Strongest Demigod System

Right now, Azrael managed to make both Jane and Tiana see him as their ally by providing for them when they were in need, and their animosity towards each other only helped him cement his place as their only ally.

They were both looking to him for companionship, and he was going to use that to his advantage later on.

Behind him, Azrael could still feel Tiana's eyes following him, and he tried his best not to let it irritate him, even though it was becoming excessive.

A few minutes passed with the three of them walking silently until Tiana finally spoke up.

"Hey, Azrael."

Azrael hummed in response, and Tiana seemed a little shy when she spoke again.

"Can I get some more water?"

Azrael narrowed his eyes at her before looking out into the distance. They still couldn't see the final destination, but from the map, Azrael knew that there wasn't that much left to travel before they would find it.

Giving her more water wouldn't hurt.

But that doesn't mean Azrael could risk it.

"I'll give you some when we see the main destination. We still have a long way to go."

Azrael spoke up as he continued walking, and Tiana seemed to deflate when she heard this. She rubbed her throat with a pained look on her face before looking to the side.

"Hey, what's that?"

Tiana suddenly spoke up again, and both Azrael and Jane turned to see her pointing at the horizon.

Far off in the distance, a blue outline stood out against the golden sand, and it didn't take long for Azrael to guess exactly what it was.

Water.

"It's water! Azrael, it's water! Come on!"

Tiana suddenly started to run in the direction of the blue outline, and Azrael felt his eyes narrow as he took a few steps towards her.

Suddenly, the thought of what he had experienced earlier came to the front of his mind. What if this was only another mirage?

Azrael called out to Tiana.

"Wait, don't just run off!"

But Tiana was too far gone in her own excitement, and she was already running down the dune they had been climbing!

Azrael cursed as he started to go after her, and Jane frowned as she followed behind him.

Jane tried her best not to run too fast so she wouldn't lose too much water, but a flash of black from her right side suddenly made her stumble before she turned to it quickly!

Jane's eyes widened.

"Azrael! Daemon!"

Azrael quickly turned to the right, towards where Jane was looking, and he felt a curse burst out from his mouth when he saw a daemon crawling out from the sand!

The daemon had been attracted by Tiana's shouting!

They were blind, but the daemons had exceptional hearing, so even the slightest sound was enough to make them emerge!

Azrael's mind whirled quickly as he tried to figure out exactly what to do.

As the leader, it was up to him to make sure that all the members of the group made it back, but Azrael didn't feel any form of obligation towards acting like a true leader.

Azrael was a survivor, not a hero.

At this moment, only one thought crossed Azrael's mind.

'Will saving Tiana benefit me at all?'

The answer to that question was yes.

A better reputation would help him in the long run, and even though Tiana had done it in a foolish way, there was still a chance that her hunch was correct and there was really water over in the distance.

Azrael quickly spoke up.

"Jane, intercept the daemon and handle it quickly! I'll stop Tiana!"

Jane nodded and quickly broke off to head for the daemon. The daemon was already heading towards Tiana, but from the angle of attack, Azrael could tell that Jane would get to it first.

Azrael turned and focused on Tiana once again.

They were going downhill, so Tiana had a crazy head start, preventing Azrael from catching up to her easily.

But thankfully, Azrael had far better physical stats than Tiana, and that was the only reason why the next sequence of events didn't immediately lead to Tiana's death.

Tiana ran down the dune-side without bothering to turn and see whether or not her teammates were following behind her. The blue outline of water was only a few hundred meters away from her, and she was completely locked in on getting there!

But then, a hand suddenly erupted from the sand in front of her!

Tiana's eyes widened as she lost her footing and her leg was grabbed by the arm, sending her face-first into the sand!

Another arm pulled itself free from the sand, joining the first one, and then a few more arms joined those ones before a daemon pulled itself free from the sand and shrieked!

SHRIEK!!

Tiana screamed as her Aspect immediately came to life! Three large dogs appeared from beside her and attacked the daemon!

One of the dogs managed to bite the daemon's arm and forced it to let go of Tiana, but before Tiana could move out of the way, another daemon appeared from the sand, attracted by her scream!

The daemon pulled itself free from the sand and immediately charged for Tiana!

A dog got in its way, but it didn't have enough power to defeat the daemon since it only possessed 20% of Tiana's full power!

The daemons easily tore the dog apart and continued after Tiana!

Tiana scrambled to get to her feet and tried to run, but she was thrown to the ground as the daemon tackled her! Two of the daemon's arms grabbed her by the head and the other two grabbed her arms and raised her into the air as its large, abyssal mouth opened, revealing large jagged teeth that dripped with saliva!

SQUELCH!

A sword suddenly shot out from the daemon's mouth, spraying Tiana's face with blood, and Tiana felt the daemon's grip go slack before she was dropped to the ground!

She looked past the daemon and saw Azrael heading towards another daemon that managed to pull itself out from underground, easily taking it out with a few swift sword swings!

Tiana's heart was beating erratically, and she had a haunted look in her eyes, like she couldn't believe how close she had come to dying.

Azrael finally killed the last of the daemons, and he looked around to make sure no more hands were emerging from the desert.

Once a few seconds passed without anything happening, Azrael finally used the back of his hand to clean the blood on his cheek and he turned to Tiana with a heavy glare on his face.

"What the fuck was that?"

Tiana seemed to shrivel in on herself as Azrael's glare pierced her to the core, and she spoke up quickly.

"I-I wanted to get the water—"

"That's no reason for you to act like a fool."

Tiana flinched at Azrael's words and she looked away.

Azrael squeezed his hand around his sword angrily. He wanted to shout at Tiana and tell her just how foolish her actions had been, but he knew that doing that would only attract more daemons their way.

Azrael couldn't believe that this was the level the rest of their class was at.

Azrael knew that for the past few weeks, he had only been hanging around the more skilled members of Divine Academy, people who could actually hold their own against daemons and who knew how to survive in bad situations.

Jane, Cleopatra, Henry, and even Gerald, they were all capable demigods who knew how dangerous the future would be and they had prepared their minds to deal with those situations by becoming proper survivors.

But Tiana was not like the rest of them.

From what Azrael remembered, Tiana only had a C Rank in Divine Potential, allowing her to absorb fifty percent of the Divine essence from any daemon she kills. This meant that her growth rate was slow and she lacked the motivation to better herself.

She would never be able to go into the Null Zone, and the monsters that they should be handling easily, like the Lesser Daemons, were going to give her trouble for a long time.

Azrael was rightfully pissed at how fucking useless she was.

"Do you think this is a fucking joke? You think this is some game where you play around with daemons for a while and then you go back to your perfect life afterwards?"

"What—?"

"She's an idiot, Azrael. You're wasting your time trying to lecture her."

Tiana's words were cut off as another voice joined in, and Azrael turned to Jane.

Jane was cleaning the blood on her sabers while coming towards them calmly. Behind her, three daemons were lying face down on the desert sand.

"Who are you calling an idiot?"

Tiana suddenly became defensive once Jane insulted her, and Jane pointed at Tiana.

"I'm calling you an idiot, you fool. You risked your life for water just now and made the both of us waste our time and energy chasing you down. But look at what you've been chasing and tell me what you see?"

Tiana was confused by Jane's words for a moment, but then she turned back to look at the blue outline she had been running after and her eyes widened when she didn't see it there anymore.

The oasis had been nothing but a mirage.