Chapter 1697 - Protheus (Part 1)

The Doppelganger tried to slip from under the door and windows, but Manohar's constructs sealed every way out of the room.

Then it tried to reform its body, but the cold had frozen the smaller bits of the creature and the two mages focused their darkness magic on the fragments big enough to keep moving.

It took Manohar and Phloria great caution to keep their respective spells from hurting their partner. By the time the Doppelganger was dead, half of Manohar's uniform was back to be white and Reaver had run out of spells.

The gelatinous lumps left in the room quickly evaporated, revealing a communication amulet that lost its imprint along with all the runes etched on its surface.

"This was a disaster." The Mad Professor cried over the spilled specimen. "Such a unique life form and not one fragment left to examine!"

"Who cares about that?" Phloria exploited her rage painting her eyes blue with mana to use Life Vision, making sure that the creature was dead down to the last bit. "Don't you remember what my mother said?

"There are at least three Doppelgangers at the Marquis's house and even more at the service of the Countess. The moment those creatures take a look at their own amulets and realize that their partner is dead, they might go on a rampage.

"The two of us had this much trouble dealing with one of them. None of the mages at the party is a Light Master and my mother is not even a mage. You alert the army while I inform my parents of the danger."

"You are a genius!" Manohar said while jumping with joy. "There is still hope. I just need to capture one of the other Doppelgangers!"

He rushed out of the City Lord's office, ignoring Phloria's words.

The guards mistook him for an intruder and tried to arrest him. The Mad Professor used the fighting skills that Orion had taught him to break their bones and several laws of the Kingdom while saving the mana he had left to recharge the magic holding array that covered his vest.

By the time Phloria reached the door after collecting the Doppelganger's amulet, he was nowhere to be seen.

"That man is not crazy, he's a raving lunatic." She called Quylla and Friya, giving them an exhaustive report of the Doppelganger's abilities before opening a Spirit Warp to the Marquis' house.

'Without Manohar, Phloria can't deal with so many monsters alone. She needs my help.' Friya said via the mind link. 'Explain the situation to the mages of the Association and the soldiers while I go help Mom and Dad.'

Quylla didn't like being left behind, but if both leaders of the mission disappeared, it would hurt Orion's reputation since he was the one that had put them in charge. On top of that, Quylla still couldn't use Spirit Dimensional magic.

Despite all of her efforts, she was stuck at tier three Spirit Magic whereas Friya was both a dimensional mage and an Awakened. At that moment, Quylla didn't care about her pride as a mage, only about saving her parents.

***

Marquis Beilin's home, at the same time.

"Your wife sincerely regrets what she has done." Beilin said with a brotherly, caring tone as if he and Orion were old friends. "Jirni has done all she could to obtain your forgiveness. As a man, you can't tear your family apart like this."

The Marquis couldn't care less about the couple, but having the Commander of the Knight's Guard as his alibi was too good an opportunity to turn down.

"I appreciate your concern, dear Marquis, but regret is not enough and forgiveness has to be deserved. Lady Myrok breached my trust and endangered the life of my daughter. Neither matter deserves any leniency."

Orion didn't like Beilin calling his wife by her first name nor his patronizing tone.

"She did it with the approval of the Royals, yet I heard nothing about you handing in your resignation to them. Isn't it hypocritical of you to be so harsh only with Jirni?

"Also, I didn't want to tell you about it because it's none of my business, but your daughters came here to visit her behind your back. Are you really willing to lose both your wife and children because of your stubbornness?"

"You are right." At those words, a smug grin appeared on the Marquis's face. "It's none of your business."

Orion's eyes lit with a bright violet light like it hadn't happened in years. The fury and the pain that burned inside of him had finally found a target, flooding the air around Beilin with a violence that almost flattened him to the ground.

The Marquis could neither move nor breathe. His leg kept him standing only because fear made them stiffer than wooden poles.

Then, Orion took a deep breath, using the mental discipline that he had developed after spending his life in the army and after raising his three children to calm down.

"I came here only out of respect for your role as City Lord, Marquis, but if you keep acting like you have the right to tell me how to live my life, I'd better take my leave." Orion gave him a small bow before turning toward the exit.

"I'm sorry for overstepping my boundaries, Lord Ernas." Beilin followed Orion who never stopped walking briskly. "It's just that after having Lady Ernas as my honored guest for a few days and seeing how worried your daughters are, I think you are underestimating the consequences of your decision."

The Marquis just wanted Orion to stay until the Doppelganger returned and his tone lacked sincerity. Unbeknownst to him, however, there was some truth in his words. Orion stopped abruptly, pondering how he had gotten to Ruham.

'Ever since I kicked Jirni out of the house I have developed a drinking problem, almost ruined my career, and my daughters worried so much about me that they orchestrated a whole façade just put us both in the same room.

'Beilin is right about how I've let my grief blind me. I don't know if I'll ever find the strength in me to forgive Jirni, but that doesn't mean that our children must pay the price for her action.

'I'm not alone in this matter and without a compromise, we will all suffer from the separation.'

"I accept your apology, Marquis, and I offer you my own for my earlier behavior. I'd need more time to recover, but alas duty called me here and it's unfair for me to take my frustration out on you." Orion turned around, offering his host a polite bow.

"Let's try and relax a bit. What was the artifact that you wanted my opinion about? The Forgemastery art always helps me relax and I could use a distraction."

Beilin smiled from ear to ear as he took out a useless but unique contraption that he had bought. Using an item that required his magical imprint was a seamless alibi that would protect him no matter what happened to the Doppelganger.

Meanwhile, Jirni was bored out of her skull. Listening to Countess Metra's marriage advice was one form of torture she had no training against.

"Don't worry, my dear.. Men often get angry but they are simple-minded creatures and calming them is not that hard if one knows what to do."