1825 Methodical Madness (Part 1)
Friya had prepared the tier five Spirit Dimensional spell, Dimensional Ruler, to face Orpal and keep him from escaping.
Unlike Domination, Dimensional Ruler didn't require a battle of wills. It would simply force space to obey her wishes, without giving her opponent any means of defense.
"I did it! I did it! I did it!" Tista jumped with joy while pointing right above her eyebrow, where her third eye had opened. It shone with blue energy, showing how much her mastery over the water element had improved.
"I can get a full Domination as well. Whatever that is." She said with all the enthusiasm that her ignorance about such power allowed her to feel. "Also, I've just gotten two new kinds of Origin Flames against your Void Flames!
"Whatever I'll become after I reach the violet core, I bet that I'm not going to be a lesser species but a proper Divine Beast. After all, everyone knows that Dragons and Phoenixes are the strongest beings." She puffed her scaly chest out with pride.
"First, Mogar itself called me the Father of all Demons so I bet that I can do whatever you can. Second, how did you produce those flames?" Lith asked.
Tista explained to him in detail what had happened and how she had felt, leaving him confused.
"It's too vague. Can you show me?"
The Red Demon tried and failed several times before giving up. She had succeeded despite not being trained in Domination because the Wendigo's bloodline ability had prepared the field for her.
Her beast life forces had only needed to perform the final step to split Cinder from Zero.
"See? It's much better to have one ability you can use at will after you discover it for the first time than two you have no understanding about." Lith said with a smug grin.
"Laugh all you want, smartass. I bet that you can't use them while I just need…" Tista's voice died at the idea of going back to Faluel and her grueling training sessions. "More practice."
"Why should I be incapable of using them?" Lith asked.
"Because you have only one feathered wing." Tista pointed at his hip. "I could barely withstand the force of a small spark of Zero because I could expel it through both my wings. If I had only one, I would have frozen to death. We are weak to cold, remember?"
"Fuck me sideways, you are right." Lith looked at the third membranous wing coming out of the small of his back as if it had betrayed him.
The wing flapped lazily and then wrapped itself around his left leg.
"I hope that while you were flapping your gums you also used a bit of that air for your breathing technique." Phloria said. "We are back at our peak strength and are ready to move."
They all gulped down a tonic to recover the nutrients lost to heal their wounds before calling Zeraka.
'Our path is clear and we are close to our destination. What's your status?' Lith asked.
'Whatever you did, it worked like a charm. The Chosen suddenly lost their perfect teamwork and at that point, taking them out has become a child's play. We'll reach the Dead King's quarters as well shortly. Zeraka out.'
'Are you ready, Solus?' Lith asked after they reached a massive door and Solus came out of her ring.
'I saved my strength exactly for this moment. He'll never expect me or my Fury.' She wielded the hammer in her right hand and the Sage Staff in her left while both were covered by the Hands of Menadion.
She used the artifact to suck the energy of the several enchantments that reinforced the door dry before kicking it down. Without its magical properties, not even the 20 centimeters (8") thick reinforced steel door could withstand her mass.
Once again, however, Orpal proved that there was a method to his madness.
***
Thrud had no intention of attacking the Council, not when all the Regional Lords and the representative had left their own territories unguarded. The Mad Queen didn't dare to underestimate an old monster like Raagu, but elders weren't scary to her.
Thanks to Glemos' and the Awakened apprentice's information, she stormed their homes, using the Sword of Saefel boosted by Life Maelstrom to turn off their defensive arrays while her soldiers raided the place.
She didn't even harm the apprentices she found. Thrud knew that the Council's policy to kill the unworthy ones made them spend their lives in terror so she offered them a choice.
They could stay there and die at the hand of their master the moment they failed them or they could come with her and join her revolution. She had no care for talent, only for loyalty.
The Mad Queen promised them the best teachers and fair living conditions for those who accepted to serve her. Most of the apprentices turned down her offer, afraid of the Unwavering Loyalty array.
Yet those among them who had shown poor results in their studies already felt like slaves and knew that their days were numbered. They thought that they had nothing to lose in the exchange and followed her.
"That's the problem with the old order, Iata." Thrud said while pillaging a lab. "They'd grown so complacent of the status quo that they forget that the same people that clean their shit usually are also the ones who know all of their dirty secrets.
"Indeed." The Scorpicore snarled at the memory of how her old mentor had sold her to Xedros without a care for her well-being. "My Queen, there's a call for you from Squad 15."
Thrud wasn't surprised to hear from them. Squad 15 was comprised of her most loyal and powerful soldiers, yet they were against a particularly strong elder of the Council who had many loyal disciples from her own family.
'They probably need reinforcements or are going to tell me that the mission has failed. I'm fine with either result as long we didn't suffer too many losses. I know that I can't always win.' She had no idea how right she was nor how cruel the irony of Mogar could be.
"The mission is as good as complete, Your Majesty." Ginma the Hippogriff said with a huge smile on his face. "We suffered no casualties and we are almost done taking anything worthwhile."
Thrud furrowed her brows in disbelief at the good news that were too good to be true.
"What about Quisar?"
"The elder of the Council will soon be dead and then we'll be able to take even the items stored in her dimensional items." Ginma replied.
"How did you do it?" Thrud asked.
'How is this possible?' She actually thought. 'I sent them there to take as much as they could while also dealing a huge blow to the Council's pride, showing its members that none of them is safe from me.
'My purpose was to force the Awakened to step back from the war and to expand the divide that exists between such egotistical beings. I never expected that the young Awakened of my army could defeat a bright violet elder in her own home.'
"It's all thanks to your cunning strategy, Your Majesty. Sending the Dead King as a last-minute reinforcement was a stroke of pure genius." Ginma said, making Thrud turn pale.
