CHAPTER 40: CHAPTER 40 - TRAITORS

"What is that?!"

"Are those runes?"

"How are runes on his body?"

"What the fuck?!"

Even Zion was stunned. He had used this power before during training, but never at its full intensity. Now, it surged through him like an unstoppable force, making him feel invincible—like the most powerful being in existence. Yet, he knew better. A recent humbling had taught him that power alone was never absolute.

Christen, however, was in utter disbelief. "That’s impossible! Runes can’t be engraved on a living being!" Being a mage, she too knew how runes worked, and she knew that engraving them on a living being was akin to a death sentence.

Why? It’s simply really. While magic is manipulating nature and bending it to one’s will, using runes is the act of changing the nature or property of something at the most basic level. To put it in scientific terms, it’s basically like rearranging the atoms of something. This is why magic circles are made up of runes to make spells more powerful.

Not only is this dangerous if it’s engraved on a person, but runes as a whole use nature’s mana to fuel it, meaning it has an almost unlimited fuel source, but if it’s on a person, then they’ll be a walking battery and die once they run out of energy.

But even with all these dangers, Zion didn’t care. Nothing is off the table when his main goal is to kill the gods. If something like this held him back, then he didn’t deserve to succeed in his mission.

In the blink of an eye, Zion tore through the monster’s ranks, their upper bodies erupting into a gruesome spectacle before they even registered his presence.

His aura force seized dozens of monsters, crushing them together in an unrelenting grip. As the rune for fire flared to life on his hand, his magic surged, igniting into a storm of iridescent flames that consumed the creatures in a dazzling inferno, leaving nothing but embers.

Finally, the monsters started reacting to his actions, charging at him like an army going to war. Goblins and Hobgoblins tried their best to injure Zion, but their weak attacks did nothing to him.

The instant their weapons struck his body, the monsters burst apart like overfilled balloons, exploding into a gruesome spray of blood and guts. Ogres and Trolls tried to overpower him, but with a simple swipe of his hand, they were split in two like ripping a piece of paper in half.

"Th-The runes of reflection and countering?! How strong is this guy?!" Christen still couldn’t believe her eyes. She had felt Zion’s strength and saw his battle against Dylan, but now, as she stood in front of him using what she assumed was his full strength, she could only respect the guy.

"What are we doing?! Let’s help him!" Patricia snapped out of her trance and joined in the fight. She wasn’t going to let Zion take all the credit.

The others silently agreed, readying their weapons and spells. Jenea buffed all of them and even pulled out a classic Morningstar which she used to knock the heads off some monsters.

"Go for its legs!" Patricia yelled

"On it!" Dylan sliced the legs of a manticore, its deep roar ringing in his ears. With its tail, it attempted to piece his heart, but Patricia had his back and sliced it off.

A bellow caused by pain escaped the creature’s jaw as it tried to fly away, but was cut short as Dylas lunged his sword into its head and Patricia cut off its wings.

Lordrick fought against a minotaur, carefully evading its charge and deadly horns and the axe it held in its hands. Moving at lightning speeds, he easily took care of the creature, bringing it to its knees where he then cut off its head.

Christen summoned spectral entities of pure mana to help fight in the battle, cutting down any monster it came across. It even jumped a cyclops, bringing it to the ground with a loud slam, and proceeded to beat the shit out of it until it died.

Two glowing orange magic circles formed on Rupert’s hands, unleashing a relentless volley of fireballs. Each shot struck with pinpoint precision, instantly obliterating some monsters while leaving others writhing in agony as the searing flames consumed them.

Even Crystal was doing her part, making sure the lesser, weaker monsters didn’t interrupt the others who fought the stronger ones.

Some monsters were frozen from the inside out, jagged icicles bursting through their throats. Others were shredded into unrecognizable pieces by razor-sharp wind blades. Above her, a massive orb of water hovered, spitting out high-velocity water bullets with deadly precision, each one piercing the skulls of goblins, hobgoblins, and kobolds in an unrelenting massacre.

Zion tore through any monster he came across and it wasn’t even close. None of them here stood a chance and he went on a killing spree. Zipping all over the lab, flying to catch manticores, and bombarding the monsters with his unfathomable power.

Working as a seamless unit, they vanquished every last monster in a relentless onslaught. In mere moments, the battle was over, leaving the lab littered with lifeless bodies. Blood pooled across the floor, painting the entire space in a gruesome crimson tint.

"Good work everyone," Rupert said while catching his breath.

They all took a bit to catch their breath, heal their wounds, and get a bit of rest. But Zion didn’t power down. There was someone behind all of this and he wanted to know who they were and why they were doing this.

"Show yourself!" He shouted, his power shaking the place.

"My, my, you truly are as powerful as my associates claim you to be, even stronger if I had to guess." The voice said calmly.

"Who are you? What do you want with these people?"

"Isn’t it obvious? To build an army. You humans are lucky to be shielded by the gods, but that won’t stop our influence from spreading."

’You humans?’ Those words caught Zion’s attention. ’This place isn’t run by demonic humans but a demon? This isn’t good!’

"Ahh, I almost forgot. You have something of ours. While I’m being once, why don’t you hand over the ma-"

*BOOOM*

Before the demon could get their words out, a massive blast of energy destroyed the area where the demon was speaking from. Zion couldn’t afford for anyone to know about his possession of the map he had that could lead someone to the ancient relics.

"Hahahahaha! Don’t want anyone to find out? Fine, I’ll let you off for now. It doesn’t matter anyways, we demons have many ways to get what we want."

"If you think you can do whatever you want, think again. Your kind will be hunted down before you can even realize what happened to you. Making the four of our factions work together was a bad move."

"Oh, Zion, Zion! I thought you were smarter than this!" The demon laughed harshly, its voice laced with power that could be felt even though it wasn’t in the same room as the others. "We’re in many places, taken many forms, gained followers everywhere, enforcers that enact our will, and infiltrated many places you wouldn’t even think of considering." He let his words sink in for a bit.

"Let me ask you this. If you invaded a world and lost to a force that had the means to stop you, what would be the first thing you do if you decide to attack again after regaining your power?"

Zion didn’t respond but he knew his answer. ’Obviously, countermeasures would be taken into consideration, but besides that, I would destabilize the one force that poses the biggest threat.’ Then it hit him.

’SHIT!’ He turned around, but it was too late. A massive blast of demonic energy sent him flying into a wall, eating away at his mana, and destablizing his runes. He, however, was perfectly fine and got back on his feet as if nothing happened.

"I knew I should have listened to my gut, you filthy bastards!" He sneered, looking to his left. "Although, I’m not surprised that your dumbass sided with the demons, believing in their false promises."

He then turned to the right, his anger boiling yet making him even more excited than ever. "But you, I would have never expected you to be on their side. But it doesn’t matter since I now have a reason to kill you."

"Hahaha! While I admit that we did underestimate your abilities, as we are now, you’re nothing more than a thorn in our side ready to be plucked out." Standing before Zion were Lordrick and Rupert, their eyes black with glowing purple irises.

"I’ll make you pay for humiliating me in the carriage!" Rupert sneered, the demonic energy around him flaring with power.

Zion simply smirked, "Come and try it, pussy."