Zatiel had his eyes closed on the platform, and he had no idea that one of his enemies had died, and even if he knew, he wouldn't have care.
The threat that the werewolves represented to him was minuscule, and it was only growing smaller by the day as his power increased thanks to the elemental chaos that was improving his heart transformation and in a lesser measure the amount of abyss aura in his body.
At this moment, all of his focus was on the new spell he developed and that it will improve his fighting power.
Zatiel fighting style is through a combination of physical power and spells, the first one being potentiated by Overload and the second by Dexisus, which not only increases the damage by 50% but also adds a corrosive effect. So his offense his enough and as a killing card he has Abyssal Blast, which should reach an impressive might when the amount of abyss aura generated by the Chaotic Core reaches the peak of Rank 1 Neo-Demon, especially if it is combined with his True Name.
But even though Sunlight Speed helps him reach an impressive velocity, that is only among those at Rank 1 and even after his enhancement by Overload, Zatiel still felt that it could be improved so the spell he developed was named Sun Push and it works by using the energy of the golden sun, concentrating a great amount in a part of his body which can be released to eject him in a determined direction.
This spell will give him great propulsion and make him so fast that it would be able to catch anyone at Rank 2, unfortunately the maneuverability is very limited and if he doesn't control it well, he may end up crashing against a wall and at that speed, even Zatiel would be injured.
Creating a spell was very time consuming, but thanks to the ample information that Zatiel had and by using his second mind together with the chip abilities, it only took him the month they spend traveling to reach the cave.
Mastering the spell was a different matter but with the talent of a Neo-Demon, it will be pretty easy for him, and it should not take more than a week.
Although the spell could be considered at Rank 1, due to it using the energy of the golden sun, as this last one improve so will the might of the spell.
Sun Push will be the first spell that will be part of the Path Technique that Zatiel chose to name Rising Sun, that will work specifically with his golden sun and the Sun Force that this one generated.
Having taken care of that and since the period of rest is over, Zatiel and Kira fly back to the cave to continue the excavation.
The three Eye Lords were looking at the duo as they disappear on the tunnels, but they did not act and remain on the platform discussing among them.
A couple of hours after the entrance of Zatiel to the tunnels someone came out. It was Nimir and on his body there was all sort of wounds, most of them laceration covered by a grey energy which stoped the Magus from healing.
Nimir's expression was full of anger, but there was also fear on his eyes as he landed on the platform close to Grigori.
When the Rank 3 Magus saw his condition and the absence of his partner, he immediately questions Nimir. Although there was no difference for him if the member of this team died, he must know the events than surrounds those at Rank 2 in case the Soul Forging that will came to take the black platform were to ask about it.
Although Nimir had no desire to talk about it, he didn't dare to deny Grigori demand and told the events that led to his current condition.
According to him, he and Feiner had an encounter with a young man from Dynasty, whose name was Gwyn. Although the man was only at the Novice level, neither of them dare to underestimate him, after all, they saw the way the rest of the Eye Lords act around him.
Feiner was proposing a business strategy to the man when all of a sudden Gwyn attacks him. The attack was very fast and full of power but the werewolf had his guard up the entire time, so he manages to defend, although with some injuries.
Nimir obviously would not stand and do nothing, so he joins Feiner and the two attack Gwyn with all their might. At the start the duo thought it would be easy to defeat him, so they were very surprised when the young man was able to fight against the two of them alone.
Although Nimir and Feiner had the advantage in the fight, it was too little to declare victory. But thanks to the fact that their energy pools were superior to that of Gwyn, it was only a matter of time before they defeat him.
Unfortunately for the duo, the situation changes drastically when Gwyn took out his trump card, augmenting his power greatly and overpowering Nimir and Feiner, inflicting grave injuries in the last one.
Gwyn becomes powerful enough to kill the duo and, without hesitation, they try to escape but Feiner was too injured and although Nimir tries to save him, he could only see as the halberd pierced the werewolf body.
When Nimir spoke the last part, he shows great remorse on his face as if he blames himself for the death of his teammate.
Grigori saw his expression, but he only narrowed his eyes and didn't speak.
The Rank 3 Magus was very clear of the nature of Magi, and he didn't believe even for a second that Nimir had risked his life trying to save Feiner.
But since he found no fault on his actions, Grigori chose not to comment. As for the proposition that Feiner gave to the man and the trump card of this last one, he was not interested, so he just signaled for Nimir to go and rest before closing his eyes.
