Author's note: Fear not! I have NOT died!

On a more serious note I've caught a virus around christmas and as a result I've been terribly sick the past few weeks. At one point I hadn't even the strength to lift my head... I'm getting better now and my strength is finally returning. With my strength returning, chapters will return as well!

Anyhows enjoy the chapter!

___________________

Li'ar frowned upon seeing Zaran rush in like a headless chicken. The last exchange should've proven that such an approach was not working so why did he come rushing in again? Li'ar shook his head and bellowed "The same tactic will not work again!"

The demon viciously slashed forward with double the strength he had used in his last strike. While he had been playing around to see how much more strength and battle tactics Zaran could bring forward, he could not stand his enemy being so foolish as to use the same tactic twice! Therefore he now drastically increased the amount of strength he was outputting, only and only if Zaran was able to deal with this blow would he continue to play around with him. Still... Li'ar was barely using two percent of his total strength at the moment!

Seeing the incoming blade Zaran instantly activated swiftness, swiftly back-stepped and made sure to land on solely his toes, just barely escaping in time from the full range of the attack. As the attack passed by Zaran instantly shifted his body weight forward and pushed against the ground with his toes which propelled him forward at great speed.

However the speed increase did not manage to catch Li'ar off guard. Being caught off guard once in a fight was more than enough of a disgrace for the Ancient Fallen Angel. His eye sockets flashed with an interested light for a second before growing dull again. He got surprise after surprise with this puny being in front of him.

At first the puny being was matching him blow for blow purely through skill, when skill could no longer help him match blows it started using a rather impressive movement skill to deal with the blows and when that didn't work it used the movement skill in combination with a speed increasing skill.

Yet even though his opponent seemed to use more and more of his potential... Li'ar still had the feeling that there was something asleep in Zaran's blood. Some ancient ... power that was in a deep slumber, just like Li'ar awaiting the day it would be released upon the world again. The more Zaran pushed himself to the limit the more he felt like it was starting to awaken.

Therefore he'd been increasing his power little by little and see if he could force it to awaken. He was greatly interested in what would happen if Zaran awakened that power.

His anxiousness to see Zaran's full potential and power on display caused Li'ar to lose control over his strength for a split-second. Instantly his sword burst forward at lightning speed, directly slamming against Zaran's greatsword.

Bang! The air exploded as Zaran was sent flying by the sheer power behind this blow. Li'ar's expression instantly turned sour, a momentarily lapse in his attention could've caused this interesting young one to have perished!

Boom! Another loud explosion rang through the air as Zaran collided into the sewer's wall, causing dust and debris to burst forward in every direction, completely blocking his current situation from being seen.

____________________________________

At the other side the party was preparing to clean up the battle. The sorcerer had lost most of his mana and soon his mana shield would break. Without a supply of mana the party would easily be able to deal with them as everyone in the party had made sure to save their strongest skills for last.

BOOOM!!

A large explosion sound happened and on everyone's party list Zaran's health had plummeted to a barely noticeable amount.

Irina noticed what happened and before anyone else had time to react she instantly shouted "Sylphie! Go to Zaran! We'll be fine on this side!".

"mhm! Thanks!" Sylphie said as she sped towards Zaran.

_____________________________________

As the dust cleared an horrifying sight was revealed. Zaran's chest had caved in from the impact and his whole body was riddled with wounds from the debris that was sent flying upon him crashing into the wall. Blood ceaselessly poured from his wounds, pooling up all around him, dying the sewer's floor a deep red. If not for this being a game the amount of blood he lost would have ended his life two times over.

Yet even though his life's flame was nearly dying out, Zaran was completely unwilling to lose like this. Whilst his body had already become devoid of life, his mind was urging himself to move! To fight! To slay! To kill! ... and to devour his enemy's strength!!!

"Not... yet! ... Not ... like ... this!! STAND!!!!" Zaran roared in his mind. "MOVE!"

With the utmost effort Zaran was able to move his arm and pull himself free from the crater his impact against the wall had created.

Everyone watched Zaran's movements with absolute shock. His body was riddled with wounds and there was a lake of blood in front of him. They didn't think it was possible for him to still have the strength to lift a finger!

Such boundless tenacity. By now he should no longer have the strength to move but he still managed to summon enough power to pull himself free. Interesting! Still, that which is within him has not yet awoken. He should no longer be able to fight me any longer. Liar thought. Sadly enough, this does mean that I will have to start fighting the rest of his party and abide by the commands of that sorcerer. Alas, if only he could have awoken his strength!

