13 December Year 2367

*Click clack*

Heavy breathing filled the room. Telfer stared fixedly at the door. The footsteps had stopped outside the door. 

"It's amazing that you could actually break out of the chair. But that also means you would be even better as medicine. Have fun with this."

Ruzo's hiss came from outside the door. The door slid open before abruptly slamming shut. A can flew towards Telfer. A sizzling sound was accompanied by red plumes of gas. Telfer dashed towards into a corner and pulled his shirt over his mouth and nose. The gas spread out and crept closer with every second. Telfer hacked at the walls desperately but only sparks came out. Telfer's body was drowned within the sea of red. Telfer held his breath as the gas pervaded every corner of the room. 

"How long can you hold your breath for?"

Ruzo cackled from outside the room. Telfer tore through the cloud of gas and swung his sword down on the door. The door was even sturdier than the wall. It didn't budge a single inch even after Telfer hit it repeatedly. Telfer threw a Yama's Strike at it. Nothing as well. Telfer leaned back against the door and slid down. Was he really going to die here like this?

The amount of air he had was also depleting rapidly. Telfer let go of the shirt and inhaled the gas. If he was going down like this, he was going to get the last laugh. Ruzo could say goodbye to his sick experiment. He crawled towards the nearest machine and brought his sword down on it. It was a monitor showing his vital signs. Contary to his expectations, the sword went through the screen quite smoothly. The monitor split back to reveal glyphs within. Telfer hacked at it again, making sure to destroy every single glyph within it.

Meanwhile, the gas seemed to have gone to work on him. As Telfer went around smashing the equipment to pieces, his vision seemed to get dimmer and dimmer as time passed. The smashed equipment around him was becoming darker and darker. Everything faded to black. Telfer stumbled about within the wreckage while swinging his sword blindly. He took a deep breath of the gas and grinned. He could still go on fine without his vision. 

"STOP! DON'T TOUCH MY EQUIPMENT!"

Telfer heard the door slide open behind him and the sound of footsteps. He picked up an object and flung it behind him with everything he had.

"What have you done?"

Something was being crushed behind him. Telfer was pretty sure it was the object he had just thrown. Telfer leapt further into the room and continued hacking at the equipment. 

"NO, STOP!"

A tail wrapped itself around Telfer's body and flung him away from whatever he was hitting, sending him against a wall. A cracking sound emerged from his body. Some of his ribs had snapped apart when he collided against the wall. Telfer stood up while holding his chest. Everytime he took a breath, he could feel the bones flapping against his skin and arm. Telfer grapsed the wall to find a handhold. Wailing and sobbing could be heard from within the room. For some reason, Telfer could feel some airflow against the arm that was holding the wall.

Is the door open?

Telfer swung himself around and started running away from the room. He didn't think that giving up on the situation would instead give him a chance to escape. Telfer swung his arms and legs as hard as he could. However, it felt like he was swinging lead around. The paralyzing poison was still in effect. As much as he wanted to, his body would not listen to him. Telfer kept pushing himself to go forward. 

"COME BACK HERE!"

A tortured scream came from behind him. The gap was quickly being closed up by Ruzo. Telfer gritted his teeth and pushed himself even harder. His body seemed to creak everytime he took a step. Footsteps pounded the ground. 

*CLANG*

A random object had slammed itself against his head, sending him spread eagled onto the ground. Telfer bounced back up instantly but the same object stood in his way. 

"GET AWAY FROM IT NOW!"

Ruzo coldly spat out. Telfer clung to the unknown object behind him while facing the origin of the voice. He froze in his position. One wrong move and his life would be gone forever.

"Do you really think I won't do anything to you?"

Ruzo's voice seethed with anger. Telfer wrapped his arms around the object as his legs shivered in fear. A number of thoughts went through his mind. 

If I listen to him, what happens next? What is it that he wants to protect so desperately?

Telfer smirked inwardly and held his position. He raised his sword above the object while hanging onto it for dear life. However, the opposite party seemed to be quite offended by his actions. Telfer could feel someone's aura expanding in front of him. It was getting harder and harder to breathe. It felt like he was being weighed down by a mountain. But Telfer affirmed his stance and squeezed himself against the object. 

"You imbecile... Fine, I will give you the antidote for the poison. If you don't take the antidote, you will eventually lose all of your senses."

Telfer grinned as the aura receded, causing the suffocating feeling to vanish. His gamble had paid off. This 9th ranked demon could have crushed Telfer with just his pinky finger but he had not the moment he caught up. However, if anything happened to his mate, Ruzo would never forgive himself. Telfer shook his head and brought the sword slightly closer to the tube. He could feel someone's aura rising again. However, it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. 

