Supreme Magus

Chapter 4401: Sacrificial Pawns (Part 1)

The Breaker infused more of his bloodline ability into the Break Annihilation and squeezed all the mana reserves he had left. He consumed as much energy as the undead Ranger, but Orulm was much stronger than Acala to start with.

Restoring his undead vessel so many times had consumed a lot of the life force stored in Acala’s blood core, leaving him little to fuel the Rising Sun. On top of that, he lacked the Firstlight armor that was still in Dawn’s possession.

"You forget something, monster." Acala replied. "I’m the Horseman of Dawn, and I came here with my steed!"

Only then did Orulm remember about the mage tower. Only then did he raise his eyes to the sky and notice the white crystal horse that was almost invisible as it stood facing the sun.

Sunrise had left Dawn right after she had dealt with Bathos, and now infused all of its power into the undead Ranger instead of splitting it between Horseman and host. The mage tower kept its distance so as not to offer an easy target to the Breaker, and released red beams of world energy through its eyes.

Blood and mana seeped into Acala, restoring his blood core to its full power as if he were using Invigoration. At the same time, the Blade Spell became a Tower Blade Spell, increasing its power one hundredfold.

Acala roared as the Rising Sun grew in size and pierced through the Break Annihilation. He also altered the angle of the spell so that it would turn upward and blast the Eldritch high in the sky where it wouldn’t hurt Batara’s innocent people.

Orulm watched the Tower Blade Spell repairing itself faster than he could destroy it. He watched it come closer and knew that the time he had left on Mogar amounted to a handful of seconds.

The Skinwalker-Eldritch consumed all the Break energy he had left as he conjured the emergency Chaos Gate stored in the Maw of Bytra. The artifacts Forgemastered by the Fourth Ruler of the Flames were linked just like their hybrid masters.

Abthot’s black pillar resonated with Orulm’s core along with her Maw, providing him with the dimensional coordinates to her position. The Break energy bought Orulm just the time for the Chaos Gate to open, but not what he needed to cross it.

He let the Rising Sun push him into the dimensional corridor and follow him on the other side, dispelling the Gate the moment he crossed over.

"Fuck." Orulm said from the left corner of his mouth since the right side of his head was gone, and with it, most of his body. "Fuck!"

Tendrils of his flesh plunged into the ground, draining the life it contained and the world energy coming from the mana geyser below.

"I could have won! I should have!" He snarled in outrage as his body regenerated at a speed visible to the naked eye. "I’m supposed to be the most powerful Eldritch on Mogar. Stronger even than the gods-damned Suneater.

"Yet I lost to a measly Vampire! I lost because I played with my food like a stupid toddler and choked on it."

"Lucky you." Abthot shrugged. "At least you have an excuse. Pathetic, but still an excuse. I did my best, yet I got destroyed. Nothing I did took Dawn by surprise. No matter what I tried, she had a counter ready."

"If it’s of any consolation, the human Vampire was the same." The Breaker snarled. "He was immune to my Skinwalker abilities and shrugged off my Break energy. He was... a perfect counter to my winning moves."

The rage disappeared from Orulm’s voice as he replayed his fight with the undead Ranger.

"What?" Abthot asked, surprised by the Breaker’s uncharacteristic contemplative mood.

"Don’t you find everything that happened today weird?" Orulm asked. "Dawn cut ties with her Court a long time ago, yet there she was, fighting for them. She didn’t just direct the undead assault on the Blood Minotaurs. She led them into battle."

"You are right, this is weird." The elf-ogre hybrid pondered. "Dawn took center stage while she was supposed to be hiding from the Dead King and revealed several of her hidden cards.

"I would understand it if it were a matter of survival or to locate the Dead King, but this was a waste of her time. Losing Batara barely puts a dent in the Organization’s assets, and if we send Tezka, we’ll reclaim it in a second.

"Also, to rebuild the Undead Courts’ influence, Dawn needs to conquer many more cities and expose her presence to the Dead King. Why is she taking so many risks for something that is of no importance to her?"

"You’re asking the wrong questions." Orulm’s gaze steeled, and his eyes flared with black and crimson mana. "I’m more interested in knowing how Dawn and her lapdog seemed to know our abilities so well.

"Sure, we fought together against the World Tree, but back then we played a secondary role. Dawn spent all the time on the front lines, and there’s no way she glanced more than once at us."

"Order and Chaos, you are right!" Abthot took her communication amulet out of her pocket dimension and called Xenagrosh.

"You’re alive." She said with a half-smile that expressed amusement and surprise in equal measure. "You cost me a pretty coin, but congratulations nonetheless."

Horror and outrage froze the elf-ogre hybrid, but only for one second.

"We are coming back to the base and expect to find you there when we arrive." Abthot snarled in fury.

"Where am I supposed to go?" Xenagrosh shrugged. "I have lots of paperwork left, and I can use a few extra hands. Feel free to join me at your earliest convenience."

Rage didn’t cloud the hybrids’ minds, so they took a roundabout route back to Essagor and followed protocol by the book to avoid being followed.

The moment they stepped inside the Master’s secret lab, loud applause welcomed them.

"Thank the gods you made it, Abby!" Bytra threw her arms at the elf’s neck, forcing her to squash her anger like a bug.

No matter how much she might hate the Master, the Organization, or Xenagrosh, no one dared anger the Fourth Ruler of the Flames. She was the kindest and warmest of their kind on top of being one of the best Forgemasters on Mogar.

"Thanks, Bytra." Abthot turned to look at Orulm, afraid he would lash out without a care for the consequences.

Instead, she found him silent and eerily calm like a man resigned to his destiny.

"I knew you runts would have survived." Tezka smirked. "The gods hate me too much to bless me with your death."

"Did you send us into a trap?" Orulm ignored the Suneater and moved to stand before the Shadow Dragon.

"No. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it myself, or asked the Master or Tezka to do it. It wasn’t a trap." Xenagrosh replied.

"Frey is still scared of you, boy." Tezka released a black golden aura so strong that all the Eldritches but Zoreth and Bytra fell to their knees. "If you weren’t useful to the Master’s plans, I’d have killed you a long time ago."