13 CHAPTER 12

*Black forest*

Victoria was shivering with fear.

'How can such a young person become an immortal' When she heard Ariel speak.

"Do you want to live"

"YES" she replied while nodding furiously, the scene of her friend's bodies around her was too much for her to bear, she just wanted to escape.

"Well then, I will give you a chance of survival. RUN, Run as fast as you can, as far away you can and try to escape me. No one except me will chase after you. If you escape successfully I will let you live, If you get caught, you die."

Victoria didn't know whether to laugh or cry, As far as she could sense the boy was more powerful than her. Just his aura was able to freeze her. How was she supposed to escape from him, but she finally saw a ray of hope.

Ariel got up and said "Silias, leave her and continue the journey. I will join you guys in a day or two".

"I humbly ask the crown prince to rethink his decision," Silias said.

"Don't worry about me and go, do you think she will be able to harm me. This is an order", Silias unwillingly said, "Yes your majesty".

Soon Ariel and Victoria were left there alone, He turned to her and said "Now GO, Run. I will give you a headstart".

Victoria was waiting for him to say this and as soon as he said this she took off without looking back.

Ariel just stood there with no intention of chasing behind her.

'Well then, let's see how long can you escape', He looked around to search for a place to rest, he saw a huge tree and decided to rest in its shade.

....

Meanwhile, Victoria was running as fast as she could, But she didn't know where to escape to.

'IDEA, I can hide in a cave and seal off the entrance', She decided to follow this plan and started searching for a suitable cave.

....

Hours have passed since Ariel let Victoria escape.

'It seems its time to start the search' He thought as he got up. He closed his eyes and started to sense the QI flow around him.

'GOT IT'

He took off in the direction where he sensed her aura.

....

Ariel arrived near some cliffs after searching for a long time, It took him the entire night to trace her exact whereabouts, and finally he arrived here.

He touched the surface and tried to inject his Qi in it, But it failed. He thought 'It seems this was a cave previously and she sealed off its entrance using some defense artifact'.

He punched the entrance with all his power.

*BOOM*

But instead of breaking through the entrance, he was blown back.

'Interesting'

He got up and attacked again, But this time with his sword. The outcome remained the same, He was blown back.

'It seems the artifact absorbs the attacks amplifies them and redirects them towards the attacker'

Ariel did not feel down instead he was excited as he wanted to find a way to break through the artifact.

This time he wanted to try out a new technique his uncle gave him. 'God slaying thunder, Let's try it out'

He jumped back and put some distance between the entrance and himself.

The atmosphere around him was filled with thunder Qi, and killing intent began emitting from his body. Ariel closed his eyes and started to slowly lift the sword in his hands until it was above his head, The the aura around him Grew stronger and denser.

After a few seconds, he swung the sword with all his might and a purple arc surrounded by thunder was released from the sword and flew towards the entrance.

The barrier trembled violently upon impact, but it seemed as it was able to hold off the attack but suddenly a cracking sound was heard and the defensive barrier began to crack with lines forming everywhere.

*BOOM* the barrier exploded.

Ariel was ecstatic seeing the power of the attack, the attack was extremely powerful and did not consume a huge amount of QI.

He slowly started walking towards the entrance, Inside he found Victoria in a corner crying and apparently she pissed her pants.

"Ha ha ha, I finally caught you." His eyes the turned cold and he started emitting killing intent and said "Any last words"

Victoria who was crying started to laugh frantically and said "If you're going to kill me then I will take you down with me" the energy in her body started expanding apparently she was trying to self destruct.

Ariel upon seeing this laughed and said "You can't do anything, you will die only by my hands", he pointed his finger towards her and a red streak of energy flew towards her.

The streak of energy entered her body and her body lost all the Qi.

"Wha-What did you do"

"Just a little trick I learned. Don't worry though, your death will not be in vain as I will use you as a dummy for my new technique"

Victoria was horrified "YOU DEVIL, why are you doing this"

"why you ask. Well I do this simply because I want to besides you attacked me first"

"But we di-"

*SWISH*

Ariel stapped his sword in her mouth without much care and She died with unwillingness and regret in her eyes.

"Now then let's try The Blood absorption technique"

He extended both his hands towards her corpse and closed his eyes. Her body started to rise in the air and blood started to come out of her body and flew towards Ariel.

Ariel was surrounded by blood and he started purifying and absorbing it.

...

After an hour he opened his eyes, He saw that the corpse disappeared and was replaced by ashes. He felt his body became stronger and he was a bit closer to the saint realm.

He picked up his sword and left the cave.

After traveling for a day he finally caught up with his Guards. Who were happy upon his safe return, and they continued there journey.

...