Zhou and Trinity carried Zion over to the carriage Atlas was using and laid Zion down in the back of the carriage. They then took off after connecting the two horses onto it to carry them all. As the day went on Zion moaned in pain, swapped sides constantly while still being unconscious. "So, has this ever happened to him before?" Trinity asked while being curious feeling his pulse to make sure it wasn't dropping any. "Well, that's something interesting. I'm not sure actually… he got banished from his clan years ago, and after then I never saw him for i'm not even sure how many years had passed. But one day he just appeared and we left the same day and met you a day or two after that happened." Zhou said finishing the story of what all he wanted to say. "So, how long do you think he'll be like this?" Zhou sighed as he laid down slightly up front, "Who knows… but knowing him it'll probably only be a few days at most."
"Are you really sure that's all? This wound isn't that bad but i'm not sure about internal bleeding or anything."
Zhou sighed again and spoke up. "If it was that serious he would be dead most likely by now. Besides, he only got hit from what I saw like 20 times compared to the other bastard who died after all of that."
Zhou looked up to the sky seeing the moon out and started to yawn "Damn i'm tired…" he muttered to himself before sitting upright again.
As Zhou and Trinity kept doing their things for the next few hours of the night the beeeze became a bit cooler. "Shouldn't we put a shirt on him yet?" Trinity asked while blushing a bit. Zhou looked behind and looked at Zion. "Oh shit I forgot about that" Zhou hopped into the back and begin to go through a few bags that were already back there and found a shirt that looked perfectly clean and quite warm. "Here, put this on him I have to keep an eye on the horses." Trinity took the shirt from him and puts it on Zion after a few moments.
Another hour passed by slowly as they rode in silence stopping the carriage for the night in the middle of the desert allowing the horses to lay down for a while. "We should be fine here for a while since I don't sense anything at all." Zhou said whille putting food out for the horses that he found inside the carriage for the old horse that was carrying Atlas beforehand.
"Alright… if you say so" Trinity dropped Zion's wrist slowly while laying down on her back looking at the roof of the carriage before closing her eyes to sleep.
Zhou finished getting everything ready for the carriage and the horses before laying down up front just in case of any noise or anything at all he'll be ready for it forcing himself into a half sleep state.
Four hours later, Zion woke up and grabbed his stomach and hand in pain for a moment before looking around to see them in a carriage. "W-what the hell happened?" He thought to himself before remembering what all happened and how he had a fight with Atlas. "D-damn my body hurts… How am i even alive in this much pain." He continue to think to himself as he laid back down slowly not to worsen his pain before closing his eyes and falling asleep again.
Rain began to fall quietly above them as the horses awoke and ate the food Zhou put out for them earlier while drinking some of the rain water.
The night was cold yet knowing all of them were together kept them warm in a way.
Trinity woke up during the rainfall as it was still silent yet it was getting to the point of intensifying in sound above. She looked over and noticed Zion moved quite a bit, knowing he was awake or was awake at one point during the night she just fell back asleep listening to the rainfall above their heads.
In the morning Zhou woke up first and got the food for the horses put up of what they didn't eat as he begin to set off not waking either of them up. Zhou looked behind him and noticed they were asleep as if they were rocks. "Was I the only one who was semi awake?" Zhou thought to himself before continuing down the path they wanted to go originally in the desert.
A few more hours have passed by and the sunlight was intense in Zhou's eyes to the point where he jumped into the back of the carriage and kept a hold on the reins tightly as to not let go.
As they all made their way to the next destination Zion woke up secondly in a bit of pain but it was a lot less than earlier. "G-god damn" was all he could get out while looking around for a moment. "Oh you're awake?" Zhou replied while looking behind him sitting up a little. "Make sure to rest up some more if you need to. We're still on track to the next destination to stop at. We'll get there by nightfall or a few hours before dark." Zion began to stretch his arms out a bit making them crack a little while looking ahead of them seeing nothing but the desert. "Well, at least we've got a moved on from wherever we were yesterday. My head is killing me though, I'm not quite sure if I'll be awake for much longer after all of that…" Zion said while looking ahead at Zhou.
"Listen man, I said it's fine if you want to lay back down and rest some more. I know I would personally. Make sure to thank Trinity as well though when you wake up later. It would've been a pain in the ass to move you if it weren't for you."
"Y-yeah I will don't worry about that." Zion said before laying back down on the wooden floor to rest.
