Sky's heart stopped for a second seeing it in ruins when he reached the fox territory. His eyes grew cloudy, as tears flowed down his cheeks, "Arthaaaa!" He screamed as he ran towards the Palace.
This scream was heard by all the Minotaurs that were still fighting against Artha's blood clones. They looked at the level two Minotaur. The level two Minotaur currently had a face filled with fear.
He knew that Sky had killed a lot of level four monsters in the past. This was the reason that he had brought two level four Minotaurs as a guarantee against Sky.
But due to Artha's Blood Control, one was already dead. He did not have the guts to face Sky with only one level four monster on his side.
"Retreat!" He screamed as he ran away in a random direction.
The Minotaurs were surprised by the new order but they followed behind him. He was, after all their master's son.
Sky noticed the retreating Minotaurs as he reached the core, but he did not have the time to be angry at the Minotaurs. He eyes drifted back to the ruins of the core as he searched for a familiar figure.
As he searched, he soon saw her body lying on her back, probably unconscious. He ran and lifted her body into his. She was unconscious and her face was devoid of blood. This scared the shit out of him as he tried to shake and wake her up.
Without Sky's consent, his left hand glowed white and stream of pure energy covered Artha. A moment later she was transported inside the first space of his left hand.
His first space held Carnage and Four Tailed Fox's bodies. Now Artha's Body was also inside it.
Sky entered his left hand and checked her condition. Artha was breathing but this motion was so slow that Sky would not have noticed it, if he did not put his whole concentration on her breathing.
Her face still lacked colour and looked pale. This worried Sky so much that his heart seemed to be being ripped from inside. "What is happening lefty? Why are you not healing Artha?" He screamed at his left hand.
He got no response from the left hand, but the four tailed fox responded to his question. "It seems that your left hand cannot create the nine tailed fox blood."
"It's current level is too low, Artha was once a nine tailed fox. Even though her level dropped due to absorption of the souls, her blood remained that of a level nine monster."
"Your arm does not have the capability to create the blood of a level nine monster right now."
Hearing the four tailed fox's words, Sky'sbody shook involuntarily. "How can that be? I absorbed a lot of God's blood until now."
"All that blood that was stored in the territories we conquered in the past year had been taken by me. I absorbed the blood of at least 'five hundred' gods. How can my left hand not be able to create the blood of a level nine monster?" He screamed at the level four fox.
The level four fox knitted her eyebrows as she spoke, "I thought you knew about this. All the God's blood that you absorbed was used to sustain the soul of the harpy."
Sky was shocked by her answer and looked directly into her eyes. She did not seem to be lying. "What soul? What harpy? Is the God's blood used to sustain Carnage's soul?" He asked once again.
The four tailed fox shook her head, "seems like you really did not know. There is another harpy soul in your left hand. Even though she is at a different location than your two spaces, she is definitely in your arm."
"I can feel her as we foxes are masters in soul. She looks tall, about five inches taller than Carnage. Looks about twenty and has black hair. Her waist is slim and her legs are long. She has sharp features of a leader on her face. Did you meet any harpy like this?" The four tailed fox closed her eyes as she recollected the memories of the soul.
As soon as the four tailed fox finished speaking, a small voice escaped Sky, "Mey!" He said.
"Mey! Mey is still alive." He got excited as he caught the four tailed fox's shoulders.
"Well she is dead in the body. She is still alive as a soul." The four tailed fox said.
Sky immediately forgot the present situation as he screamed in joy, until his eyes fell on Artha.
His face immediately saddened, "so you are saying that there is no more blood for Artha because it has been used for Mey."
The four tailed fox nodded and seeing his dull face, she started consoling him, "if we take back the blood from her blood clones, she should be able to manage for a month. In this time, we have to find more blood for your left hand, so that it can heal Artha."
Sky's sad eyes brightened at this idea, he immediately made the blood from blood clones to return to Artha with the help of the four tailed fox. Artha's pale face finally gathered some colour, but Sky was not happy.
He had about a month and would need to collect enough blood so that his left hand can create the level Nine Monster Blood for Artha.
He first opened the secret place under the bed and got all of the foxes outside. He then gave them a choice. "Your Lord Artha has been heavily injured. Now you have to make a choice."
"You either follow me to the second floor or stay back here."
The foxes were shocked by the choices but they finally accepted to go with him. He was their hero and they would follow him. Without a Level Four Monster as their Territory Lord, they had little chance to survive the attacks from others, so they readily chose to go with Sky. Also, Artha and the Four Tailed Fox had a special position to these foxes, that Sky did not know about.
Sky had decided to go to the second floor to find stronger monsters and collect God's Blood faster.
He gathered all the foxes and absorbed all of them into his secondary space with a wave of his hand. Just after the absorption, his body shook as he slammed himself to ground.
He had to bear the weight of thousands of foxes that were in his left hand's secondary space, and this was not something he could bear at his current level.
His face reddened as he summoned them outside his arm. He had taken all of them inside waving his hand in a cool manner. But now he had to bring them back since he could not bear their weight. Even though he believed himself to be 'shameless' when it counted, he was still embarrassed by this incident.
"We move!" He shouted as he ran towards the stairs that lead him to the second floor.
The foxes smiled as they saw his awkwardness and followed behind him to the second floor.
Sky did not care what would happen if someone opened that door in the secret space under the bed. All he cared for are 'Artha' and her foxes in the first floor.
He did not go to the Minotaur territory because he knew that the level two Minotaur would have left to higher floors to his father's territory.
This debt, Sky would pay it back with ten fold with added interest.
Strangely the level five monster guarding the stairs to the second floor did not obstruct the foxes from entering the stairs with Sky. The monster simply acted as if it was asleep.
This made Sky look at the level five monster with little more intimacy and his mood turned for better.
......
Author's notes.
All the chapters for the day would be released at the same time from tomorrow.
This time is the same time this chapter is released.