Return of the Fallen Volume 9 Chapter 33
In order to perfect his controlling device, Zephris first needed test subjects that would develop consciousness and intelligence from his split soul fragments. He had a theory that in order to create one of these unique Azirian’s, he needed stronger creatures to use the Azirian blood on. If they were powerful beings, that would mean their souls were of a certain quality.
After all, in order to attain such strength, most if not all need a powerful soul. Strength and high-quality souls tend to go hand in hand. The reason for that is fully clear but it was obvious in Zephris’s eyes. The problem Zephris now faced though was something he and the strong rulers of Feya agreed on. He and they had all agreed to a peace treaty.
There was to be no more fighting between him and the outside world. In return, they would not harm any of his family and they would stay out of his affairs and they out of his.
This sort of treaty was reasonable and was something that neither side had a reason to break until now. In order to acquire strong test subjects to experiment on, Zephris would have to take them by force. Naturally, were he to do this out in the open for all to witness, the treaty would be overturned and his family would be in mortal danger. So Zephris could not go this route…out in the open.
Zephris had many talents and his strength was beyond most. For him to sneakily take someone, it was not a difficult task.
(If I do this, and news of this leaks out, I will once again be the enemies of every powerful expert on the continent.)
Zephris chuckled in his head at the thought. He had taken on thousands of so-called experts and had come out on top. As long as they didn’t all come raining down on his head at once, Zephriswas confident he could survive if not come out on top. The only reason he didn’t do things so brazenly, however, was his family. His father could mostly handle himself but his mother and sister were a different story. Unlike him, his sister did not take an excruciating path filled with combat and death. She lived tucked away safely on an island.
Zephris wasn’t mad about this. Because she was safe on that island for so many years, it meant she lived a nearly normal life. She had found love and had gotten married before having several children. Zephris was glad his family had found happiness but because of this safe and happy growth period, besides his father and himself, no one else had developed into a powerhouse. As a matter of fact, all of his sister’s descendants were fairly mediocre. A disappointment to say the least but again Zephris was only slightly disappointed as he understood, safe pens do not raise tigers or dragons.
Since none of his family could fight, this left them vulnerable to those that would declare themselves Zephris’s enemy.
So no, Zephris did not go wild. To keep the so-called peace, he moved like a rat in the darkness. He entered kingdoms and cities, holy clans, and inner keeps without a sound. He could creep up on Ancient Beasts and take them before they or anyone else ever knew what happened. In this way, he took hundreds in a mere few weeks.
The outside world was shocked by this. They knew that their people were going missing but they had no clue or understanding how. It was a complete and utter mystery. All they knew was that whatever or whoever was doing this, they were more than capable. The number of beings that could so easily do this could be counted on a single hand so of course, that led many to wonder…could it be…would he actually do this?
Eyes focused in on the metal city and it was constantly watched. They had zero proof or evidence but to get where they were in life, being a fool was not on the menu.
Even as the metal city was watched day and night, the kidnappings still took place. This time it was when experts were by themselves away from their respective homes and other places. Now, this was becoming truly terrifying. Many powerful experts were now afraid to step away from their places of safety. In this way, the kidnappings seemed to completely fall off a cliff as if they had never even taken place.
A sigh of relief was collectively released and some normalcy returned to the land.
The experts all thought the kidnappings had stopped because they had all been so vigilant but in reality, Zephris’s experiments had finished. Now he was nearing the final stages of completing his device. During the night while he was busy with work. He was surprised to hear the alarms in his city blaring.
Rushing to the surface, he discovered hundreds of corpses. Many of his loyal Adrola apes had been crushed or ripped apart and dozens of buildings made from god metal had been torn apart. At the epicenter of it all, he saw the figure of a woman. His first thought was the Titan Detra but she had no reason to attack his city and she even mentioned that it was rare for her to interfere in mortal affairs.
This left him confused. If not her then who. He quickly rushed forward and the woman turned and they clashed.
