Castiel kept taking the energy from the Spirit Reserves, not feeling even a little bad for stealing the energy from the reserves of the Franc Clan Ancestors. The energy was going to be gone forever, even if he had done nothing after all.
"You've become stronger."
Even as he kept his focus on repairing the Mark of Protection on Atlas' soul, he could still give some attention to his surroundings. The surrounding, which had become somewhat unstable, had started calming down slowly. However, what truly attracted his attention was Lucius.
Castiel could feel that Lucius was stronger than the last time he saw him. As for the boost in strength, it wasn't minor if it was noticed by him.
"You, on the other hand, seem to have stayed the same," Lucius responded. "Still the same old."
"Hmm." Castiel smiled. "I wouldn't deny that. I'm still an idiot like I used to be. But I'm happy with the way I am."
"Hmm? It's the first time I've heard you call yourself an idiot. Who are you? And what did you do to the real Castiel?"
It was as if Lucius was taken aback when Castiel agreed with him on the part about him being an idiot.
Castiel burst into laughter. "Time... Time killed the old Castiel."
"Was it truly time that made you see? Or was it what happened before you went to your slumber? You know, now that you're back, the same things will happen again. But this time, we can't take the same old escape. This time, we have no other choice but to face it."
"That's why I've been working on becoming even stronger."
"It seems to be working as well. I can see it. Unfortunately, that much isn't enough. It can't be enough. There is only one way if you truly want to make a change this time..."
"Working together?" Lucius asked, guessing what Atlas was implying. Last time, they were all split up, drowning in their own arrogance, but now, after decades of sleep and time to think about it, Lucius realized that being split up wasn't a solution.
Castiel sighted. "No. That won't be enough either. You can't wait for the problem to come to you. I want you to help me achieve something that I don't think I can achieve without you."
As the conversation progressed, the energy reserves inside the earth kept depleting, soon reaching almost extinction.
Not long after, the reserves were completely deleted.
Castiel pulled out his majestic Sword from the earth and sent it back.
"What help?!" Lucius asked, watching Castiel walk to the barrier. He followed after Castiel.
Castiel didn't answer right away. Instead, he placed his hand on the barrier.
"Good spell, but so many flaws... It could've been so much better. The old man didn't teach his descendants everything, it seems."
A small formation circle appeared on his palm, which was imprinted on the barrier. The formation destroyed the entire barrier like it was nothing. Within seconds, the barrier that was blocking them was gone.
"And you said it was impossible to break the barrier," Lucius rolled his eyes, unable to believe that it was that easy for Castiel to break the barrier, and still, he forced him to use the Sword.
Zhang was frozen in place. He couldn't believe that all the spirit reserves were absorbed by Castiel. Not only that but even the barrier was destroyed. Finally, he saw Castiel's mastery of spells, which was way more than the legends stated. Even he couldn't destroy the barrier that fast after all.
"This guy..."
He cast the flight spell again. Instead of trying to fight, he started retreating. He knew alone he couldn't do anything at this point. Even his energy boost was gone now.
He started flying away; however, before he could even go far, a figure appeared before him like a ghost. As for the person, it was none other than Castiel.
Not only was Castiel flying, but he was in the air, right before Zhang.
"Zhang Franc. I have no personal enmity with you. In fact, I was a friend of your clan once upon a time before they decided to attack Lilith and me. Even then, I let your clan live. It seems that it was my mistake."
"Not this time. It's time the Franc Clan disappears from this world forever." Castiel raised his hand.
"You! You can't do anything to me!" Zhang flew back. At the same time, he made a circle with his fingers, using his last bit of energy.
Seeing him fly back, Castiel couldn't help but remember the past.
"It's not the first time someone tried to use the sleeping spell while trying to distract me with another spell. Unfortunately, that is a Rookie mistake. That's what happens when you learn by yourself instead of working with others. You leave yourself open to flaws."
"Dispel." Castiel waved his fingers gently, sending a gust of wind, which sent the sleeping gas that was surrounding him straight back to Zhang.
Seeing the direction of the winds change, Zhang realized what was coming. He straight went down to the ground, avoiding the sleeping gas from his own spell.
However, even as he floated near the ground, a spell formation appeared under his feet. The spell circle, this time almost half the size of the spell at the Castle, which Castiel broke. However, still, the sheer size of the spell was massive, especially how fast Castiel made the spell.
The gravity around the spell was a thousand times more than the gravity outside. Despite the flight spell, Zhang couldn't fly. His body was pulled straight to the ground.
From the same formation, thousands of Vines came out, flying straight to Zhang. The vines were like shackles in themselves. They wrapped around the feet of Zhang, and even his hands and his waist, making him unable to even move, let alone cast a spell. A vine also closed his mouth.
Even though Castiel had retained the control of his body to help Atlas, Atlas's consciousness wasn't sleeping. It was also there, just taking a backseat.
Atlas felt his body moving on its own, doing all these things. However, there was also an advantage to this. Since his consciousness wasn't sleeping, he could experience this power. He now knew how the Sword was called out by Castiel. He also knew how the spell that Castiel used just now was cast.
It was as if Castiel wasn't just helping the Soul of Castiel, but he was also teaching him the basics of how to fight like him.
But stopping right there, Castiel raised his right hand again. "Wrath of the Heaven!"