Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 52
Sasai snapped his head backward and erupted with loud laughter.
*MHHAHAHAHAHAHA!*
his voice boomed and shook the underwater volcano, threatening to bring the entire lair down upon them.
“You want ussss to join you! Thisss human, who do you think you are!?”
Kazuki shrugged.
“Me, I’m just some guy but it’s those that have my back you should take notice of. If you two go at it without me, you will no doubt either lose to the other Ancient beast or will have to ascend to a higher realm and submit yourself to a god and be bound by a soul contract for the next several thousand years. I on the other hand have a few backers. Even if you two don’t join me, my death is not so easily guaranteed.”
“Liesss! You expect us to believe thisss. Jussst a tactic to ussse usss.”
Tozu held a hand up to silence Sasai before asking.
“You asked us to be straight with you. Now, don’t you think you should have the same courtesy? Reveal the names and stop speaking around corners.”
“Fine. Tell me have either of you heard of Etora?”
As soon as Kazuki said this Sasai and Tozu’s expression changed.
“You mean the glutton platinum wolf. Hissss ssstrength isss as legendary as hisss apetite!”
Kazuki nodded, his eating skills are definitely well known.
“Kazuki, you are acquaintances with Etora the platinum wolf. Last I heard he was captured in a weakened state and imprisoned by the human Garn. I didn’t even think that glutton was still around.”
“He was set free from that place a while ago and he regained all of his strength already. Not only do I know of him but he and I are friends. I saved him and he’s done the same for me. Since you all know of him, you should know what he’s capable of. Even if the three of us were to go at him all together, he would be able to rip us to shreds with a swipe. If you two are equal to the 6th stage then he is a hair’s breadth from the 7th stage. You two may be around the same stage but the difference in power is like heaven and earth or rather the difference between heaven and Gordonia.”
Tozu and Sasai exchanged a look with one another and Kazuki could see them starting to wavier. They simply needed one more push.
“With Etora our survival goes up several times but there’s one more person wh has my back. If you know of Etora then I’m sure you know of his sworn brother right?”
Tozu and Sasai shouted the name at the exact same time.
“GLACIOUS!”
“GLACIOUSSSS!”
As soon as that name was mentioned, the dark energy in Kazuki’s compass began to swirl in agitation or maybe annoyance.
“Kazuki you have some relation with that dragonslayer as well.”
Kazuki nodded casually.
“Senior liza..er…Senior dragon is basically a teacher to me. He’s passed on many skills and teachings and has helped my strength grow by leaps and bounds. Suffice to say without him, I definitely would not still be among the living. Glacious if I asked, he would definitely support me. Tell me, with him on my side, is there any Ancient beast who could defeat him.”
Tozu no longer hesitated.
“Kazuki, are you speaking the truth? Do you really know Glacious like that?”
“For what reason would I lie about this?”
“Please just answer the question?”
*Haa*
“Yes I indeed know Glacious as well as Etora and I believe if I ask, they will not hesitate to protect me and for me, they will also shelter you but there’s a condition to be met before that.”
Tozu no longer hesitated.
“If this is true then as long as the condition does me and my younger brother no wrong, we will agree and join you.”
The usually confrontational Sasai remained quiet and put up no protest or resistance hearing all of this.
Kazuki could understand why. One option led them to flee their world and become a slave for thousands of years and be a plaything for a god, the other option even before they heard it was better than that.
“To join me is actually simple. Obey me.”
The underwater world became dead silent after those two simple words fell from his lips but they carried an unidentifiable weight to them.
“You want usss to obey you?”
Kazuki nodded.
“I’m not asking you to be my slaves or anything like that. You will simply listen to what I say and do it. I will never order you to do something I wouldn’t do myself and everything I would ask of you would be to help our own cooperation and survivability go up. If you two can agree to me being the leader and following me, we can move forward here and now. At the same time, this is a one-time offer. It’s either a yes or a no.”
