Although Gwyn's physical prowess and abilities were impressive, in Zatiel's eyes, they were irrelevant. What caught his attention was his body transformation and his bloodline's purity and immense power.
'A hybrid bloodline that has reached the peak of the Emperor level and one of the Eternal Temple's body transformation techniques. To train it without the temple facilities, he must be pretty smart and talented but there seem to be some flaws,' Numerous thoughts pass for Zatiel's mind as he examined the Eye Holder.
Transformations on the body are widespread, especially those that follow paths similar to the Magi or races with no inherently powerful physiques.
Most of these transformations focus on implanting organs of different creatures or unique magic objects. Still, they don't have a systematic method of advancement, and at most, they give a momentary burst of power until you advance into the next Rank.
There are also dangers of performing this type of transformation, as it could contaminate your body if the organs or magical object is not handled correctly.
Despite all that, the number of individuals who perform this type of transformation on their bodies is not small. After all, the races or paths that can improve an individual's energy, soul, and body in a synergic way are pitiful on the universe.
Of course, body transformation techniques can systematically alter the body, and the improvement they give does not enter in conflict with your bloodline or main path. Still, even if you don't consider the difficulty of obtaining them, most of them require the laws to transform the body.
No matter how much of a genius you are, it is only at the peak of Rank 3 when a life form's soul is powerful enough to start understanding the laws. To train this type of body transformation technique, you will typically have to use unique facilities or the help of a powerhouse that specializes in some laws.
But there are other ways of using the laws without the need of a powerful soul, such as the help provided by a Law Bloodline or your True Name, and Gwyn seems to be able to use the latter to advance.
The body transformation technique that Gwyn use is part of the techniques created by the Eternal Temple.
The Eternal Temple was a powerful and ancient organization in the universe, with several Being of Laws as members and an even more powerful existence as the leader.
Zatiel had an encounter with this organization when he was an Abyss Lord. However, calling it a meeting was wrong since what happened was that he found a stronghold of the Eternal Temple and killed everybody in it, stealing their spells, techniques, and treasures before escaping.
Although the Eternal Temple was known for their vengeful ways, when that happened, Zatiel had already achieved a Rank higher than the normal Being of Laws, and by staying in the layers of the Abyss dominated by him, there was nothing the temple could do.
Gwyn was training the Eternal Vengeful Body, one of the temple core techniques. Although it doesn't provide stunning offensive capabilities, its survival abilities were impressive. If one could train it to the sixth level, you could achieve eternal life, even if you don't become a Being of Laws.
The Eternal Vengeful Body is impressive, but Zatiel would not train it. After all, a Neo-Demon's body transformation is even better since it uses Elemental Chaos as the primary material. That improvement was even more significant when it advanced to Rank 4.
As Zatiel evaluated the Eye Holder, the latter was doing the same to the Neo-Demon.
But unlike Zatiel's calm and analytic expression, on Gwyn's face, there was frustration.
'Why I can not see anything?' Gwyn knitted his brow as he saw Zatiel and couldn't detect anything.
His bloodline was related to the spirit, and his True Name was even more special as it gave him the ability to detect the other party's feelings and intentions generated from their soul.
Although it was not very specific and it was more similar to an instinct, thanks to it were that Gwyn was able to survive this long despite being the target of hatred of a Soul Forging individual.
Eventually, Gwyn broke the silence.
"So you are Zatiel Daybreak. I am Gwyn Xinter, a member of the Ghost Eye clan. I had heard tales of your battle power, and you are even more impressive in person, but if I had not helped you, then Azel would have escaped, so I guess you owe me a favor," Gwyn's expression was amicable as he spoke.
Although the death of Azel brought him great satisfaction, he did not reveal his relationship, so he could take advantage of this opportunity to obtain Zatiel's favor. After all, the help of a powerful runemaster was beneficial to him.
Kira, Sophia, and Ezequiel were flying to Zatiel's side, and as they did, they focused on the other party and were vigilant.
Although Gwyn had helped them, and it seems he had some problem with Azel from before, they know that an enemy from my enemy is just a party with similar interests that could become an opponent in the next moment.
And now that Gwyn was mentioning a favor, the trio knew the situation was becoming tricky as most people on the Magi World like to use the philosophy of equivalent exchange. Although they could not be forced to repay if word gets out, their future transaction could become affected.
But unlike the trio, Zatiel's expression remained calm, as if he was watching a child try to argue with an adult, and shook his head before speaking.
"Point one, although you only showed for a moment and then attempted to hide it, your hate for that person was so deep that has taken root in your soul."
When Gwyn heard this, his expression changed from friendly to indifferent, but Zatiel didn't care and continued speaking.
"To hate someone so much, he must have to do something unforgivable. Maybe he stole a precious treasure, raped your partner, killed your parents..."
Zatiel watched Gwyn's expression the entire time, and when he mentioned his family, his eye became cold, but there was also a flash of sadness in them.
"So your parents, then taking into consideration this information, we help each other, so no one owns anything to the other party." Zatiel's voice was calm and indifferent as he spoke.
But when Gwyn heard him, his eyes became colder, and a wave of killing intent emerged from his body.
"You should be more careful when you mention someone else's family," Gwyn's voice was chilling as he stared at the four people in from of him.
Despite being one against four, Gwyn shows no fear. Neither Sophia, Ezequiel, or Kira were confident in their chances since both Zatiel and Ezequiel were severely injured, and the two women were exhausted.
Despite being the party targeted by Gwyn killing intent, Zatiel remained calm and continued speaking,
"Point two, your body transformation is flawed, and you can only maintain it for a brief time thanks to the vitality runes inscribed in you, and it seems that you have spent a long amount of energy already. So, according to my calculations, you can barely maintain your power by a couple of minutes more."
"So you better behave or else, we will retain you here until you are exhausted, and then I will eat your brain while you are alive just like I did with that woman."
Zatiel's expression remained indifferent, but his eyes became cold, and as he spoke, monstrous killing intent was released from his body.
If Gwyn killing intent was like a river, then Zatiel was an ocean born from the blood of billions of lives, something capable of forming only in someone who can erase the life on a planet without second thoughts.
It was so brutal and terrifying that Kira was startled and began to tremble just because she was close to Zatiel. Although Gwyn had lived a hard and cruel life, he still froze for a second.
After a moment, Gwyn retracted his killing intent, but still, his eyes were cold as he continued looking at Zatiel.
"That is better, now let's go to the third point. The piece of fallen star that you are hiding in your stomach has an impressive amount of energy, give it to me, and I will fix your body."