...
The months pass and despite the bloody start of the expedition, no more casualties happen among those at Rank 2.
Usually, on events like this, deaths among those at Rank 2 are extremely rare, since most of them would have some life-saving tools.
Conflicts among them could develop in a fight, but the moment the winner was obvious, the defeated party would just leave and forget about the spoils, so there was no reason for killing.
But abnormalities like Zaitle and Gwyn change all that.
Among those at Rank 1, battles were happening constantly with those Rank 1 Magus and Eye Masters fighting whenever a piece of fallen star with great purity was found.
It was at the end of the fifth week when the first death occurs. It was an Eye Master named Rufus, he was at the peak of his rank and due to the confidence in his power, he was traveling alone.
Rufus had detected an increase in the amount of pollution in the air, which signified that a very pure piece of fallen star was found.
Knowing that others would feel it too, he went to the location employing great speed and as he flies his body seems to transform into a shadow, fusing itself with darkness.
When Rufus reached the place where the pollution was being released, he saw a piece of fallen star that should weight around a ton and beside it was a young boy whose body was covered by lightning.
Still on his shadow form and sure the boy could not detect him, a vicious smile appears on Rufus as he launches himself and attacks the back of the boy's head.
Another two Eye Masters were also drawn to the place, and they were very close when they felt the entire tunnel tremble as if a giant as trample on the floor.
Caution appears on the eyes of the duo as they continue and when they finally arrive, they saw a young boy carrying a piece of fallen star over his shoulder and next to him was a bloody stain on the ground.
This shocked the duo and although there was great greed on their eyes, in the end, they didn't dare to act and just look at the boy as he leaves.
Two weeks after that a couple of bodies were found. They were the werewolves that accompanied Feiner and although their bodies seem fine on the outside, their insides were completely rotten and by the agony displayed on their faces, it seems they were tortured before dying.
Deaths due to the fights amongst those Rank 1 from the empire and the Eye Masters from dynasty were expected, so no one made a fuss about it, and although the situation with the werewolves raises some suspicion about the true killer, with Feiner dead no one would waste their time finding their murder.
Especially since they were smart enough not to keep the bodies inside their spatial ring.
Spell of fate and divination that track someone's killer are extremely difficult, but those that track bodies are much easier. This information was not public knowledge and was guarded to make killers think they would only need to put the body on their spatial storage to erase the evidence, easing the job from those whose duty was to hunt criminals.
In the fourth month, a new guest arrives at the platform of Dynasty and the one that welcomed him was Azel, whose expression was filled with fear.
It was an old man with red eyes on his forehead and the amount of energy on his body made clear that he was an Eye King and a very powerful one.
The moment the old man saw that Tritus unconscious body on the floor, he imminently sends his consciousness to explore his condition and after a moment his eyes widened before his expression filled with rage.
The old man looks at the tunnels with killing intent, but after seeing the statue left by the powerhouse from the Empire, he withdrew his killing intent, picks up Tritus and flew away in direction of Dynasty, but not before giving one last look to Azel.
When Azel felt those eyes he shivered and didn't dare to look back, it wasn't until the old man left that he crumbles to the floor with a pale face and cold sweat covering his body.
At this moment Zatiel was flying through the tunnels and there was a pleased expression on his face due to his Elemental Chaos Heart being finally completed.
`Even though staying surrounded by this elemental chaos is like being nourish by the most optimal potion every single day, the speed of improvement is still impressive` Zatiel thought as he commanded the chip to scan his body.
"Bip... analyzing host.
Strength: 62.7
Physique:113.2
Speed: 83.4
Abyss Aura:97.4
Sun Force:76.5
Bloodline Heart: 59% completed
Elemental Chaos Heart: 100% completed"
When Zatiel saw his stats he was extremely pleased, the completion of his Elemental Chaos Heart gave him a great boost on his physique.
Zatiel body right now would be the absolute envy of any Magus that followed the body-refinement path since the maximum that they could reach in any category was around sixty to seventy points and that was only if the main focus of their Path Technique was only in one aspect and leaves the other two with an average of thirty points.
'I wonder how they are doing, their advance should not be much slower than mine, especially the sleepyhead' Zatiel smiled as he remembers the scene of Sophia sleeping over a mountain of food.
'When I get back to the surface, I will call them, so I can inscribe a Runic Set on them'
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