"It has begun," Enzo muttered under his breath as he watched everything unfold before him.
The blood pool was currently churning violently as blood splattered all over its banks in defiance.
Right now, Victoria was inside the pool as the two attempted to devour one another in a bid to attain godhood.
One vampire and one blood parasite
"She's going to lose." From behind, Thane's voice resounded as he looked at the pool with hate. Everything had come to a close, Enzo still being alive even now was a clear sign that his plans had failed.
But that didn't mean that the legion's plans had failed.
Their goal was to keep Victoria on Galafray indefinitely, be it by his hand or by the hands of the sentient blood, a win was most definitely a win.
"Maybe…" Enzo commented as he slowly stood up from his sitting position and faced Thane.
He didn't harbor any wishful thinking, the sentient blood had lured them here. Whether voluntarily or not, Victoria was playing on its turf. The chances of her coming out alive were up for debate.
"But your chances of losing are much higher," Enzo added as a cold and calm look phased into his very being.
Victoria could take care of herself. She believed she could win against the sentient blood despite the circumstances, so he believed so too. It wasn't blind faith, however, it was just trust… just like she trusted him.
"Enzo… as my last and final companion, I leave with you the responsibility of putting my first to rest."
Victoria's words resounded in his head.
She wanted him to kill Thane, or at least the thing that he had become.
"I am not like the others, you know that right?" Thane said softly, breaking into an evil grin.
Kara, Dandan, and Windbery had been infected by the sentient blood from what he could gather. This meant that they were inherently weak, as the blood parasite was in its nature just that.
A potential-sucking parasite.
But him? He was preserved by the Red Sun Legion, his strength had not dwindled in the slightest. In fact, he was stronger now than he had been before.
"Even the legion's strongest creation lays bare before my feet. Don't act all high and mighty." To the side, Nibbleskin sneered.
Thane had insinuated something blasphemous just now—Victoria would lose? What gall! It pissed him off.
"Senior Nibbleskin, please do not interfere," Enzo said with a calm and respectful bow. He didn't seek to disrespect Nibbleskin by refusing his retort.
But right now this was between himself and Thane.
"Hmp!! That might be the case, but killing this kid is a much easier task than killing Victoria." Thane sneered at nibble skin, it was just a tyrant like him.
Where did it get off from threatening him?
"Hmm, you're a lost cause. I'll leave the kid to teach you a lesson." Nibbleskin shook his head and bit down on the clothes of the clone, dragging it away from the battlefield.
He was not going to interfere in their fight. It would be an insult to Victoria if he did so.
"Would you like to begin?" Enzo turned back to Thane and asked as he summoned his sand drill.
This fight had been a long time coming. Thane had been trying to get him killed for a very long time, and now it was time for his penance.
"Gladly," Thane blurted as he pulled from thin air a red greatsword with spikes attached to its sides, making it look like a chainsaw.
-Grinnn
Enzo entered a battle posture and followed Thane's every move, watching as he sprinted towards him.
Two meters before the clash, Enzo twisted his footing, sliding through the wind as his sand drill cut directly past Thane's side while Enzo effectively dodged the swing of the red greatsword.
He had entered this planet as a complete novice who didn't know how to wield a weapon properly, nor had he taken the lives of beasts. But now?
He was a seasoned killer!!
The sand drill rang as it pushed towards Thane's back, piercing at its epicenter. However, as he pushed the last step, it met nothing but thin air as Thane disappeared from sight.
In as much as Enzo's wits had been sharpened, they couldn't realistically compare to Thane's.
'A switch.'
Enzo muttered as he felt a shadow loom over him and a giant sword cut at his back. Thane had trained him in the ways of the Dead Man Codex.
He knew most of Enzo's moves and could predict a lot of his strategies.
Of course, this was a two-way street, as Enzo could equally do the same.
Enzo quickly dodged to the side and fell into a shadow on the ground before throwing out his drill from within it.
Attached on the back by a chain, the drill wrapped around Thane's neck and pulled him face-first into the ground.
"You didn't think I wouldn't experiment myself, did you?" Rising from another shadow in the corner, Enzo mocked.
His hand drill was still attached to Thane's neck through that shadow and through the one he came out from. Enzo didn't just take the codex at face value.
He took it and reverse-engineered it into his own fighting style.
"Fucker!!" Thane cursed as a purplish liquid leaked from the corners of his neck and quickly eroded the chains on his neck… breaking them slowly.
"Hmmm." Enzo watched as Thane slowly stood up.
He didn't have that smug look on his face anymore. Rather, he looked humiliated, extremely so. Enzo had wrapped a chain around his neck like a slave.
The last time that happened to him… was before Victoria.
"I'm going to kill you!"Thane spoke with absolute clarity and hatred.
Enzo was arrogant, cocky, and insufferable. But most of all, he was a self-righteous hypocrite. He was a random nobody that had just stumbled upon Victoria, and now all of a sudden he thought himself her protector?
What about him? He had protected her for thousands of years. How was he any better than him? He truly hated Enzo for everything he stood for… he replaced him.
That was his biggest crime.
-Grinnn
"All talk," Enzo mocked as the chain reattached to his sand drill and came flying back into his hand.
The two of them looked lazer-focused as they rushed at each other once again, both determined to kill the other.
In the background, Victoria's battle with the sentient blood had become more violent than before, with rays of deadly light escaping from the depths of the pool.
Both parties were in a constant struggle for energy. They weren't just fighting, they were in an active race for ascension.