Chapter 273 - The Fifth Form

"Freedom? You think that's the most important thing?" Maria muttered.

"Huh, of course. Nothing is more important than that. How can you fight when your hands and feet are shackled? The same system works in decision-making. You limit yourself, and you're afraid of doing the wrong thing. Of course, that way, you don't make mistakes. However, you're also missing out on the right options, and that's a big mistake."

Maria nodded weakly. Wain's words pointed her thoughts in another direction. Wain went back to practicing with Eva.

They didn't want to leave the place just yet. Nothing disturbed them, and they weren't bored yet. They honed their skills and gradually got better. Wain and Eva could not increase their energy levels, but combat experience and skill use were just as important.

Wain focused on his two new skills, The Serpent's Step: Tail and Wings of the Bone Terror. These two skills were powerful and had great potential. Wain learned to control better the serpent's tail and the bone wings.

Wain also practiced using his forms. 

Bam.

Wain and Eva exchanged a series of blows, and the girl put her hand forward.

Eva's two sides began to blend together in recent days gradually. She was not deprived of them. She had a third side partially open. At this time, she was less shy than usual but also not as harsh and rude as when she transformed.

"Wait, I need to rest. Let's call it a day."

"Sure." Wain said calmly and headed toward the edge of the bloody river.

There was nothing beyond the slope of the island. Below was only a blood-red mist and a vast expanse. The bloody river was tumbling down, and somehow it was not running out of liquid.

Wain tried falling down many times in an attempt to find out what was down there, but he was having no luck. The fog was eating away at his flesh and blood, nothing saved him, and even Eva's help had no effect.

This meant that they had to complete the test anyway. Only one whole must remain to pass on and receive the final reward.

Wain clung to this wording as it was different from, there must be one survivor left. Some other meaning may have been put into it, perhaps sacred and secret, perhaps obvious.

In any case, Wain had not been able to think of anything lately. Eva also offered options, but they were unsuccessful.

'Okay, I've got forever to come up with a plan. Right now, I need to do something else.' Wain thought, looking at the message hanging in front of him.

[Your heart began to pound for love, and now you have opened the next form.]

[The fifth form opened - Knight of the Bloody Rose]

[Knight of the Bloody Rose

Most people dream of finding out and feeling what love is. Some people find it easy and fast, but others take years or even decades. Unfortunately, even then, not everyone succeeds.

Once upon a time, a knight set himself the goal of finding love. He trained for a long time and went through serious trials of fortune, but he was able to achieve it. His beloved responded to his feelings, and they began the happiest time of their lives.

But unfortunately, this is not a story about happiness. In life, not always all ends well, and this is a cruel fact that must be recognized.

The girl soon died, she was murdered. The knight had to watch his love die in his arms. The girl was bleeding, and her last words were about her love for him, for the roses, and how those flowers were like people and blood. The people were thorns, and the red petals were blood.

The knight took her words as a dying wish. He avenged to her killers, but his journey did not end there. It was only the beginning. From that moment on, the knight went forward and shed blood.

He was not a madman or a maniac and only killed guilty people or groups. Some of his most common victims were bandits.

Every time he appeared in camps or small towns, those places were awash in blood within hours. Finally, before he left, he always left a single rose in the pool of blood]

Wain nodded.

Each form had unique features and a piece of history. That applied to the Knight of the Bloody Rose as well.

Wain sighed and decided to activate the new form. Energy gathered around him, and he began to transform.

His hair turned blue, and his eyes turned amethyst. He wore a light armor of dark metal, covered in spiky gray vines. 

A massive red rosebud blossomed on his chestplate, and a black sword with petal patterns on the blade appeared in Wain's hand. On his back was another rose-shaped symbol, but bloody and spiky.

Wain stood idle for a while. He was analyzing his new abilities and gaining insight into how to use them.

"Okay, that's not bad. The fifth form lived up to my expectations." Wain muttered, and his eyes sparkled.

He stood low and swung his sword from bottom to top. The sword flashed red, and a straight bloody blade flew out. It flew a few meters and exploded, scattering sharp drops of blood aside.

Wain nodded weakly and extended his arm forward. A multitude of spiky vines emerged from beneath the ground. They were from different directions and moving toward one point. 

If there was anyone there, they would have been pierced by dozens of sharp spikes.

However, that was only part of the fifth form's abilities. Wain thrust his sword into the ground and began to control the vines with both hands. Rosebuds began to bloom on them, and after a few seconds, they disintegrated into petals.

The petals slowly fell to the ground and exploded upon contact with it. It was both a single and a mass attack.

...

Wain returned to training with Eva, between which they talked and learned more about each other. Wain, as usual, was secretive and told only a small part of himself. Eva didn't like that, but it didn't stop her from talking about herself for hours.

After a while, Wain knew practically everything about Eva. She had her secrets, sins, minuses, and pluses, just like everyone else. That was a good thing. Wain didn't like perfect or pseudo-perfect people.

No one was perfect, and Wain knew that better than anyone else. If a person seemed perfect, it meant that they were already rotten from the inside out. At least that's what Wain thought.

Eva asked Wain about his life, but he constantly avoided the conversation or moved on to the values of life.

After a few weeks, Maria joined them. They were locked in there and couldn't die. It was inevitable that they would communicate with each other in time as if they were friends.

In their situation, they had no other options. They could either fight or talk. Wain and Eva were doing something else, though.

Wain himself unknowingly promoted his idea of the importance of freedom, and gradually, the three of them had the same opinion about it.