50 Chapter 49 Death’s Embrace Part 3

Zero awoke to see the room filled with dust and Death injured whilst Genya was unconscious on the floor next to a wall with a crater. Still, in pain and 2 pieces Zero grabbed his bottom half and placed it under his torso, and waited for them to fuse back together.

"Looks like you've finished what you were doing and have begun to heal." said Death as he turned from Genya and faced Zero.

"How long have you known what I was doing?" asked Zero as he tried to buy time from his body to heal.

"From the very beginning little one; I am a master of souls and as such, I can see souls. I noticed you weren't dead and as I dealt with Alucard I noticed your soul grew stronger. This is an unusual thing so I waited to ask you what you did." explained Death

"Nothing much like you said I have a similar power to that of Dracula to command soul however my control far exceeds his is all." said Zero as he looked through his new skills to quickly understand them in hopes that they could help him defeat Death.

"Well, then I've wasted enough time now. I should kill you before you finish healing." said Death as he teleported next to Zero and slashed at his immobile body on the floor.

"Too late!" yelled Zero as he teleported away

"Impossible! A dhampir can't recover that fast!" yelled Death as he looked around for Zero.

"Oh, right the last time we met I was just a dhampir. I've long since gotten much stronger." Said Zero as he appeared behind Death and launched 20 fireballs.

Death's scythe flew to intercept the fireballs and spun to create a makeshift shield to protect Death. Zero who had waited for the moment for the scythe to stop spinning quickly teleported and grabbed the burning scythe causing his hand to burn. He didn't care and activated his new soul manipulation skill and ripped out the part of Death's soul held with the scythe and quickly threw it into his chaos dimension. Zero couldn't be sure if Death had the power to recall his soul and he didn't want to take any chances.

Death was motionless and quiet as he had witnessed Zero take half of his soul and teleport it to a place where he could no longer feel its presence. He used his remaining soul to call the missing part back to him but no matter how much he called it no answer came. "What have you done!?" he yelled in anger.

"Nothing much I just didn't like fighting two on one. Let's have a fair fight here you go." said Zero as he threw the scythe back to Death after appraising it and learning it no longer had any special abilities.

Death caught the scythe and a black fog emerged from him and enveloped Death. The fog condensed into the form of a man and then dissipated. A bald man in a priest outfit holding a smaller scythe emerged from the fog "Let's have that fair fight that you wished for then."

"Should I be expecting 2 more transformations?" joked Zero

"What do you mean?" asked Death

"It's nothing just an inside joke." said Zero

"Very well then let u begin" said Death as he disappeared and reappeared above Zero and slashed down with his scythe. Zero barely managed to block the slash with his claymore causing the ground beneath him to crater. Death quickly pulled back his scythe and kicked Zero across the room but he disappeared as he flew back and appeared behind Death. Zero then slashed forcing Death to block with his scythe causing him to be pushed back.

"Looks like you're used to fighting beings stronger than you" said Death as he steadied himself and took his stance.

"It's barely enough to keep up with you even though you're still holding back." said Zero

"You're aware of that?" asked Death

"Just my intuition. Let me send Alucard away so we can get started" said Zero as he teleported next to Genya and sent him into the chaos dimension. Now free of any distraction Zero took his counter sword stance and readied himself for Death's onslaught

Death smiled and appeared in front of Zero and slashed at him launching Zero straight into the wall. Zero hit the wall and fell coughing up blood as he looked at the broken blade in his hand that he blocked with. Zero looked shocked when he realized that Death had not used teleportation but had simply moved so fast it seemed like he did. The attack had broken the bones in his arms and Zero would need a few minutes to heal.

Death walked towards Zero with his scythe raised was looking to finish him off. As Death was about to attack Zero a black sword pierced through his chest from behind. Shocked Death teleported away to the other side of the room and saw that next to Zero was a shadow that looked exactly like a silhouette of Zero.

This was one of Zero's trump card his animated shadow skill had been unlocked after his soul rank increased. He had waited until he was sure that he could damage Death before he used the skill.

Death was injured but the attack wasn't fatal as a black fog emerged from the wound and sealed the wound instantly. Death wasted no time and rushed towards the shadow and sliced off the shadow's left arm before kicking it away. Death was shocked by what happened next as his left arm fell off his body as if someone had sliced it off before feeling a pain in his side.

Zero had used his animated shadow ability not to animate his own shadow but Death's. He had trick Death into fighting his own shadow and any damage dealt with the shadow would be returned to Death himself.

Zero wasted no time and teleported and decapitated the shadow instantly and watched as the head of Death fell from his torso. Using his soul manipulation skill Zero ripped the soul out of Death's body and send them to different areas within his chaos dimension.

With a wave of his hand, Genya who was still unconscious appeared in front of Zero. Zero then proceeded to slit his wrist a little and place it in Genya's mouth allowing him to drink Zero's blood to recover. Genya shortly opened his eyes and looked around cautiously before asking "Where is Death?"

"He's technically dead now. I took his soul." answered Zero