Zatiel was extremely satisfied with the sword. It covers both long-range attacks and melee fights, perfectly complementing his battle style and the best of it was the blue flames.
A blue flame is the physical manifestation of the Law of Destruction in Baator and although it was far from the power that the Pit Fiend could have displayed because Zatiel was only able to activate 1% of the runes, it presented overwhelming might against Rank 3 life forms.
After sending a signal, the sword returned to its original size in an instant and the blue flames disappeared. before entering Zatiel's body and once again took the form of an exoskeleton around with his spine.
There were thousands of people looking at the sky from all parts of the City of the Sun and you could see how their eyes sparkled as they saw Zatiel.
Despite the dangerous and evil aura the sword generated, there was no fear or apprehension in the people's faces, only happiness and a sensation of security, The felt that as long he remains with them, everything will be fine.
This was especially true in the Neo-Demons who worship him as a holy being. Their hearts were burning with veneration and respect, and there were even some infants looking at him with a smile in their faces and they stretched their little arms as if they were trying to hold him.
When Zatiel saw those little faces full of pure and unconditional love, his heart fills with warmth and there was a tender light in his eyes.
He felt no need to speak and limit himself to remain in the sky for a couple of minutes and look at his city.
The children were laughing and playing, protected from the danger of the world until they are strong enough to face them and survive.
Adults will occasionally enter the Endless Forest to complete missions and earn wealth. Unlike the tragic aura that surrounded those groups when they lived in Wasteland and had to risk their lives hunting so their tribes would not starve, they were now smiling and although there have been casualties through the years, they know that as long they follow the guidance that is provided to them through the Sun Tadpole their chances of returning alive are above 99%.
Even the elders, the ones whose life force was reaching its natural end were happy. Living their last years seeing their families safe and growing stronger was better than heaven for them.
'Something worth fighting for.' Those words appeared in Zatiel mind before he disappeared inside the tower.
Zatiel appeared once again in the subterranean level of the tower where the Elder Brain resided.
Now the tenderness in his face was replaced by coldness and abominable killing intent.
'With my weaponry handled, I only need to finish my Rank Spell, and all the upgrades in my battle power will be done. But before that, I need to take care of them.'
"Dante, how has advanced the investigation in those ten Rank 3 individuals that attacked the city."
The attack that Zatiel was speaking, was the one that happened while he was not in the Magi World and where all the enemies were pulverized by beams of golden flames.
When Zatiel imagines what could have happened if the tower was not upgraded or the Sunlight Core would not have been strengthened, hate and the desire for revenge fill his heart.
"I have done thorough research on them and even hire specialized organizations that handle intelligence in the empire but so far the identity of the perpetrators remains unknown. It would have been more successful if I had contained the energy in my attacks and their bodies were not destroyed but they were too large of a threat and I could not allow any mishap in their neutralization to happen."
Zatiel shared the thinking of the boy, after all, if those individuals saw that there was no chance of leaving the City of the Sun alive, they could have chosen to kill a great number of people with suicide attacks.
"However, I had managed to analyze their magnetic force field and some of their blood and I can say with certainty that they were Magi and not Eye Holders."
When Zatiel hears that, his eyes widen and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. The race of the perpetrators did not necessarily mean that they weren't under the command of an Eye Holder but it greatly diminishes the possibility.
An Eye Tyrant can make several Eye Kings do his bidding and although he can also hire Rank 3 Magi, the obedience of the latter is much worse.
The Magi could easily double-cross the Eye Tyrant or in the case that the danger in the mission is too high, escape and not fulfill their part of the deal.
The options of the Eye Tyrant, in that case, will not be too many. They cannot just enter into the Aeternum Empire and kill a Magus since there are codes that protect the latter.
But if Eye Kings were to do that, the Eye Tyrant could hunt them down wherever they were and if they ask him for a reason, he could just say he was hunting fugitives.
Originally, Zatiel first suspect was the leader of the Blood Eye Clan, the Eye Tyrant Finz. It was beyond clear that the man hated him and he is pretty sure the Eye Holder was responsible for the attack on his people when Dante was recruiting in Wasteland.
With this new information, he reconsidered things. Among the powerful enemies he has between the Magi, there were Salazar Rasputin and the Sage, but Zatiel knew that the latter prefers to play in the shadows and would not do anything so direct as an attack to the Daybreak Magic Tower.
As for Salazar, with the abilities of an Origin Runemaster, the damage he could have provoked with a group of Rank 3 Magi will have been much worse and they would not have died so easily.
Whoever was behind this attack must be at least a Rank 4 life form. They were able to make ten Rank 3 Magi go in a mission to a place that has already prove it has the power to severely wound Rank 3 life forms.
The reasons they didn't attack themselves were simple. The empire has codes that stop unrestrained attacks over clans that form part of it without a logical reason.
And more importantly, the Daybreak Magic Tower was very close to the Sinux Magic Tower, where is Heinz, a Soul Forging existence how has proven that has no problem killing Rank 4 Magi that threatens Zatiel.
But with all this information the only thing that Zatiel was able to do is discarding suspects. Without knowing the identity of his enemy he could not formulate a plan against him.
"Do you have a theory behind their motives or what they hoped to achieve with their assault?" Zatiel was frowning as he attempts to gather more information that could be useful in the investigation.
Despite his great strategies and knowledge about war, things like investigation were never his fort. When he was a low ranking demon, he only needed to destroy the enemy he has in front of him, nothing else matters. And when he became strong enough, he had all sorts of powers to hunt down his opponents and there was no need to think too much about it.
Luckily, his son was different. He seeks patterns and analyzes the most minimal detail of everything around him.
"Yes, father. I can say with 95% certainty their goal was not destruction but distraction and burglary. Three of those Magi attempted to go unnoticed and they entered the City of the Sun under the disguise of merchants who were at Rank 2. They were skilled and they must have had some sort of device that hide them because the tower was not able to detect them until they used their energy. But I found them the moment they enter the city with the help of the information I got from the Sun Tadpoles."
"So seven were going to attack the city and created havoc, and when you were busy fighting them, the other three will have made their move and get what they were coming for." Zatiel frown when he thought about it.
The Daybreak clan is certainly wealthy but there was nothing in the tower that will be worth ten Rank 3 Magi risking their lives for it, at least not a few years ago.
"The information we have is too little to decipher what they were coming from. Continue investigating and make sure you use what wealth we have left to upgrade the surveillance systems of the tower"
"I will father."
Zatiel did not like to wait for his enemy to act but there was little he could do now. After a moment he calms down and sits on the floor before focusing on the energy in his body.
'No matter the scheme I will face, everything succumbs before absolute power'
