41 The Viper's Bite

Inside the city, underneath the raging noise of men in battle, lifeless bodies were splayed on the road, blood were smeared upon the stony walls. The youngs cried as they were taken from their mother's arms, while some fathers fought against the invaders only to recieve a harsh fate.

The city guards couldn't keep up with their forces growing, right now, they were out of their control. But they did their best to reduce their numbers.

On a specific street, Celina shuddered as Zemur was wiping his blade, his presence was enough to make her vomit. His intense aura and charisma come side by side to mold this man who may as well be a beast. Currently, Celina stood on a safe distance from Zemur, but if he tries to attack, she knew it would be her end.

The bloody corpses that piled up close to her foot could attest to Zemur's strength. They were cut down like they were dummies, it was obvious he was on a different level. Based on a quick observation, Zemur was a master of Zen, thus he was able to slice the metal shields like they were paper.

"But, why do you have to follow Dersim's plan? His goal was obviously to let us fight against ourselves?!" Celina blurted out.

Zemur cackled. "You got the wrong idea, this is not a battle between demons versus humans, this is a battle for survival."

Celina sneered, irked by his persistence. "I will try my best to recover the legendary sword, then slay the demons myself." She said.

Zemur paused talking, his cold eyes glared upon her. "I have to be frank, but you're a joke, all you light mages were. You got fooled four years ago or was it five, well it didn't matter. But, we no longer have faith on people like yourself, especially you girl." He aimed his sword to her.

Celina swallowed her saliva, a hint of dismay was revealed on her face. "But, but, just wait. I promise!" She said, her words rising in desperation.

Zemur harrumphed as he blinked, he gave a sated smile, thinking he was right. "You're a hopeless one, finding a legendary sword that no one saw or hear, it sounds like a fairy tale. I'd rather listen to realistic solutions." He spat.

Celina clenched her teeth, her head stooped low. "I have trust on my friends, they will find it." Her words fading.

"We have no chance of winning against the demons, I saw their abilities at first hand. They're pure monsters, if we follow Dersim's plan we just might conquer the world or even farther." He said.

After Zemur wiped his sword clean, he sheathed it on his waist. "I think our chit chat is over, I will take you to the castle and then give all of my men the right to live peacefully in this land."

Celina sighed, she drooped her arm, her arms fell to her waist. "I'm sorry, I couldn't do anything." Her face wilted in surrender while her voice sullen.

The men on the sides snickered. "Just give up, you have more worth that way. Ha ha ha."

"Light Mages are pretty useless. It's better if we just hand them to his highness."

"That's right, ha ha ha ha."

"If you comply to Lord Zemur we will be given a good life."

"Right now, we're suffering because you Light Mages were fools."

Celina's spirit wilted from the haughty laughters behind her.

Zemur cackled. He then unsheathed his dagger taken from the pouch on his waist. "That's right just stay still." Zemur said.

Zemur's arm lurched like a snake, he roughly clutched her neck which caused her to groan a chocking noise. She was risen up, her feet were flailing and she tried to break free but it was no use, his arm was rigid and strong.

He then rose his dagger up, Celina eyed the dagger, her eyes slightly widened. She noticed the dagger was lubricated with a purplish glint, it was faint but definitely there. On the edges of the blade the violet liquid was observable.

"Is that poison?!" Celina said croakingly.

Zemur grinned with a grunt. "Calm yourself, this one is a paralytic poison. It won't kill you, you just won't be able to move for few hours. Mages have annoying abilities that we have a hard time to control after all."

Zemur narrowed his eyes to Celina, he then drove his dagger on her chest, he pressed it upon her skin. Celina grabbed his dagger and attempted to halt his slow thrust.

Zemur smiled coldly and advanced his poisoned blade forward to her chest.

An arm grabbed Zemur's shoulder from behind, his eyes widened a bit, his dagger halted as he sensed a fierce presence behind him. He rotated his head slowly and looked over his shoulder.

"Well then old man, I think you should let her go."

Zemur harrumphed in ire. "Who are you?"

Blue laughed menacingly, he tightened his grasp on Zemur's shoulder, Zemur ended up cringing as the grip caused his body to tense, the force on his fingers were about to rapture his bones.

Zemur gritted his teeth and was forced to drop Celina. He moved few steps back, while she fell on all fours coughing.

Blue aimed his words to Celina. "Woman, if you're gonna be easily swayed by their words then you are not worthy to wield a legendary sword?"

Celina had watery eyes as she stared at Blue, she sniffled. "Sorry Blue, but he's right and just as you said I'm useless." Her lips were distorted.

Blue grunted in displeasure. "Don't cry you idiot, you are quite dense, don't you get it? The only reason why I'm forming a deal with you even if you're annoying, is because..." Blue paused as he closed his eyes. "I believe in you."

Blue's words shot out to her chest, piercing her heart, she quickly release a rivers of tears. Her tears crawled all around her face as her snot dripped down. Celina bit her lip, she crumpled her chest as pain and guilt were surging inside her. "Blue." She said.

Blue then turned his eyes to Zemur.

Zemur harrumphed, disgusted from his presence. "What's your connection with her?"

Blue strode to Zemur slowly. "Her? She's my hostage, and you're not allowed to touch her."

Without much questioning, Zemur accepted his answer and hoisted his dagger up, he unsheathed his long sword from his waist. He held two blades with his arms and waited for Blue to come close.

