There is no self-aware soul in Rukhmar's body, and he did not respond at all to Sarlayan's hostility.
Although the two firebirds look very similar in appearance, differences can be seen upon closer inspection.
The first thing to notice is the color of the flames.
Rukhmar's power as a demigod is the fire of light. This is a way of using the power of light that is different from the Holy Light. It is also very different from Odin's overly blazing light flames.
Compared with the incarnation of Rukhmar displayed by the cooperation between Sarlayan and Rukhmar's soul, the fire of light in Rukhmar's zombie is relatively dim.
To use a rather mysterious word to describe it, the bright fire in this guy lacks a soul and is just an inertial force inspired by the body's instinct.
Odin's bright flame shows the most blazing side of the power of light, while Rukhmar's bright flame is relatively soft, with both lethality and healing power.
This characteristic is similar to the red dragon's unique flame of life. Whether it hurts or heals depends on the person's wishes.
Sarlayan, who was fanning the fire feathers with all his strength, quickly closed the distance between him and the Rukhma zombie. When he was still about 10 meters away from it, Sarlayan took the lead in opening his beak and spraying a ray of gold at the opponent. Red flame.
"boom!"
The fire of light from the same source exploded on the Rukhma zombie, and a large number of bird feathers fell off from near its wound.
After being attacked by the enemy, the Rukhmar zombie screamed in pain as if waking up from a dream, stopped flying aimlessly, and subconsciously turned its head to counterattack Sarlayan.
"Watch out! It's going to breathe fire!"
You are always the one who knows you best. Just when Rukhmar's zombies started to move to prepare for a counterattack, Rukhmar's soul alerted Sarlayan.
The action pattern of Rukhmar's zombies, which only have physical instincts, is not difficult for Rukhmar's soul to guess. It will only attack and defend according to inherent laws.
Obviously, these subconscious movements that rely on body instinct cannot be hidden from Rukhma himself.
The arakkoa people who looked up and watched thought they could see a fight between a dragon and a tiger in which I beat myself. However, in fact... this seemingly exciting battle ended very quickly.
For example, Sarlayan is like having precognition enabled. He knows what the enemy is planning to do next before he takes any actual action, and he will naturally be able to deal with it with ease.
If Sarlayan hadn't been unfamiliar with the relatively unfamiliar transformation form of Rukhma's incarnation, he would have been sure to end the battle within one minute.
Even so, the Rukhmar zombies did not persist in resisting for more than 3 minutes.
As Sharlayan gradually became familiar with the new transformation, the Rukhmar zombies, whose action patterns were very routine, were easily subdued.
Two firebirds that looked almost identical in appearance were entangled with each other and fell to the ground together, leaving many fiery red feathers that had fallen off from their bodies in the air.
"Boom!"
In the end, it was Sarlayan who was superior and pressed the Rukhmar zombie on his body, which took most of the fall damage.
After a chase, the final battlefield of the two firebirds had left the confines of the Arak Peak Forest and arrived at the desolate White Bone Wilderness.
"Hey!"
The Rukhmar zombie, which was still screaming after landing, tried to break free from Sarlayan's claws, but was trapped by the injuries it had suffered in the previous battle. At this time, it was already unable to stand up.
"Die to me!"
Sarlayan, who was close to the Rukhmar zombie, mobilized the power of death at close range and forcibly extracted the half-finished artificial soul that had been stuffed into its body.
After all, it is just a semi-finished product made by mortals. The stability of the artificial soul is quite poor, and it quickly disintegrates itself as soon as it is exposed to the air.
As the artificial soul disappeared, Rukhma's body finally stopped moving completely, and the fire of light burning in his body gradually extinguished.
Without Sharlayan's urging, Rukma's soul, which had been waiting for this moment for a long time, couldn't wait to separate from Sharlayan and return to his body that he had been away from for a long time.
"tumultuous!"
Before the flames on Rukhma's body extinguished, a more energetic golden-red flame rekindled from the inside out.
Without the assistance of Rukhmar's soul, Sarlayan, who was still unable to perfectly control Rukhmar's incarnation, consciously took a few steps back and returned to his human form.
