Chapter 452 - Tamers War - Turning Points - Failed Promise - 3

Moments before...

From his elevated position in the sky, Kassian complained of pain and perhaps felt enormous frustration that he tried to hide.

"Arggh," he groaned, bringing his now closed hands to his torso and hunching over. "My threads broke. It’s impossible, just when I was feeling more energy than ever through them..."

Ravenspire was genuinely surprised, looking down where he could see the residual glow of the final battle.

"Did they really break so soon?" he asked, evaluating the implications.

The war hadn’t even lasted a week...

Kassian, annoyed by the loss of connection with his control network, responded with irritation. "Shut up, this means nothing for my lineage. I have much more potential than that showed."

The defensive posturing was obvious, but the underlying concern was real.

Ravenspire rolled his eyes but continued flying toward where he had seen the light explosion that surely had caused the termination of Kassian’s "powers".

From his aerial perspective, he could clearly see the army below, and indeed they were infected by the World Dragon’s light. The golden glow that had characterized the spores was clearly gradually contaminating the soldiers...

Though the distribution of the infection was strange.

"Recover my broken toy," Kassian ordered him, pointing toward where the intense light was gradually fading. "Maybe I can repair it again with help from those materials from the last occasion."

The tone was petulant but Ravenspire was a "tolerant" gentleman.

♢♢♢♢

Ravenspire had descended to recover Kharzan’s body, had attacked Julius but failed to eliminate him, and found himself face to face with two dozen wounded and exhausted Gold ranks who immediately went into defensive guard.

Having entered in stealth, his voice came from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"This is unfair, twenty against one?"

he commented with false disappointment from the shadows.

There were even some weak children there who hadn’t dared even look at him when he had emerged from stealth...

He wondered for a moment, how had they gotten there?

But then he shrugged his shoulders... it didn’t matter if everyone was going to die in the end anyway.

He laughed exaggeratedly, adopting a condescending tone that made several soldiers clench their fists.

"Though numbers really don’t matter, nor that they’re high levels when they’re this exhausted,"

he continued, elevating his own mana levels to frighten them.

"I can barely sense the mana you have left."

Julius made an improvised tourniquet with fabric from his uniform while his platform returned to ground level and high-level soldiers surrounded him in maximum alert, but Ravenspire’s voice seemed more irritated than threatening.

"There’s something that bothers me,"

he announced to the tense soldiers,

"so I’ll solve it first... Wait here for your eternal rest."

Surrounding shadows materialized together in the sky and Ravenspire appeared in the heights above them again.

He made a dismissive gesture toward the remaining warriors.

"I’ll give you a moment to pray and prepare to go see the Creator Dragon."

He rose casually, as if the threat of two dozen elite tamers was a minor annoyance.

Kassian was already a bit lower, having descended alongside Ravenspire’s remaining guards upon seeing there was no immediate danger.

"Why don’t you eliminate them at once?" he asked with impatience.

"I will, I just want to take my time to interrogate them first... Besides, no one who has seen my eyes can escape from me."

"Isn’t it more urgent to take the army to the bridge?"

Ravenspire shook his head. "Your army doesn’t serve us like this. Look at them, they’re contaminated and most had their energy stolen. They’re not useful as they are."

Kassian frowned. "So you’re going to say that nothing from my efforts serves anymore? You won’t respect the deal?"

"Calm down," Ravenspire reassured him with a smile that promised solutions. "You did enough by controlling Yano’s strongest tamers and leaving them to me on a golden platter. Besides, your army and you still have utility."

Kassian raised an eyebrow, clearly expecting elaboration.

Ravenspire laughed.

"You’re not the only one the crystal made an effort to give a special beast," he explained. "My ’Reversal’ has as many interesting uses as your ’Puppet Master’."

Ravenspire deliberately descended a bit to be more visible from the ground, placing himself atop the center of infected and exhausted soldiers. He began speaking with voice amplified by mana techniques, ensuring each word reached everyone clearly.

As he spoke, he stretched his black wings slowly.

More and more.

The wings became enormous, growing to proportions that defied normal anatomy of anything. They expanded until completely obscuring the sky over the battlefield, creating an artificial eclipse that plunged everything into shadow.

Below, people looked at a powerful illusion, ominous and grandiose at once. It was impossible not to feel small under that massive presence.

"Darkness is not evil," Ravenspire began, his voice now resonating from all directions. "It’s the natural resting state of things. You have worked hard and LIGHT has stolen your energy."

