The Guardians' Throne - The First Magic Swordsman

                                      Ferdinand kicked Zaos for quite a while, but even though he wasn't causing much damage, Zaos could feel that the damage was slowly pilling up. Not to mention, he was slowly being moved to the side of the ship, and soon he would be kicked and fall on the ocean.

                                      While he was forced to move around by those kicks, Zaos had the chance to see that Drannor and Erean were unconscious as well. They didn't look dead, but they needed urgent treatment because of the burn marks. Still, Zaos couldn't help himself, much less them.

                                      Ferdinand suddenly stopped kicking Zaos, and then a Wind Barrier appeared around him. After that, Zaos saw some bolts falling around the asshole.

"Little worms…" Ferdinand said. "As if bolts could wound me while I have these."

                                      That was bad. Ameria and Noemi were probably trying to cover for Zaos and the others. At the same time, they recover, but Zaos still couldn't move a single inch. As if that wasn't troublesome enough, if he uses that attack on their ship… everyone will probably die.

"What are you looking at?" Ferdinand said when he felt Zaos's gaze on him.

"I didn't pay attention too much to my enemies' last moments, but this time I will…" Zaos said. "How do you feel knowing that you will die in less than a minute?"

                                      Confusion spread across Ferdinand's face. It seemed that Zaos wasn't joking, but the situation on his body was beyond any healer. After all, his knees and elbows suffered so much damage that he wasn't even bleeding there. It was almost a miracle that he could stay conscious and even talk.

"How do you plan on killing me, huh?" Ferdinand asked and then stepped on Zaos's head with all his might.

"It is a pity that I won't have the chance to cut your limbs one after the other, but then one part of my offer still will stand," Zaos smiled.

"The hell are you talking about?" Ferdinand asked.

"I can explain to you in detail how you will die because I can see the future with my magic," Zaos started to bullshit his way out of that mess. "Have you never wondered how come we defeated you time and time again despite having all the odds against us?"

                                      It seemed that Zaos's plan was working. Ferdinand looked really shocked… although Zaos was just spouting a bunch of nonsense, it all made sense in Ferdinand's crazy mind.

"Tell me how you can have a ring that grants you the chance to control lightning bolts, and I will tell you how to see the future," Zaos said. "Perhaps you will be able to avoid the death that I saw."

"… How about this, you tell me that, and you won't die too painfully," Ferdinand said. "You have three seconds to decide that."

"Hehehe, everything is going exactly as I saw…" Zaos said. "Think about it… how could I have blocked a direct hit by throwing my sword upward?"

                                      Ferdinand felt goosebumps when he heard that. Things were making a lot more sense now. Still, deep down, he knew that it was impossible… after all, he had a ring made by using the bones of the greatest mage that has ever existed, and he could only grant him the power to control storms up to a certain extent. The power to see the future seemed away ahead of that.

"Time is up, asshole," Zaos said.

                                      Ferdinand raised his guard and waited for an attack coming from Zaos, but not a single one came. Despite that, his Wind Barrier was activated because someone attacked him… Ameria did, and since she enhanced one of her bolts with wind magic until it became lightning, it pierced the barrier and hit Ferdinand's head, killing him.

"Shit… since when I decided to put some much faith on her?" Zaos asked and then sighed.

                                      Probably because the tension left his body, Zaos felt his vision darkened. That wasn't good. His health wasn't empty, but the two idiots around him needed some emergency treatment, and there was no one around that could help them. Zaos fell unconscious, imagining that he failed his allies again…

                                      Somehow, Zaos was getting used to the feeling of waking up and don't recognize the ceiling above him. Thanks to that, he spent quite a while watching that as soon as he woke up. The reason being the fact that he needed to reflex on his actions. If that was often happening, it was because he was messing up often.

                                      Soon enough, Zaos recalled the battle that they had on that storm. In the end, he didn't do anything against Ferdinand, but he was sure that America defeated him. When Zaos got up, he realized that he wasn't in a room that was shaking. Now that he watched with more caution, he noticed that the walls and the ceiling were gray and made of some sort of stone. Not to mention, the room didn't have anything aside from a bed in some clean towels. It was probably some treatment room of some city…

"Oh, shit…" Zaos said as he saw his body covered in bandages. "I forgot, but that lightning bolt really damaged us."

                          Zaos tried to move his legs and arms and then noticed that he could move both, he was extremely weak, but he didn't lose the movement of his legs and arms. Still, where was everyone?

                                      As stubborn as he was, Zaos decided to get up and leave the room. He had to walk very slowly and use the walls for support. However, once he opened the door, he saw a tired and surprised Noemi.

"You are up," Noemi smiled.

"Hey, what happened? Where is everyone?" Zaos asked.

"Don't worry, they are fine," Noemi said. "After you, three got hit by the lightning bolt, you guys were transported and treated to the port city of your country since you have better healers. Their condition was a bit more dangerous, so they will need to recover for a while longer. Still, they won't have to worry about problems caused by the wounds, and the same can be said about you."

"I see… that is good," Zaos said and then sighed in relief. "By the way, for how long have I been asleep?"

"… Three weeks," Noemi said after a deep sigh.