As the flaming sword approach him, Tritus felt the threat of death more clearly than ever before in his life and knew that if he receives this attack unhindered, he will die. Using all of his power, he channels all the strength of his consciousness to withstand the curses and regain focus as his red eyes glowed and activated.
In front of Tritus, a shield made of blood appeared, it was three-meter tall and two meters wide and covers the path of the sword.
As Zatiel sword crashed against this shield, he becomes surprised by the toughness of it, despite been made in the last moment and the fact that Tritus energy was in disarray, this defense manage to momentary stop his attack, proving the man talent.
If the shield would have been made with Tritus power unhindered, then it would have been enough, but unfortunately for him, he let his guard down letting Kira´s curses reach him during the moment of surprise due to Zatiel power uprise.
Felling the power of the defense, Zatiel eyes become colder and he displays all the power of his True Name and physical might breaking the shield and hacking down with the dark sword at Tritus.
Thanks to the time the shield gave him, Tritus was able to move, saving his head from being split in two, but still, the sword descended in the right side of his body breaking his breastbone, continuing with the ribs and due to his deep also destroying his lung.
"AHHHH," Tritus screamed due to the monstrous pain, not only the sword made a cut in his body so deep that almost split him in two, but also dark flames exploded inside him damaging the rest of his body and burning his blood.
Even to a Rank 2 life form, this type of damage was deadly if it was not healed immediately.
Although his opponent was already incapacitated, Zatiel didn't intend to stop and he was preparing to make all the abyssal fire in the sword consume Tritus when an immense feeling of danger assault him and without hesitation took the sword out of Tritus body and put it in front of him like a shield.
Just as Zatiel protects himself, from a necklace in Tritus neck a sanguineous light appeared and the immense head of a snake made of blood appear crashing into the sword with so much strength that generated an explosion and sent Zatiel flying away, bury him in the ground.
When the full body of the snake came out from the necklace, it reached a hundred meter long and it was made entirely of blood. It displays an immense might and if it wasn't for the fact that his eyes were shallow, one could think it was alive.
"ROAR!"
After releasing that powerful roar that made the walls in the cave shake, instead of attacking, it opens his immense mouth and swallowed Tritus before flying to the surface.
Although all of this takes a long time to explain, it was not even twenty seconds from the moment Zatiel threw the piece of fallen star to Azel until the blood snake appear and take Tritus away.
Kira was truly surprised by the events that occurred, especially with the brutal attack from Zatiel, that from the beginning was meant to slaughter his opponent. To her, although this expedition will have battles, individuals with their power would only fight to defeat their opponent and stop when the winner is decided since killing will certainly infuriate the power behind the victim.
After seeing Zatiel being attacked by the blood snake, she was worried as the power of the attack was equal to the damage a Rank 3 spell could perform, albeit a very weak one. So she flies in the direction of the landing spot to see his condition.
As she gets close, she saw how Zatiel came out from the crater and its body was full of injuries. His two arms were fully broken to the point pieces of bone could be seen coming out from the skin and they were completely deformed, there were bruises all over his skin due to the impact and from the way he moves it seems like his ribs were also fractured, and this was after using his sword as a shield or else the damage would have been much worse.
´I guess everyone who was able to come here must have some trump card.´ As Zatiel remembers the power of the blood snake, he assesses the condition of his body and it was worst than what it seems in the exterior, his internal organs were also damaged by the impact. But luckily both of his hearts were intact.
Zatiel deactivates Overload, channeling all the power of his golden sun and True Name to heal his body, and the golden fire immediately starts to heal him at a speed visible to the eye, surprising the Magus that was thirty meters away from him.
Kira knew that there is no true trust between them since they barely know each other, and approaching a weakened party could be considered an offense in the Magi World, so she remained with a safe distance between them.
She has already seen the ability of Zatiel but seeing how he was able to heal himself from such damage with that speed made her realize that she has underestimated his regeneration powers.
"Are you going to be ok?"
"If you make a mistake like that again, then there is no need for us to work together anymore, now focus, there is another opponent left." Zatiel looks in the direction from where Azel was rising after been hit by the fallen star. His attitude was cold to the woman, making clear his anger to her incompetence.
Due to her mistake, they were forced to fight against a pretty powerful enemy, and if it wasn't for the fact that he took advantage of their carelessness and arrogance, this battle could have gone in a different direction. And in their next fights, their opponents would know what he is capable of, so they could not depend on deception again.
Kira has always displayed great talent, and coming from a powerful family she was accustom to have other follow her order, so been treated with indifferent and coldness was something she was not accustomed, but although she felt angry, she knew that it was her mistake lead to this fight and Zatiel injuries, so she didn't say anything and just turn to see Azel.
Azel's expression was furious as he saw the blood snake vanishing in the distance. Although the power the piece of fallen star carried was great, it did little damage to him after he put his defenses, but still, it was able to incapacitate him long enough to make him unable of helping Tritus.