"All right, I will let you go, you little rat."

Ruzo spoke with a tinge of murderous intent. Telfer beckoned with his free hand and a pill fell into his palm. Telfer ensured that the sword was hanging over the tube before swallowing the pill. The darkness in front of his eyes disappeared and his limbs felt lighter. An unearthly silence fell within the room. Ruzo stood before him. His claws trembled faintly and his eyelids twitched as he stared wide-eyed at the tube behind Telfer. His tail seemed to take on a life of its own, jerking about in random directions. 

"See that staircase over there? Get out of my cave and NEVER come back."

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Telfer stepped away from the tube slowly while keeping the sword raised above it the entire time. Ruzo followed his every movement without blinking. The gap between the 2 of them widened with every step Telfer took. At the same time, the distance between the sword and the tube slowly increased.Telfer looked at the staircase then Ruzo had pointed at. It was roughly 20 metres away. The second he let go of the tube, he would have to get his ass over there. He had the sneaking suspicion that Ruzo was going to drag him back and turn him into medicine. The best part was, what if the staircase and the talk about letting him go were all lies? Telfer paused and scrutinized the staircase. It was dimly lit, leaving Telfer unsure of where it led to. 

"It's probably a staircase to lead you straight down into the experiment room."

Agvak echoed his sentiments.

"What are you doing? Hurry up and leave already."

Ruzo's voice urged Telfer to leave. A hint of eagerness was contained within his voice. Telfer spotted a red button that was 5 metres away from the staircase and grinned. The word "Emergency" was carved into the wall above it. Telfer stood still for a moment while Ruzo looked at him questioningly. Unbeknownst to Ruzo, Telfer was charging Mass Transfer in his legs. 

Slowly. He can't attack me when I'm near the tube.

His calves bulged and expanded under the pressure of Mass Transfer. Telfer licked his lips and eyed the red button on the wall. Ruzo seemed to be getting ready as well. His tail had stopped jerking about. Telfer could feel the aura seeping out behind him.

Ready, set, GO!

Telfer sprinted for the button. A crater appeared behind him. The button was getting closer and closer. A little more and his finger could touch it. 

"Not so fast. Join me in this miracle."

A tail shot out from behind Telfer and wrapped itself around his left leg, yanking his entire body upwards into the air. Telfer raised his arms to guard his head but the attack to his head did not come. Instead, a claw struck the calf that was wrapped up by the tail, snapping his calf bone in half. 

"You said you would let me go wouldn't you? Do you not have any dignity?"

Telfer spat at Ruzo who still had his tail wrapped tightly around the broken calf.

"I will do anything for Endena. So help me witness this miracle."

Ruzo tightened his hold around the calf, preventing the bone from healing. 

"This is how you fight off a 9th level."

Telfer fell back into the sea of consciousness and watched as Agvak took over. Meanwhile, Ruzo was dragging Telfer's body across the ground. Upon taking over, Agvak pushed off the ground with his other foot and charged at Ruzo. 

The tail grew taught to stop Agvak's advance but it didn't matter. A sword sliced the tail off and Agvak rammed his horns straight into Ruzo's belly. 

"I hope you like this Sky Toss of mine!"

Agvak grinned and swung Ruzo's body upwards. 2 deep gashes were left on Ruzo's body as Agvak dragged his horns through Ruzo's chest. Blood poured out of his torn lungs as he floated above Agvak. A white light appeared in Ruzo's palm which he placed over his chest.

"Like I would let you."

Agvak inhaled and flung the sword towards Ruzo. Telfer watched in amazement as the arm which Agvak had just used turned into a blue chain which was attached to the sword. The sword sailed through the air, causing a whistling sound to occur. The sword stabbed through Ruzo's palm and emerged from his back. Ruzo coughed up a mouthful of scarlet blood. Agvak tugged at the chain and Ruzo's body descended towards him. Agvak lowered his body and veins popped up all over his body. Steam started rising out of his body, adding a hint of mysteriousness as a fog appeared around Agvak. Agvak drew back his other arm as Ruzo fell on top of him. A layer of poison appeared over the fist. 

"Exploding Fist."

