Supreme Magus

Chapter 4498: Corrupted Energy (Part 2)

”I got him!” Baba Yaga extended her consciousness, reading the Upyr’s mind like an open book. ”Show me where you little critters hide. Share with me Orpal’s plans. Tell me how I can destroy him once and for all!”

Alas, the open book still had a will of its own, and the Mother struggled to suppress Colurra’s thirst for power and dreams of glory. His delusions of grandeur kept flashing before her eyes, eclipsing the information that truly mattered.

”Orpal is in Jiera, as I suspected.” Baba Yaga said, recognizing the familiar environment. ”Verendi is too unstable and populous to hide for as long as he did. Yet I need a location. Show me where he hides. Is that the Vepta Region?”

As the Harmonizer’s spells suppressed the willpower of the Treant and froze his life force to ease Baba Yaga’s way into his mind, something went wrong. The Upyr side felt his prey relax and grow weak until the gates to Colurra’s essence were unguarded and open.

The silver flame burning over the Treant-Upyr’s head shone bright as the Vurdalak blood ravaged the Fae’s life force, devouring it with ravenous hunger. The same spell that suppressed Colurra’s mind also opened the path to his core.

Colurra screamed in agony and terror, the Harmonizer no longer able to suppress his survival instinct as Orpal’s blood ate the Fae alive. The change happened at mind-link speed, the long and painstaking preparations of the Upyr side at every moment of Colurra’s weakness finally paying off.

”What’s going on? Go back! I need to be sure that’s the city of Tle’ket!” Baba Yaga poured her mana and will into the Harmonizer, but it found nothing to hold onto. The Upyr-Treant was gone, and a Vurdalak stood in his place.

”There’s something wrong with the Harmonizers.” A cold shiver ran down Jorl’s spine, knowing he was one step away from sharing Colurra’s fate. ”To all troops, disengage and retreat! Cover each other’s backs and return to base.”

”Leech!” Colurra sensed the intrusion in his mind and rejected it, snapping the Harmonizer in half with a single twist of his hands. ”I’m coming for you, Leech. But first...”

The Undead Courts’ members raised their guards and the Dawnbringers prepared to unleash their incandescent blades upon the newborn monstrosity when it bolted away. The Vurdalak flew at breakneck speed toward Vladion, but his bloodlust wasn’t aimed at the vampire.

”What the?” The clone and the Firstborn thought in unison when Colurra struck at the Chosen with all his newfound malice and power.

The former Treant entered the King’s Wraith, yet suffered no wound. The darkness element inflicted no harm to him, and when the clone tried to strike Colurra down with his crystal spear, Thorn remained silent.

The two Vurdalaks bolted away in a growling mass of claws, teeth, and anger under the stupefied gazes of their enemies and allies.

”What in the Red Mother’s name is happening?” Vladion, Cyrra, Bhaz, and the rest of the undead said as one.

They had prepared many more traps and battle formations, but they were all based on the assumption the fight would take place over the mana geyser. The Upyrs’ units left in a hurry, scattering in every direction with Spirit Blinks.

The undead could chase after them, but at the cost of their teamwork and leaving their base exposed to whatever treachery the Dead King might have prepared.

”Die!” Colurra the Vurdalak shattered the clone’s crystal spear with a blow of his Thunder Soul-infused mace. ”Die, you impostor! Like there can be only one sun and one king, there can only be one Orpal!”

The fury and savagery of the former Treant shocked the Dead King, but it was nothing compared to his surprise when the silvery flame above his head finally flared up.

’I tried activating my light element bloodline ability countless times, yet I always failed. Why now, and why do I feel so hungry?’ Orpal asked.

Something inside him opened. It didn’t appear or break. It had always been there, but until that moment, it had no reason to manifest itself.

’Of course!’ The Dead King solved the mystery of his silver flame and his Vurdalak nature that had tormented him for so long.

As his clone slowly crumbled under the frenzied attacks of the newborn creature and deep, mirror wounds opened all over his body, Orpal used his link with his Chosen to open a series of Warping Arrays to its position with Moonlight.

He only took Jorl with him, to have at least one person witness his success. In the blink of an eye, the two Corrupted Divine Beasts arrived close enough to Colurra and the Chosen to Warp them before the Dead King.

The frenzied creature hadn’t ceased his attack for a second, and the Chosen was covered in grievous defensive wounds. Feeling that the prism was about to shatter, the Dead King rushed to rescue his clone.

’It’s not that these injuries hinder me so much that I can’t afford to lose an undead I nurtured for so long.’ Orpal thought. ’Creating an undead with Necromancy is easy, but developing their blood cores takes a lot of time!’

”We finally meet, impostor!” Colurra roared, releasing a violet aura and injecting his mace with more Thunder Souls. ”Die!”

”Please, tell me that I don’t sound like that.” Orpal snorted as he readied for the challenge.

”I’m sorry, but that’s you down to a t.” Jorl replied. ”Do you need a hand?”

”Stay out of this.” The Dead King infused himself with a jolt of silver lightning and intercepted the mace with his open hand.

The Treant wore good Adamant equipment he had received from his bloodline after Awakening, whereas Orpal only had his black crystal armor. The mace shattered it and the hand it covered despite the Life Maelstrom empowering them, but Orpal didn’t care.

He didn’t feel pain, and Moonlight healed his hand at a speed visible to the naked eye. More importantly, he had Colurra exactly where he wanted him. At the perfect distance for a burst of Origin Flames.

The Dead King tapped into Dusk’s crystal again and released a jet stream of violet flames that he boosted with a spark of silver lightning. Colurra couldn’t dodge at point-blank range, and there was no defense against the roaring of mystical fire.

The newborn Vurdalak screamed in pain, and the Dead King exploited Colurra’s agony to rip the mace out of his hands. The weapon altered its shape and size to fit its new owner, and its enchantments answered his touch.

’I was right! Just like Thorn refused to kill Colurra because it mistook him for me, I can use his mace. He’s not just become a Vurdalak; he’s become a copy of me with my same energy signature!’ Orpal thought.

Joy didn’t stay his hand, quite the contrary. He struck at the pretender with savage fury, aiming only for vitals. Whenever Colurra tried to defend himself or chant a spell, another burst of Origin Flames disrupted his focus.

Colurra still possessed most of his regenerative abilities, but they weren’t as effective as those of his former Treant life force. Moreover, with nothing from which to draw sustenance, every healed wound further drained his vitality.