Supreme Magus

Chapter 4251: Unfettered Might (Part 1)

’Aside from that, the situation is resolved.’ Solus said. ’Once Faluel, the Kings, and the Corps finish rounding up the remaining assailants to interrogate them, we’ll have our answers.’

’I don’t have time for interrogations!’ Lith snarled. ’Soon, the news of the attack will spread, and everything we learn from the prisoners will become useless because their accomplices will have all the time they need to disappear without a trace.’

’You are right, but not even Jirni can make someone talk that fast.’ Solus said.

’Then she won’t need to.’ Lith replied. ’Tista, stay here and call me if anything else happens. Solus, keep the tower ready to Warp on my signal and keep everyone safe in my absence. I’ll deal with the rest.’

***

On the outskirts of Lutia, Captain Pheren’s team was dealing with one of the surviving Awakened. Taking a mage alive required much more skill and finesse than killing them, so things were dragging on.

The members of the Corps attacked the blue-cored Awakened relentlessly, never giving him the time to weave a spell with true magic or recover his strength with Invigoration.

As the wounds piled up and his vigor bled away, the circle tightened.

At least until Sergeant Xaryon slipped on the wet ground. The opening in the formation lasted for less than a second, but it was more than enough for the Awakened to charge through it and Blink away.

Now that he was safe, he could use Invigoration and prepare a Spirit Steps that brought him far away from Lutia.

”Xaryon, what was that?” Pheren’s eyes almost popped out of their orbits in outrage. ”What are you, a cadet? How could you make such a rookie mistake?”

”Captain, I-”

”He made no mistake.” Lith appeared rather than landing among the members of the Corps. ”I used a spell to make Sergeant Xaryon slip.”

Six streams of elemental energy orbited around Lith, flowing inside his energy wings just to reemerge from his eyes.

”Why did you do that, Magus Verhen?” Pheren needed sheer willpower to speak.

The Tiamat’s unfettered might and the bloodlust that he exuded weighed so hard on Lutia that anyone without at least a blue core fainted on the spot.

”Because I’ve memorized his scent. He’s mine now.” Lith’s face mask opened to reveal what could be called a smile only for the lack of a better term.

The back end of his maw was twisted up, but there was no joy in it nor in his eyes, only fire.

Before staging the Awakened’s escape, Lith had already taken a full scan of his energy signature with the Eyes and Ears of Menadion. Even after the man had crossed the Spirit Steps, the Tiamat could see the runaway as clearly as if the Awakened stood right before him.

The cloaking device the man wore could do nothing to hide him from Menadion’s masterpiece from a distance of a few dozen kilometers. The distance Lith had chosen to keep to avoid detection.

He bolted forward with a single flap of his wings, generating a strong gale that blew the members of the Queen’s Corps off their feet.

”What was that?” Xaryon said, echoing the words of his captain.

”I guess that was a very angry Magus.” Pheren replied.

***

The blue-cored Awakened flew at subsonic speed, alternating flight with Warp Steps as soon as he recognized a landmark that allowed him to calculate the dimensional coordinates to a familiar yet distant place.

He used Invigoration as soon as his mana started to dwindle, yet he didn’t gain a single meter on Lith. Quite the contrary, if not for the Eyes alerting the Tiamat when he started to get too close to his quarry, the Awakened’s corpse would already be bleeding at the end of Lith’s claws.

Every flap of the Tiamat’s wings would have been enough to break past the speed of sound, and every Warp Steps that the Awakened opened was a beacon for the Eyes of Menadion.

Without the interference of the cloaking item, the energy signature of the spell allowed the Eyes to pinpoint and record the dimensional coordinates of both the entry and exit points of the Steps.

Lith could have appeared beside the runaway, but that would have defeated the purpose of letting him go.

’Nobody knows that the kidnapping attempt failed, and with so many powerful enemies on his tail, that bastard doesn’t have the time to think clearly.’ Lith thought. ’He’ll go straight to the place where he feels the safest.

’Where he knows there are people like him who he believes can protect him, or at least help him leave Garlen. If the bastard has a hideout or if he has more accomplices that didn’t take part in today’s raid, he’ll lead me to them.’

Lith had to repeat it over and over in his head to keep his cool. It was incredibly hard to restrain his most violent impulses when every aspect of his life forces agreed on unleashing them.

It was even harder when the Voidfeather Dragon led the charge with such fury that even the Void could only follow. Lith’s family was his treasure, and Lutia was his lair.

The Awakened had desecrated them all, trying to take the Voidfeather Dragon’s eggs.

The fury that possessed the Wyrm could barely be contained, let alone described. As for the Void, inviting him to a slaughter was akin to spilling blood in front of a shark. There would be no questions, only the hunt and the kill.

Lith clenched his jaw, repressing the savage roar that fought to emerge from his throat. He wanted the prey to hear him coming. He wanted to savor the fear and desperation of the dead man walking, yet that would have been stupid.

’A bit longer.’ Lith muttered. ’Just wait a bit longer.’

The Awakened suddenly stopped, and Lith almost burst into roaring laughter.

The Eyes followed the man as he stepped inside a complex network of tunnels, recording every movement of his hands as he traced the passwords to deactivate the magical formations.

The cloaking arrays that shrouded the large building hidden in the middle of an underground cave were powerful, but Lith only needed to get a bit closer.

The Eyes of Menadion counted 17 energy signatures, all human. Lith studied the tunnels departing from there from above, marking all the exits, the secret passages, and the position of the permanent Warping arrays.

’Now?’ The Voidfeather Dragon asked.

’Now.’ Lith took several deep breaths, focusing on the power and every cruel, inhuman thought he had fought to contain until that moment.

He compressed them in his chest, amplifying them by several folds before he let everything out.

***

Sighon Terhen rushed inside the safe house, locking every door and passage behind him before he finally managed to stop running. His body was covered in a cold sweat, his lungs burned from exhaustion, and his body ached from mana abuse, but he barely felt it.

”Guys, I need help.” He said, panting so hard that his words were hard to understand. ”The mission... it was a disaster! I’m the only survivor, and I need to get out of the country, fast.”

The Awakened took their communication amulets out as one and discovered the many empty spaces where runes had been until five minutes ago.