---------Remoce after proofread___---_____
As the day went on they were all awake just sitting around doing nothing besides small conversation while Zion was laying down resting both of his arms and his body.
"I need to check on my core to see if there's any internal injuries to it or the rest of my body" Zion thought to himself before doing just that.
After looking to his core using a specific breathing technique he saw his core in full condition yet there was a light coming from it which he never seen before. It was a light purple color shining brightly through the rest of the core and the internal body. He looked around for internal injuries and surprisingly didn't find a single one. However, he felt like he was ready to breakthrough to the next level of his core because of the light and so, he tried to.
As Zhou and Trinity talked about what to do after reaching Jade City, they sensed something and looked at Zion's body glowing with a hint of light purple. They looked in awe never seeing something like this before but was curious as to if it was some type of effect left by Atlas that was time sensitive. Trinity tried to reach her hand over to feel his pulse before getting strike with a light electricity effect form the aura.
"A-ah damn" Trinity said while covering her finger from the shock. "What the hell is this" Zhou asked looking carefully not getting to close to him.
Zion's mind was full of memories that he thought he had lost yet never lost. Parents arguing, the abuse from the clan, being banished from the clan, the anger from it all washed over him reminding him that he wants to take revenge on everything this world has to offer.
As Zhou and Trinity continued to stare at his body his aura became darker and thicker as time went on. "Oh shit, I think he's having a breakthrough" Said zhou hurrying over to the reins of the horses to get to a safer place as quick as they could go.
"W-what exactly happens when you breakthrough with a core?" Trinity asked while looking at Zhou hurrying.
"Well, it's basically where you can remember things from a past promise, a past life memory, or even straight up raw power and it also increases the amount of energy you can use and the aura you can release either in a weapon, fists, or just to show off. Some cases has been they remembered past life memories and got secret arts passed down that way and also raw power increase during the same awakened. However, that's all I know. There could be more to it than just that or less." Zhou replied while controlling the horses at the same time pulling over behind some trees ahead as it's the best spot he could find at the time.
Trinity looked down at Zion's body glowing darker and darker.
Within Zion's mind st the time
"You desire power, you got it, yet you held back during all the fights you've had up until now? Didn't you say you would take the world by force?" A voice said to Zion directly coming from alll directions.
"I said I will and I'm not going to take that back either! I'm going to take it all for myself you bastard so reveal who you are!"
"You have power now, you have the world at your fingertips yet you refuse to realize it. Only a fool would use the power he obtained and carry out side missions like these."
"Why not kill both of them? They're not worth saving."
"Protect the ones you deem worthy, destroy the others."
"A family would be nice to have if it included Zhou and Trinity, no?"
"Why not blame the heavens and take control of it all."
As he heard all types of different voices blend in with each other within his head he powered his own voice through it all by sheer will alone.
"Shut the fuck up, all of you. I don't care what you all think. I said I would take the world and I will do it. I'll kill everyone in this damned world if I must." He said confidently and strong willed.
As the voices started again trying to convince and take his body by forcefully drowning down his spirit and will a single voice started that made the rest immediately stop completely.
"Very well… I hope to see what you can do in this damned world as you said. I'll give you some of my power to see if your word is really true or not. However, make a blood oathe with me."
"A… blood oathe? Who even are you?" Zion said confused a bit at the voice.
"It doesn't matter who I am or what I am. you desire power, and I want something interesting to watch. Now will you form the oathe or will you quit?"
After a few moments of quietness from both sides Zion replied.
"Fine."
A oathe circle appeared stepping out of the void of nothingness was a tall man dressed in all white and red, long dark blue hair that went down to his stomach in a tie. He put his finger over the circle and poked a hole in his finger dripping blood filling half of the circle. Zion walked up to the circle and did the same filling the other half of the circle.
As the man glared down at Zion, Zion felt as if he was nothing but a mere ant in front of whoever this man was or maybe it was an entirely different thing than a man using a disguise. His soul itself felt fear as he stared back into the man's sharp eyes. He turned around and vanished again into the void.
As the man disappeared he left while saying one sentence as the sounds of him walking away could be heard echoing throughout the entirety of his core.
"Burn what relations you have in this life and destroy the walls of the world."
Trinity and Zhou continued to look at Zion's body as his aura slowly turned into a deep crimson color before erupting into a violent black rage of what felt like a tornado of wind coming from his body.
"W-w-what the hell is this!" Trinity shouted at Zhou over the loud sounds of his aura breaking loose, losing control of his core from the sudden explosion of power his body and core felt enter him.
