By the time Zatiel stopped hitting the head of Johann, the ogres already reached out to him. Instead of distance himself from the group, he just raised his hand and coldly looked at the group.
"Abyssal Blast!"
A beam made of pure abyss aura blasted the ogres and due to the proximity between them, almost half died by the attack. As for the rest, most of them ended up hurt.
Abyssal blast uses the energy that is saved in the core. So even though Zatiel energy was low, he still could use it.
Not letting them regroup, Zatiel attacked them, but unlike before with the apprentices, his face was emotionless.
He flashed to the closest ogre and he sent a kick at his back with so much power that it pulverizes his spine. Once the ogre was incapacitated, instead of killing him, he continued to do the same with the rest.
All his attacks were brutal, destroying organs and bones with every hit. But although they were screaming from the pain, none of them died from the damage.
Once he made sure that all the enemies were taken care of and checked the area in search of enemies and upon finding nothing, he ran to the place the cocoon was.
When he arrived next to it, he waved his hand and the chains moved, allowing him to see the interior of the cocoon.
The person inside was Sophia, but despite the chains protecting her and saving her life, she was badly wounded and the flames destroyed most of her robe and bandages showing her body.
Her body was full of tumors that showed through her skin and there were areas of putrefaction leaking puss. Her face was also deformed and looked like it was the combination of a pig and a human.
Almost anyone would feel disgusted by what they saw, but Zatiel got closer to her and caressed her face with warmth in his eyes as he put a liquid in her mouth that he took from the spatial sack, and gave a sigh.
"You are really dumb, aren't you," Zatiel was remembering what happened right before the explosion occurred.
The ball of light was headed for him, so everyone's first instincts should be getting away from him, but the girl started running faster in his direction.
Zatiel's original plan was to divide the chains between the two, with that he was sure he would be fine, as for Sophia, her chances of surviving were low. But he will not risk his life for someone he has known for less than a year.
But when he saw the determination of the girl reaching for him, the idea of leaving her to her luck infuriated him a lot.
So of the five chains that he could use, four cover her, and using Aerial Walk he jumped in the air and buried himself in the ground.
Luckily, the earth was broken for the impact when he attacked Alan. So he was able to enter easily and use one chain to create a shield over him, partially protecting himself from the flames.
Later, using the chain he excavated to the place where the apprentices were, and after the ogres left for the cocoon, he attacked them.
He saw how the potion was starting to heal her, closed the cocoon, and went for the ogres and the two living apprentices to start the ritual.
Although the ogres were heavy, with his strength it was easy to knock them and put them all together. Barbara was unconscious due to the strong blow to the head so there was no problem with her.
As for Cristian, it looks like he had passed out from the pain but when he got closer to him, he flashed to his side, punched him in the stomach, and ripped off his remaining arm.
"AAAH," The apprentice screams from the pain, and blood comes from his mouth with pieces of organs with it.
Zatiel didn't even look at him and just took a small sphere that was in the hand of the now amputated arm.
"Hmph, if you think I will fall for such a pathetic trick you are more stupid than I thought."
Zatiel picked up the screaming man and threw him with the rest.
Zatiel got to where Sophia was and made the chains disappear before covering her body with a robe and started meditating and eating the heart of some of the dead ogres to heal his body and recover his abyss aura.
It barely took him a minute to devour the heart of an ogre. After an hour, his energy was mostly recovered, and he went where the apprentices and ogres were to start inscribing the runes on the ground with his blood.
This time his body was stronger so he didn't have to rest before activating the secondary array and affecting the mind of the group inside the runes.
Like last time, the ones inside the array got crazy and started to kill each other. When they were all dead, the chaotic presence of the consciousness of the Abyss arrived to take the souls of the group inside.
Zatiel manipulated the runes and the bodies start to melt and become abyss aura. The two apprentices created almost the same amount of aura that all the ogres made together.
