Chapter 4563: Ebb and Flow (Part 1)

Akhton’s jaws elongated and deformed into a drooling, brutish maw devoid of the grace and noble bearing of a Bastet.

Membranous wings formed between his hands and hips, and bone spikes oozing poison erupted along his spine. The thick mane around Akhton’s neck turned into mangy fur, and his claws became almost as long as his fingers.

The Corrupted Divine Beast that had replaced the Bastet had four flames orbiting above his head, and the red light of undeath shone brightly in his eyes, leaving the Firstborn Banshee flabbergasted.

’Whatever that thing is, it’s not born from mother’s work, but from its perversion.’ Ilthin adjusted her two-handed grip on Orphan Maker and conjured her tier five Blood Spell, Spiral Edge.

Dozens of crimson waves surrounded the Firstborn Banshee, ebbing and flowing as if guided by an invisible tide.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Akhton charged forward, his voice seething with hatred. "Everything I’ve done is for you, Mother. You should be thanking me, not judging me! I want to save Verendi as much as you do. How can you not understand that?"

The Thunder Soul coursing through Ashen Dread fused with the Life Maelstrom, enveloping the spear tip with a sickly, nigh-solid yellow light. Akhton thrusted his weapon at Ilthin, who faced it head-on.

Ashen Dread slammed into the first crimson wave of Spiral Edge and smashed it to bits, but the centrifugal and kinetic force the spell carried robbed the lunge of most of its momentum.

Unlike Spirit Magic, Blood Magic carried a mass equivalent to the amount of life force the Awakened undead imbued into it. When a Blood Spell struck, its victim would be hit by both the magical and physical effects it conjured.

Spiral Edge was hard enough to absorb and neutralize most of the Thunder Soul infused in Akhton’s blow with its first wave, and push the weapon aside with the second. The Bastet found himself completely open as the Banshee charged at him like a living bullet.

She swung her mace, and he moved his arm to intercept the blow with his open hand. Thunder Soul needed physical contact to work, no matter whether the attack was dealt or blocked.

Ilthin activated Spiral Edge again, and the crimson waves fused into a long blade that pierced through Akhton’s palm and nailed his left hand to his shoulder.

’Oh, shi-’ Orphan Maker struck the Bastet’s chin with its full strength, and if not for Mana Body, the blow would have ripped his jaw off.

It wasn’t the first time Ilthin faced someone with that bloodline ability, so she channeled the fire element into the Davross of her weapon, conjuring a mystical flame that burned Akhton’s flesh and protective aura alike.

On top of that, the blunt impact sent his brain slamming against his skull, giving him a mild concussion but also snapping him free from Longing Heart’s hallucination.

"You’re not my mother." The Basted blinked several times to clear his blurred vision.

"And I thank the Red Mother for that!" Ilthin delivered a second strike that Akhton tried to intercept with his spear.

Spiral Edge swept his guard away and cleared Orphan Maker’s path. The Bastet hurled a river of Origin Flames, forcing the Banshee to choose between running into the mystical fire and keeping the offensive, or Blinking away and losing the initiative.

’I can’t stop now. If I do, Drenghen will fall, and my children will die!’ Ilthin pushed Spiral Edge’s vortex to its maximum speed and used it to fend off most of the violet flames.

Akhton’s eyes widened in surprise, but he had the presence of mind to Blink back. The Banshee followed suit, leaving the distance between them unchanged, but the fraction of a second the dimensional spell had bought was enough for the Bastet to switch from Thunder to Frost Soul.

The corrupted water element flooded the world energy Orphan Maker channeled and froze it solid. The mace was still made of Davross and imbued with Blood Maelstrom, but the mystical fire went out.

Even worse, Orphan Maker shattered on impact. Only a short fragment of the mace’s haft remained in Ilthin’s hands, and it wouldn’t repair until she left Frost Soul’s area of effect.

"Try screaming again, bitch! I dare you!" Akhton headbutted the still-stunned Banshee, delivering everything he had left of the Thunder Soul into the blow.

Ilthin’s head exploded in a gory firework, and her corpse plummeted in free fall.

The Bastet wanted to give chase, but the repeated blows to his head had severely worsened his concussion. He felt Light Soul tempting him to use its power, to give up on part of his life force to gain the strength to finish his enemy.

’Not even I am that dumb.’ Akhton dispelled the Frost Soul and used Invigoration to heal his wounds.

Or rather, he tried.

Three Raging Suns exploded in his face, and four Shadow Cutters almost severed his limbs. The Awakened Council had needed a bit of time to assemble its troops and reach Drenghen, but much less than Orpal expected.

Silvering’s Annihilations streaked the sky, targeting the Upyrs far away enough from the city’s buildings not to involve innocent civilians in the blast.

"Red Mother’s blood, what took you so long? If not for lord Marnora and his Isharas, we’d be all dead by now!" Rusta said while clinging to the elder’s armor as if he were the love of her life.

"We have real lives, Lady Rusta." Lotho, the plant representative, replied with a creaking voice full of scorn. "Most of us can’t afford to drop everything and run to your rescue.

"Since we are already pointing fingers, what about the other Undead Courts? Where are they?"

"Waiting for an opportunity." The Banshee didn’t miss the Treant disregarding her military title in the Night Court, and she resented him for it. "With the enemy high in the sky and away from the geyser, they can’t attack recklessly.

"If the Upyrs combine their Frost Soul, our flying spells would become our icy coffins, and my fellow undead would be easy targets as they plummet.

"Only Blood Witches can take such risks, but they already spent most of their powers granting Blood Maelstrom to as many of our flying soldiers as they could. We are not Awakened!" Her voice expressed all the resentment and envy she felt.

’Argue more. Tear at each other’s throats.’ Marnora inwardly smiled. ’The bigger a mess you make, the better impression us Isharas will leave for saving your worthless lives and the greater our fame.

’Who knows, maybe we’ll even earn the Council’s forgiveness for Ankhuta’s blunder.’

"I owe you and your people my apologies, Lieutenant Colonel." Lotho looked at Drenghen’s sorry state and at the squadrons of undead capable of natural flight fighting like lions protecting their cubs. "We’re here now, and-"

A silvery blast from the sky turned Lotho into a mist of splinters and wiped the smirk off Marnora’s mind.

’A few meters to the left and that could have been me.’ The Elder Ishara stared in horror as Orpal’s Chosen released more bolts of Life Maelstrom-infused Nascent Sprout and kept weaving more Blade Spells. ’Unlike the Treant, I can’t regenerate if I get blasted to bits.’