When the dust settled, it was as Zach had deducted, the fox was still alive and it was far from being on its deathbed, though it had a pretty serious wound on its righ side.
When Zoe saw this she felt her back being drenched in cold sweat "Im ... Impossible, It was one of my most powerful attack !" Even if she revealed all her trump cards her firepower wouldn't improve too much from this attack.
The fox turned its head towards Zoe, it opened its maw, she suddenly felt a shiver ran down her spine and became unable to do anything. Zach could see that as Zoe had done it was concentrating a more powerful fire ball, he noticed the state Zoe was in so he shouted.
"Don't stay like this ! Protect yourself and get ready !" When she heard Zach she regained her spirits and summoned a dozen walls of roots in front of her.
The fox launched the fire ball, Zach could feel the power emanating form it, it was gargantuan, it could reduce to ashe a hundred of him in an instant without any difficulty.
The fire ball went through the first 8 root's wall like a hot knife in butter, when it came to the 9 and 10 wall it took a bit less than a second for each for the fire ball to go through.
It collided with the tenth wall and after a second it could no longer resist and was reduced to ashes. The fire ball hit the final wall, after this one Zoe would be defenseless, the fire ball had already spent a great deal of its power so there was hope for this last wall to hang on.
Zoe who saw that the last wall still didn't fell, she was starting to smile however after 3 seconds this last hope crumbled and her face turned grim. Unfortunately the trump cards she had were all offensive ones so it would not be of a great help to her.
With all the mana she had spent to summon those wall, she didn't have enough energy to flee from the spot she was. In addition she was now rooted in fear on this spot, she saw the fire ball coming and the only thing she could do was to put her arms in front of her head. The fire ball landed at her feet and exploded, she got projected a dozen meters away.
'The fire ball lost a lot of its initial power from destroying the root's wall.' Zach was clueless about the state she was in, she could be dead or she could only have a minor injury. He took a look at the fox, it was panting pretty heavily, it should have expended quite a lot of its mana to do this.
Zach immediatly went to check Zoe state, when he arrived beside her he could see that both her legs where at the very least broken if not crippled and she coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood.
'How ! How ! HOW ! THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH !' Zach mind was blank, he always had the situation in hand, his life was in danger but he was confident that he would come out alive. Until now it was the case but this time he was at loss, he felt a strong powerlessness, this time his wits weren't enough.
Controling everything was Zach's obsessive need, this time he was craving for power, it was different from the craving he had to get his revenge. This time, Zach was craving for power just because he wanted to be the best, no one else could be at his level, he had to become stronger to have the control, he would give his all to become the universe's apex.
He had gotten the resolve to beat everyone who would stand on hiw way, he had gotten the resolve to become strong, he would not be a coward but would still survive in the end. On the road he just had chosen he would take his revenge, making himself be feared by the strong and the weak.
Zach stood up, he had bloodshot eyes, he said in a commanding tone "Use all the mana you have left to increase the pressure on him and prepare another attack like that one." Zoe threatened to faint at any time but she nodded. The fox which was tired sank a little more on the ground, it was the pressure's effect, it would allow Zach to keep up with its speed.
Zach with his scythe coated in hell fire, in his only arm still usable, rushed towards the fox, he jumped, mustered all the power he had and slashed towards it.
However even if the fox was tired it was far from being easy to bully, it used one of its tail to block Zach's attack. Zach felt a great pain in his right shoulder when his scythe collided with the tail, but he could also see the fox suffering from the hell fire.
Zach in a great frenzy repeated the same attack again and again, the fox was doing the same thing to block Zach's attack, the pain in Zach's shoulder was becoming greater and greater, it could break at any time. Even if the fox wasn't the one in the toughest position, it was suppressed and could not leave from Zach's frenzy.
After doing this for 2 minutes hitting and getting hit by the aftershock more than 20 times he yelled in his head. 'ONE LAST TIME !' Zach gritted his teeth, the pain was unbearable and it may be the last blow he could make, finally when he landed this blow he cut a part of the fox tail.
AWWWWW ! The fox let out the loudest cry he could make, its tails were very important and it was the most important spot of its body.
At this moment he took a look at his remaining mana, 24 just enough to launch a death gaze, he was relieved but it wasn't time to rest, he yelled. "ZOE ! RIGHT NOW !" He launched a death gaze on the fox and jumped back, putting himself a few tens meters away.
The fox which had just lost a part of its most important limb was vulnerable, when it got hit by the death gaze it was terrified and it couldn't muster a muscle, it was looking a Zach with so much dread that it could faint.
At the same instant the big light spear Zoe had condensed was released, it had more power than the last one and she had aimed at the same spot it had hit. It took 2 full second to reach the fox, luckily it was still in a deep state of fear, it was only starting to disappear when the light spear hit the bull's eye.
Like the last time a cloud of dust rose and they couldn't see the fox, Zach was waiting for the notification however it still wasn't here. 'It can't have survived to this, right ?' He was starting to panic because he couldn't do anything more, if it survived this they would be dead for sure.
When the dust settled, they could see the fox lying on the ground in a big pool of its own blood, it was breathing quickly and weakly. When Zach saw this he breathe a sigh of relief, he put one knee down.
'It will die for sure it is just a matter of time'. "We did ... it Zoe, it is on its last breath and should die anytime soon." Zach said in a weak voice, it had been a harsh and complex fight, Zach knew he would faint from exhaustion in a short time.
"You are a crazy one, aren't you" She said, she couldn't believe the way Zach had fought, Zoe then said in a low voice "Thank you, I can finally save my country and race."
However it did not escape Zach's sharp senses, when he heard that he smiled, this stubborn one would never say it to him clearly and she would never admit having said this. Zoe too would faint from exhaustion, her legs were in a bad shape and she had almost no more mana.
Zach was looking at the dying fox, he could see the boundless pain it was in, as he could see the resignation in its eyes, it knew that its life was coming to an end. Zach knew that he could have been the one in this state, in fact he could have been even if they had win considering how he fought at the end.
Eventually both of them fainted. Hours went by and finally Zach opened slowly his eyes, his body was still sore and in pain, he still had a broken arm after all. He was the first to regain consciousness, he looked at the fox and it was nothing more than a corpse.
He went looking at the notification he had, when he saw them he couldn't believe what he was seeing. He read it again and again just to be sure and after the fifth reading he knew it was real, he had struck it rich.