Zemur and Blue were right infront of each other, but none have yet made a move. They stared each other intently, their gazes strong and their faces stoic and calm.

"Blue be careful, he's a master of Zen." Celina said worriedly behind him.

Blue cackled, taking it lightly. "Zen huh? Yeah, I've heard of that but what can measly human do against me?"

Zemur snickered scoffingly. "Really? Since you're head is up your ass, let me educate you young man." He said with a deep voice.

Blue grunted. "Young? I'm a thousands of older than you, compared to me you're still an infant." Blue teasingly reached out his arm to Zemur.

In an instant, Blue's arm got sliced into two, he sneered. "That was quick!" He said in his mind.

"I can kill you faster than you can blink." Zemur whispered coldly, his glare became dangerous as he held his blade tight.

"Zen technique, Viper bite!" With Zemur's blades ready, he slashed Blue's body consecutively twenty times in a blink of an eye.

Blue had no time to react, his body had many cuts that blood spurted out everywhere from his body, slowly he fell apart in several pieces of flesh.

Zemur laughed menacingly. "That's what you get for being so cocky."

In a flash, blue flames erupted from where Blue stood. When the flames cleared out, he was back from scratch, his body unharmed and reverted back to normal.

Zemur got startled. "You're still alive?"

Blue sneered a bit. "That hurts old man." He lurched forward and were about to kick Zemur, Zemur rose his blade and blocked his incoming foot.

Blue forcefully added a sudden push on his foot and Zemur's blade couldn't maintain his block, thus Blue's foot thrusted forward, Zemur's blade slammed flat unto his own chest and sent him flying backwards.

As Zemur got flung, he gritted his teeth then landed harshly on his back, rolling several times before coming to a halt. Currently they had a wide gap between them, Zemur stood back up, panting, he forced himself to prepare a stance.

While Blue walked casually to his spot. "You're technique there hurted me a lot, I guess I won't kill you yet until I pay you double from the pain you gave me."

Zemur's hair were now unruly, the sides of his face were covered by his long hair, only a glimpse of his cold eyes could be seen. He toughen his stance up, and dashed, his body became blur as he was headed towards Blue.

Blue smirked, he thrusted his finger lightly towards Zemur's chest, though it wasn't fatal that could kill him instantly. While Zemur struck Blue with his dagger directly into his heart. Zemur yanked it outwards and the blood spilled on the ground, he staggered backwards and assessed the wound on his chest. To his fortune, it was a shallow jab, it seems he was taken lightly by Blue.

While Blue remained calm even though he had a large hole on his chest, gushing out blood to the road. The wound closed in in an instant, Blue cackled while Zemur was left sneering, confused with his opponent's ability.

Blue harrumphed satedly. "I think our play time is over." He rose his arm and displayed his burning blue flames, when he was about to throw his arm, his vision blurred. His heart fluttered irregularly, his muscles tensed and his limbs became flimsy. He drooped to the ground with a groan, then he slumped flat to the ground. He could not lift a finger.

***

Argonis cackled in the back of his head, Blue found himself inside the depths of his soul, he was back to the abyssal room where the devil resides.

Blue sneered. "Damn it, I couldn't move, what happened?" He cursed and gazed at the devil.

Infront of him was a sillhoutte, whose presence emits a blue miasma which glows faintly. The thin miasma wafted around Blue's body.

"Blue you fool, you got paralayzed by a poison, just because you can regenerate indefinitely, it doesn't mean you are immune to everything. You have gotten too cocky. But don't worry, it will only take five minutes to remove this poison." Argonis spat.

Blue harrumphed, he crossed his arms. "That seems awfully long, you can regenerate me quickly but can't remove a measly poison in an instant. You sure you have became rusty." He scoffed.

Argonis replied with an arrogant laughter. "Regeneration is easy, but removing it is different, because once it circulates inside your body the posion becomes microscopic. It attaches to your cells that even the blue soul will start to protect it."

The blue soul was an entity attached on his soul that protects Blue from dying everytime he gets damaged, the blue soul will revert him back to normal, even his clothes. The blue soul would identify that the clothes as a part of him, thus he along with the clothes would be reverted, but it has a drawback, for example, the paralytic poison if it attaches to his cells, the blue soul might identify the poison as a part of his body, thus the poison won't be readily erased. For lethal poisons however, since it directly harms his body, the blue soul would react and regenerate his damaged cells, burning the poison particulates in the process. For unlethal poison it was a different story.

But if things go out of control, Argonis was there to manage his body, making sure he was well and kicking.

***

"Devil! Hurry." Blue spoke inside his mind as he lied helpless on the ground

Zemur windedly fell on his knee, he swiftly stood back up. "Hey, get the Pillar!" He hollered to his men.

On the distance, they complied and lurched towards Celina, dragging her away from Blue's vicinity. She reached out her hand to Blue. "Blue!" She screamed flailing her arm.

One of the men clutched her head then pushed her downward to the ground, restraining her. "Paralayze this woman." Said a burly man.

"Damn it!" Blue said as he helplessly stared at Celina, they were exchanging each other gazes.

After Celina realized they were about to part, she forced a smile. "Blue, thank you for believing in me." She said.

"Damn it Devil, hurry!" Blue spoke softly since his lips were losing its strength.