Is That A Wisp?

"Just how long do I have to travel?" Krune bemoaned in exhaustion as the Cloud Whale unleashed its attack for the umpteenth time. He had lost count long ago, having been traveling for hours. To ensure he wouldn't reel from the side effects, Krune had been consuming the Blood Essence Crystals nonstop. 

It was something he had experimented with before. As long as the effect of a Blood Essence Crystal remained within his body, the side effects from those he consumed before wouldn't strike him. In exchange, this meant that when he stopped, all the accumulated side effects would slam into him at once, causing irreparable injuries. 

Unfortunately, he had no other choice. If he stalled even for a second, he would be surrounded by demons. With that, Krune had no other choice but to continue with this. He had been using Ocean Turbulence all along. 

But as he hadn't used any heavy attacks like condensing a field of ice, the energy expenditure wasn't too high. Then again, he was still expending enough energy equivalent to all five crimson rings every hour.. So, it was too much to account for. 

And every hour, he consumed five Blood Essence Crystals. From time to time, insanely powerful demons whose presence would cause his heart to skip a beat would emerge. Thankfully for him, when he unleashed his Neon Radiance, they could flinch and close their eyes. 

Using the 3-4 four seconds it bought him, Krune would have traveled far away for them to lose interest in chasing after him, considering his speed that even those suffocatingly powerful demons failed to catch up. 

This was the best advantage of the Cloud Whale. In a straight line, it could accelerate to tremendous speeds. Its shape made it face almost no air resistance, allowing it to travel long and far by consuming a small amount of energy. Though at present, he was constantly making it generate stronger air currents. In other words, he was expending a lot of energy. 

"How long…how long…" As Krune continued to mumble, his eyes lit up as his energy expenditure spiked for a moment as he bellowed, "Finally, a city!"

For a moment, Krune was awestruck by its grandeur. It was like a floating continent, considering that he was unable to see its ends despite viewing it from far away. It was a tremendously large floating city.

There was a wide path, spanning a hundred meters in width, that trailed from the miasma-covered ground to the floating city. The demons of the valley entered that path, heading up the floating city before engaging in a battle with the humans there. 

There was a massive ground before the floating city, present on another floating landmass, an oval with a length of 20 kilometers and a width of 15 kilometers. It was connected to the city by a bridge spanning a length of a kilometer and a width of 100 meters. 

More than a million humans and demons fought on the battlefield. Upon seeing them, Krune hurried over, getting closer to the battlefield, when a demon suddenly flashed before him, using its hand to shield itself from the air needle, taking zero damage from it. 

It used the same speed to slam into the Cloud Whale's horn, cracking it into pieces before slamming into its head. Krune immediately understood that he was facing an enemy way beyond his capability. 

But instead of getting flustered, he revved up his Ocean Turbulence to the limit, causing the sound of the ocean waves to resound in the area as the Cloud Whale opened its mouth and swallowed the demon. In an instant, its body turned into an ice sculpture. 

Krune was above it, instantly condensing another Cloud Whale around himself as he sped forward, shooting forth beams of ice that landed on his foes like spikes, stopping their approach as he flashed past them.

Without holding anything back, Krune slammed attacks on them nonstop, arriving above the battlefield when suddenly, a mysterious force pulled the Cloud Whale towards the ground. Knowing that the impact would slam him dead, Krune made the Cloud Whale turn around, causing it to face the ground as it unleashed the air needle. 

The air needle then impacted the ground, raising a massive dust cloud as it slowed down the Cloud Whale's fall. 

"Ugh!" Krune grunted, dissipating the Cloud Whale right at the moment of impact, causing it to absorb all the shock as he dissipated it before the shockwaves could reach him. He summoned it once again, repeating the same thing three more times before he landed on the ground. 

Of course, he knew that he couldn't relax, immediately condensing another Cloud Whale to act as his shield. He then froze the ground under it, using Moving Ripple and its ability to generate air currents to glide on the ground. 

He instantly understood that flying seemed to be prohibited on the battlefield, judging by how he noticed even the flying demons landed on the ground the moment they neared the battlefield and entered it through the path. 