Zhou shouted back, "I-I have no idea! I've never heard of something like this before happening."
As the black rage aura vanished, the color of his original purple came back but more dark this time as he suddenly woke up completely healed of any wounds he had in a sweat.
"H-holy shit."
Is all Zion managed to say after going through that before grabbing some water to drink Zhou collected last night from the rain. Within just a few seconds the water was drained, and Zion's sweat vanished.
Zhou quickly jumped back into the carriage. "What happened to you? Are you good? You almost lost control it felt like."
"Y-yeah i'm good, don't worry… nothing much happened." Zion said trying to keep a straight face through it all. "Anyways, where are my weapons?"
Trinity catching her breath grabbed his spear and handed it to Zion.
Zion got out of the carriage and gathered some of his aura into his spear and arm before throwing a strike at the cloud filled sky clearing the clouds instantly while a heavy wind current formed behind him pushing Zhou and Trinity back to the point they had to grab onto the side of the carriage and all of their stuff went flying into the desert.
"W-what the hell is this strength?"
Zion said to himself before looking behind him to see everyone barely holding on catching their breath including the horses.
"I-I uh… my apologies on that."
The two of them regained their balance and Zhou ran over to Zion to congratulate him on his breakthrough.
"So what are you going to call that move?" Zhou asked excited awaiting a name.
Zion stood there for a few moments in confusion before coming hip with a name.
"How about… Wind Art: Breaker? I mean It seemed like it was wind based and it broke through through the clouds?" Zion sweated a bit coming up with the most laziest name he could think of.
"Hm… "Wind Art: Breaker" I need to learn it. Teach me immediately!" Zhou looked up in excitement.
"Ha.. Yeah sure I'll teach you one day."
Trinity thought to herself, "How did someone get so powerful by just doing one breakthrough… I already thought he was strong enough beforehand. Just where is he from? Who are his parents damn." Her eyes filled with determination to become stronger as quick as possible.
A few minutes of Zhou fangirling over Zion's breakthrough and awkward laughter they all dropped the carriage and grabbed what they could before getting back on the two horses and began to gallop away towards Jade city this time using aura on the horse's legs to run quicker and adds more stamina to them.
A few hours of galloping later they reached Jade city's entrance running straight through the gate blowing a sudden burst of sand everywhere behind them before slowing down at a hotel.
Zhou got off of the horse and tied him to a pole made for horses with food and water nearby. Zion got off and helped Trinity to get off and tied his horse beside the other one before walking into the hotel.
"We need 3 rooms." Zion said while looking over the place for any possible threats.
"Alright, that'll be 120 silver a week. or we can do 30 silver a night."
Zion sighed and grabbed his remaining silver from his pockets just reach reaching 120. He handed it over for the week.
They all walked to their rooms after being handed a gold color key before walking into one room to discuss a plan for next week and what to do.
"We need to take some jobs." Zhou and Zion said in sync as if they both knew what they needed to do. They both laughed for a moment before looking over at Trinity already on a bed asleep basicslly.
Zion looked over at Zhou, "So… should we discuss the jobs after we all get some rest?"
Zhou looked back at Zion and sighed. "Yeah, I think that's a good play." They both got up and left the room and locking it back before placing the key on a table within the room.
They both headed towards their own rooms and ended their journey for the day going to sleep.
As thunder struck the ground, heavy rain hitting the ground, and the roofs.
"So, you're telling me… Atlas has died in combat?"
"Yes sir. That's the report we've gotten and went to confirm it myself and it was indeed correct."
"I see."
He said while laughing.
"It was only a matter of time until that brat came into contact with someone who would've killed him before anyone else of us could've fought back. Have you found a replacement yet?"
"No sir, we're currently doing an investigation on each member we have to see which one could take his spot master Rune."
"Very well… Continue with what you're doing. Until you have found an alternative member to add we shall wait before I give anymore orders."
The servant left the room and continued the investigation while Rune laughed chronically thinking about how Atlas could've died to some no name.
"Did you hear? Atlas failed to some no name."
"Oh, did he now? Such a shame and waste of talent but whatever. What do we all do now?"
"We wait until we receive orders before doing anything. If they're strong enough to amputate Atlas's leg and arm… they're no matter to joke about since his body was specifically designed to make him stronger over years of training."
They all sat down in a room awaiting orders from their master. As the storm grew closer and louder outside.