– Back to Zeref’s POV- 

We had finally arrived at the safe zone and it wasn’t a nice sight. The whole area was a mess: destroyed buildings, piles of dead bodies and live fires still burned. A fog of dust blocked our view as we walked, not helping the tense situation.

For all I knew, we could be walking into an ambush.

The leader put his arm up, signalling us to stop. I spotted a dark flicker, moving in the fog; the leader must have spotted it too and became cautious.

“Defensive formation!” he shouted and the Elves circled around me, keeping their backs to me. This was the same tactic the Elven Guards from the Bank used.

The dark shadow soon became more visible, speeding around us. It was a good strategy, assassins used it a lot, to distract a large group and kill the targets off one by one.

“Aaarrghh…” One of the Elves was dragged into the fog. His scream dissipated, when a loud crack echoed. The figure must have snapped his neck.

“Help!” This time 4 of them were taken into the fog and they all met the same fate as the last one.

“Show yourself! You coward! Fight with honour!” The leader shouted, releasing his mana pressure.

The Elves were afraid. I could tell. These guys must have been an elite force, seeing their teammates being killed so easily must have scared them. 

This was the timing I was waiting for.

Crack! Crack!

I broke the mana binding chains around my legs and hands with brute force, making the elves turn to me in shock.

I kicked one of the Elf’s heads and took his dagger. I hid my presence, making me untraceable; it was a technique Xanxus taught me. I zigzagged around making no noise, finishing off the confused and scared Elves one by one.

“What’s going on?!” The elven leader demanded, turning his head and trying to look for his subordinates. He gripped his sword tightly, keeping his awareness on high alert.

I flash stepped in front of him and sliced with the dagger at his neck but he instinctively dodged, swinging his longsword down at me. I leapt backwards into the fog, out of his sight.

This guy was good.

‘Return’

The dark flicker Returned to my side and fused into my body again. The flicker was none other than my clone.

‘That Elf leader is a strong one, you don’t need to kill him. Just go look for the others.’ Voadhailis yawned in my head out of boredom.

I didn’t reply and started running west towards where their mana signatures were the strongest.

“AAarghhhh!” A deafening scream made my ears ring. What was that?!

I turned my head back to where the noise came from. Did something attack that Elven leader?

I took off my eye patch and scanned through the fog. 

Undead soldiers.

Thousands of undead soldiers were marching in my direction. What mage could raise this many undead? A solitary drop of sweat rolled down my forehead.

‘He’s here. That shadow brat. Prepare yourself.’ Voadhailis’s tone became serious, making me feel at edge.

“I’ve heard many rumours about you, Zeref Amara. Being the youngest among all the candidates you were still able to beat the light candidate.

“And now, you’re even a demon. Many mistake you to be a descendant of Lucifer. Rumours of your power have been spreading and I’m going to put an end to all that here and now. 

“I’m going to snatch the lightning seat from you. You don’t deserve it, you filthy experimental pawn.” A demonic voice reverberated in the atmosphere and countless dark figures appeared in front of me. 

The army of shadows had arrived…

**

The undead soldiers had a blackish aura surrounding them and they felt no pain. They were simple and wild creatures that only followed what their master commanded. 

I weaved around dodging their thrusts from their swords and spears.

‘Voad, Can’t you help me? I’m in a pinch here.’ I said, gritting my teeth. 

Every time I killed a dozen, they regenerated and attacked again. There seemed no end to their assault.

‘Well yes. Check my features from the Skill menu and activate one.’ He retorted.

‘Does it look like I have the time for that?’

‘Just clone yourself you stupid brat.’

I shook my head cloning myself into 4; the other 4 attacked the shadow soldiers killing them with single blows. My stats were divided equally among them, so their stats were probably around 30-50 per category.

‘Skill Menu open.’

[The Dragon of Flames, Voadhailis (Bond) features:]

[Cambio Forma – (Requirement: Level 80)]

[Control Delegation – (No requirement)]

[Forma del Drago – (Requirement: Level 100, Mana Pool Stage 7 + Secondary Mana Pool Stage 2)]

[???]

[???]

[???]

‘Since there’s no time I’m trying the first one.’ I said, through our mind link, closing the skills tab.

‘Go ahead.’ He scoffed.

“Voadhailis, Cambio Forma!”

