A human and a humanoid dragon were fighting against each other inside an immense cave, there were no spells or weapons, it was a contest entirely of brute physical power and martial arts, body against body.
The humanoid dragon had a height of 4 meters and a weight around a ton, with every swing of his arms gales of wind were created, and the human had a height a little less than 2 meters and although his body was full of muscles, they could not compare with the ones the humanoid dragon had.
Despite all that, every time their fist crashed against each other, it was the humanoid dragon that ended as the weaker party.
'It's as if I am hitting the pointy end of a spear that threatens to penetrate my arm,'
This was the feeling that the humanoid dragon had when he saw that 'tiny' fist.
The ones fighting were Ezequiel and Rax, and the kobold was constantly on the losing side even though his body looks so much more impressive than his opponent. The metallic scales on his body cracked every time Ezequiel managed to strike him and when the kobold connected his punches on the body of his opponent, it was like hitting a block of steel that was tempered to the maximum.
Ezequiel's body may look weak and small compared to the immense draconic body that Rax has, but it was the opposite. His body had suffered dozens of compressions as he advanced to rank 1, making his bones, muscles, and organs reach such a density that it will be easier damaging a peak rank 0 magic armor than him.
The two continue fighting and every movement they take seems to be flowing perfectly, moving their bodies exactly the right amount putting them in the perfect position to continue their attacks, dodge or distance themselves, generating endless opportunities and variations that are maximizing their power with every step they take.
The two were practicing their path techniques, more specifically, the part which describes the control over their body and martial techniques. In the beginning, neither of the two thought too much of them, after all, although they use their bodies during a battle, they mostly did it in a raw and brutish way, but the moment they begin practicing it, they were surprised by the possibilities that opened to them in a fight, so they were competing against each other every day to polish their abilities.
They were not the only ones in the caves, there were hundreds of kobolds in this place, although calling them kobold felt wrong seeing that every single one looked like dragonborns. Some were meditating, others were practicing spells or martial arts, and a couple of them were processing the bodies of magical creatures to eat them later. The discipline and effort that everyone in the cave put in every single task were amazing, well except for a little dog that spent all his time running from one place to another.
Zatiel was in a corner of the cave and besides him was a wooden coffin, he was observing them and was pleased with they attitude everyone was showing and from time to time they came to him to ask about their doubts and he did his best to help them, but seeing the aura in this place some thoughts came to his head.
'Why does this place look like a sect from the Immortal Plane, and I look like a sect master?'
As Zatiel amuses himself with the comparison with one of the major powers of the universe, someone enters the cave.
It was a beautiful blue-haired woman with mysterious red eyes, she searched for Zatiel and came flying to him, in her face was a gorgeous smile and for some reason, it looked like she had dropped a great weight off her shoulders. The woman was Sophia that had returned after a couple of weeks of being out.
Once she reached Zatiel, he looked at her and spoke, "By your expression, I guess that everything went well with the village that you were in."
"Yes, even though some years had passed all the people were still there, I moved them to a safe place inside a mortal kingdom and manipulated the minds of all the nobles so they would protect them, and just like you said, I make sure of leaving no evidence of my involvement."
Sophia knows that those people are her soft spot, so she made sure of erasing any connection she had with them. Otherwise, they will become a target due to their weak power.
"I almost forgot, here are the materials you ask me to collect, some of them were pretty difficult to get. What are they for?"
Sophia handed Zatiel his spatial ring that was now full of all types of material that were full of negative natural energy.
"It is for bringing back the mother of Kylo. The simplest spell that involves resurrection is a rank 3 one, but I was able to alter it so it will be rank 2, although this will limit greatly the abilities of the spell since I will only use it to bring back the soul of a rank 0 being, it will be more than enough, but even then a rank 2 spell is beyond my current capabilities so I will have to use runes to activate the spell."
Zatiel assesses the content of the ring and nods as he finds everything he needs.
"If you are going to use runes to generate the effect of a rank 2 spell, then you are already a rank 2 runemaster!?" Sophia knows that Zatiel is a monstrous genius, but even so, becoming a rank 2 runemaster in less than two years since he manages to reach rank 1 was mind-blowing.
"Not quite, it is a rank 2 rune, but since I will be inscribing it on the floor, I will not have to care for the space it takes and also would not have to connect it to a flow of energy, it could be considered at most a pseudo-rank 2 rune," while he explained, Zatiel was already taking out his instruments and beginning to processing of the materials for the rune.
"I am impressed, all the kobolds were able to transform into Neo-Demons without a single casualty," Sophia was seeing the kobold and not a single face was missing.
During the transformation, if someone didn't have a strong will, they would transform into a mindless monster, so they would have to be killed but it looks like there was no need for that.
"Our Primal Chaos Consciousness has a similar effect on the target that they have to withstand during the transformation, so by helping them in train with it before, plus their powerful will made the creation of the core smooth. Create some healing potions, after her soul comes back, she will be very weak."
Sophia nodded and started to work beside him.
Processing the material was easy, as it only takes a steady hand and practice to master, but when that part ended, Zatiel meditated for two days before opening his eyes and beginning the inscription process. Like always his hands were steady and his movements fluid, without a single hesitation or mistake.
It took him a day to create the rune formation that ended up being 5 meters in diameter, but even then some runes were so small that they were almost invisible. By the time it was over Zatiel was pale due to the exhaustion which forced him to sit down and rest before he called Rax and Kylo.
The father and son came running, full of excitement in their eyes as they saw the runes and coffin. When they saw Zatiel's state, they didn't dare to hurry him and they sat down waiting for his command.
After a couple of hours, Zatiel had rested enough and opened his eyes.
"Put the body in the center of the formation and channel your energy in the runes to activate them. The spell will create a connection with the soul and try to bring it back, but it will only work if she is willing, so if the ones who call are her family the possibility of the spell working will be higher."
Rax went to the coffin and opened, bringing out the body of a kobold female, the body was in perfect condition and if it was not for the fact, it was not breathing anyone would think she was sleeping. Zatiel had regenerated it with his golden fire a long time ago, although it took him a lot of time. By being in this state, the chances of the spell working will be better.
When the rest of the kobolds saw this, they all stopped what they were doing and focused on the formation and body. To avoid those feelings of envy and resentment to rise in the rest, under the instruction of Zatiel, Rax had explained to everyone the special reasons why her wife could be brought back and also that it was a reward given to him for his merits performance, also he tells them that this could also be done to their family member but they needed to prove themselves worthy. For those that had the bodies of the deceased, they needed to reach rank 3 and they will be resurrected, as for those, who want to revive someone but no longer had the bodies for a reason or other, due to the complexity being much higher, they needed to reach rank 4. Everyone has a person they want to bring back, so when they heard this, the desire for power was enormous and it became an excellent goal. So when they saw the first instance of resurrection, all of their eyes were filled with hope.
Rax put the body gently on the floor before he came back to Kylo. In the eyes of the two, nervousness could be seen, but there was also anticipation as they channeled their energy in the runes.
