Chapter - 1914

Frost Soul (Part 2)
'Your bloodline ability doesn't block the spells. There is no such a convenient ability, it simply makes the water element go awry. That's why dimensional magic was blocked while things like fusion magic and shapeshifting are not affected by Frost Soul.'

'They use the internal elemental energy of the caster instead of the world energy.' The Horseman said.

'I get that you understood it already but how could Jirni do the same and why did you get such a backlash from King's Wraith? It uses darkness, not water.' He asked.

'She must have had a great teacher or she has the brain of Dragon.' Night shrugged. 'As for King's Wraith, you can't just take an element and discard the rest. All spells except Spirit Magic require conjuring the world energy inside your body and using your core as a filter.

'That's why I got affected by Frost Soul. You had me swallow a crapload of world energy! Now shut up and let me heal.'

Jirni had actually discovered Frost Soul's limits by performing a few cantrips. The Royal Fortress armor could use all kinds of low tiered spells and she had noticed how only those which had an external manifestation were affected by Orpal's ability.

Using cantrips dealt so little damage to the Davross that not even Life Vision could detect them, but the armor's internal interface did.

Jirni's offensive was relentless, forcing Orpal to retreat until his back hit a wall. Gold-veined marble was not only one of the most durable materials on Mogar, but it was also magically resistant.

With Frost Soul active, the Dead King had no way to break it with his pure physical prowess.

"You know, you are not bad for an amateur." Jirni said to throw him off his game as more and more of her attacks reached their target.

"I'm not an amateur!" Orpal roared while deflecting Skywarp and performing the complex attack sequences that he had mastered under Night's guidance. "I've learned spearsmanship from the greatest master, pouring into it my blood, sweat, and tears for the past one and a half years!"

Yet Jirni blocked and dodged them all, even countering them at the smallest mistake he made.

"Really? I did the same ever since I was six." She replied with a sneer. "I've done this for 36 years now, my dear amateur. Yours is nothing but a hobby!"

Jirni had learned her martial mastery from both the Myrok and the Gernoff households. Centuries-old Awakened had practiced Oghrom's techniques, evolving and perfecting them over time.

Her masters weren't as skilled or as talented as Night, but the gap in battle experience and practice was abyssal. The Horseman was but one flaky warrior whereas hundreds of people from both households had practiced and exchanged techniques their whole lives.

With each successful attack, Jirni's advantage grew. Orpal used darkness fusion to stop the pain, but she aimed specifically for the weak points of the Black Rose armor. By damaging his joints, she also crippled his movements.

Even though Orpal felt no pain, the wounds were still there and his damaged tendons slowed his reaction time.

He swallowed his pride, admitting to himself that without Night he had no way to win that fight. He canceled Frost Soul and then Blinked atop Moonlight, taking Jirni by surprise.

The power of the steed coursed through the Dead King's body, healing both him and Night.

Jirni had no Life Vision and failed to notice that the bloodline ability was no longer in effect. When Orpal disappeared from her sight, she just put her back against the wall and assumed a neutral guard stance while looking around, ready to react.

'Why didn't just make Moonlight come to us earlier?' Night asked as the ice melted and the hole in her crystal closed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

'To what end? Moonlight boosts our mana, but we had plenty. It also empowers our spells, but I had none at the ready. If I brought it along, I would have just offered Jirni an even bigger target and you know we can't afford Moonlight to be damaged.' Orpal replied.

'Excellent point.' Night nodded, glad that her partner wasn't as dumb as he looked.

Fear and pain had clouded her judgment but Orpal had managed to keep a cool head and admit his limits. Even though he had yet to defeat Lith, he was growing as a warrior and a mage at an outstanding speed.

If not for his twisted mind and his unbridled ego, there was no telling how high his obsession might lead him.

'Can we switch?' He asked.

'I need more time.'

'Got it.' At a wave of his hand, more Chosen rushed inside the house and against Jirni.

Skywarp could Blink, not Warp. He had to slow Jirni long enough for Night to recover.

"Your brother sends you his regards!" A white crystal card with an emerald cube at its center came out of Jirni's left armguard.

"Meln!" Lith's hologram said while unleashing the tier five Spirit Spell, Primordial Roar.

Now that Lith had reached the light violet, his power had further improved and he could cast Scarlett's spell without Solus' help.

The mix of cold and vibrations slowed down the undead's movements while the ice, light, and earth aspects of the spell conjured spikes that pierced through their bodies, pinning them to the walls while the darkness element devoured them.

