2809 Not my Son (Part 1)

The pure darkness element slithered over Ulsor's skin, burning it, and seeped inside Lith's. He coughed out a mouthful of blood, pain blinding him now that darkness fusion had to stop the enemy's bloodlines skill before it reached his vital organs.

The relentless cold waves emitted by the Wendigo slowed Lith's reflexes and mind, his eyes drooping from exhaustion.

"This is it." Shelk said, his body and heart bursting from the accumulated world energy. "We'll die with you, but it's a price worth paying. With you gone, the Undead Courts will wash away their shame and take their rightful place in the three Great Countries back."

***

Array control room, right now.

"Finally!" Solus deactivated the last defensive mechanism protecting the control panel of the array system.

At that point, a single swing of the Fury smashed the main focus points of the various magical formations that originated from there and spread throughout the local branch of the Dawn Court.

Solus couldn't just turn the arrays off since they didn't bear her imprint but it was unnecessary. Without the safeguards, she suffered no damage and the arrays wouldn't explode and potentially kill Lith.

With the magical formations weakened and their hold on the world energy fading away, the Hands of Menadion reached control over 51% of the mana geyser. Enough to conjure the mage tower and let it do the rest.

***

Fourth underground floor, right now.

"Finally!" Lith felt strength surging inside of him.

The Immortal Body array enveloped him and his wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. A pillar of world energy flooded his body and equipment, restoring their energy reserves.

"That's impossible!" Shelk's voice cracked, his denial irrelevant to the cold truth. "I control the world energy, not you!"

"First mistake." Lith connected the Hands of Menadion to the Voidwalker armor and Ragnarök, using the power of the Hands held to fuel the enchantments of the rest of his equipment.

The angry blade roared in joy, its elemental crystals shining with renewed power.

'I can't give Verhen time to recover. If he Spirit Warps away, everything will be for nothing.' The Blood Warlock had no idea what was happening, but he knew there was no time to lose.

He released the Blood Tide, empowering it with everything he had left. His heart had yet to heal and it failed to withstand the strain. Shelk Whur died praying to the gods above and below to give meaning to his sacrifice.

"Second mistake." The Spirit Eye lit up and combined its power with the hands of Menadion.

The Blood Tide froze in place for a second, Domination taking control of the bloodline ability while the Hands overtook the world energy comprising it.

Then, it resumed its advance, washing over Lith and hitting the other two undead in full.

The Blood Tide nailed them against the walls, ripped their flesh off their body, and broke their bones, yet they didn't die. It was the curse of undeath. As long as their blood cores had energy and their weak points were intact, they were banished from death.

"This is not ov-" Ragnarök cut the Nightwalker's head and him off. Tendrils of darkness tried to form a new head just to be consumed by the Blood Tide.

The process repeated over and over until Ulma's essence was spent and his body crumbled.

The Wendigo saw the Tiamat walking toward him and reminisced about his village. About the cold night he had been reborn. Then a violent burst of Final Eclipse burned his body and his memories shattered from the agony.

The darkness element flooded his wounds, finding the human flesh stored inside his intestines. It turned into ashes and the Wendigos' body did the same. Lith took a deep breath of Invigoration and restored his strength.

At that point, it was over.

He and Solus used the Watchtower to find everything and everyone inside the building and then the Mirror Hall to reach them with a single step. Thanks to the tower, the Demons grew in number and strength by the second, needing no supervision in their slaughter.

On the outside, Farg coordinated the army and the Queen's Corps, making sure that no one escaped the encirclement alive.

"This is odd." She said after a few minutes of relative peace. "I was expecting much more rats to abandon the ship. Take cover and ready your weapons. I'm afraid that they are amassing their forces for a final charge."

"No, they are not." A voice said from behind her, making her jump in surprise. "It's done. Start sending your troops to our next destination. I'll join you as soon as I've recovered my strength."

"How did you get here?" Farg was flabbergasted. "How did you purge the branch alone so quickly? The undead had a mana geyser at their disposal yet they didn't last half the time of the other branch."

"Another of my secrets." Lith replied before Warping back inside.

"You heard him." Amyla Farg yelled at the troops. "The night is still long and we have yet much to do."

***

The following morning, Lustria County, city of Lutia, Lith's house.

Due to the quick raids and the death of so many powerhouses, it had taken the Kingdom forces just a few hours to cripple the Undead Courts in the Distar Marquisate.

After four branches had been razed to the ground and pillaged, the others had been found empty. The undead had chosen to retreat and strategize rather than face whatever was slaughtering their elders.

With each branch, even when the army met no resistance, a contingent of soldiers and mages had to stay behind. Their role was to search the place for anything incriminating that might have been left in the hurry and deactivate the array system.

The Royals wanted to make sure that the undead wouldn't return and check the vaults. Every Undead Court possessed countless treasures and it was unlikely that they had all been brought away during an emergency evacuation.

Even if it was just gold and jewels, it would be a huge blow to the Courts financial power and fuel the Royal Reforms for Trains, Tablets, and the colonization of Jiera.

By the end of the night, there weren't enough Kingdom's troops available to secure the perimeter of any more branches. The hunt ended and Lith went back home.

"There was no point in me staying there. The army will inventory whatever they find and the Royals will send me my share." Lith patted Elysia's back until the baby burped.

"Is it over now?" Kamila asked while checking him with Invigoration and making sure there was no permanent injury.

"For now, yes." He replied. "Without a power base and their local members on the run, the Undead Courts can't afford more attacks. Unless they find a new powerful leader or have an ace in the hole that they kept secret until now, we are safe.

"There are still plenty of branches to raid but I'm done with it. I've shown my strength and Zoreth is making sure that the underworld spreads word this is my doing. The Royals can take care of the rest.

"This is their Kingdom after all."