Zephris came crashing down with a powerful punch. One that could crack the continent and split the skies. The woman on the other hand raised both her fist and to Zephris’s shock, several buildings made from god metal moved under her control. They rose up and met his punch.
*BOOOOOOM!*
His fist collided with the buildings and the powerful clash lit up the sky before the buildings exploded into millions of tiny pieces and before the force sent them scattering and raining down across the continent in a hail of death.
Zephris was initially shocked that someone else besides him and the Adrola apes could manipulate the god metal. The woman moved it and manipulated it better than all of the apes and nearly as well as he. That was the first surprising thing. The next came when the dust settled. Zephris had expected this woman to flee during the commotion but when everything cleared and the light of the moon shone down, there she stood with a devious smile. The third shock came from her looks. Zephris had traveled the continent many times over and the woman standing before him was the most beautiful being he had ever laid eyes on.
His heart shook from her beauty.
“Demi-God!”
Torzz’s voice echoed from Zephris’s bracelet, snapping him out of it. He looked at the woman and managed to regain his normally calm demeanor.
“Woman, who are you, and why have you destroyed part of my city and my servants?”
The woman was a little surprised by the man in front of her. Usually, her beauty would have both men and women fumbling over their own thoughts. Brush a few strands of her long flowing hair out of her face she looked between Zephris and the Titan in his bracelet.
“That’s an interesting trinket you have there. You caught a Titan and I heard a rumor that you also are the one who created this city. It seems this lower realm has a half-decent alchemist at least, maybe it won’t be so boring down here after all.”
Zephris was annoyed. The woman completely ignored his questions and just did her own thing.
“Hey! I asked you a question did I not? Why cause trouble here in my territory, were you hired. Tell me now and I won’t have to use this.”
As he said this, Zephris pulled a box from his storage ring and revealed a disgusting-looking Mind Frey waiting inside.
The woman tilted her head before her own storage ring opened and several hundred special storage boxes appeared around her. Zephris recognized the boxes right away as they were in fact his. Opening the boxes, several hundred Mind Freys appeared in them.
(This woman, the destruction to the city, and all of the deaths to my servants it was just so she could get her hands on my Mind Freys. She even took the specially made boxes to keep them preserved. Who in the 7 realms of hell is she?)
“That confused look on your face, it’s truly a wonderful sight. Even now you don’t understand why I’m doing anything. Let’s just say you really pissed someone off. Because of that, I was sent to this little backwater realm. Ah but don’t worry, I’m not here to kill you. I was merely told to, well, I can’t spoil everything. Let’s just say your days are numbered. If I were you, I’d leave this world and never return. It’s that or, well you know. I’ll be taking some of these little creatures as a souvenir. Now for the evidence.”
As the woman finished her words she raised her hand and every single corpse vanished into her ring. She then turned to leave.
Zephris had no time to hesitate. The moment the bodies disappeared he knew what she was planning. She wished to extract information from the corpse’s magic beast cores. If she had that, she would have plenty of evidence of what Zephris had done. His servant were interchangeable and were absolutely loyal so they would go anywhere and everywhere within his city. In doing so, many of them had seen who he had brought into the dungeon.
He was never concerned about them speaking out as none of them could speak in the first place. Their beast’s cores were a different story, it held fragments of their souls and with it, many of their memories, and there were all sorts of methods to access these memories. If this woman showed these memories to outsiders, the peace would immediately end and his family would be in danger.
Zephris’e eyes glowed with power and his city became a dome in an instant and sealed the woman inside.
“You are going nowhere.”
“You think this small city will keep me. You think you can keep me?”
Torzz was watching this all play out and he understood just what kind of expert she was.
“Goddes, rescue me from here and I will tell you many of this man’s secrets. The treasure trove of information, this man has can change the world.”
Zephris flicked his bracelet causing Torzz to suffer in excruciating pain. The woman became curious. Lifting her hand once more. the bracelet around Zephris’s wrist vanished and appeared in her hand before he knew it.
“Another souvenir, bye-bye decent alchemist.”
Before anything else could be said or done, the woman teleported away.
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