1913 Frost Soul (Part 1)

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Tyris' descendants had inherited her peerless body. Their strength and vitality knew no equals even among Divine Beasts.

Yet Griffons could take their combat abilities to the next level thanks to Focus Point.

It worked similarly to Leegaain's Gravity Fusion, but with one main difference. Instead of boosting the whole body, Focus Point allowed a Griffon to instantly shift their whole weight in a single spot.

If it was the arm they were blocking with, it became an impenetrable shield while if it was the talon they were striking with, it became an unstoppable spear. It was thanks to Focus Point that Tyris' punch had sent Roghar flying across the ocean twice.

The bloodline ability had just turned the small spike on Jirni's boot into a Davross weapon that alone possessed the full weight and momentum of her attack.

'Do something, I need some time to recover!' Night couldn't switch with him anymore, her full focus was needed to heal the wound before it went beyond her natural recovery abilities. 'Get to Moonlight and heal me!'

Orpal Blinked to the middle of the corridor, putting distance between him and Jirni and flying as fast as he could towards his steed.

"Not so fast!" Jirni performed a wide horizontal slash and Skywarp's blade created a dimensional fissure that Warped the air away.

The sudden vacuum closed on itself, propelling her forward and pulling the Dead King back. No matter how much he flapped his wings, the air was being sucked with such violence that he was stuck on the spot.

Before he could understand what had just happened, Jirni was onto him again, aiming her blade at the still open gash in the Black Rose armor.

Orpal gritted his teeth and performed a flurry of frenzied attacks. Each one was as quick as a bullet and surgically accurate, aimed at one of the joints of the Royal Fortress armor where the metal was the thinnest.

Jirni was caught by surprise by his skillful spearsmanship and was forced to take several steps back. The violent strikes had opened several shallow wounds despite the protection of the Davross.

'Dammit, I was certain that once I got the crystal, Orpal would experience Night's pain and become helpless. My attack left me exposed and I paid the consequences of my ignorance. It seems that their bond can be loosened at will.' She thought.

'Now that I know, I won't repeat the same mistake.'

The Royal Fortress armor was already healing the cuts with light fusion, further boosting it with Life Maelstrom, yet Jirni didn't like her plan going off track.

The amount of Life Maelstrom stored in the armor was limited and consuming more put her safety at risk. To make matters worse, the blue flame floating over Orpal's head had grown to thrice its size and covered the entire corridor with its light.

She had no idea what it meant but she was sure it was more bad news. She darted forward in a predictable trajectory again, ready to activate Skywarp's enchantments.

Thanks to the weapon, the enemy would overthink and fail to call her bluffs.

The simple threat of her Blink was worse than the actual spell, trapping Orpal's and Night's minds in a web of doubts of their own making.

'I carry the blood of a fucking Dragon and a Phoenix! I must have Origin Flames.' The Dead King thought while remembering from Night's lessons how both species used the same bloodline ability.

He tried to breathe them from his mouth like a Dragon, but only an enraged roar came out. At the same time, he flapped his wings like a Phoenix, emitting a frozen gust of wind that made the temperature in the room drop by dozens of degrees.

Both fighters wore powerful armor so the cold didn't bother them, it just made Orpal more desperate.

'That's it? That's a Vurdalak's bloodline ability? I can build a fucking snowman?' He thought while heavy snow filled the air.

'Calm down.' Now that the Horseman had been reduced to a voice in his head, the only thing Night could do was soothe his growing panic and frustration. 'Your dormant innate elemental affinity was Darkness and Air, that's why I choose a Vampire for your blood core.

'It's only natural that your Vurdalak powers are based on those elements instead of fire. That's Lith's thing. Don't try to copy your brother, just be yourself!'

'What if I'm just as useless as everyone always said?' Orpal racked his brain trying to understand his newfound power, but to no avail.

On top of that, Jirni was already in front of him, swinging her glaive and activating a Blink. The Dead King saw the dimensional openings with Life Vision, but before he could wonder whether they were real or just another bluff, they froze and crumbled.

At the same time, the cold from Frost Soul seeped inside Skywarp, depleting its pseudo cores and making the weapon wail in pain. The spell had been canceled, shocking Jirni and foiling her attack plan.

'Yes! I knew that the Vurdalak is the strongest Divine Beast!' Orpal rejoiced as euphoria doubled his strength.

He blocked the attack with the tip of Thorn, spinning on himself and lunging at Jirni with the rounded end of the staff. The blow struck her solar plexus, squeezing the air out of her lungs and pinning her against the wall.

'My Frost Soul creates a frozen domain where all spells are nullified, making me the only true King of Mogar!' He activated one of his combined abilities with Night, King's Wraith.

The black crystal in his chest conjured all the darkness element in the room, amplifying it into a powerful elemental tornado that Jirni couldn't avoid from point-blank range.

It would have ripped her to shreds, sucking the life force out of her thanks to the darkness' element ability to bypass physical protections, even those made of Davross.

Or rather, that's what would have happened if not for Frost Soul seeping inside Night's crystal along with the darkness. It froze her, inflicted her more damage, and foiled King's Wraith.

"What an idiot!" Jirni said while freeing herself and Night agreed.

'Bloodline abilities work both ways and they can always hurt their own caster!' The Horseman couldn't believe that Orpal would have forgotten such a basic notion. 'Origin Flames, Life Maelstrom, and Doom Tide work the same way.

'How could you think that Frost Soul would be any different?'

The Dead King would have liked to reply, but Skywarp's head had just shapeshifted into a thinner pointed blade, becoming a spear.

"Interesting bloodline ability." Jirni's helm twisted into a smirk. "Too bad that I've already cracked it!"

'What does she mean?' Orpal asked while dodging an onslaught of stabs that was almost identical to the one that he had performed earlier.

Except that Jirni's was faster, more accurate, and more devious. The tip of her spear seemed to freely switch its target the moment he tried to block, forcing him to step back to dodge.

'Frost Soul creates an unbalance in the world energy, amplifying the effects of the water element.' Night replied. 'Anyone inside its area of effect can't cast spells without absorbing the corrupted elemental energy that eats at them from the inside.'