Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Chapter 67: Castle of Brimstone - Spell of Blood

Creating a massive sphere of flame, I exploded Zool\'s entire skull in flames before shooting off his body. Only to watch in horror at how his headless form twisted towards me.

Impossible, are there weaknesses, not their brain? "How are you alive," I bellowed, sweat dripping from my palm as I gripped Dragonsbane tighter.

Coughing a large mouthful of blood from having Crimson Winds active for so long, I gritted my teeth as a face began to morph on Zools stomach. Resisting the urge to puke, I ready myself as he charged towards me.

Blood quickly shot from his body, erratically attacking me in a seemingly endless manner as I parried equally with my blade. Lights of ruby red and black flickered around as shockwaves shot through the entire area, causing the pools of blood and flesh to fly high over us.

"What are YOU? how are you still alive?" Zool howled as he began making various hand signs.

"Blood of Sin gather from my origin," he quickly chanted as the blood in the entire chamber levitated off the ground. " and Shower my enemies with thy will, heeds thy call sinful beings of my beginning, CHAMBER OF BLOOD."

With widened eyes, I pushed demonic qi into my mind and spine as my entire vision turned to ruby red. Blood covered my every sight, only leaving Zool with a cruel grin on his deformed body standing before me.

With a cold mind and empty heart, I waited for Zool\'s next move. Darkness blended with my body as I watched as the Blood Fiend pointed towards me. "DIE!!!"

Suddenly millions of drops of blood shot towards me, storming my every passage of escape. However, to his horror, my body suddenly vanished as four men appeared next to him.

Ed gritted his teeth with his almost skinless appearance as his palm shot out along with the other three victims. Yet, blood suddenly twirled around Zool, protecting him like how the darkness protected me. Unfortunately for him, the four earth realm geniuses were all monsters in their own right.

BOOM!!!

With each using their own powerful Arte, Zool was blasted away as bones and various organs shot from his body. Roaring with anguish and hate, he pointed with his only remaining arm towards them, "AHHHHHHHHH."

Hearing his shriek, I gave a sinister grin as I watched as blood covered the four in a sphere with what I can only assume is death. Not letting their efforts go to waste, I appeared right behind Zool, covered in darkness as Dragonsbane shot deep through his heart.

"Shatter your shackles, Typhoeus, Fallen beast of the Underworld, " I bellowed as hundreds of flames shout from Dragonsbane\'s tip turning Zool to nothing but ash. The heat became so unbearable all the blood in the room turned to nothingness, leaving three mutilated bodies who seem to be protecting one person. Tears flowed from Ed\'s face as he mourned, wrapping his arms around their bodies.

Dropping the burning hot spear in my palm, I quickly swallowed a pill before releasing Crimson winds. My mind was still sharp as I rushed towards Ed jamming a healing pill into his mouth.

"Ed, we need to go?" I shouted, putting the dead bodies into my spiral bracelet. "We need to find Yura. Weep after we get out of here."

A hateful look appeared as more tears streamed from his eyes, "Y-you are right," He weakly moaned.

Rushing towards Yura\'s insane battle, I watched as a young girl with jet black hair shot her foot deep into a beast similar to Zool splitting his body in half as she waved her arm, skinning his entire body in an instant.

Screams of anguish filled the dungeon as Dromore howled, trying his best to fight, but Yura only seemed to be playing around with him as she began removing his very muscles in a systematic manner. The precision was so perfect that some of his wounds would not even bleed, yet his screams seem to only intensify.

Giving us a glance, she severed his body into hundreds of pieces before flashing towards Ed wrapping her arms around his skinless appearance, "I\'m-I\'m sorry big brother...I\'m sorry? I should have tried to find you when I found Nora." She cried out with tears.

Not trying to hear any of this, I covered our bodies in Darkness, taking both of them in my arms before shooting off into the distance. I could feel and smell hundreds of monsters heading in our direction.

Killing intent filled the entire dungeon as I watched the blood knight make its appearance. Hiding in a dark corner, I drew my bow, creating a dark arrow before firing it into a vase. My arrows could not be sensed, so they made the best distraction and assassination tools.

"After him, Lord Drar\'ethiul wants him dead." Yelled the Blood Knight, his greatsword in hand, as he commanded various demons to search the dungeon. "I want Arsene DEAD!!!"

Using the little chaos, we snuck out before fleeing the entire dungeon in a matter of seconds when compared to the hours we took to reach here. Yura was busy healing Ed trying to stop him from shedding blood and flesh.

Making a few rounds in random locations, we waited for Ed to stop bleeding before making our way towards the library. Giving five knocks followed by a scratching noise on the left side of the door, we saw Winfor slowly open the door.

He gasped before pulling Ed in; tears could be seen in his eyes as he looked towards Yura, "What happened." He sharply asked; sorrow could be seen on his grimace as he laid the man down.

Biting her lip, she looked down in shame, "He was captured; the other three with him are dead," I coldly said in place of Yura.

With a pale face, Winfor teared up, "...Al, Yi, and Vil. I\'m sorry," he said, gazing at his friend, who was also torn.

"They died protecting me...I\'m sorry, Winfor. I\'m sorry," Begged Ed.

It was quite odd for me to see any of this. Personally, I wouldn\'t say I liked Winfor, but he was oddly different when he was around those he liked and respected. The people around him were his classmates...no. They were his family.

Turning to Nora and Zed, who was in deep cultivation, I sighed, knowing only more tears would follow. I don\'t know how we got here, but one thing was clear, my enemies were the Princes of Hell.

Looking down at my scorched palm that held Dragonsbane when I cast a fragmented Legend, I sighed, swallowing another lowgrade healing pill. My body was weary and mangled, but all my wounds stopped bleeding, but there was a massive problem.

The Nexus armor is not working perfectly within this realm. We spent years working on various scenarios, for it not to work perfectly is suspicious. In comparison, most of Zools random attacks would have killed me without the armor, but it was significantly weaker than it\'s supposed to be. It is clear something is going on within this realm.