My incantation caused flame mana to seep out from my meridians and form around my left hand. Next all my other elements seeped out and travelled to my right hand, causing streaks of blue, white and purple form around it.

A blinding light made me close my eyes. I felt a cold feel cover my palms slowly. They felt like hilts; I gripped them instinctively.

I opened my eyes when the light was finally gone. WTF!

[Voadhailis’s Claws: Revised edition]

Two short swords were in my grip. The one on my left had orange cracks on the blade that oozed out flame mana and a hilt which was made of the most dazzling red scales. 

The other one on my right was a beautiful and elegant navy blue. It sparked with little buzzes of lightning and was as light as a feather. The hilt had intricate markings, carved out of gold and purple, which matched perfectly with the navy colour.

Perfect! 

‘Finally some short swords!’ A smile stretched across my face from ear to ear.

‘Return’

The clones stopped fighting and returned to me one by one, raising my stats again to their former glory. 

I spun the short swords in my hands getting used to their grips. I sliced horizontally with the left one making a roaring slice of burning orange flames cut through all the remaining undead soldiers.

“Not bad. Arise my legion!” The darkness candidate said from within the fog. Undead soldiers and magical beasts appeared from under his shadow and scattered round, surrounding me.

I cracked my neck left and right, spinning the blades in my hands with joy. A large troll like beast standing at 20 metres in height attacked me first swinging his large club down at me. 

‘Lightning Aura’

I sped up his arm in a spiral slicing the arm like tofu into large chunks of black meat. I didn’t give it a chance to retaliate and blasted the beast into orange flames with the sword on my left.

These two short swords were perfectly balanced. The left handled hell hot flames whilst the right could utilise the rest of my elements: Lightning, Ice and Gravity.

This time a large 10 meter bear monster attacked me, swiping with its claws. I leapt back dodging its attack. 

Raising my right arm in the air I swung down, making a lightning bolt strike the large shadow beast decimating it.

I danced around majestically with my dual short words killing hundreds with a single strike. Bolts of lightning snaked around me and ricocheted off one shadow soldier to the next in chain attacks.

“You f*cker!” Finally the shadow candidate joined the battle. His body was still shrouded in darkness mana and he had an overbearing presence.

All of his undead soldiers returned to his shadow and he immediately leapt swinging down his longsword towards my head. I got my 2 blades in an X shape to block the blow.

BOOM!

A shockwave sent both of us flying back. I spun the new Voadhalis’s Claws in my hands before zigzagging around at a speed invisible to the normal eye. 

I threw the left blade at him but he flicked it away with his own sword. That gave me the perfect moment to attack one of his vital points.

My blade was inches away from his neck as he dodged my swing leaning back. Everything moved in slow motion as he pulled out a dagger from his side pocket and stabbed it into my rib.

[You have taken 800 damage]

Sh*t!

I grimaced, leaping back. I opened my palm and the blade returned to my left hand like a boomerang.

“You must be getting some sort of writing in your vision right?” The darkness mana disappeared revealing the demon under. He panted heavily, smiling like a maniac.

He had black hair similar to mine and glowing red eyes. A purplish dark aura surrounded him, a technique I knew very well: ‘mana skin’. He wore a black robe and held a longsword with two hands.

He must have been referring to the system. 

“So you have one too?” I asked, regaining my stamina. The stab wound slowly healed with my super regeneration skill, whilst I tried to buy time.

“Yes. All candidates have one; you’re very behind on the knowledge I see.” He replied charging towards me.

We exchanged sword strikes, making shockwaves destroy the surrounding buildings. I dodged, throwing counter strikes and parrying his blows. This guy was a good swordsman.

“Where is Malia? Where are my friends?!” I demanded, thrusting for his chest. He parried the attack with his blade but was taken aback when I sliced his chest with my other blade. A red line appeared through his robe and he grimaced, leaping back.

“Why should I tell you?” He smirked, dropping his longsword to the ground.

He cracked his neck left and right, making his hair slowly transform white. His eyes changed white to a full pitch black hue. His mana pressure grew tenfold and even his normal demon horns grew in length.

He covered the distance in a split second punching my chest. All the air in my lungs syphoned out leaving me winded.

I flew backwards like a pebble crashing through countless buildings, leaving a trail of destruction.

[You have taken 1500 Damage!]

Guess he could transform too.

This was going to be a hard battle…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep