2250 Second Strike (Part 2)
It was a huge gamble since there was no way to tell if Highmaster Vastor cared enough for them to fall into her trap. Yet it was all Thrud had and it had to do.
"You want my children, kid?" It was posed as a question but Tezka's voice sounded like a threat. "I'll make you a counteroffer. You guys give me your equipment as compensation for scaring my pups, put your heads on the ground, and I'll kill you swiftly."
"You are in no position to make threats. There are four Divine Beasts and just two of you magical beasts imprisoned inside a Sealed Space. We can summon reinforcements at any time whereas you are alone." Leari acted confident, but there was something terribly wrong with that scenario.
The fox-wolves' cockiness was weird, but a wise creature might have been trying to bluff their way out. The kids, however, made no sense. They were nervous, but not scared one bit.
After being kidnapped and watching their loyal servants die in front of their eyes, a twelve years old girl and a ten years old boy were supposed to cry for their mother, piss themselves, faint, or maybe do all those things at once.
Yet all that Fey and Filia did was to look from the surroundings to their steeds.
The red Tezka started to chuckle, quickly followed by the blue one.
"Hey, kids, do you want to see something cool?" They said in unison, making Thrud's Generals realize that the two creatures didn't just look similar.
They were identical and spoke with the same voice.
"Yes, uncle Tezka." Filia dismounted and helped her brother to do the same while the corpses of the servants burst out of their clothes, turning out to be tails shapeshifted to look like humans.
The tails quickly wrapped around the two fox-wolves that merged into one tall figure. Tezka looked like a humanoid wolf almost 2.5 meters (8'2") tall covered by pitch-black thick fur and with rainbow-colored eyes.
He had shoulders as broad as a door with ten tails coming out of his back. Nine of them were four meters (13 feet) long while the tenth was atrophied, barely reaching 1.5 meters (5 feet).
By splitting himself into two magical beasts and four human servants, he had reduced his aura enough for multiple cloaking devices to fool Life Vision. Now he was back in one piece and there was no mistaking his power.
'Great Mother almighty.' Sealed Space blocked the Eldritch's aura but Leari was covered in a cold sweat nonetheless. 'That was a trap. If any of us tried to move past the corpses, those things would have ripped us to shreds.'
'Tezka?' Orsat asked, even her thoughts trembled through the mind link. 'The Suneater? That Tezka? And those kids are actually his offspring?'
'Nonsense.' Leari replied. 'We took our time scouting the kids' pets and they were nowhere near the level of an Eldritch. Anyone can shapeshift and pose for-'
"Using dimensional magic against me, how cute. Like I wasn't the one who invented it." Tezka knocked at the emerald wall with his fingers, unaware of their conversation.
Then, he released his aura, producing a burst of black and golden light respectively from his black and Warg core. The raw pressure they exerted on Sealed Space cracked the spell in several points, forcing the Divine Beasts to fix it.
Alas, Tezka really was the inventor of dimensional magic and he pre-dated the Guardians. His aura attacked the focal points of the spell, making it crumble in spite of the combined efforts of Thrud's generals.
Sealed Space fell apart and the black-golden aura reached the Divine Beasts. The Tezka clone-hybrid Lith had fought in Maekosh was a newborn who could barely match a blue core.
Back when the Fylgja had fought Orpal, his body had yet to stabilize, bringing him barely past the bright violet. After months of training and undergoing the Master's experiments, he had finally regained his full power.
The golden light was now capable of countering the black core to perfection, allowing Tezka to unleash the full power of Chaos without harming his body.
'Don't falter!' Leari could see her companions trembling now that they knew the identity of their enemy. 'He's just magically stronger than us. We are physically leagues above him. Also, he can't leave the children.'
The other three Divine Beasts nodded, weaving their respective bloodline abilities to ensure their victory. Orsat shapeshifted into a Red Griffon and unleashed a burst of Life Maelstrom to increase the strength of their cores, bodies, and equipment tenfold.
Ophius assumed his Quetzalcoatl form that resembled a snake over 50 meters (165') long. He was covered with sky-blue feathers instead of scales and had a set of feathered wings coming out of the middle of his spine.
He used Doom Tide to strip the world energy from their surroundings, neutralizing elemental spells and leaving any creature incapable of using Spirit Magic helpless.
With the magical gap gone and the physical gap dramatically in their favor, the four Divine Beasts moved on to the offense. Leari and Orsat charged at Tezka while Ophius and Rimo the Fire Dragon aimed at the kids.
"Nice trick. Now it's my turn." Tezka snapped his fingers, making the Davross of the Suneater armor coat him and the Endless Night blade appear in his hand.
At the same time, six of his nine tails started to spin around the children and their tips opened, releasing the spells they contained. Only the atrophied Spirit Tail was useless, but the others were enough.
Suddenly Filia and Frey were enveloped in a living tornado of fur and magic. Ophius and Rimo failed to stop in time and the part of their colossal bodies that had entered the storm burned, froze, rotted, and fell apart at the same time.
'This is impossible!' The Fire Dragon thought. 'Cursed Elements are supposed to be incapable of being used together. Also, where the heck did he take the elemental energy necessary to cast six tier five spells?'
Even Dragon Eyes couldn't answer his questions since both phenomenons involved bloodline abilities Rimo knew nothing about. A Fylgja could hold one elemental spell inside each one of their tails, no matter the tier or for how long.
Tezka didn't need world energy because just like a Griffon's Life Maelstrom, he kept what he needed stored inside of himself. On top of that, after fusing with his Warg half, he had learned how to imbue his body with the Cursed Elements, releasing them one bit at a time.
The six spells were now a part of his tails and his own mana couldn't hurt Tezka. The flesh worked as an insulant, protecting the Cursed Spells from each other every time they came in contact and allowing them to work together.
Leari cursed whatever trick Tezka had used and unleashed her bloodline ability, Stormlight. A white bolt of incandescent plasma struck the Eldritch from point-blank range, bypassing the enchanted protection of his armor and sending him into a spasm.
Orsat punched him with all the strength of a Griffon, the mightiest among the Divine Beasts. Once again, Tezka couldn't dodge without endangering Filia and Frey so he took the attack in full.