The situation the three were in would tie them together one way or another. There was no reason for them to be enemies and coming together would make it that much greater that they don’t die.
Tozu understood all of this but still, he had to add on.
“This can be agreed upon but something needs to be settled. First off, if you lead us, you must take that very word into consideration and dare not try and abuse your authority. If we can keep the trust between us, things will go a lot smoother. At the same time be honest in everything you say and do. If I detect a lie a single time from you, I will no longer be able to trust you and will take it as a betrayal. In order to rectify betrayal, we will in turn betray you and drag you down with us if you lead us to our doom. If you agree, then right here and now I will agree to follow you.”
Kazuki swore it then and there.
“I will never lie to either of you and I swear I shall never abuse my authority as leader, you have my word.”
Tozu gave an appreciative nod.
“Then I as well swear to follow you until our mutual enemies have been laid to ruin and become ashes beneath our combined might.”
Kazuki and Tozu both turned to Sasai at this moment. Sasai though put up no fight.
“I ssswear it.”
Kazuki wanted to have a soul contract over Sasai but to his knowledge, that was not something that could be done in this lower realm. With that, all agreed upon Kazuki took out the many Magical beast cores he had recovered and tossed all of them except the Motozu’s core to both Sasai and Tozu. The Motozu core he kept in his storage ring as he had plans for it.
“Thessse coresss?”
“I hear Beast can grow stronger by consuming Magical beats cores. You two can go ahead and absorb them right now. I’ll guard you both in the meantime. Growing your strength by just a little bit more if it gives us even a tiny advantage it’s worth it no?”
Sasai and Tozu didn’t expect this. Magical beast cores were invaluable to magical beast but they were also worth fortunes to humans. Humans could use them to craft and make powerful weapons and tools. For Kazuki to simply give them not only beast cores but Ancient magical beast cores like it was nothing, it showed them some of his good side and they took it seriously.
Sasai didn’t wait around and inhaled several cores all at once. Afterward, he curled up into a large ball and began to infuse and absorb these cores one after another. Tozu as well sat down and crossed his legs.
“Kazuki…Thanks.”
Kazuki shurgged.
“Your strength is my strength.”
Tozu understood this. Without another word, he opened his mouth and threw all of the cores in, and swallowed them down. Shutting his eyes, he began to concentrate.
A few hours earlier, Tozu opened his eyes and stood up. Power was radiating off of him.
“You finished?”
“Surprised. We Ancient beast can absorb another’s core in very little time. This is just one of the reasons why we’re so dangerous.”
Kazuki shook his head.
“No, I meant you took a while. Had it been me I would have absorbed that core in a fraction of the time.”
Tozu could tell Kazuki wasn’t lying and looked at Kazuki like he was a monster.
“You can absorb the power of an Ancient Magical beast core? Are you really a human?”
“If not human what else am I supposed to be?”
“That doesn’t answer my question at all.”
Kazuki smiled before pointing his chin at the ball of snake flesh off to the side.
“Looks like your brother has finished as well.”
Just as he said that Sasai began to shed a thin layer of skin. His flesh gleamed slightly and one could feel a small vibration in the air.
“Ssssuch power. I feel incredible.”
Sasai had gained a little respect for Kazuki after this gift but he didn’t want to say it out loud.
“Whatsss next leader?”
Kazuki’s ring shined and several corpses fell out in front of him. Some were as big as a mountain and others not so much.
“Just as I guarded you two, please do the same for me.”
Sasai and Tozu had no clue what Kazuki was doing with all of the Ancient beast’s bodies nor did they know when he had gathered them all. Pulling out a long blade, Kazuki began to cut the corpses up from large chunks into smaller ones until every corpse was in manageable sizes.
“If you don’t want to be eaten, I suggest you two not come too close for this next part.”
Sasai and Tozu had no clue what he was doing but they both naturally stepped back. The very next moment, Kazuki activated the Ourodyess technique and he began to devour the corpses in front of him like a beast.
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