1845 The Mask Falls (Part 1)

The colossal Vurdalak's hand was filled to the brim with the darkness element that Night's crystal conjured and amplified. Upon impact, the darkness would spread like a wave and kill everyone in the entire city block.

Lith and Solus tried to Blink away, but Orpal's soldiers had cast a second Sealed Space they had kept at the ready the moment the Dead King had yelled the code word.

'This is impossible!' Solus said. 'You didn't get your giant form until you reached the violet core and Orpal is still deep blue. Also, there's something wrong with his energy signature. It's him yet not at the same time.'

Without the blinding arrays Solus had now the means to unravel the Dead King's plan, but it was too late.

The appearance of the colossal Vurdalak had drawn the attention of the entire city and Lith had no way to bring Kamila and Elina to safety before Orpal's attack struck. He and Solus could easily escape, his Demons would survive, but the explosion of darkness magic would kill any regular human in its vicinity.

To make matters worse, Thralls and assassins were swarming the place, keeping Trion and Locrias from flying away with their respective mark.

'It doesn't matter, Solus. But thank you for everything.'

The Vurdalak roared his fury as the punch crashed through the roof of the Heavenly Wolf tavern and the darkness element swallowed the entire city block. The simple movement produced a gale so strong that houses creaked and people were sent flying.

Yet the living black bolt produced wind, but no thunder.

The impact was silent and the wave of darkness that accompanied it faded like fog under the midday sun that shone over Lutia.

Only the ground floor of the restaurant was left. The roof was broken and the walls had been blasted away by the shockwave.

What the citizens of Lutia saw was Lith's extended right arm that stood millimeters away from the Vurdalak's. One was small, the other a giant. Their limbs didn't even touch yet the open hand blocked the fist as if they were just playing rock-paper-scissors.

Orpal roared and attacked again, just for his left cross to be deflected by Lith with a simple slap of his hand.

Even though his form was compressed, his mass was still the same. To nullify the impact Lith only needed to combine gravity fusion to alter the direction of the gravitational pull and spirit magic to create a cushion.

As for the darkness element, Orpal produced it and Lith Dominated it, making it harmless.

It was an amazing feat. Something unthinkable. Something that even a kid could understand no human could achieve.

"How? How can you be this strong?" Despite his might and size Orpal's voice still sounded like a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum.

"They are not human! Neither of them is!" A woman said pointing at the two brothers.

Her voice boomed like thunder in the dreadful silence that surrounded the restaurant.

The Thralls took it as their cue and dispelled the Sealed Space that blocked the transmission of the recording devices while the Vurdalak conjured a tier five spell that Lith couldn't avoid.

Not without losing two of the most important people in his life.

He shapeshifted as well, assuming his Tiamat form and staring at the Vurdalak in the eyes. He gripped the enemy's wrists, twisting them away from their target and sending the spell flying high in the sky.

"This is how." Lith opened his mouth, hurling a river of Void Flames that struck its target at point-blank range.

Orpal screamed in agony as his head was swallowed by the fire and turned into cinders. Yet black crystal popped out of the cauterized wound, growing at a breakneck speed as they reformed the missing limb.Do you want to read more chapters? Come to panda-novel,com

Lith was still wearing the Monocle of Menadion, giving Solus access to the phenomenon.

'By my Mom, that's not Meln! It's just like back in the mission. He has put the prisms inside Thralls that aren't affected by sunlight and has somehow fused them together.

'Meln is manipulating them from a distance and using bloodline abilities like those of a Draugr to boost their size to match yours. That's why he was so confident. He isn't even here!' Solus said via the mind link.

'I wouldn't expect anything else from a coward like him. Too bad that I did my homework as well. I know the weakness of this trick.' Lith replied.

Night could now not only turn undead into Chosen, but even simple Thralls, just like she had done with Deirus. Yet there was a price to pay to grant her and Orpal perfect control over their Chosen and override their slaves' will and powers with their own.

The link worked both ways and Orpal and Night would experience the same pain that the body they inhabited suffered. On top of that, Lith's Sealed Space spell didn't cover the whole Vurdalak, but it still encased the prisms in its chest.

Even if Night and Orpal wanted to pull out of the clone in order to retrieve the life force and consciousness they had imbued it with, they couldn't. They were stuck there, cursed to fight until the prisms were shattered or the battle won.

Lith breathed a second burst of Void Flames as his grip tightened, crushing the Vurdalak's wrists before ripping his hands off.

The crystal armor the Vurdalak clone wore was sturdy and his Chosen had been bestowed with the most powerful undead bloodline abilities.

On the other hand, their bodies were non-Awakened and the roughly mixed-up body of theirs couldn't compare with the perfect body refinement of the Tiamat in front of them.

Hundreds of kilometers away, where the real Opal was, he screamed in agony as his head burned into a crisp again and his hands turned into a bloody mess. Lith had underestimated the effect of Night's Double Body ability.

Orpal didn't just experience the pain of his Chosen who he inhabited, but he also shared their wounds.

The colossal clone bellowed and struck with the razor-sharp crystals that grew out of the stumps, but they shattered against the Voidwalker armor without leaving a scratch on it.

Down on the ground, however, things weren't going as well. Solus' Sage Staff was useless without world energy and her body was quickly running out of juice. Trion had no weapon and wasn't used to being a Demon.

Locrias was the one faring the best, but even he had trouble fighting unarmed against so many opponents while also protecting Kamila.

'We need to shatter the Sealed Space spells if we want to win.' Solus said to the two Demons while deflecting the blades aimed at Elina with her staff. 'Once we get rid of them, I can give you weapons, call for reinforcements, anything.'

She groaned as her body grew weaker and frustration followed every successful block. She would have loved to counterattack, but without her, Elina would die.

'I already lost the woman I called Mom once. Never again!'

Trion heard her thoughts and felt even more ashamed for how he had treated his family while he was still alive. He had always taken their love for granted, desperately trying to keep Orpal's instead.