God's Eyes

Unsure whether the distance at which he was from the Soa crystal mine was enough or not, Jason could only attempt forcing his body to move once again.

Yet, in the end, Jason knew that he had overexerted himself and that his body had just decided to rest.

This was frustrating and took him a great deal of effort to even move a finger.

His sore and numb body that should have been wrapped up in Artemis's soft feathers was lying on the uneven, hard ground. 

The cushion of Artemis' wings had disappeared as his eyes opened the moment a shadow fell on his eyes, shielding them from the bright rays of sunlight from dazzling him.

A sky blue plumage that seemed to have interwoven with numerous silver feathers came into his view, covering him and the young Elite who were both trying their best to get up from the ground.

However, the moment they saw the huge silver-horned Owl with golden engravings on the horns, sky blue eyes that pierced through the brightest sunlight, and huge wings with a wingspan of 30 meters, their body froze.

The young Elite of Yinar knew that the beast that had just emerged from Jason was only at the Initial rank of the Ascendion stage.

Yet, the presence Artemis radiated was that of a Queen, the Queen of Ice! 

Unable to move properly, the young Elite just noticed that they had been crudely clawed by one of the her talons.

At the same moment, they saw how Artemis picked up Jason, using her horns to throw him on her back.

But she had been a little clumsy and made him land harder than she had intended. 

The injury on the lower part of his back began to ache heavily, as it burst open, as blood splattered on her blue feathers, smearing them red.

Only now Jason noticed how severe the injury on his back was.

Yet, circulating moonlight mana through it was not possible anymore.

After all, his body was numb and he had trouble even moving his finger let alone trying to check his injury!

This was quite a hassle and frustrated Jason the most.

Nonetheless, he was overjoyed that Artemis had helped them out, even though there were numerous dangers around them, including the explosion behind them.

Oddly enough the shockwave was the worst that had reached them yet.

However, with his eyes wide open, and his back resting on Artemis he was able to get a glimpse of the situation from the mine's entrance.

'What the hell is going on there?' He could just ponder while looking at the scene in front of him with disbelieving eyes.

It looked like a supernova was occurring, yet the velocity at which the huge ball of energy was being released was slow, eerily slow.

Knowing that it would not remain like this, Jason asked Artemis to fly with the highest speed she could reach.

What his Emperor Eyes perceived under tremendous pain was way too scary to be spoken out loud.

Jason was not even able to imagine how the Soul Monarch had been able to create devices that were able to cause such a tremendous explosion.

Even weirder was that the Soul Monarch seemed to have never used it beforehand.

However, he was in condition to think about anything revolving around the Soul Monarch because his mind was going blank.

He was unable to think properly, and the sight of the fiery red, burning ball that looked like a miniature version of the sun, made his mind go blank once again.

Exhaustion threatened to take over his body and mind, but he was unwilling to accept the fact that he might lose consciousness right now.

After all, he might die at any moment.

While he was struggling with himself, the brightly burning miniature sun, rapidly enlarged, and had nearly reached the proximity of Artemis. 

But it was suddenly retracted and was compressing at once as a second tremendous shockwave rocked the surrounding territories, waking up even the beasts that had been hibernating for centuries.

Shaken by the second shockwave, Jason instinctively sensed that Artemis would be severely injured as the shockwave was intertwined with brightly burning flames.

Thus, his subconscious forced her to return to the soul world. 

Through this, he and the two youths were falling to the ground. 

Meanwhile, Jason's eyes solely focused on the bright red shockwave as it looked like time slowed down.

'Is that how I die?' He suddenly wondered once again.

Yet, even before the memories of his entire life could flash past him, a humongous flame enveloped Jason and the two youths, acting as a means of protection from the searing hot flames.

It was Solaris who had released itself from the Soul World, the moment it noticed that Artemis would be injured.

The shockwave was extremely powerful, and on par with an attack of a being above the Specta stage.

Fortunately, it was evenly spread out, meaning that its impact on a single spot was far less, which was comparable to a direct hit of a Specta stage powerhouse.

This was a powerful attack for Jason, and far more lethal to the young Elite that he wanted to save.

Thus, Solaris, whose forte was to devour and burn energy released itself, taking on the biggest shape it could control.

The said shape was just a ginormous black burning flame with golden and silver strands that were intertwined into it.

Yet, this was more than enough, and, in fact, the most efficient way to protect them.

With the sole thought of protecting its master, in addition to the beings he wanted to protect, Solaris exhausted the entire accumulated energy within its core. 

Enveloping Jason and the two Elite, it releasing the flames it had stored within its core for the last few years.

There had always been times when the energy Jason had used to materialize flames was not fully utilized.

During these times, Solaris had simply stored away the said energy.

As such, the flames it released after taking on the biggest shape it could control allowed Solaris to form several additional layers of flames, protecting itself and everyone within it.

The black flames did not harm the two young Elite, let alone Jason in any way.

Rather, they calmed their jittery nerves, while releasing the tension within Jason.

However, it was exactly this fact that caused him to frown deeply as his sight began to blur.

Rather than allowing his tension to be released which would allow his overwhelming exhaustion to get an upper hand, Jason wanted to force his eyes to stay open in order to witness what was about to happen.

Thus, he forced himself to stay awake, at least, until the moment the shockwave hit them.

Severing through Solaris' flames, the shockwave that was followed by searing flames continued to advance towards them. But, Solaris burned through the flames that followed suit and devoured them.

Tremendous amounts of energy were required to maintain the flames but by recycling the energy of the flames it was devouring, everything seemed to work out in a rather advantageous way.

As such, noticing that nothing was happening to them, and that none of his soulbonds would have to sacrifice itself for Jason's survival…not again…he gave in to the exhaustion as darkness took over.

Falling unconscious, he was lying in the midst of the lands that had turned into a burning hell.

The two young Elite from Yinar had noticed that he was not awake anymore, causing a chill to run down their spine.

They were assuming that Jason was on his death bed because they were able to see the puddle of blood forming around his torso, drenching his clothes and the soil below in deep red blood.

Thus, their worry was apparent, and even Solaris, followed by the other soulbonds was slightly worried.

And that was even under the condition that they could already sense a specific trait of Jason's bloodline and the God's Halo.

Jason's wound was serious, something he had sustained while fighting the Mid Ascendion stage beast that had attacked the female Yinar Elite he had saved.

However, despite being a serious injury, the bleeding had just stopped as his bloodline's tremendous healing capacities showed their value. 

Additionally, the God's Halo radiated a faint healing sensation, that acted similar to a pain relief and a purified healing potion.

If Jason were to notice this, he would be overjoyed. 

Sadly, he simply lay on the ground as his breathing turned shallow after having given in to the utter exhaustion and letting unconsciousness take over.