More and more undead came through the broken wall. Jirni could feel the hair on the back of her head stand up. She didn't need a mystical sense to know that Orpal was growing stronger by the second, her instinct was already screaming that at her.

The Royal Fortress armor also enhanced her eyesight, allowing her to notice how all the cuts on the Black Rose armor were repairing, the bleeding had ceased, and Night's crystal was no longer visible through the cut in the metal.

"Out of my way! I have no time to lose with small fries!" Jirni took the vial of Void Flames out of her dimensional amulet and removed the stopper.

Black flames flooded the corridor, eating everything and everyone on their path. The Chosen activated the prisms in their chest to conjure the darkness element and protect themselves, but to no avail.

The blast incinerated them and the only result of their effort was stopping the Void Flames before they reached the Dead King.

'I've healed enough. Now let me show you how it's done.' Night's crystal was almost whole again and she took over Orpal's body, fusing with him. 'Shattered Moon is all about delicate movements.

'You must be like the spring rain, not a raging river.' Thorn moved through the air, and countless strings of runes appeared in its wake as the Blade Tier spell took form.

The Horseman had fused her mind with her host. Orpal could sense every minute movement of her arm and the magical runes flowing through their being while Night body cast the spell as if he was doing it himself.

Once he reached the deep violet, that knowledge would come in handy.

Jirni cursed when the flask ran out of Void Flames and more Chosen charged at her.

"Shouldn't we help her now?" Faluel tried to get out of the hiding spot, but both Jiza and Feela stopped her.
Chapter 1915: Shattered Plans (part 1)
“Can you withstand a Blade spell fueled by a mage tower or even cast one of your own?” Jiza asked Faluel, obtaining a no in reply. “Neither do I. Revealing our presence now would be suicidal.

“Jirni let Night set up the field to her convenience and if we step out right now, we’ll be on the receiving end of Night’s spear as well and die a useless death.

“We can only hope that Jirni survives. Once the Blade Tier spell has drained Night’s energy but before the tower replenishes it, then we’ll take action. It’s not my fault if Full Domain stops our amulets and even Spirit Warp.

“If only we could call for reinforcements, we could stop that damn tower.” Jiza hated herself for having waited for too long, but Jirni’s battle prowess was simply dazzling.

With each of her moves, she revealed either a brilliant strategy or a masterpiece of magic. Just like the two Emperor Beasts, Jiza had fallen into a trance, hoping to see everything Jirni had prepared and learn from it.

Alas, now that Night had gotten back on her steed it was too late and all the preparations that the Council members had set were worthless against a Tower Blade spell.

The Archon threw the empty flask away, taking the last two proto cubes out of her arm protectors.

“You killed Manohar with that spell. Let’s see if you can do it again.” The crystal card in her left hand had a golden cube while the one in her right had the six colors of the elements swirling in a spiral.

A spark of her mana and two holograms appeared in front of Jirni.

One was Manohar, the god of healing. He was still wearing his Featherwalker armor and wielding Surgeon, his enchanted blade.

“Curse you, old hag! I hope someone has stolen this thing and is using my spell against you.” The projection had no idea that the real Manohar was already dead, yet it had his full prowess as it drew the power from the blade, the armor, and the rings.

Night’s eyes went wide open as she recognized the Blade Tier spell, Rogue Sun, taking form faster than her own.

The second hologram depicted someone wearing an armor similar to Jirni’s yet different. He was covered in Davross from head to toe, making Orion unrecognizable. He wore the armor that once had belonged to Juria Ernas, the foremother of House Ernas.

He also wielded another sword of the War series, Grimlock, and his spell called upon the pseudo cores of the blade and the power cores of his shield, armor, ten rings, and even his amulet. Do you want to read more chapters ?

As the blade gracefully moved through the air, six small elemental spheres took form, growing bigger with each rune he weaved. Manohar was the god of healing, yet he was still merely an apprentice of the god of Forgemastering.

The Mad Professor’s hologram was just a bunch of light whereas the projection of Orion’s spell conjured so much energy that the Chosen who came too close to him were devoured by a different element.

“Take your filthy hands off my wife!” He roared as the Blade Tier spell, Elemental Sonata neared completion.

Jirni had only a vague idea of what a Tower Tier spell was, but since Manohar had lost to one of them, she couldn’t trust her final trump cards.

She poured all the Life Maelstrom the armor had left into the proto cubes, bringing the power of the spells they contained on par with those cast by a Divine Beast.

Night started to chant, combining true, fake, and body cast to finish her spell first.

