Chapter 5: Calamity Strikes

Finally able to control her newfound strength, Zahra could feel the power coursing through every cell of her body. She felt like she could run swiftly like the wind, wielding the power of an ox. "He should already be back at the village," Zahra said, with Edo nowhere to be found, she concluded that he must've returned to tye goatmen's village. Jason could now understand Zahra since she now knew how to communicate through vibrations of the soul, or Telepathy. Blood still boiling for revenge, Zahra was going to blindly lead Jason to her village, not really thinking about what could happen once Jason found more souls to reap.

With Jason following slowly behind with wobbly steps, Zahra traversed through the lush forest. With her improved strength, she was not that scared of the beasts that lurk within the thick vegetation. Demonic flames enveloped Jason, incinerating everything that stood in his way. For about two hours or so they ventured through the forest, when Zahra suddenly stopped. "We are almost there, my villiage is up ahead," Zahra said, as she began to recognize more and more landmarks around her. Jason's flaming eyes lit up, an eerie but enchanting glow radiating from his eyes. "Was," he said simply. Confused, Zahra replied, "What do mean by was?" "In about half an hour your village will cease to exist," Jason replied nonchalantly, as if he was delivering some minuscule news.

Finally realizing what Jason meant by was, Zahra instantly began to panic, rushing towards the direction of the village. There was definitely no way Jason was going to match her speed if he was still going to walk slowly with his two feet. As the surrounding mana fluctuate, two large, translucent wings of a bat sprouted behind his back. With a flap of his wings, he almost whipped up a duststorm. Reaching speeds that exceeded the fastest birds by twofold, he easily caught up to Zahra, who was running like there was no tomorrow. Beginning to pick up a faint smell of rust, Zahra knew that Jason didn't lie to her. Hearing sounds of an intense battle from afar, Zahra couldn't imagine what was happening currently to the village.

When she finally caught a glimpse of the village, she froze. Corpses of goatmen were lying everywhere, puddles of blood everywhere. Wolf-like monsters were gnawing on the bones of her dead people, crushing the bones and devouring the meat. "Wargs!" she exclaimed, as she shuddered from the gory sight. The ring on Jason's finger glowed brightly, as Jason saw hundreds of glowing orbs being sucked towards his ring. "Quite a good haul," Jason thought, wondering what Zahra would turn into once she devoured so many of the souls. "What's your next move?" Jason asked curiously, watching from the sidelines. He had enough of saving others, being betrayed by Savitr. How foolish he was back then, wanting to give up his life in order to save humanity, only to be backstabbed by his own partner. There were only around a dozen of goatmen left, the ones remaining being the elites of the village. They were fighting fearlessly, holding their ground against a pack of wolves even if they were already pouring blood from all the scratches and bites on their body.

Zahra rushed towards the group, sliding down the rocky slopes. The rigid landscape bruised her as she tumbled down the hill, ignoring the scratches and bumps, she stood up and rushed towards the survivors. But just before she could get near, the defense line had already started to collaspe. At first, they were doing quite well, even starting to push the line back, but one of the surviving goatmen, who just so happened to be Enzo decided that he could have a better chance of survival if he just escaped on his own. Activating a ability, he sunk into the shadows, vanishing without a trace.

Suddenly, there was a gap because of Enzo's selfishness. The wargs began to fight more fiercely, making much riskier attempts. With one of the wargs chomping down on the forearm and crushing it with its fearsome bite force, with one of the goatmen getting taken down, the others fell like dominos. "NO!!" screamed Zahra, seeing familiar faces one after another. "ENZO YOU COWARD!" she screamed, cursing the escaping goatmen. With the last goatman's throat being slit open by a warg's sharp claws marking the end of the village, Zahra's heart and soul was void of any emotion besides hate and vengence.

Sneaking through the shadows basically invincible since he never met anyone who could directly attack him when he was in this form, Enzo escaped the scene, running towards the forest. Exiting out of the shadow realm, Enzo leaned on a tree as he tried to catch his breath. It definitely wasn't easy, shadow sneaking for such a long distance. "I really admire your quick wit," Enzo heard a voice ringing in his head. Since it was directly transmitted to his head, he had no way of distinguishing where the source of the voice was. "Who's there?" Enzo looked around, trying to stall for time while he was coming up with an escape plan. "But sometimes cowardice won't suffice," the same voice rang through his head once again. "Damn it," Enzo cursed. Without any intel about who or what he was facing, shadow sneaking away was the best option.

Once he decided his plan, he dove right towards the nearest shadow, hoping to make a great escape. But unlike the past times where he would just meld into the shadows, he face planted right into the ground, mouth full of dirt. Thinking that his ability was on cooldown, he waited for a brief moment before he made another attempt. But unfortunately, the second attempt still yielded the same results. As he heard laughter, a figure appeared right in front of him. Feeling the same sense of death and destruction he experienced back at the ruins, Enzo's heart skipped a beat before finally realizing who he was up against. The unknown being was probably the one of the strongest subordinates of the demon lord or possibly even the reborn demon lord himself. "Oh did I forget to mention, none of your abilities or spells will work," the words directly transmitted to his head was definitely coming from the flaming skeleton.

Pulling out his daggers, Enzo took a fighting stance. "Pathetic, even an amateur could see right through that stupid act," Jason said. Realizing his antics have been seen through, Enzo tossed out a weird bag. After a split second, the bag exploded, creating a thick smoke and loud noises. Enzo instantly bolted, running north with full speed.

Perhaps for any other enemy this would've worked, but unfortunately he was up against someone who had the prowess to fight the demon lord. Glowing, Jason's eerie eyes locked on Enzo's soul right through the thick cloud of smoke. Flaming bat wings sprouted from his back, with a flap of his wings, the whole cloud of smoke dissipated, and Jason shot right towards Enzo. "I'm afraid I'm bored of trying with you anymore, and that little girl definitely needs my assistance," Jason said, as the surrounding mana fluctuated. Before Enzo could make his last stand crimson chains shot towards him, wrapping him around tightly. He instantly felt strength leave his body, as he slumped to the ground without being to lift even a single finger.

Carrying Enzo like a sack of potatoes, the demonic flames that burned natural charred Enzo's skin. But with everything sealed, Enzo could not react to the intense pain. "Let's go see how our little savior is doing," Jason said, as he shot towards the sky.