Chapter 185: Brother’s Love [2]

Leon stood perfectly still.

His eyes were empty, like his mind had not caught up with what his body already knew. Zeus’s arm had gone straight through his chest. For a few seconds he did not even feel it.

Then the pain arrived.

He coughed, and blood spilled from his mouth.

"LEOOOOON!"

Voices exploded across the battlefield. Emilia’s scream was the loudest of all.

Zeus only smirked.

"I admit, that was unexpected." He pulled his left arm out of Leon’s chest. Crimson energy dripped from his hand onto the broken ground. "But I still got you."

Leon staggered back. His knees gave out and more blood ran down his chin, but he fought to stay on his feet.

Emilia ran to him and caught him before he hit the ground. His weight almost dragged her down with him. She wrapped both arms around his body and held on.

"Brother Leon! Hey! Look at me!" Her voice shook. "Please say something!"

Leon did not answer. His head hung down and his arms hardly moved.

A few steps away, Theodore’s face twisted with rage.

"You filthy vampire!"

He drew his sword. Rai surged around his body and bent the air as he shot forward.

BOOM!

The ground cracked under his feet. He crossed the distance in a flash and swung at Zeus’s neck in a deadly arc. Zeus leaned back and let the blade pass over his face. Before Theodore could pull his sword back, Zeus slid past him toward his open side.

But the moment he stepped forward...

CRACK!

Thick roots burst out of the ground and wrapped around his ankles. They climbed up his legs, twisting tighter and tighter around his knees and thighs. Zeus stopped.

He looked down.

’Roots? In a place like this?’ His crimson eyes followed them to their source.

Isabella stood several meters away with one hand stretched toward the field. Green light poured around her body and countless threads of mana flowed from her fingers into the earth beneath him. Her face was cold.

"Did you really think you could hurt one of ours and just walk away?"

The roots squeezed harder.

"You have done enough damage. I don’t care what kind of vampire you are. You are not leaving this field until you alive!"

Zeus tested the roots with a small twist of his leg. They creaked but held.

Then a golden streak tore across the battlefield.

Luna was running at him with her giant anchor gripped in both hands. Golden threads of energy wrapped around the weapon and trailed behind her with every step. Her face was full of murder.

"YOU WILL DIE HERE!"

She swung the anchor with all her strength. It tore through the air with enough force to crush the ground under it.

Zeus’s eyes sharpened. He was not going to let that hit him.

The crimson energy around his body surged.

SHATTER!

The roots exploded into pieces. Luna’s anchor slammed into the spot where he had been standing a moment before, and the shockwave rolled across the field.

But Zeus was gone.

Luna’s eyes widened. ’Where did he...?’

Isabella turned her head fast. ’How did he break free so quickly?’

WHOOSH!

Zeus appeared several meters away from the gathered Spires. His one hand hung at his side while dark red energy swirled around him. The two small horns on his head made him look even less human than before.

He glanced around the battlefield.

Leon was down. But now several strong Spires stood around him, each one able to slow him down.

Zeus clicked his tongue.

’This is getting troublesome. With this many Spires together, taking the Helion Core is nearly impossible now.’

His eyes slid toward his severed arm lying far away on the ground.

’And I lost my arm because of that little dirtbag.’

His face darkened.

’What an irritating turn.’

He took a slow breath and raised his remaining hand. The air around him began to bend.

"Well, it was a pleasant time playing with all of you." His lips curved into a mocking smile. "But I am afraid our little game ends here."

His eyes passed over the Spires.

"Until we meet again on the battlefield..."

Alden’s face changed.

[Concept: Fade Activated].

"YOU ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!"

Alden vanished and reappeared right behind Zeus with his dark blade already swinging at the vampire’s neck. The Living Gazer flashed in the air and its dozens of red eyes glowed as the blade came down.

For one heartbeat it looked like he had caught him.

SHLICK!

The blade passed through Zeus’s body. His figure split in two like a sheet of paper.

But there was no resistance. No blood. No weight behind the cut.

Alden’s eyes went wide.

’What?!’

The two halves of Zeus dissolved into red mist and drifted away until nothing was left. It had been an illusion. The real Zeus was already gone.

"DAMN IT!"

Alden slammed his fist into the ground. The earth cracked under his knuckles, but it did nothing for the anger burning in his chest.

"He got away!"

His teeth ground together and his shoulders shook. They had gathered their strongest fighters. They had cornered Zeus, hurt him, even cut off his arm. And he still slipped through their fingers.

Then Alden remembered something, and the anger drained out of him all at once.

Slowly he turned his head.

Leon lay in Emilia’s lap. His blue hair was losing its glow and the lightning around his body was dying out, each spark weaker than the last.

Alden’s face went white.

’Leon...’

He ran toward them.

Emilia held her brother’s head against her legs. Her hands shook as she pressed on his chest, trying to stop the blood. Tears poured down her face.

She could not understand it. She could not accept it.

Her brother had always been there. When she was scared, he stood in front of her. When someone bullied her, he chased them off. When she felt bored, he found some ridiculous way to make her laugh. Even when he drove her crazy, she had never once doubted that he would be there tomorrow.

And now he was bleeding in her lap and she could do nothing.