She fused with Orpal, using every ounce of mana from both their cores and Moonlight’s to fuel Collapsing Moon.

The Horseman’s Tower Tier spell darted toward Jirni, killing all the Chosen on its path and returning their power to Night, empowering her further.

Manohar completed his Rogue Sun as well. With only the fire and light elements, it was a basic Blade Tier spell, but now its golden light had turned silver due to the Life Maelstrom cursing through it.

The two silver beams of light clashed midway, Rogue Sun holding its own, but only for one second. The power in the proto cube was finite whereas Night constantly drew more world energy thanks to Moonlight.

Then, Elemental Sonata burst forward.

Orion had already boosted his hexa-elemental spell with his armor’s Life Maelstrom and now Jirni had added her own. The multi-colored pillar grew to the size of a tornado as the silver lightning crackled its way forward.

Elemental Sonata wrapped around Rogue Sun, protecting it and coordinating with its movements in a move that the two mages had practiced together.

Together, they pierced through Shattered Moon and trampled Night’s efforts of keeping them at bay. The Awakened cursed under their breath now that the fight had gone beyond them.

The combined Blade Spell took the entirety of the corridor, blinding their mystical senses and making it impossible for them to step in. Casting a spell blindly would have been pointless and to reach Orpal they would need to pass through the crossfire, getting obliterated in the process.

Once again, all they could do was wait and hope that their greed for knowledge hadn’t cost them the fight.

Night saw the combined spell overpowering Shattered Moon as it quickly approached her.

‘I don’t care what happens to my equipment or this body. As long as my crystal and Moonlight are in one piece, everything can be made anew. Time to get out of here.’ She stood in front of her steed, one hand still holding Thorn, the other touching the crystal snout to keep receiving energy from the tower.

The Horseman ordered Moonlight to deactivate Full Domain and to Blink her as far away as it could. The fight had gone on for too long and the light from the clashing Blade Tier spells was visible from miles away.

She couldn’t risk another Royal Fortress armor wearer joining the fray.

Rogue Sun and Elemental Sonata reached Thorn, twisting the Davross with the sheer pressure they emitted even before the energy touched the metal. The spear bent with a screech, soon followed by the Black Rose armor’s armguards.

The enchanted gauntlet turned into a blender that ripped into shreds the body that it was supposed to protect. Night arched her back in the attempt to buy time, using all of her limbs, even the head, to shield her crystal and gain even one more second.

Moonlight conjured the Blink, dashing through it and shutting it down immediately just like she had ordered. Part of the blast entered with the Horseman, hitting with enough strength to rip the breastplate open but not enough to reach Night’s crystal.

An external observer would have seen a black horse, a crystal, and several pieces of twisted glistening metal floating in the night sky for a split second before a Warp Gate opened, bringing the Horseman to a safe location.

‘This attack was a failure, but we still gained a lot from it.’ Orpal said via the mind link. ‘We’ve learned what Royal Fortress armor can do, we’ve forced Jirni Ernas to reveal her best moves, and more importantly, I finally discovered my first bloodline ability!
Chapter 1916: Shattered Plans (part 2)
‘I knew that the flames over my head couldn’t be solely decorative. They form the crown of the Dead King, they are proof of my talent for Domination, and each one of them will activate a different ability.’ Orpal thought.

‘Yeah, too bad we have no idea how. Or do you plan to risk your life for another stroke of luck?’ Night’s words struck like a whip, but he kept gloating.

When Feela, Jiza, and Faluel could finally see again there was no trace of the Night King.

All of their plans, all of their forces waiting in ambush outside had been for nothing. Orpal’s Full Domain and Jirni’s Blade Tier spells had gone beyond their expectations to the point of screwing everything they had prepared.

“I told you that keeping Jirni out of the loop was a bad idea.” Faluel said amid swear words. “We should have alerted her of our plans and presence.”

“And tell her that she comes from a family of Awakened?” Jiza shook her head. “No way. In times like this, she would demand to be Awakened. On top of that, I doubt it would have changed anything.

“You’ve seen the power of Orpal’s steed. If we moved in earlier, he would have just swapped with Night. Between his bloodline ability and that damn spell, it would have turned me into mincemeat. I don’t have Davross equipment. Do you?”

“No.” The two Emperor Beasts shook their heads.

“Our plan didn’t take Moonlight into account. We thought that to deal with a mere human, Orpal would have left his tower behind. Fighting a mage while they have their tower requires an open space where we can make up for the lack of firepower with teamwork and numbers.” Feela said.

