2094 Undercover (Part 4)

To save time and take a good look at how the people on Thrud's side of the conflict fared, they took a stagecoach. While moving through the city blocks, they noticed that life in Zehnma wasn't much different from that in their half of the Kingdom.

The streets were bustling with people with worried expressions on their faces and grocery stores had signs hung in front of their entrances reminding the customers of the food rationing.

The most striking difference was the Forgotten patrolling non-stop the streets from the sky, responding to calls for help, arresting criminals, and healing those in need for free.

"Wow. The Royals could learn a thing or two from Thrud." Tista said after noticing how the citizens of Zehnma weren't afraid of leaving their doors open and how clean the streets were.

"Yeah, right. I wonder why no one ever thought about implementing slavery and making powerful mages work for free 24/7." Lith said with a scoff. "Also, haven't you wondered where the beggars and the homeless have gone?

"Best case scenario, Thrud brought them to the Golden Griffon to force them to learn the trades she is in need of, with no care for what they want. Worst case scenario, after a boot camp she sent them to the battlefield."

"Good gods, you are probably right." She searched the streets until they reached their destination, yet she failed to see a single street urchin or a small-time thug.

Once at the restaurant, Tista had learned from her previous mistake and claimed to be there on a generic anniversary. She could now enjoy enough wine to forget about what she had just witnessed and keep her mind off her personal issues.

"Man, Thrud may be a ruthless tyrant, but she is also a true genius." Tista said with a hiccup after walking out of the last restaurant, a bit tipsy from the wine.

"She has kept the same arrays that the Kingdom implemented but rearranged their sequence of runes so that instead of just coexisting, they now support each other.

"Their concentric layout makes it impossible to tamper with the outer layers unless one first deals with the innermost formations that surround the city hall and that's a frigging fortress."

"For brilliant she's brilliant, but I doubt she had the time or the expertise to come up with such an idea." Lith replied.

"What do you mean?" Tista asked.

"I faced Thrud twice and neither of her labs had anything like this. Xedros the Wyvern, instead, was an amazing Warden and his lair's defense system worked exactly like this.

"According to the Council, Thrud stole his legacy right after Scarlett killed him, and then Thrud raided the labs of his accomplices with the help of the apprentices she 'saved'.

"I bet that everything we've seen today, from the fog at the entrance of Zehnma to that glove, comes from the work of the Awakened she killed." Lith replied.

"Even if that were true, Thrud still managed to use their knowledge to develop tools for her army and adapt true magic to pre-existent permanent arrays. That's something only a genius can do." Tista said. "In a way, she reminds me a lot of Professor Vastor."

"That's what worries me." Lith said. "He has found his balance, but unlike Thrud and I, everything he has is built on a lie. No matter how majestic a house of cards is, it takes but a single mistake to make it crumble.

"If that happens, Vastor would turn from one of the Kingdom's greatest assets into its worst enemy. And believe me, I'd take on Thrud's army any day if it spared me from facing even just one of his Hybrids."

"Are they that scary?" Tista asked.

"Scary doesn't even start to describe them." Lith shook his head. "They are all centuries if not millennia old beings, worlds apart from the greenhorns that serve the Mad Queen.

"Each one of Vastor's hybrids has full mastery over their Divine Beast form and powers. They also possess the abilities of their monster halves with no downside, they can use Chaos Magic freely, and their equipment is forged by the Fourth Ruler of the Flames."

"Good gods, they could conquer the Kingdom in a few days if they wanted." Tista shuddered at the thought.

She had met Bytra and Zoreth a few times, but due to how friendly and laid back they were she had never understood the danger they posed.

"If they are that powerful, then why don't they kill Thrud and put an end to this war?" She asked.

"Two reasons." Lith replied. "One, destroying a cursed object is never easy. Not even big sis Sinmara could kill Dawn and she's a white core who received Grandma's teachings.

"The Golden Griffon is much bigger and maybe even more powerful. Even if the Abominations managed to destroy it by combining their powers, there's no telling the destruction it would cause. Do you remember Kolga?"

Tista would never forget the cursed city and not just because it was the place where she had been forced to kill an innocent in cold blood. After disposing of the Forbidden Sun by stealing the Eye of Kolga, the magic empowering the city had gone haywire.

The resulting explosion had produced a brilliance visible from the surface and from the nearby underwater city of Zhen.

"Now imagine what would have happened if Kolga was a land city, without thousands of tons of water smothering the heat and the shockwave it released. Kogaluga was just a side effect so the Kingdom didn't suffer from its fall."

"O gods, it would raze to the ground an entire region if not more. And that's without taking into account the long-term effects of the released energy or the potential chain reaction triggered by mana geysers and mines." Tista became pale as the image of millions of lives disappearing in a flash of light popped into his head.

"Two, the Hybrids are keeping a low profile to avoid exposing Vastor's identity." Lith nodded. "They intervened against Night when she attacked our house and then Tezka saved Zinya from Meln.

"They can't afford to draw any more attention either from Thrud or the Kingdom."

"What do you mean?" Tista asked in confusion. "For what they know, the Abominations might work for anyone. Heck, for a long while people believed that they served Tiamat."

"Yeah, too bad that now everyone knows that's me. Also, the Abominations didn't show up during Meln's second attack nor have been helping me while I worked for the Kingdom." Lith replied.

"If Vastor is forced to reveal his Abomination powers or if his hybrids keep popping out every time that he or Zinya are in danger, the truth will become obvious. The common element of all their sudden appearances isn't me, but Vastor.

"This way, instead he is just one of the many mages of the Kingdom opposing Thrud's invasion. As long as she leaves his family out of it, his secret is safe."

"Why don't they just take part in the war as members of the Council, then? It would offer them the perfect cover." Tista pointed out.

"Only the hybrids are part of the Council and as far as I know, there's just ten of them." Lith shook his head.