"Do you dare to try to take his life!, he is a core member of the Blood Eye clan. You will die for this." Azel was looking at Zatiel full of killing intent, but there was also fear as he thought of the damage Tritus withstood.
Zatiel sneered at the words of the man, from the moment they saw him, neither of them bother to hide their intention, so he responded with an even greater brutality, attacking from the start with the intention of destroying his head, and if he had done it differently, then the damage he was able to do after Tritus move his body would have been greatly inferior.
Besides he could not care less about the background of someone who wasn't even under the same power he was.
Azel's hatred only grew as he saw Zatiel expression, but in the end, seeing that Kira was perfectly fine and realizing that his chance of killing any of them was incredibly small, he didn't dare to act and fly away in the direction of the blood snake.
Neither Zatiel or Kira tries to stop him, the first one was already weakened and the second could at most equal the man but definitely could not stop him if he just focuses on escaping.
Feeling his body condition was improving, Zatiel went for the piece of fallen star and pick it up.
"Let's go, make sure to stay 30 meters behind me and pay attention to the surroundings." Zatiel attitude was still cold, not waiting for the woman to respond before flying away.
Kira could only sigh to the dynamic they were displaying and followed behind.
This piece of fallen star was worth a lot, and it was better to leave it at the platform before coming back, especially since Zatiel was hurt and another fight will mean they would have to escape.
As they advanced they started to encounter some people from the empire and those Eye Master that were left behind and remained in the main tunnel, not entering the sidepaths.
The expression of everyone could be considered one of curiosity, especially those Eye Master. Not long ago they saw a blood snake flying with such a speed that almost crush some people on his path, followed by an Eye Lord whose expression was full of rage and then appeared Zatiel and Kira carrying an immense piece of fallen star.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened, but to those Eye Master, it was impossible that a team consisting of a Rank 1 and a Rank 2 defeat two Eye Lords.
As they advanced, Zatiel and Kira could detect the greed in some of the people present, but they didn't care as the threat they could represent was null.
After a couple of hours flying, they reached the surface and the moment they exited the cave, both felt a powerful hostility heading in their direction.
The origin was the Eye King who was looking with lightning in his eyes at the duo. Beside him were Azel and Tritus, the last one was unconscious on the platform and his injuries were already much better as a sanguineous light was covering him, but by the expression of the man, it seems he was still in deep pain.
Kira was immediately frightened by the Eye King and didn't dare to look back, as for Zatiel after glancing at the man for a moment, he ignores him and flies in direction to where Grigori and the black platform was.
The Eye King saw the great piece of fallen star that they carried, but despite the hostility he was showing, he didn't act. Blood contracts were no something someone of his Rank could ignore.
The Eye King look back at Tritus wound and he furred his brows and he inspected his body.
"Are you sure it was the man at Rank 1 the one who inflicted these injuries on Tritus."
"Yes Lord Meinz, he used a Runic Set and a sword with flames to attack Young Master after he was weakened by the spells of the Magus." Azel didn't dare to look directly at the man as he responded.
Meinz eyes narrowed as he saw Zatiel, before turning to Azel and spoke with an indifferent expression.
"The damage done to Tritus was severe, not only did his lung get destroyed by the sword but the flames in the attack also reached his heart, and it seems there is a type of energy in them that has a corroding effect making the injuries worse. Had it not been for the blood snake using the rest of his energy to heal him the moment he arrived here, he would have died, but still there will be sequels even if he heals completely."
When Azel here those words his body shiver for a second, and his face becomes pale. As a bloodline race, the importance of the heart to an Eye Holder was immense and any damage could mean a severe drop in his future prospects.
Azel's main job during this trip was not collecting fallen star but protect Tritus, as the man gains real battle experience. When he returns and the father of Tritus finds his son's condition, his future would be bleak and the only choice he has is delivering those responsible and beg for mercy.
Zatiel did not know any of this, and even if he did, he would not care. The moment Tritus show his intention of killing and torturing him, the fate of the man was sealed.
Grigori saw all that happen, and he was able to deduct by the Eye King stare, that it was Zatiel who almost kill the Eye Lord but he didn't care since there was no difference for him, even if all those from Dynasty die. What surprised the Magus was the fact that Zatiel was carrying an immense piece of fallen star with his body, yet he shows no sign of being affected by the elemental chaos.
"Put the fallen star over the platform and this one will save it on its own, how do you want to split it?"
"50% for each one." After Zatiel spoke, he follows the instructions of the man and the moment the piece of fallen start touched the black platform it disappeared immediately.
Kira has been quiet this entire time, she was very smart and was able to realize that Zatiel had a way of tracking the fallen star meaning that by working with him, their spoil will be amazing. Not to mention his fighting power is also impressive.
So when she heard him splitting the fallen star evenly, despite her mistake she knew he was willing to continue working with her.
"We will rest for a day before going back in."
