial contact. 

After seeing his second gear, which came in the form of a mostly transparent armor due to being linked with energy armor, the beast immediately discovered a way to attack that nearly rendered it useless on the first attempt. 

Horo was cut so deep his black abyssal like bone was showing. He could still move it but his innate regeneration will have a hard time making it useful again. 

Horo looked at the beast, he swore that he saw it smiling for a second. 

He thought "Yeah, this little fucker is cunning."

Horo knew this would be a true life and death battle now. He heightened his instincts to their peak in preparation for a strategy. 

He instantly went on the attack again even with his left arm limp. He didn't use his full speed because he couldn't for the skill he would use for this strategy, as he got close he immediately began to perform Capoeira. 

All of his passive skills was active as he coated his body with negative energy, and funneled his spirit mana into the skill Capoeira as well, which boosted his proficiency and power while performing the martial art he always knew before having it as a skill. 

The beast was confused seeing the weird movements its prey performed while moving much faster than it should have been able to, using the movements that it was doing. 

It was so confused that its intelligence failed it for once, it couldn't even dodge before Horo hit it with a sweeping kick that knocked its front legs to the side. Before its head fell forward to hit the ground, the sweeping kick continued and landed directly on the side of its head. 

Horo thought that should end the battle but he held back to not kill it, as he had a purpose to keep it alive. 

He purposely didn't allow double impact to act passively, but he'd wish he had. 

The beast flew to the side, as its body was spinning horizontally. It let out a whining like sound, but began growling ferociously. 

Horo looked completely stomped, he knew that its defenses wasn't that high from the first blow that quaked it, and it also focused mainly on agility and attack. 

He wondered why that blow didn't know it out. 

Alma told him what she thought. 

"Father I think this beast coated itself with a thin layer of space just before the second kick to protect itself." 

Horo no longer grew surprised, only more eager to obtain it. The talent and intellect that it show as a mere tier one beast made him feel it was equal to humans or even superior. 

Horo attacked it again and it also charged at him, but before they even got close it disappeared. The difference this time was Horo was expecting it and with his heightened senses he could feel his neck was being targeted. 

He performed a flawless spin as he used his left arm that was limp to knock the paw strike out of the way and continued with a right elbow that landed squarely on its jaw, but the beast didn't moved as it used reinforced space to absorb the blow. 

To Horo's surprise the paw that was knocked off course somehow still landed on his leg, nearly lopping it off. 

AUTHORS NOTE: Horo's skill [Link] can't be used to merge skills. Link can only connect and synergize things, and Depending on the compatibility of said components it could seem as if they're merged but really it just produced a combined or greater effect.