(Author: Hello! Lu Shu, also known as Agemo Miura, is left alone against the humanoid Hyperion. The seven recruits escape into the tunnel and collapse it. The beast Hyperion have left to join the fight against Gillian and Meng Ce. Just how will Agemo defeat his foe?)

---------Chapter 9: Death Match------------

Agemo and the Hyperion were forced back under the blow of their fists. The Hyperion was surprised. The human was both strong and had a strange technique that rendered almost all material attacks useless. Agemo decided to go all out and wisps of dark spirit energy emanated from his body. He was using the Phantasmal Sky technique, the movement dark spirit technique he got back in the vault.

He became a blur of trailing shadows as he burst forward. The Hyperion's eyes widened for a second before it recovered and drew a giant, golden sword. The moment Rain Slayer and that sword collided, Agemo's left arm became numb and used his right arm to push the Hyperion back.

The Hyperion grinned and spun backwards. Its wings began to cleave like swords and even managed to crack the scales on his right arm. Agemo stepped back and then leapt forward as the Hyperion continued its spin, leaving its side vulnerable. Agemo punched the bottom of the Hyperion's wings as it spun and slashed at the Hyperion with Rain Slayer, creating a long gash on the Hyperion's side.

"You'll have to do better than that, Agemo. I AM A GOD! You cannot kill me!" the Hyperion roared as its giant sword flashed and the gash healed in seconds.

Agemo narrowed his eyes as the Hyperion leapt forward. Metal clanged against metal as they become embroiled in a storm of swords. As the Hyperion swung downward, Agemo took advantage of the katana blade of Rain Slayer and used his right arm to support the block by pushing on the blunt side of the katana. The Hyperion spun again, but Agemo jumped instead. It seemed that its wings were able to cut through the white energy.

The Hyperion laughed and did a somersault, folding its wings to cover its body. With a shout, it spread its wings and dozens of feathers shout out, like spears, toward Agemo. Agemo blocked and deflected the feathers that shot in his direction, taking advantage of his movement technique to move his arm faster as he focused all the dark spirit energy into his left arm. Then, he focused his spirit energy into his blade and slashed at the Hyperion. The Hyperion snarled and used the side of its two-handed sword as a shield and blocked the blow, forced back ten steps.

Agemo landed on the ground while the Hyperion glared at him. The Hyperion's left hand became covered in flames and it threw several fireballs at Agemo. Agemo cut through the fireballs, causing them to explode and block his vision. Knowing what was going to happen, Agemo immediately bent his knees and fell to the ground. The Hyperion appeared from the explosion, but its great sword only slashed empty air as Agemo had foreseen the attack. Agemo pushed off the ground with his right arm as his left arm stretched out to pierce the Hyperion.

The Hyperion cried out in pain as Rain Slayer pierced its ribs and Agemo quickly drew out the sword. He bashed the opened wound with the short, two-inch cross guard. The Hyperion was stunned by the pain and Agemo grabbed one of its wings with his right hand. He leapt up and pushed off the Hyperion with his feet, wrenching the wing out of its socket.

The Hyperion rolled on the ground in pain, its blood spewing like a fountain from its back. Agemo panted and took the opportunity to catch his breath. The Hyperion stared at him, its eyes blazing with hate and rage, as it picked up its golden sword.

"You think you can defeat my Retribution Sword? I am a Hyperion, an angel on the road to godhood! You have ripped the wing of a god! You will pay with your life!" the Hyperion roared.

Agemo laughed and focused his spirit energy into his sword as the Hyperion did the same. It was as if time slowed to Agemo as water congealed around the sword as he prepared his Radiant Howl technique. The Hyperion's Retribution Sword flashed gold as all the light seemed to swirl into the sword. Agemo yelled at the top of his lungs as he slashed his sword at the Hyperion as the Hyperion did the same. It was their finishing move. Blades of water against a large energy beam of light.

The Hyperion's attack was like an unstoppable cannon and blasted against Agemo, sending him through five trees. Rain Slayer flew from its hands and landed in  the ground nearby as he crashed into the last tree and was knocked out for a few seconds. Agemo's own attack was more like a tidal wave, the cannon only making a small hole before it closed as it approached the Hyperion. The Hyperion screamed as the living spirit technique was both a material and soul attack. Its body trembled as each blade pierced into its body.

Agemo's vision was blurry. He was lucky that the Hyperion was enraged. If he hadn't ripped out its wing. The Hyperion would have remembered to use its flying, dual-moon blades and wings as they were able to harm his body. Agemo groaned as he pushed off the branches and bark that were on top of him. His arm had returned to normal and he took out a barrel of lion wine, drank some to restore his spiritual energy, and refilled the gourd as well as filled some others. He put the spare gourds and the wine barrel into his storage bag, retrieved Rain Slayer, and walked over to the defeated Hyperion.

