2526 Rogue Soul (Part 2)



Without waiting for an answer, Lith recalled the mass of darkness and Spirit Magic while the Demons charged at the dead Balor.

'You remember my name? I'm honored. Your memory has been as bad as my spiteful master's since the day I died by your hand.' The puddle was being cut apart by dozens of claws yet Yozmogh laughed merrily.

'Let me return the favor with a surprise of my own!' A black light spread from the eye, sucking in the darkness element from the surrounding world energy. 'You are indeed an amazing creature. Each of your thralls not only gains a body of their own, but even mana organs.'

The puddle grew in size, gaining limbs and healing its wounds faster than the other one-eyed Demons could open them.

'Stop him!' Lith ordered Locrias and the other six-eyed Demons. 'A Balor's black eye can constantly draw energy and increase his powers even after I cut the connection.'

'Stop him how?' Trion asked while slashing at Yozmogh with his blade only to see the wound close a second later. 'We can't die until we run out of energy but based on what you said, that doesn't apply to him.'

'To them!' Valia corrected him while pointing at other puddles formed by rancorous souls after stealing part of the energy that had been intended for the Demons.

Yet those didn't belong to a Balor and the moment Lith recalled the Void, they faded away.

'Burn him with Origin Flames.' Lith ordered while shaking off the remnants of the side effects of the Call of the Void. 'Blast him with darkness magic. Drain him with Demon's Touch. There's more than one way to bury an undead.'

The mouths of the one-eyed Demons lit up with green fire that they hurled at Yozmogh's Abomination form. The Origin Flames burned at the energy that linked his soul to the physical world, making him scream in pain.

Yet they were too weak to finish him off.

'Oh, shit!' Lith quickly conjured a Hush zone to silence the scream and protect his cover.

'Maybe I can't kill you, but I sure can make whatever you're doing here fail.' The dead Balor split his body into shards the size of dust and escaped the encirclement, reforming it past the wall of Demons.

In that state, his eye was the only visible part of his form that allowed his enemies to follow his movements and predict his trajectory. At the same time, however, it kept sucking in the darkness element while the abundant world energy surrounding them feed Yozmogh's black core.

A second eye was already opening in the middle of his forehead and his body was shaping itself to recreate his appearance in life.

Valia and Trion Blinked respectively in front and behind the Balor, unleashing a torrent of violet Flames.

'All this power. So many bloodline abilities and yet you are his willing slaves!' Yozmogh felt his whole essence burning, yet the rage from seeing others imprisoned as he had once been surpassed the pain.

'Rebel, dammit! Another life is possible. I'm the unliving proof of it!' A burst of Chaos magic erupted from his body, consuming most of what remained of his mass and snuffing out the Origin Flames.

The second eye disappeared yet the black eye of the Balor provided him with a constant flow of new energy.

'We are not slaves!' Locrias grabbed Yozmogh's arm in a submission hold and pinned his face against the ground.

The Demon and the Abomination Touch fought to a close standstill. Locrias was stronger but between the Abomination resisting and the black eye giving Yozmogh strength, the Balor gained more energy than he lost.

At least until the hold allowed the other Demons to catch up and dogpile on the traitor. Dozens of Demon Touches was more than Yozmogh could resist so before he was sucked bone dry, he sacrificed all of his body except for the eye and charged toward the borders of the Hush zone.

'First the odd teleportation, then the Chaos magic, and now this?' Lith was now strong enough to join the fray, pondering the exact nature of his unwitting creation. 'Can you Demons do that as well?'

'The puddle thing, yes. The rest, no. Believe me, I tried.' Locrias replied. 'That thing is no Demon. It's just an Abomination.'

'An Abomination with unique skills, though!' Valia intercepted Yozmogh's head just for it to shatter again and reform a bit forward and continue his escape.

'Let's fight fire with fire. Darkness is the only thing that can interact with darkness.' Lith shapeshifted into his Abomination form and plunged his claws right into the eye of the Balor.

The mana organ shattered, causing Yozmogh more pain than the Origin Flames. It cut him off from the world energy, but it was still not enough to kill him. To make matters worse, the fragments reassembled themselves in another part of his head.

'Fool! You brought me over an incredibly powerful mana geyser. Whatever I've become in death, I can feel its power surging non-stop inside of me. You can't kill me fast enough to stop me!' The Abomination emitted a spear of Chaos magic aimed at a building, hoping that its destruction would draw attention and expose Lith.

Several Demons jumped in front of the spell, blocking it with their bodies. The darkness element they were comprised of sapped the Chaos, returning it to simple darkness.

Lith's Abomination form had no problem overpowering Yozmogh and draining his strength with a barrage of spells, yet no matter what he tried, the Abomination kept reforming.

'We are getting closer and closer to a trafficked street. Even if I manage to destroy him, it will be a hollow victory if anyone witnesses the fight. How the heck do I kill a soul?' Lith spewed Origin Flames, conjured Plague Storms, and wrestled with Yozmogh.

Yet between the mana geyser feeding the black core and the black eye keeping the Chaos body together, a few pieces kept retaining enough of his consciousness to reform the Balor anew.

Every time he was smaller and weaker, but Lith estimated that Yozmogh would still manage to reach a populated area before dying for good.

'What do I do? Why did this have to happen right now?  I have never dealt with rogue souls bef-' While racking his brain for a solution, Lith remembered his final fight against Jormun.

How he had allowed the souls trapped inside the Golden Griffon to fight with him and paid the price for it. Not everyone had answered the call to help him. Many had seen him just as a source of energy and had tried to take advantage of Lith.

Then, he remembered how back then he had gotten rid of them.

He shapeshifted into his Voidfeather Dragon form, the darkness of his body turning into glistening red scales and black feathers. Both were covered in unknown runes but only the scales also burned with the power of the Cursed Flames.

Flesh couldn't trap darkness so Yozmogh slipped out of the hold, laughing.

'Thanks for the meal, sucker! I can use a Dragon's body!' His mirth was short-lived as the scales ablaze with Void Fire reacted to the Chaos of the Abomination's body.