Anzu, the crow god, who was coming at full speed, witnessed Rukhma's rebirth with his own eyes.
With the air-distance assistance of Sarlayan's life power, which he gradually became more comfortable with, Rukhma, who had just returned to his body and whose movements were still a little stiff, quickly regained his senses.
The long-separated body and soul quickly merged under the catalysis of life power, and the flames on Rukhma's body became more dazzling, and the light exceeded the limit of what the two firebirds could show before.
"Bah!"
As Rukhmar stood up again, he spread his wings and raised his head and screamed joyfully. All the arakkoa present, regardless of sect, prostrated on the ground and followed their body instincts to offer heartfelt blessings to their returning mother of creation.
Under Sarlayan's interested gaze, Ansu suddenly stopped mid-run and looked down at his appearance.
His originally excited and surprised mood turned sharply, and his demeanor became visibly depressed.
With one last nostalgic glance at the heroic Rukhma, Ansu folded his wings, which had long been unable to fly, lowered his head and turned around.
Under the protection of the power of shadow, Ansu tried to reduce his sense of existence and escaped into the shadow plane.
Just like how he escaped Rukhma's search time and time again many years ago.
However, this time, Rukhma, who had already noticed Ansu's whereabouts, did not let the coward escape again.
"My dear friend, do you want to avoid me again?"
Everyone except Sarlayan's eyes were dazzled. Rukma's huge firebird body had turned into a stream of light and appeared in front of Ansu.
As Rukhmar's wings flapped, the entrance to the shadow plane that was about to take shape quickly melted away like a shadow in the sun.
"I……"
Ansu didn't even dare to raise his head in front of Rukhma, and whispered in a very humble voice: "Let me go, I am... not worthy of appearing in front of you at all."
Rukhma shook his head and said softly: "It's not up to you to decide whether you are worthy or not. You and I both know very well where the shadow curse on your body comes from. How can I dislike you?"
"In fact, I should have made it clear to you many years ago, but you always ran away from me time and time again."
Will Rukhma be touched by Ansu's unapologetic devotion?
Judging from the recent exchanges between Sarlayan and Rukhma, it is obvious that there is, and the touch is not small.
Putting herself into perspective, Rukhma believed that she would never be able to swallow the body of the wind snake demigod Setai under those circumstances and seal the shadow curse that was about to spread within her body.
But in order to protect his beloved Rukhma from harm, Ansu just did this without hesitation.
The price is that Anzu will be accompanied by Setai's hatred and curse for the rest of his life. From then on, he will never be able to spread his wings and fly high into the sky, becoming a poor "free-range chicken".
Ansu, who had a very low self-esteem in terms of relationships, didn't want to expose his ugly side to his sweetheart, so he ran away before Rukhma could react.
This chase and escape scene lasted for hundreds of thousands of years, until the life of Rukhmar, who created the arakkoa, came to an end, and the two never met again.
The two factions of crow people who were still kneeling on the ground quietly raised their heads to observe the interaction between the two demigods. Some of the people who knew the inside story even unconsciously showed expectant smiles.
From Sharlayan's point of view, Rukhmar was several times larger than Ansu. I don't know if it was because of the influence of the curse or because the Crow God was only that big in the first place.
The sight of the two meeting each other at this moment gave Sarlayan an inexplicable sense of déjà vu, like a hawk looking at a chicken.
Ansu's low self-esteem in relationships cannot be reversed in a few moments, and it is impossible for Rukhma, who always pays attention to image, to perform a romantic comedy with him in front of a large number of "children".
After deliberately ordering Ansu with a straight face not to escape again, Rukhma raised his head and looked at the two groups of arakkoa kneeling together not far away.
Seeing Ansu's submissive nod of agreement, Sarlayan couldn't help shaking his head and laughing.
'If these two people can really become... each other's family status can be seen at a glance. '
Rukhma was not in the mood to pay attention to Sharlayan's expression at the moment. She looked at the arakkoa with different expressions, recalling the little moments she had spent with their ancestors, and sighed with a somewhat complicated expression.
"Kids, I'm back."
