Zod turned his eyes to the left, where he could see Bethsha and the other Vanta guards gathered, and he gripped his long sword tighter as he began to walk toward them. Zod didn’t care about becoming Bethsha’s husband anymore, and he wasn’t interested in making her love him! If he couldn’t have her, then he would make sure no one else could!
"YAWN~!! What the hell is going on here?"
But all of a sudden, a figure appeared from the door leading out into the hallway while rubbing her eyes sleepily, and everyone turned in that direction to see Gina standing there in a pair of shorts and one of Jason’s shirts. Gina’s hair was dishevelled and scattered all over, and her face was droopy and tired, to show that she had just been woken up from sleep. She scratched her head absentmindedly and took a look around the destroyed hallway before she finally looked at the mindless Zod, who was releasing an intense surge of mana. Gina blinked, and she finally sighed. So this is what Jason and Bethsha had been talking about earlier! Why in the world would Jason tell her not to worry about this!?
Gina had seen Jason talking to Bethsha earlier tonight about something that sounded important, and when Gina asked Jason about it, he told her that Zod was a traitor, but she didn’t have to worry about it since it would be easy to capture him. But from what Gina was seeing, it was obviously going to be hard to take care of it! How in the world did Zod get this strong!? The last time Gina saw Zod, she was certain that he was only an SS-Rank, so how come he was now releasing enough power to be an SSS-Rank!? Gina’s eyes travelled towards Zod’s chest, and she blinked when she saw the rune carved into it.
’Is that some sort of power boosting rune? Jason would’ve loved to see this; he loves analysing random runes. Oh, but he might not like this one. Jason doesn’t like using runes to boost power since it could affect your magic development. And from what I can see, Zod isn’t exactly all there anymore, so maybe the rune also affects you mentally.’
Gina couldn’t help but chuckle as she realised that Jason would really hate this rune. Gina looked into Zod’s mad gaze, and her eyes narrowed when Zod suddenly turned away from her and moved towards Bethsha!
WOOSH!
Zod appeared in front of Bethsha and brought his sword down in a wide arc to cut her down, and Gina immediately appeared in front of Bethsha and raised her hand.
CLANG!
A metallic sound echoed through the hall once the sword struck Gina’s skin, and Gina narrowed her eyes up at Zod as Zod roared down at her like a mad beast! Zod had completely lost all trace of rationality, and Gina couldn’t tell the difference between him and an insane berserker! Zod pulled back and sent a second slash to try and split Gina in half, but Gina quickly used a gust of wind to deflect the attack before she suddenly unleashed a blast of her own mana!
BOOM!!
Gina’s mana pushed back against Zod’s and forced him to take multiple steps back, and a massive wind cyclone began to spread across the room! Gina shot her hand forward, and a gust of wind slammed into Zod’s chest and threw him back, and Zod flipped through the air and stabbed his sword into the ground to make sure he wasn’t blown away! Zod brought his sword up and pointed it at Gina, and Gina watched as a wave of water poured out from his body and began to form into hundreds of swords all around him! The people of Vanta were all deeply connected to the ocean, so they all possessed an unparalleled affinity for water-based magic! Their affinity was so strong that they could even create water from vapour in the air and use it as a weapon! Zod shot all the water swords straight toward Gina, and Gina couldn’t help but smile as she deflected all of them with her wind, and she dashed forward! Zod pulled his sword out and tried to slash at her again, but this time, Gina stepped into his strike range, and she used that chance to slam her hand into Zod’s chest and immediately unleashed a blast of mana!
KA-BOOOMM!!
A massive surge of wind erupted from Gina’s palm, and Zod was immediately thrown up and through the roof of the castle! Gina watched as Zod flew through the air, and she turned around and spoke to Bethsha in a calm tone as she tried ot mimic how Jason would usually behave in this situation.
"Do you need him alive or dead?"
Betsha blinked in shock at the sheer confidence she could hear in Gina’s voice, and she raised a brow when she saw Gina’s lips splitting into a small, embarrassed smile. Gina tried her best to keep her cool facade going, but she just couldn’t stop herself from giggling at her horrible acting! Betsha was even more surprised when she saw Gina giggle, and Betsha realised that Gina didn’t even register the possibility that she could lose this fight. As far as Gina was concerned, she had already won! Betsha looked up seriously at the hole Zod just passed through, and she answered Gina’s question.
"I’d like him alive, if possible. He still has a lot to answer for."
Gina nodded.
"Alright then. You should get a prison cell ready; this shouldn’t take long."
Gina crouched as she poured mana outwards, and a wave of wind blew her hair around before she suddenly exploded off the ground!
BOOM!
Gina soared across the dark sky like a comet, and it wasn’t long before she saw Zod in front of her! Gina pulled her hand back, and Zod quickly brought his sword forward to block the attack!
BOOOM!
Crack!
Zod roared in shock as Gina’s punch cracked his sword down the middle! Zod had crafted this sword when he was just an SS-Rank, and that meant that the sword could withstand his own level of strength. No one ever thought that the sword would have to withstand a punch from someone as powerful as Gina! Zod was thrown back by the attack, and he immediately summoned a wave of water from his magic and used it to form a blade that shot towards Gina! Gina laughed when she saw the blade, and she poured out her own mana and formed hundreds of windblades in the sky! Zod’s eyes widened, and he immediately brought up a large water dome as protection as the wind blades rained down on him!
Ratatatatattata!
The blades were like bullets striking against the water dome, and if not for the fact that Gina had put less power into them to make sure she didn’t kill Zod, then she could’ve easily broken through his shield! Zod broke the water shield apart once he realised that the wind blades had stopped, and the rune on his chest glowed with an even darker red as he poured more mana into it! His power rose even further, and he released a mad roar into the sky as he lost more of his conscious mind!
"RARRRRRGHHHH!!!"
Gina put her hand over her cheek as she watched the display, and she could only laugh when she saw how much Zod had to sacrifice just to use a single rune. Did he really think that this pathetic rune was the pinnacle of runecraft?
"Whoever drew your rune obviously despised you, and it shows in the soulless art. Let me show you what it means to have your runes made by a true Runemaster."
Gina put her hand forward, and a complex rune suddenly began to reveal itself across her entire arm!