Honestly, he had hoped to skewer any demon he came across along the way. Though, it was easier said than done. Some of the demons were like mountains, causing his Cloud Whale to be sent flying with a flick of their hands. 

Even when he impaled them, they never budged. But in return, Krune experienced all the shockwave from the impact, rattling his body. It was impossible to avoid any demons since they were closely packed together on the battlefield. 

Of course, he ensured to never hit a human even by mistake. The ground under the Cloud Whale continued to freeze up as he created a path, heading towards the city nonstop. But suddenly, a human along the way used his sword to hack the Cloud Whale, almost severing it into two, causing Krune to flinch in shock. 

He then looked at his Monster Gecko skin, looking at the demons to realize that even though they looked different, they shared some similarities. So, in the chaos of the battlefield, it wasn't odd that someone mistook him for being a demon. 

Krune spat out blood as he condensed the Cloud Whale once again, continuing to sped past as his body was burning up from all the Blood Essence Crystals he had consumed. He hurriedly pulled open the suit, revealing his face to see the humans that had planned to attack him retract their weapons. 

As there were enemies on all sides, Krune wasn't able to converse with anyone, not even a word. He continued to travel along the way, condensing the Cloud Whale every time it was destroyed. "Fucking hell! Just how powerful are the mortals here? This is an active ability, for fuck's sake! An active ability that they're butchering like a vegetable with every hit."

Suddenly, followed by a loud impact, something landed on the Cloud Whale, slamming it deep into the ground, almost deforming it. Krune's face began to bleed blood as he gazed up, looking at the face of a red demon that smiled mischievously as it looked at him, speaking, "Look at what we have here. A cute little hero."

Krune tried to make the Cloud Whale move using all his strength, but no matter what he did, it failed to budge. In order to weave through the crowd, he reduced its length to the minimum, making its internals almost hollow as he slipped within, facing the ground. 

Since he was relying on his Sonic Radar, he didn't need to see. But now, he turned around and gazed at the face of the demon up close, noticing that its entire body was beet red, shining with a gentle glow. 

Also, it wasn't using any technique or ability to constrict him in place. All it did was stand above his Cloud Whale. And that itself prevented him from moving. 

'Dammit!' Krune cursed as he thought of sending a bone tree fragment hurling into its mouth. But, having noticed the speed at which the red demon had landed on him, Krune knew that his speed was lacking enough to do that. 

He condensed all his energy into his Ocean Turbulence, instantly freezing the Cloud Whale into an ice sculpture while making the front of its head vacant. Using the boost from the air currents, Krune activated Moving Ripple on the layer of ice around him, bolting out like a bullet as he condensed the Cloud Whale around him once again, slipping under the legs of another demon. 

Krune's brain thought rapidly to the extent his face heated up as the Cloud Whale danced on the ice-covered ground, swiftly aligning itself in a certain direction upon arriving at the position. And as he had expected, he noticed the red demon land above the Cloud Whale with greater force this time. 

Being mentally prepared, Krune turned it fully into ice once again. And this time, he used the force of its slam to shoot out just like how toothpaste blasted out when one slammed into its tube with force. Using the Moving Ripple on the ground that he was layering with ice as he passed by, Krune condensed another Cloud Whale, making a straight line of escape through the battlefield just as the fighting parties moved. 

It was as if they had moved to open a line for him. But in actuality, Krune had observed their actions using his Sonic Radar and had times himself accordingly, arriving at the perfect position to achieve this. And using the force from the red demon, he blasted forth. 

Coughing out blood from his mouth, Krune could feel numerous bones in his body had broken from the shockwaves of its landing. While speeding away, he glared at the red demon, etching its visage in his mind as he mentally cursed, 'You'll get it one day, just you wait.'

Krune quickly arrived in the section of the battlefield with more humans than demons, soon making his way to the end. 

He intended to tread on the path and arrive at the city's entrance, moving as such until suddenly, he didn't know what had transpired. But then, he noticed that his Cloud Whale had been torn apart into two like paper and that he was dangling in the air, his neck gripped by a man who stared at him with a cold, bloodthirsty expression, asking, "What the hell are you, you fucking abomination?!"