His tone was hypnotically reassuring, like a father consoling tired children.

"Allow me to free you from that "aggressive light" and give you the rest you deserve."

Ravenspire’s enormous wings descended over everyone like a celestial blanket, and the crystal’s corruption power flowed through them, completely destroying residual light spores.

The last accumulated energy that Ren hadn’t absorbed instantly transformed into abyssal energy. It flowed toward people, providing them not only relief from the infection now cured, but also significant energy increase from corruption.

It was a messiah completely contrary to Ren and his healing light. A messiah of night who promised the tired and beaten by the situation comfortable and re-energizing rest.

Soldiers who hadn’t been cured by Ren, and those who had become reinfected during the period when Ren had jumped to help Selphira, were now guided by Ravenspire’s soothing words.

"Kharzan is not dead," he declared with authority that admitted no contradiction. "The fight for the freedom detached from old ideas that limit you is not dead."

His voice became more passionate, more convincing.

"You can still fight for ideals that brought you here. They took away your right to resources and best lands. They denied you the ring that belonged to you and your access to the gate that should be yours."

He pointed toward where Julius and others were.

"You can still fight to recover what should always have been yours. Darkness will give you the strength that light stole."

The army section that had been infected and exhausted now rose with renewed energy, their eyes glowing with abyssal power’s purple promise as they followed their new savior’s words.

♢♢♢♢

While Ravenspire gave his speech and transformed the situation of the most numerous soldiers in the army’s largest part, remaining soldiers gathered around the children.

Ren and the girls had their eyes closed by Mooshito’s orders, though they didn’t know why he had suddenly asked them to... they had obeyed, because surely he would have his reasons, as always.

Ren opened his eyes while carrying Larissa, who had fainted after processing so much energy in the forced jump.

The girl’s body was light, but Ren could feel how she trembled slightly from magical exhaustion. She had pushed her abilities beyond any normal limit.

Ren still conserved part of the light power, but it was only 10% of what he had given Selphira. The new enemy showed ominous mana as strong as Kharzan’s, and the reality of their situation settled like lead in his stomach.

He looked around desperately.

They didn’t have anyone with capacity to defeat another Kharzan.

Julius was wounded, bleeding through his improvised tourniquet, and his remaining energy had been little from the beginning. Even with the 10% Ren conserved and new improved fusion, he wouldn’t have enough power to win.

And initially... There was no one awake who could heal him appropriately first.

While Ren desperately searched for solutions, Mooshito whispered to him.

"We can only flee,"

the small mushroom murmured with brutal practicality.

"Take those who can run and make the adults fight for time."

Ren was about to scold the mushroom and refuse outright, but Julius stood with difficulty and told them exactly that.

He looked specifically at Ren after observing his unconscious sister in his arms.

"Take care of her," he asked with voice that carried the weight of fraternal responsibility.

Ren immediately shook his head. "We’re not going to leave you guys here."

"This is work for adults," Julius insisted, extending his good hand toward Ren. "You already did enough. More than enough."

Luna looked at her father with evident concern while Sirius prepared to pass Selphira’s unconscious body to someone else.

"You don’t have mana," Julius told Sirius. "It’s better if you take everyone’s mentor. You two are the kingdom’s only real hope now."

He pointed toward Luna, Liora, and then toward Ren.

"You must hide with the children and the ring. We’re going to try to stop that hateful crow as much as possible."

Sirius immediately refused, but Luna shouted at him with a broken voice.

"Dad!"

He turned to look at her and she was crying, Luna looked at him with eyes that had seen too much for her age.

He maintained his impassive expression, but closed his eyes for a moment and nodded, accepting the reality that fleeing with them was the only small hope.

Julius insisted, hurriedly waving his hand again toward Ren.

"Take my hand. Tell me you’ll care for her with your life, that we have a deal."

Ren was about to take it, ready to give him the remaining energy and the improved fusion that could help him survive a bit longer against Ravenspire.

But energies from the sky descended.

Purple and golden mana pressure spread over them like a suffocating blanket, and Kassian’s condescending laughter resonated from above.

"Oh, are you going to flee?" his voice arrived amplified, full of cruel amusement. "How charming."

He came accompanied by 8 Gold-rank Guards at almost 100% energy...

Ravenspire had let them pray and plan with the idea of escape possibility because he could find and catch them whenever he wanted.

But Kassian didn’t want to give them even that.

"There’s nowhere you can run."