Pulling himself free had consumed all the strength Zaran could summon and after a few slow steps his body crashed lifelessly to the ground.

By now Sylphie had arrived at Zaran's side and she instantly cast her most powerfull healing spell "Angelic tears". Zaran's health was swiftly replenished but instantly started to drop again, his wounds too severe to be patched up by a low level healing spell. "NO!!! ANGELIC TEARS!" Sylphie shouted as she cast her healing spell another time. Yet the wounds really were too severe and her healing spell only delayed the time of his death. "Angelic tears! Angelic tears! Angelic tears!" Sylphie shouted over and over, hoping that one of her casts would be successful in healing Zaran.

As soon as her mana ran out she took out a mana potion and gulped it down instantly to continue casting the healing spell over and over. Every failure increased the despair and helplessness in her heart. When all her mana was spent and not a single more potion could be found within her inventory, she fell down on her knees and shouted "NOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Moments later a system prompt appeared before her.

Through your endless effort to save a life, the goddess of life has taken an interest in you. If you agree to become her scion she will bestow upon you a small part of her powers. This decision cannot be undone!Accept

"Agree! Agree! Agree!" Sylphie quickly accepted the proposition. A white light befell her and two skills where instantly added to her repertoire.

Isis's blessing: Resurection - A skill exclusive to scions of the goddess of life. Allows the caster to bring someone back from the death once a week.

Isis's blessing: Rejuvenation - A skill exclusive to scions of the goddess of life. Once a day you gain the ability to instantly cure the target's injuries, clear their debuffs and fully recover their health.

Sylphie quickly cast Isis' blessing: Rejuvenation on Zaran. A white light fell down on Zaran and his wounds started to heal at an extraordinary rate.

Seeing the ever so familiar light Li'ar gnashed his teeth and cursed to himself "That wench has become the goddess of life's scion! I cannot let her live!". Li'ar dashed forward and prepared to strike Sylphie down.

It was at this moment that Zaran's consciousness returned! Before even opening his eyes the first thing that he did was firmly clenching his sword. "If I am not dead.... FIGHT!" Zaran roared to his body. With this roar every cell seemed to have awakened and a feeling of absolute power filled every cell of his being! A message box flashed before his vision but he instantly closed it.

Racial skill unlocked: Blood awakeningHealth cost90% of max healthBattle-related stat increase200%Skill cost reduction80%Skill duration60 SecondsDescriptionYou burn your life force for an enormous increase in strength. This skill can only be used when at full hp.

Opening his eyes he noticed that Li'ar was moving towards his sister and was preparing to strike down. "YOU. DARE!" Zaran roared as he vaulted up and sped forward.

Li'ar no longer cared about Zaran and swiftly brought his blade down. Zaran grew even angrier and pushed his body to the limits as he used a full powered mountain strike. The two blades met and through the sheer force of the impact Li'ar actually staggered backwards!

Through the increased strength the knock-back effect of mountain strike had increased!

"Sylphie run! I'll deal with him!" Zaran said as he struck Li'ar with another mountain blow before the knock-back effect wore off.

Zaran sped his body up to the max through the use of Swiftness. In an instant he was at Li'ar side and struck him with another mountain strike. Zaran decided to continuously use mountain strike to keep Li'ar from doing anything while the party finished up the sorcerer.

Half a minute passed and the others had finally been able to dispatch the sorcerer. A black leather book with a skull fixed on it and a reddish book that seemed to be made out of blood dropped to the ground. Nuvahn quickly picked both of them up and ran over towards Zaran.

"You promised us a reward. For our reward we want you to never directly or indirectly harm Sylphie! We will take no other reward!" Nuvahn quickly said as Zaran stopped juggling Li'ar with mountain strike. Nuvahn saw that Li'ar had attacked Sylphie and he had to make sure that he would not try to kill her later on. While she would be able to respawn, Nuvahn was sure there had to be a reason for Li'ar's sudden attack as he didn't try to do so before the fight. Thus, asking Li'ar to make the reward be so that he can't ever harm Sylphie should be able to keep her safe.

"Fine, so be it!" Li'ar said while gnashing his teeth. He had been utterly humiliated in the past minute! Li'ar summoned the bloody door again and stepped through it. Before he fully disappeared his voice rang out to the party. "I was not able to use my full strength today... If our paths cross ever again, pray that I have not fully recovered!"

Leaving them with those words, the party looked at each other and all of them fell down, utterly exhausted.

"Let's take a few minutes to catch our breath" Zaran said, to which all the others nodded.