This was because the natural energies were purer in the body of humans due to their being the ruling race of this world, so their souls were more useful to the Abyss.
Once the process was done, the consciousness of the Abyss left and a two-meter sphere of abyss aura was left. Although it was only double the size from last time, the concentration now was way superior.
Once the process was over, Zatiel goes to Sophia and wakes her up.
Sophia started to wake up slowly and the first thing she saw was Zatiel. Warmth filled her heart as she remembered how the chains protected her, but when she felt her face and knew that her bandages were off, she started panicking and tried to cover herself.
"Enough! What we are going to do next will transform you completely but if your will is so weak then there is no point in trying," The process of becoming Neo-Demon relies heavily on will, so Zatiel was very serious with the panic displayed by the woman.
Sophia focuses after being reprimanded and sees the ball of abyss aura and she becomes terrified of it. It was normal, after all, the abyss aura is evil in its essence.
"What will that make me?" Sophia was scared of what will happen if she uses that energy.
"You will become like me," Zatiel didn't give any more explanation, and for any other, that would not even be close to being enough, but the moment Sophia heard that all of her fear and doubt were replaced by determination.
"Good, now let's begin."
Zatiel moved her to the center of the runes and made her sit down.
"Remember to always maintain your focus and never let your will weaken," Zatiel's face was solemn and Sophia took his words with seriousness.
Zatiel uses the rune array with the chip, and the abyss aura starts to enter Sophia.
The pain was horrifying but Sophia's concentration was absolute and her eyes were full of will.
The most powerful someone was, the greater the pain will be and the longest will the process take.
So by the end, the pain that Sophia was taking was almost too much but then she saw how a yellow liquid started to be excreted from her body and it started to change.
Her tumors started to melt and were expelled from her body as well as her putrefying skin. By the end, her face started to transform.
Although the pain was even greater, realizing that her body was recovering made her will even stronger and helped her endure the rest of the process
When the transformation was over, Sophia could not wait and conjure a piece of ice to see her appearance.
Her face was small and delicate with beautiful blue hair, her body was thin but voluptuous with a height of 1.8 meters, she was by all standards someone extremely beautiful.
Tears fall from her eyes as she turns around to see the reason for all her happiness.
Since the moment she saw how he risked his life to save her from the explosion, she was already in love and now the core makes those emotions even greater. So she could not resist and jumped at Zatiel.
Zatiel was tired from the work, but the moment he saw Sophia jumping at him, he immediately dodged her.
Sophia became fearful, seeing him not letting her get closer. After all, even when she was mutated it never happened.
"Am I still not good enough?"
"I have already told you that something like appearance could not affect me, but I admit you are indeed really attractive now," Zatiel indeed found Sophia beautiful, but there was a small problem with her now.
"Then why?" The moment Zatiel says that he finds her beautiful, bliss fills her heart, but she became confused by the distance he was maintaining.
"Easy. You are smelling," Zatiel was not trying to make fun of her, but the woman had not realized that some of the yellow liquid was still on her body.
Sophia's face became red, and as she started to smell her body. She realized it had indeed a bad odor.
"Hmph, you should learn to have tact with women," Sophia created a great ball of water and started to clean her body and robe.
Some intimate parts were being shown, but the only person in her surroundings was Zatiel and she didn't have a problem with him seeing her, but when she turned to see him, he was leaving.
....
Zatiel arrived next to a badly wounded person, he was Alan who was barely conscious.
Despite using a piece of magical equipment to protect himself, the damage from a rank 1 spell was still too much for him and if he was not healed soon, he would die.
"I can't let you live and since I don't consider you an enemy I will tell you the reason," Zatiel's face was calm and his eyes were indifferent as he looked at the man.
"I'm too weak," Zatiel pointed at him and a chain materialized and pierced his head, killing him instantly.
Zatiel could not risk the possibility of Alan leaking any of his secrets. After all, the number of people that could kill him and search his soul were in millions.