"You.....pathetic human. You will be punished for killing a god...," the Hyperion rasped as it spat out blood and was unable to move.

"My Spirit Pulse is actually red and you're only a false god," Agemo mocked and his hand became shrouded in purple energy as he grabbed all the spirit energy in the Hyperion in his hand.

He laughed like a maniac as he devoured the spirit energy of the Hyperion in its face. The Hyperion paled as it could not feel the spirit energy in its body. It felt weak, so weak. It had very little feeling in its body as it had become akin to a cripple.

"Your Retribution Sword," Agemo began as he made the Hyperion lean forward, exposing its neck. "It will make a nice meal for Rain Slayer. I must thank you. I realize how dangerous Hyperion are. I also learned that I cannot depend on my Eclipse Indestructible Body technique for soul attacks or to block appendages and items that are imbued with similar properties. I truly realize how weak I am now. Thanks to you, I will never be so arrogant and recklessly risk my life. Go to hell and stay there."

"NOOO!" the Hyperion cried as Agemo beheaded it. He kicked the head away in disgust and walked over to the Retribution Sword. It was not as golden as it was before as its master was dead. He grabbed the Retribution Sword and laid it against Rain Slayer, watching the sword disappear into it.

He took the flying blades and would have experimented with them, but he was too tired. He stored them in his storage bag and took everything in the Hyperion's storage bag and put it in his own. He stored the wing he had ripped out to study its material. He needed to discover the weakness of his technique and improve upon it. He also took the demonic cores inside all of the dead Hyperion and also stored them.

He sat down and began to meditate, occasionally drinking lion wine to recover his spirit energy faster. The lion wine helped him stabilize his spirit energy. He felt a little stronger, but he was still in the first stage. He walked over to the entrance of the tunnel and laid back on it to rest. He ordered his white tiger magical beast to protect him as he slowly lost consciousness.

As day turned into night, the tunnel burst open. Jiro had used his earth magic to clear the tunnel and the seven recruits appeared, observing their surroundings. They paled as they saw all the dead Hyperion body and horses. Frankie roared with joy as he saw the humanoid Hyperion with a wing and head missing. They all looked to their left and saw a large white tiger with a golden horn standing in front of Agemo.

Agemo's white robe was ruined and had several areas where it was ripped. The robe over the right arm was completely destroyed and blood was all over his body. They would have gone close, but the white tiger did not let them. Clearly, it did not trust them as they left the battle with their tails between their legs as its master had to fend for himself. Even though the white tiger could never die a permanent death as it wore the collar, it would die if its master died. Its master life was more precious than its own as it could be summoned to life again after two days or so.

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"Ugh," Agemo groaned as he shook his head. He looked up and saw that the seven recruits had returned.

"It's alright. Let me on your back. We'll try to find what that Hyperion was searching for," Agemo whispered to the tiger. The tiger went on the ground and waited for Lu Shu to rest atop it and turned to face the forest, ignoring the recruits. Lu Shu had never expended so much spirit energy and still felt drained. It was not from using spirit energy so much as it was the adrenaline leaving his body. He ached all over and was glad to be able to rest on the soft fur of his magical beast.

"You guys go find your master. Try to help him if you can. The Hyperion that attacked us went after him when you left," Lu Shu said.

"What about Scholar Jing?" they asked.

"My senior scholar will find me. Our white tiger magical beasts have a connection of sorts. I want to leave this place and find someplace safe," Lu Shu said, lying about everything but Meng Ce being able to find him through their magical beasts. "I'll be fine. I'm just really tired."

"Sorry for leaving you there," Marcella murmured as Lana nudged her. "I was afraid. It, it was my first time fighting the Hyperion."

"It was mine too," he said coldly.

"Ah, right. I'm sorry," Marcella said. "We'll find our master now. I hope we cans till be friends in the future. If not me, then the others. They just followed my orders as I was the strongest mage. Most parties are led by a mage. I'm really sorry."

The tiger did not stop during their conversation and Lu Shu slumped on its back as it disappeared into the trees. The white tiger followed the tracks and scent and avoided going into any directions with noises. Lu Shu guessed it was either fighting or the Hyperion patrols. If the humanoids escaped his master, they would definitely try to find the humanoid he killed. He had no doubt his master would survive.

"Agemo Miura or Shu of the Lu clan," Lu Shu sighed. "It seems people want me dead in both lives. Being a Practitioner and royalty, it's obvious my life will be in danger. However, what did I do in my past life? Project O? If only I could remember how to recreate the technology. However, science and mythological powers should not exist on the same planet."

The white tiger arrived in front of a large tree. As the white tiger had traveled to it, Lu Shu realized that they were not in a forest at all. They were really at a swamp as the ground became muddy and water soon covered the ground. The tree was abnormally large compared to the others, as if it were the very first tree. It was the heart of the swamp and was probably thousands of years old. The white tiger squeezed through an opening in the roots and Lu Shu sat up straight as he saw an altar of stone.

