Retake *Discontinued*

Chapter Forty-Nine: The Second Demon-Spirit

"Sister, I've a soul force of over two thousand!" Exclaimed Nie Li, tossing a brand new soul crystal to Nie Tai, "I want to see how much you've grown!"

Nodding, Nie Tai swallowed her excitement and inserted her soul force into the crystal. The crystal immediately lit up with a vibrant blue light as Nie Tai's soul force swirled inside. It was almost blinding when she finished. If one managed to look closely, they could see feathers and outlines of fierce claws dancing in her soul force. Quickly estimating, Nie Tai said, "I'd say that my soul force is greater than two thousand but less than twenty-five hundred."

Smiling at her brother, Nie Tai dashed out of the house and ran to a secluded area of the woods with Nie Li on her heels. While she was happy that they were now of Two-Star Silver-Rank, she wanted to test out her new abilities. Nie Li seemed to share the same sentiment. As the twins raced to the Back Mountains, Nie Tai kept an eye out for a clearing that would be acceptable for training. When arriving, she stopped and merged with the Portent Pearled Peahen.

The merging was smooth and shocking. A small, white feathered tail sprouted from the area around her tailbone, her feet became more birdlike and taloned, flight feathers appeared along her arms, her fingernails somewhat extended into claws, her hair turned completely while, her eyes became a brighter blue, and a small crown of feathers surrounded the top of her head.

Turning to her brother, Nie Tai barely managed not to laugh at his ridiculous appearance: he looked like a panda. Usually, when the demon-spiritist the finished product is a mixture of the spiritist's attributes and the demon-spirits; however, it seemed that the Fanged Panda was unique in that regard as well. Nie Li chuckled good naturedly, letting Nie Tai see that he also received the namesake fangs.

As Nie Li got to practicing, Nie Tai studied his techniques. He was able to use Thunder Strike: a move that used the user's physical strength to launch a devastating blow with their palm. As Nie Li activated his next ability, Nie Tai fought to remain standing. He was able to use Gravity Field! Gravity Field was a rare ability that allowed the user to control the gravity within a given space around the user. Nie Li could control about fifteen feet around him. The last ability shocked Nie Tai as she dove to dodge the rampant energy from the attack.

Two spheres, one black and one white, combined and let loose an earthshaking explosion. Staring, stunned, Nie Tai shook her head and used her first ability: Feather Dance. By summoning a cloud of feathers, Nie Tai could hypnotize those with weaker souls. It was an attack not based on soul force! Naturally, Nie Li wasn't very affected, but it was still a powerful ability. Taking a deep breath, Nie Tai infused her soul force in the air around her.

Hearing a sharp intake of breath, Nie Tai opened her eyes to see a swarm of spikes floating in the air around her. She launched a spike towards a tree that was about twenty-five inches thick; she was pleased to discover that easily pierced through the tree! She launched the rest towards the crater created by the Yin Yang Blast. Dust filled the air; Nie Tai walked over and saw that there were now countless holes in the crater. Grabbing a pebble, she tossed one down what seemed to be a deep hole. She closely listened and estimated that this one hole went down thirty-five feet!

Whistling in appreciation, Nie Li went back to his human form and said, "That was a spatial interference ability! You summoned those spikes from the very air; maybe, just maybe, you could create other things or even teleport in the future!"

Also returning to human form, Nie Tai replied, "I agree, but I need to work on the soul force consumption of the technique. In battle, I would probably summon two to four at a time. Summoning over twenty at one point is currently far too ambitious."

"Okay, that's fair. Now, let's raise them to Silver-Rank and test out their strength again. I think that the results will be very surprising," suggested Nie Li. He walked over to a small patch of grass and sat down. Seeing a smooth boulder, Nie Tai jumped up and focused on her dantian.