A vibrating fist shot out of the fog and crashed into Ruzo's chest. Ruzo's body rippled before being torn apart. A gap had appeared in his chest. The flesh and organs which were originally in the chest cavity were now squished up against the sides of the gap. Within his sea of consciousness, Telfer could feel the fist plowing through Ruzo's body like nothing. The warm sensation of blood gushed over his arm as Agvak struck Ruzo in a lightning like fashion. After a minute, Ruzo's body was riddled with holes. Agvak withdrew the sword while the chain turned back into an arm. He glanced at Ruzo's body which was lying in a pool of blood and bowed solemnly. Suddenly, the corpse started twitching. More specifically, the tail was going wild. It flailed about in random directions. Agvak stood up and took out the sword again. Telfer watched, stunned into silence as the tail propped Ruzo's body up. The corpse stood before Agvak with its head bowed. The tail stabbed itself into one of the many holes and pulsated. A golden fluid flowed out and mixed with Ruzo's organs. Golden nets appeared over the countless holes, stopping the flow of blood. It was like watching someone come back to life. Ruzo raised his head and his eyes which had been glazed over were now bursting with life.

"HAHAHAHA, IT WORKED! MY EXPERIMENT WORKED!"

Ruzo admired his body which had been torn apart and rebuilt like nothing. Agvak stepped back and exhaled. 

"The path of immortality huh? Fusing yourself with a snake had actually worked."

A snake?

Telfer watched with his mouth agape. Was this the power of a 9th level? It was really baffling how someone who was clearly dead come back to life. 

"That was quite the greeting. Let me return it to you."

Ruzo waved his hand and poison arrows shot towards Agvak. Agvak activated Immortal Guard but the arrows had still managed to lodge themselves into his arm. Ruzo pushed off his tail and hopped over to Agvak. 

"Eat this Corroding Claw!"

Ruzo's claws sliced into Agvak's arms and poison flowed down into the deepest parts of the arm. The tiny barbs on the claws hooked onto Agvak's flesh firmly. Even with Immortal Guard activated, the claws hung onto Agvak's arm like nobody's business. Ruzo pumped the poison in and the flesh melted away to reveal the bones underneath. 

"Next up on the menu, a Paralyzing Bomb."

Ruzo held up a yellow orb in his free hand and jammed it at Agvak's shoulder. Instead of melting away the flesh, the orb  exploded and poison wrapped around Agvak's arm. Everything below the shoulder had been rendered useless. Agvak sliced off the shoulder nonchalantly and shoved it into Ruzo's face before cloaking.

Ruzo closed his eyes and a poisonous fog descended down onto the room. Meanwhile, Telfer was conversing with Agvak.

"I can't hold on for much longer. This body is too pitiful for me to use any techniques with."

Agvak complained as he dashed about in the fog. Ruzo followed him through the fog, whipping his tail about to catch Agvak. Craters were left in the floor as the tail struck Agvak's after image. 

"COME HERE!"

Ruzo roared behind Agvak. Telfer watched helplessly as Agvak started slowing down while approaching the emergency button. 

"It's all yours now. Get both of us out of here."

Telfer was forced out of the sea of consciousness. Almost immediately, a stinging pain appeared on his shoulder as the tail landed on his body. A grinding noise appeared in his shoulder and blood seeped out of the side of his cheek. Arrows impaled his back but Telfer kept propelling himself forward. Blood trickled down his back as the arrows drilled their way into the front of his body. It was as if he was being grinded up inside out. His organs and bones were being chewed up by the arrows. Telfer gritted his teeth and activated Mass Transfer. He slammed his entire body against the red button and a siren rang throughout the cave.

"Emergency Mode has been activated. Beginning escape procedure now."

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

*Tumble*

The ceiling of the room started to cave in and large rocks crashed into the room. Telfer slumped against the wall and smirked as Ruzo raced back to the tube. He met Ruzo's vehement stare and waved back. The right side of his body was completely torn to pieces inside. The system constantly rang inside his head.

"Host's health is rapidly depleting. Host should seek emergency treatment immediately."

As the rocks started to block out Ruzo, the rocks suddenly shattered into pieces. Ruzo's aura was on full display as Telfer was pushed up against the wall. The same suffocating feeling emerged except on a greater scale. 

"YOU ARE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS YOU WRETCH!"

Ruzo slit his wrist and scarlet blood flowed out. However, a tinge of green was mixed in with the blood. Ruzo compressed it into bullet and flicked it at Telfer. Before Telfer knew what happened, the bullet had penetrated one of the wounds created by the arrows. Telfer clutched the wound as a numbing pain spread all over the right side of his body. The last thing he saw was Ruzo grieving over the tube. 

"System is now levelling up."

Telfer rolled into a gap which had opened up behind him. A rock crashed down and blocked the gap off, plunging Telfer into darkness. 

End of Chapter