86 Deception

A bit short chapter since i wanted to finish this segment here and start the new one fresh.

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"Gurgle..." Hearing the sound, out of instinct Nero instantly flew upwards as the next second the ground was instantly covered in a magma-like lake of infernal blood.

Shifting his gaze towards the originator of the blood pool, Nero saw the elderly man emerging from the aftermath of the explosion.

But now he was not alone; there was his spirit soul, which looked like a mythical dog, currently bathed in blood, signifying that it was the spirit soul that bore most of the impact of the explosion.(Picture in comments)

"Hooowl...." The elderly man's spirit soul howled as it instantly charged towards Nero with a bloodthirsty look in its eyes.

"Iblis..." Nero whispered as Iblis emerged in his human form. "Take care of that wild dog, will you? I have a stubborn husky to deal with." Hearing Nero's command, Iblis nodded and swung his centipede-like sword, intercepting the spirit soul and halting it in it's track.

Before the spirit soul could take any further action Iblis instantly caught its neck and submerged in shadows to avoid any interference in his master's fight.

"I would..." the elderly man opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even begin, a massive demonic spectral energy hand appeared above him and embedded him into the ground.

With the slight movement of Nero's eyelids, numerous Qliphoth roots emerged around the elderly man's position, entrapping his hands and feet while also devouring his energy and life force at the same time. 

Continuing on, numerous demon doppelgangers surrounded the elderly man. As Nero unsheathed Yamato, his doppelgangers mimicked his movements. In a flash, the area around the elderly man was covered in a whirlwind of slashes. The force emerged by superposition of these numerous slashes, coated with Nero's sword intent, almost led to space cracks.

As the aftermath cleared, the elderly man was revealed, now covered in bone-deep wounds, with most of his scales broken down like pieces of scrap. His deep breaths and sunken eyes clearly revealed that the combined effect of the Qliphoth's roots devouring and Nero's attack had almost exhausted him.

Looking at Nero with his sunken eyes, the elderly man placed his hand on his chest as the last trace of cruelty flashed in his eyes. "Finally," a slight smile flashed on Nero's face as instantly a blue light radiated out from him, and the elderly man's expression shifted to one of horror and shock, for real this time.

Teleporting in front of the elderly man, Nero waved his hand, and with a blue flash, a golden-red rotating object appeared. "So, this is the fragment of the God of War's godhead. You certainly took your time to finally prepare to use it." Shifting his gaze towards the elderly man's horror-filled eyes, Nero continued, "Though, I suppose there should be a price for using it; otherwise, you wouldn't be so adamant."

"Don't tell me all this time..." the elderly man asked in shock, to which Nero admitted, "Oh! There were moments where I took the fight seriously, but yeah, I was stalling from the very beginning. Otherwise, I had numerous ways to kill you if I wanted to."

Before the elderly man could process everything, from within the shadows, Iblis emerged with the elderly man's spirit soul in his hands. Though, compared to before, it looked like a corpse hanging on its last breath.

"Well, although I really want to annihilate you right now for being a pain in the ass, I did promise my aunt to hand you over, and I'm also curious as to what is running in your body which not only allowed you to access this form but also prevented you from using your Battle Armor," Nero said as he looked at the elderly man's veins with his demonic eyes, spotting clearly a foreign substance roaming in the elderly man's veins.

Turning towards Iblis, Nero requested, "Iblis, would you?" to which Iblis nodded and prepared to take away the elderly man and his spirit soul. Nero also prepared to teleport away, but at the last second, he turned towards the elderly man for one last warning, "And yeah, don't try to escape or resist once you get there; otherwise, my power, which is only restricting your spirit energy connection, would simply sever your soul from your body."

Nero's words were like a devil's whisper in the elderly man's ears. It was now that he realized that the kid in front of him was far from what he seemed on the surface. With a flash of light, Nero teleported away, with Iblis soon following after, leaving the forest in deadly silence, with the uprooted trees being the only evidence of what transpired there.

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Some of you may not satisfied with the chapter upload rate but i do write these chapters while not compromising my studies and other stuff, So, do understand.

Just stick around if you find the story still interesting.