“Huh? Gella when did your face become so hard and hairy?… Hairy?”

Zed started asking but when he looked towards the face in his hands his face turned purple as he let go of the face in sheer horror and started retreating towards the majestic bird.

‘NO! NO! NO! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!!!’

Zed screamed in his head.

Multiple sounds of wheezing filled the area as the twelve man who were not far away, finally could not hold it in any longer and started laughing hysterically, tears falling down their eyes.

*Blarrgh!!!*

“AAAHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH! Don’t even think about getting out of here alive! What are you bastards laughing for! Activate the Sky Sealing Formation quickly!”

A malevolent and enraged voice of a man roared as he rushed like lightening towards Zed.

The fog, the valiant voice and Gella, everything was just an illusion that was casted by the man who just roared. The man’s head had gone blank because of the unexpected intimate contact which lead to his illusion being destroyed.

When the dozen man heard the enraged roar of their apparent leader, they turned serious and took action instantly.

Half of the men kneeled down and slammed their hands on the sand below. The next moment, the entire ground started shaking as one after another huge boulders of stone broke out through the sand reaching the sky, creating an extremely thick and high circular stone wall that encompassed everyone inside.

The other half of the dozen man formed a huge circle around Zed and their leader, their backs facing towards Zed. They unsheathed the swords on their waist and slashed them towards their own wrists. Blood splattered like fountains as the sand below the six men turned red.

Even though these six men had just cut their wrists off, not a single sign of pain could be seen on their faces. Their expressions were so calm and stone faced that you would think that the wrists had never been part of their bodies.

The men put away their swords and grabbed the forearm of the wrist they just cut off with their other hand. The next moment, you could see the bone in their forearms coming out or rather it seemed that the bone was growing. The most eerie part was that the bone was not white but rather looked like stone.

The men pressed their stone like bones that had grown out of their forearms on the huge circular wall and instantly it seemed as if the bones had merged with the circular boulder wall.

When the bones eerily merged with the boulder wall, patterns after patterns of inscriptions started appearing on the circular stone wall and the wall engulfed the six men forming a stone cocoon around them, protecting them from harm.

All of this happened so fast that Zed didn’t even have a chance to react as he was still in an intoxicated state.

*Blargh!!! Ptui! Ptui!*

Zed spat a couple of times and wiped his mouth with his forearm. Quickly, he took out a pouch from his robe and searched for something in it. He took out a pill and placed it in his mouth. He looked around assessing the situation of the battlefield, while his mind become clearer as a couple of insignificant moments passed by.

He could see the six men who had kneeled down were now rushing towards him with the man he had just kissed leading them. Just thinking about how he had just kissed a man sent a shiver down his spine. Already knowing who the malevolent man was, he could guess the reason of him being attacked.

Zed retreated rushing towards the majestic golden bird while signalling him telepathically to get off the ground fast.

He could feel the alcohol being driven out and his body being hydrated. His drunken eyes had slowly recovered its tyrannical aura and splendour. They were like orbs of fire, bright and dominating.

Zed blew a mouthful of turbid air out of his mouth and spoke with a clear husky voice

“Bastard! Valor, you little bitch of Gordwok! You dare imitate my Gella! It seems like the lesson last time was not enough for you!”

“You want to teach me a lesson?

Stop dreaming you bastard. You are just a pathetic shit who can’t even get over the fact of his wife’s death. You can do shit to me.

Even if I take my balls out and give it to you, you won’t be able to crush them. Fuck you, you Bastard! I’m going to fucking slaughter you today.”

Valor, who had been running towards him suddenly threw the Greatsword that was in his hand, up in the air and pulled his torso backwards. Stones started to bloom on his right arm and fist, like scales.

His right arm and fist grew larger and larger until it was almost 10 times its original size. A pulsating sound could be heard as the stones on his arm and fist condensed.

“GRAB THE KID!!! ATTACK!!!”

Valor ordered as he rushed towards Zed at blinding speed and punched towards him

“[Stone Emperor’s Fist]!!!”

The mountain like fist blasted out of Valor’s arm and towards Zed, accompanied by deafening sound of air being tore apart.

Zed saw the humongous fist rushing towards him and knew that it was a fool’s errand to take it head on so he poured all his power into his legs, jumping in the air to get out of its way.

He was able to dodge the fist and quickly took out a sword from his spatial pouch. Fire blasted out of his arms as the entire sword got enveloped by the fire. The temperature around him increased exponentially as the fire raged aggressively.

Zed slashed at the six men who were rushing towards the majestic bird with the sword in his hands. The fire ragging on his sword flared at the moment he slashed his sword and a mirage like phoenix appeared as it rushed towards the six men.

Fire rolled on it wings as the mirage like fire phoenix spread out it’s huge wings, dashing towards the six men.

The six men towards whom the fire phoenix was approaching at rapid speed, were rushing forward towards the majestic bird with javelin like poles which seemed to be made out of stone, grew out of their palms.

