Beyond The Unknowns

Two synergies

Soon the creature lost all it's strength due to the excessive blood loss. It couldn't even muster it's strength to raise it's arms.
Zan who was also at his wits end, was having trouble maintaining his posture.
Sensing an opportunity when the creature lowered it's arms, Zan plunged his sword into it's neck with every bit of strength he was left with.
Despite that, the creature wasn't struggling anymore, as if it had accepted it's fate.
Zan couldn't care less about it's refusal to struggle as he knew that it would have done the same to him, if he were on the receiving end.
His shoulder muscle and biceps tightened, revealing his pumped up veins as he slid his sword sideways, beheading it's head from it's body.
Blood splattered all over the place, like water flowing out of a fountain.
Yet he refused to stop there and continued to strike his sword. He continuously stabbed all over it's carcass, even after beheading it's head.
He carried on to swing his sword until he could no longer feel the grip on his sword. Finally after stabbing the carcass of the creature countless times, he grabbed the hilt of sword with his both hands, slowly raising the sword above his head. He then thrusted down the sword with all his might and pierced it's heart.
He fell down on his knees as he let go of the hold of his sword. His hands trembled as he lowered it down.
His tattered clothe revealed his naked body covered in bruises.
Despite the writhing pain, he didn't let out a single scream this time around. Previously he nearly fainted due to the pain but somehow after enduring countless battles, his body naturally adapted to the injury.
While trying to collect his thoughts, he looked at the sword lying in the ground.
"Why does it feel so familiar yet strange at the same time. But without it, I might have already died by now. So I'm thankful to it. I owe you my life."
He stared at the sword with a perplexing look and thanked it.
He then slowly picked himself up and started towards the sword. As he picked up the sword and stood infront of the carcass of the creature.
[Bring me closer to it]
A sudden voice reverberated.
The sudden voice terrified him, causing him to lose his balance and he staggered.
"Who? Who's there?"
He stammered while looking around him, trying to figure out the source of sound.
But aside him and the corpse of the creature, nobody was present there at the moment. He lowered his head and looked towards the corpse. Assuming it somehow returned back alive. He quickly assumed a defensive posture. But the corpse showed no signs of movement.
"Sigh~~~"
"I must be hallucinating. hahaha"
While releasing a deep sigh, he assured himself and laughed.
[Quit looking here and there, I'm right here, in your plams]
He startlingly looked towards his palm upon listening the unknown voice.
The voice was coming from within the sword.
Finally he realised something, upon looking at the sword which was communicating with him.
The sword was non other than the same demonic sword which the demon general Asmodeus carried.
The demonic sword 'Leviathan'.
Zan who was unconscious at the time Asmodeus died was unaware about the whereabouts of the demonic sword Leviathan. Thus he naturally assumed that it disappeared with Asmodeus.
But little did he knew, after he defeated Asmodeus, it simply became one with him. Anointing him as the new successor.
Upon coming to a realization, he quickly let go of the sword and backed down.
[So this is how you repay your saviour?]
"You may be my saviour this time but you still tried to kill me previously"
[Seriously? I'm merely a tool. I may have my own ego but I'm still a sword. I don't decide who I want to kill. I simply follow the will of my wielder]
The reasoning of the sword surprisingly sounded fairly reasonable to Zan.
He pondered for a while after listening to it's reasoning. Afterall, he did use it to kill the creature infront of him as well. Thus, he couldn't blame the sword for it's actions.
[Quick grab me!]
Zan walked towards the sword and hesitatingly grabbed the sword.
Leviathan may have it's own ego but still it's personality was affected by it's wielder. Thus, the Leviathan from before and the Leviathan of the present, despite being the same sword somehow differ from each other.
But neither did Leviathan shared the facts with Zan nor did Zan inquire about it.
While holding the sword in his hand, he slowly walked towards the carcass of the creature. Zan sat beside it with his legs folded and eyes closed. He then started to absorb the seeping aura out of it's body.