The air seemed to be abnormally pleasing. Light green light shined, from the roots, onto the altar. It was obvious that the altar had some positive result in growing the large tree and expanding the swamp. Whatever the Hyperion wanted, it was probably laying on the altar. They would have taken it if Gillian had not been detected.

"Now what would a race, cursed and punished by the Heavens, want from here?" Lu Shu asked as he approached the altar. "What would make a race so desperate as to send their forces all the way to the west, to this hidden swamp? The humanoid Hyperion I killed seemed pretty haughty as it always referred to itself as a god. There must be something as ancient as their race here."

Atop of the altar were five strange items. First, Lu Shu stared at a large demonic core at the left end of the altar. It was a good foot long in diameter and was nestled on a large cushion. He had thought that all demonic cores were the size of a adult human fist at most, but here it was. A giant demonic core he had never seen before. Then he stared at the second item. It was an ancient scroll. Lu Shu opened it and it appeared to be a map. He did not recognize the landscape or the writing on the map. Was this what the Hyperion wanted? He didn't know and just stored it in his storage bag, just in case.

The third item was a pure white staff with five large, jade mana stones at the top. The wood of the staff seemed to twist and latch onto the mana stones like veins. He was not a mage and moved on to the fourth item. It was a Practitioner weapon, a great axe to be precise. He didn't care about it either and moved on to the last item. It was five necklaces arranged in a five star point formation.

Each had a white metal chain connected to a small bead which represented the five points of the star. He wore one of the necklaces around his neck. The bead seemed like an ordinary black bead with the image of a single white wing that seemed to move within. He messed with the other four necklaces so that they would not be positioned in a star formation. He was not of the third rank so he decided to take the large demonic core and absorb its energy in a safer location.

The altar itself seemed to be a powerful artifact, but he couldn't move or destroy it or damage it. He sighed as he removed all traces of being under the root and left with his white tiger. He had lied about leaving the area. He would have to enter   the tunnel and be found in Wightwood Forest by the others to prove his alibi. If the Hyperion did come to the tree, maybe what he took would stop whatever they were planning. At least, he hoped it were true. Just to be sure, he hid one of the four remaining necklaces in the root wall. Unless the Hyperion was sensitive to earth spirit energy or was an earth mage, they wouldn't find it.

Five hours after he left, a single bloodied Hyperion managed to find the altar. What it did, no one would know. When Gillian, Meng Ce, and the recruits went to find what the Hyperion were searching for; all they found was an empty room with savage slashes on the roots. Whatever entered under the tree found what it was looking for, but was also completely mad. Gillian paled because he knew that whatever accelerated the giant tree's growth had disappeared.

"The Hyperion found what they were looking for," GIllian snarled and kicked the root wall in anger.

"We killed most of them and only one of the Hyperion we fought escaped. Furthermore, it seems the Hyperion did not succeed as much as it had hoped," Meng Ce said as he pointed at the walls. "It is clearly enraged. The bastard was lucky to escape us, but it lost most of its forces."

"It will be out of the country by now, Scholar Jing!" Gillian yelled. "We weren't able to stop what they were planning. At least the recruits survived and joined up with us. They are officially God Eaters. However, only those who killed a humanoid God Eater deserves to call himself that."

"Where is Agemo? You said he left the forest, later discovered as a swamp, after you returned to the battlefield," Meng Ce asked.

"He left due to exhaustion from killing the humanoid. He's probably at Wightwood Forest. He said he needed to find a place to rest and recover," Reginald said.

"Then I am off to find my junior disciple. Gillian, thank you for allowing me and my junior a chance to kill the Hyperion. While it is regrettable that we failed, we have learned how they secretly traveled and avoided detection. You must have those who specialize in earth magic and those with high sensitivity to spirit energy guard the borders from now on. Farewell," Meng Ce said and left.

"What now, Master Gillian?" Marcella asked.

"We head to Sky Angel Academy now. I must report to my superiors about their new method of travel and of what occurred here. Take samples of the roots and soil here. We need to analyze the energy here and discover just what they were trying to find," Gillian said.

"Uh, Master Gillian?" Jiro cried as he rustled among the root walls. "I think I found something. It seems to be a necklace. It was hidden in the root wall. I think someone came here and hid it after he, she, or they took something."

"Excellent! Well done Jiro. I am very glad I recruited an earth mage now," Gillian laughed heartily. "As you found the necklace, it is yours. You will accompany me as I report to my superiors and we will show them the necklace. After examining it, it will be returned to you."

Jiro nodded happily and stored the necklace in a box from his storage bag. Gillian did not want to take any chances and had Jiro carry it in the box. They collected samples of the roots and soil and left the swamp.