Aware of the incoming attack, without any need of communication, four of them went on a defensive, letting their remaining two partners attack the majestic bird and grab the little boy.

Stone like armor appeared on the four men as they formed a huge circular arc like formation, rushing towards the incoming fire phoenix. The javelins in the hands the two men who were in the middle of the formation were thrown towards the fire phoenix in the effort of destroying the fire power of the phoenix.

The fire phoenix slammed into the stone javelins disintegrating them in an instant and hit the two men who threw the javelin head on, pushing them a couple of meters away with minor injuries while the men on the sides of the formation dashed past the fire phoenix towards Zed.

The two men who were still attacking the majestic bird in the air, were coordinating with each other, with one creating stone platforms in the air while the other jumped on the stone platforms as he threw the javelins and tried to close in on the majestic bird.

While all of these was happening, temperature around Zed was increasing at a tremendous rate. His whole body had turned white, his features indiscernible because of the bright light emitting out of him.

As Zed watched the two men bypass the fire phoenix and rush towards him his lips curled up. The next moment with a huge bang fire shot out of his body and he dashed forward, his sword thrusting at the man on the right while a pillar of fire shot out of his palm at the man on the left.

Right before his thrust reached the man on the right, who had thrown the stone javelin in his hands toward him, the fire pillar had already enveloped the man on the left.

The moment the Fire Pillar had reached the man on the left, Zed clenched his hand into a fist. The Fire Pillar’s form changed instantaneously looking like a fist and grabbed the man on the left.

“ARHHHH!!!!!”

A pain filled scream echoed through the area as the stone armor on the man who was grabbed by the fire fist melted into liquid, charring the man black. The smell of burnt blood and flesh filled the air as Zed pulled the burnt mangled, yet still alive body of the man in the path between him and the stone javelin at blinding speed.

Using the still screaming charred man like a body shield, Zed rushed towards the man who threw the stone javelin.

The javelin tore apart the charred man’s chest as he was nailed to the ground, his scream muffled as he choked on a mouthful of his own blood. Fury could be seen in the eyes of the man, who had just unknowingly taken his comrade’s life and in his rage, the man rushed forward roaring with a stone spear appearing in his hands.

“DIE!!!”

The man thrusted his spear at Zed’s head, looking at which amusement filled Zed’s eye and he let the spear pierce through his head.

Watching as his spear pierced through Zed’s head, happiness filled the man’s eyes but the next moment he noticed something weird. There was no blood nor were there any screams.

His pupils constricted as he noticed the smile on Zed’s face. He watched as Zed slowly moved his hand upwards and wanted to avoid it but found himself unable to move. He could just watch as Zed’s hand grabbed a hold of his neck, lifting him off the ground.

“Such a weak elemental cultivator… You’re not worthy.”

The man found it hard to breath as his hand grabbed a hold Zed’s hands tightly, trying to get loose. While struggling to get loose, his eyes moved towards the circular stone wall behind Zed.

He saw that the inscriptions that had been slowly emerging on the circular had finally solidified. Upon seeing this, craziness and ridicule filled his eyes as he stopped struggling and quickly wrapped his legs around Zed’s waist while shouting

“DO IT NOW!!! KILL HIM!!!”

The next moment two ginormous palms emerged out from opposite sides of the circular stone wall, slamming together with Zed and the man at its centre, crushing them both within.

Silence filled the scene as everyone came to a standstill. Slowly the hands receded and two mangled corpses could be seen on the sand. A roaring laughter filled the area as the ginormous hands were sucked back into the circular walls.

“HAHAHAHA!!! He’s Dead!!! The bastard who killed my brothers is finally dead!!!”

The malevolent man, Valor, was laughing with his face filled with tears.

“Old teammates I have finally done it… Finally killed the bastard who killed you all… Please accept my tribute in heavens.”

Valor spoke as he kneeled on the ground

The inscriptions on the circular stone wall disappeared and the six men who had been cocooned by the circular wall emerged out. Valor’s new comrades were looking at him silently as he kowtowed to his dead comrades in heaven.

Out of nowhere a sigh was heard

“And you were saying I could not get over the fact that my wife is no longer by my side…”

The next moment Zed’s corpse exploded and seven other Zed appeared in the sky. One standing above the others with black fire all around his body and his eyes closed while the other six forming a circle, each drawing a bow made of fire.

Six arrows shot out of the fire bow at blinding speed hitting the six men, who had just emerged out of the circular wall, right in the head.

All the six men with no time to react, fell to the ground their face charred black with no life in their eyes.

Zed stood on the top with his black robe fluttering. He opened his eyes and gazed overbearingly at the enemies who had attacked them and spoke

“My Wife has left me… I want to be reunited with her too…”

“But now is not the time…”

“My Young Lord still needs me. So, let there be Death.”

“[ASHES TO ASHES]!!!”