NOVPUBZod was too late, Kael had already bit the neck hard and a resounding crack sound entered their ears.
Zed's body went limp, the sharp golden teeth had directly cut into his nerves and in between his vertebrates.
For a brief moment, he had felt the pain of having his neck snapped. It was just a brief second but it was the most painful thing he had ever felt.
That was all before everything went black. The hand that was instinctively raised to grab Kael's fur dropped lifelessly.
"Zed!" Zod shouted. The air around him formed a spinning cone as he shot straight from Kael's side, only for him to miss again.
Kael teleported away.
And he didn't teleport with all of Zed's body, only the head which was still in his mouth.
Silence.
Zod stared at the headless body of his brother, the last family he had in this world.
Blood spurted out of the neck onto the floor, causing blood to pool around the headless body.
The seriousness of Zod's face faded away like snow melting under the sun, he couldn't keep it up anymore.
He approached the body from the side, his legs quivering and his mind in turmoil.
Zod collapsed to his knees, staining his legs with his brother's blood. His hand shook as he reached out to touch the body.
It was stiff, rigor mortis had just kicked in. It was cold, lacking the warmth he once knew.
Wasn't this the law of the wild, survival of the fittest? Zod tried to tell himself, yet he knelt there, dazed. 𝚗ovp𝚞b.𝚌om
He really couldn't bear to believe it, he was in denial, it was too much for him to think of. This was not how it was meant to end, this was not how he imagined it.
From their days as little cheetah cubs who had to depend on their mother for food, to the time they left to fend for themselves. They had always been together.
Mating seasons come and go, but brotherhood remained, and they knew that. It didn't matter which female cheetah they met or which prey they hunted, they would remain brothers.
That's how it was supposed to be.
What was this that he was seeing now? Why was he seeing his brother's headless body now?
Kael appeared five hundred meters away. Zed's head dropped from his mouth. His eyes were still open in disbelief as if he had not expected to die so suddenly.
Kael didn't let him transform, Kael didn't give him the chance to power up, he just cut him down before it happened.
'Kael' or whatever he had become stared at the kneeling Zod far away. Zod was lost, he could tell.
Kael didn't want what happened with Isaiah to happen again, so he decided to use his remaining energy to kill Zod.
Every move he made had indeed been consuming a lot of energy just to be effective. Even biting Zed's head off would not have been easy if he had not consumed a lot of energy to do it.
*SPLASH!*
The sound of a flowing body of water reached their ears. Zod remained still, not moving.
Kael turned to his right to see a wave of water coming at him from a distance. Riding this wave of water on land was a megalodon-sized shark with a grey underbelly and blue upper body.
Those black eyes were aimed at Kael.
'What's this new aura?' Aeon wondered to himself as his eyes darted around until he saw Zod's kneeling figure beside a headless body.
Aeon froze, trying to stop his body from moving, but it was too late. Kael had already sensed the killing intent.
Kael's body, which was three meters tall, swelled and increased in size and muscle mass. Silver flames coated his paws and his wings unfolded.
Aeon blinked and Kael was already in front of him, with a muscular body supporting the heavy paw that was heading for his face.
*BANG!*
The heavenly paw slapped Aeon's shark face and those golden curved and jagged claws tore out his flesh with ease.
Aeon was launched to the side and the water wave he was controlling collapsed.
Not just that, Aeon's body also erupted with silver flames.
Soul flames.
Kael barely used this flame because 8f how much energy it cost.
"AAAAARGH!*
Aeon screamed, releasing a powerful telepathic wave.
His large shark body writhed and turned and twisted, no burns, but he felt pain.
His very soul was burning, and the flames were incredibly hot.
Kael ignored the dying shark and turned his attention to the more dangerous figure, Zod.
Zod had changed, he was no longer dazed, and no her in his humanoid form.
He had become a two-meter tall cheetah, yellow with multiple black spots and two black tear marks on his face.
His four ankles had a pair of small wings each, brimming with the power of the air.
But, Zod didn't look like he was ready to fight, rather his eyes held fear.
True fear.
Kael disappeared and Zod moved at the same time.
The wings on Zod's legs flapped like never before and he used the advantage cheetahs had over other creatures, speed.
Multiple sonic booms echoed out as Zod reached his peak speed within three seconds, creating more and more distance between him and Kael.
He didn't look back, he didn't think of revenge, he just wanted to run because his brain used common sense. Anything that could kill his brother could also kill him.
He was grief-stricken, but he needed space to think first, and to think, he needed to be alive.
His chances of beating Kael evaporated into nothingness when Zed died, there was no use testing his luck.
Kael chased, and Zod ran. One thing was sure, Zod was definitely faster than Kael.
By the time Kael gave up the chase, Zod had traveled more than five kilometers away.
However, Kael was not discouraged. He had left a tracking rune on Zod's back, right next to his tailbone, just in time before the distance got wide.
He had already expected that he may not be able to catch Zod so he planned ahead. The tracking rune was infused with so much magic energy that Zod may never notice it and if he did, it would be almost impossible for him to remove it with his current power level.
He watched the cheetah fly away with mixed expression. He couldn't make the same mistake again. He would hunt Zod down later, for now, he had other things to attend to.
The golden orbs of energy from Kael's eyes died down to reveal his regular golden irises and deep black pupils.
His body shrank until he returned to his more than six-foot-tall lion form.
He looked in a certain direction, that was where Chloe was, he could still feel the magic energy he left behind to form a magic barrier for her.
Kael did this because he was starting to see Chloe as a somewhat useful asset to have around. Her knowledge about heaven was good but he guessed that any other lion from heaven could give him the same information.
Chloe's usefulness went beyond just her knowledge or her connections. It was her power and ability to use common sense.
Multiple times, she had warned Kael of danger and her coordination when fighting the squids was impeccable. Kael had taken notice of all this even though he ignored her words a lot.
Her surface thoughts showed that she no longer thought of leaving the contract, just surviving. She had begun to treat Kael less as an enemy and more as a friend, perhaps something more.
Kael sighed, releasing white steam from his nostrils. He shook his body, feeling the broken bones and cuts all over his body.
This fight had not been easy.
This time, he didn't collapse from using the Conqueror Mode, his body was adapting.
After rearranging his thoughts, Kael spread his wings and flew toward Chloe's direction.
Meanwhile, Chloe was fighting for her life against Aaron.
She was now in her black lioness form, flying high in the sky and controlling a large black tornado below.
Her black fur was mixed with red blood from all the cuts she had in her. With an unknown amount of fractures, she didn't know how long she could last.
Aaron, the giant shark with metal fins, was tossed around inside the black tornado but he soon found his bearing. The giant shark shot up through the center of the tornado, using his control over his fins to force his way through.
Chloe flapped her wings harder and flew higher, almost reaching the dimensional barrier above.
Aaron got close, allowing her to once again see the numerous cuts all over his body and his angry face.
Yes, she was not the only one that suffered.
'They're going to kill us anyway, we might as well make them fight for it,' Those were Kael's words and she followed them.
She slashes down with her claws, sending out a barrage of black wind blades that strike at Aarons's face.
Aaron quickly did a turn, dodging most of the blades but his sides were hit. Luckily, the blades couldn't go past his metal bones.
"Need help?" Chloe froze as she heard Kael's voice in her mind. This momentary distraction allowed Aaron to close in on her with his mouth wide open.