The creature being a mystic being didn't have any mana in it, rather it had demonic aura, just like Asmodeus.
While Zan was absorbing it's demonic aura mistaking it for mana, Leviathan was feeding on it's body.
After completely absorbing the demonic aura of the creature, Zan opened his eyes. His eyes opened wide as soon as he glanced at the area where the carcass of the creature laid.
The massive carcass of the creature vanished without a trace. As if it was never there at the first place. Only a bead sized ball was left behind at the place.
Baffled by the sight ahead of him, he turned his gaze towards Leviathan. The metallic colour of the sword changed into pitch black. The apparent change in it's colour gave out the reason behind the disappearance of the creature's carcass.
Seeing the change in it's appearance, Zan assumed that the creature's carcass was somehow absorbed by Leviathan.
'But what could that bead be?'
A thought lingered as he walked closer to the bead.
[You're lucky. It's a fully evolved creature and thus it left behind it's attributes]
"What attributes?"
He looked puzzled.
[It's the ability which it honed for it's whole life. By consuming the bead, you may gain one of it's skills, if you're lucky.]
"Wha.. What?? Consume it? Are you out of your f****** mind?"
Disgusted by the appearance of the bead, he cursed.
[Well if you don't want to, then let me have it?]
After enduring countless strikes from the creature and finally managing to defeat the creature, after a desperate struggle, he felt it too wasteful to give away his hard earned reward to the sword. Thus he reluctantly ate the bead.
[Hehe.. Poor fool. If I could consume it, then I wouldn't have even asked you.]
Leviathan chuckled as it revealed a wry smile.
Zan who was unaware of it's intentions fell for it's scheme and ate the bead.
Nothing happened for a while even after he consumed the bead. The bead effortlessly slid down his throat.
Gulp~~
"What's this? Nothing's happening?"
He gave out a perplexing look.
Just then he felt a writhing pain in his stomach. The pain soon spread all over his body. As if he was going through a metamorphosis, his whole body started to ache.
He fell down unable to endure the writhing pain. His face turned pale and he started to sweat profusely.
"Argh... arg.... argh....."
The wounds and bruises which he accumulated in the previous battle started to heal itself.
×÷×+-+-+++++---**++*++-+*++-++++####++#+
Fey and Herman who've been left stranded in the temple were trying to figure out a way to save Zan. With the disappearance of Appu Illapu, they were left with no choice but to inspect the surrounding and figure out the solution themselves.
However only Herman was diligently searching for a method to save Zan, while Fey was merely grieving over the disappearance of Zan.
"Can you quit your crying and help me search for a way to open this door?"
Herman yelled at the sobbing Fey, annoyed by her constant sobbing.
Despite his yells, she continued to sob.
*+*+#+*+#+#+£+£+#+#++#+#+#-+-+-+-++-+
Zan finally opened his eyes after enduring intense pain. With his whole body healed, he felt refreshed.
"What's this? Nothing changed?"
He questioned while inspecting his body.
When Leviathan mentioned that he might gain attributes by consuming the bead, he naturally assumed that his body might undergo some kind of metamorphosis and experience some kind of change in physical appearance. But his body looked the same as it was before and only his wounds were healed.
[Try concentrating your aura?]
"What? By aura you mean mana right?"
[No, I mean aura. The demonic aura inside of you.]
"What's demonic aura? Do I even possess it?"
His expression gave out a look of confusion.
He was still unaware of the fact that he possessed demonic aura inside of him. He had been only trained in mana and the term demonic aura was completely new to him.
[You may not realise but you've got two synergies inside your body. One is mana and another is demonic aura. Those two synergies should contradict each other in theory, but somehow you're able to wield those two synergies without any backlashes.]
Zan was puzzled by the remarks of Leviathan.
He had no idea about the two synergies inside of him. Till now he had been only able to use mana. But after learning about the presence of demonic aura inside of him, he kinda felt intrigued. He desperately wanted to try out the new found synergy in him, but he had absolutely no idea on how to use it.