At the same time, Jirni managed to link all the swear words she knew into a single sentence. The Life Maelstrom reserve of the armor was empty, her proto cubes were depleted, and she had no idea how to chase Orpal.

‘I won the damn battle but I lost the war. I did my best, but the bastard still managed to escape. I underestimated him this time. Even a blue cored Awakened with a tower is too much for me.’ Jirni thought.

‘Had I brought Balkor and Lith, things would have gone differently. The silver lining is that I still managed to learn about Meln’s next moves and his newfound bloodline ability. The next time we meet, I’ll be ready.’

The moment the arrays protecting the Myrok household were turned on again, she used her communication amulet to alert Wanemyre and Marth. Then, she contacted the Royals and lastly the Desert’s embassy.

Jirni couldn’t show the recording of her battle to the Crown without revealing the existence of the proto cubes. She would have to explain how she had obtained them and reveal her involvement with Balkor.

Aside from Tyris, he was the only one who had mastered memory crystals. The Royals knew that without his help imitating the powers of the Spell Hoarding Cube would have been impossible.

Lith, instead, would use the recording as training material against his brother.

‘I’m not going to share such a masterpiece of magic just to be charged with treason for a thank you.’ She thought.

Jirni then looked at the holograms of her husband and Manohar who had already started to fade.

“I won’t waste my breath with a replica when the real one waits for me at home.” Yet she looked at Orion’s shadow with eyes full of love and yearning.

It was only thanks to him and Skywarp that her mad plan had succeeded. She felt happy about the life she had built for herself, promising to help Dyta to achieve the same.

At the end of the day, Orpal’s words were based on a half-truth. Her cousin really was unsatisfied with her current life and with age, Dyta had discovered to long for things she had despised during her youth.

Then, Jirni turned towards Manohar who gave her thumbs up.

“Don’t worry, old hag. As long as I’m here, all will be well.” He said with his patented smug grin.

“Thank you, Manohar, for always being the pain in the ass you were. You forced me to constantly improve just to keep up with your tomfooleries. You may not be among us anymore, but I’ll make your words come true.

“Goodbye, god of healing, and may you be obnoxious in death as you were in life.” The light construct disappeared, and with it the final trace left of Manohar’s consciousness on Mogar. Do you want to read more chapters ?

***

A few hours later, Blood Desert.

Lith had just started making breakfast when the embassy sent him Jirni’s recording. He and Kamila watched it holding their breath from start to finish. Even though they knew that Jirni had to be alive to have sent it, it was still a terrifying show.

She hadn’t cut anything, not even the part where Orpal had stripped her clothes, in order to let them study his weak points and how chatty he became when he believed to be winning.

Something that Lith had never noticed since he had always beaten Orpal’s ass.

“Poor Jirni.” Kamila said. “I can’t believe she went through all of this and yet she’s already back to work.”

“Indeed. She should have called me. Together we would have killed Meln.” Lith nodded. “There’s no telling what I can do now that I’ve reached the violet, especially if she imbued me with Life Maelstrom.”

“Lith!” She threw him a reproachful glare.

“I mean, he has discovered a bloodline ability, but we already know how to counter it. Also, with this information, I can finally start working on my golems.” Lith rushed to say, only making things worse.

“Damn, even Orion knows Blade Tier spells, I guess the issue can’t be delayed any long-“

“What did we decide about work and honeymoon?” Kamila took the pan away from the fire and squished his cheeks in her hands, forcing Lith to look at her.

“That they don’t mix. I won’t work. I promise.” He replied.

“Good boy.” She gave him a long passionate kiss in reward. “Now, let’s have breakfast and hit the beach. I can’t wait to take a good look at the coral reef.”

***

After a few more days of that peaceful and slow life, however, things really became boring. They had visited Yrma so many times that they knew every nook and cranny of the city. They had even tasted every single local delicacy.

Lith and Kamila started to go back to Salaark’s palace to allow Trion to spend a bit of time with his family. On top of that, Tista was having issues recovering from her own inner demons as well.

She had always been a gentle soul and during the fight at the Hogum mansion to rescue Raaz, she had done things that had scarred her. Lith’s madness had infected her, but that was no excuse for the slaughter that she had caused with her spells and Cursed Flames.

While she was scared for her father’s life, Tista hadn’t cared one bit for the lives of the guards or of Hogum’s house staff. Even worse was the memory of gloating as she had watched Lith murdering Hogum and his wife in cold blood.