Supreme Magus

Chapter 4352: The Final Piece (Part 2)

Swirling Wind had kept them from being crushed by the Eternity Seal, but it had also depleted their mana cores many times over.

When the Severed Sky array had disappeared, Protector and Nalrond had raised their guard to protect their weakened friends.

’Where is Jorl?’ Lith’s suffered from such severe mana abuse that even the use of the mind link poisoned his core. ’He knows he can’t win. He might try to take us hostages or take us down with him.’

”Shut up and rest!” Solus’ eyes teared up as she inwardly cursed herself for being unable to use Swirling Wind properly and help him. ”We got Tezka on our side. He’ll take care of them.”

Both she and Uragar were right. As soon as the endless power of the sun had restored Tezka’s body and core, he had chased after the Upyrs. The Book of Knowledge hadn’t wasted time relaxing the space properly, so Tezka had an easy time reopening Uragar’s Warp Steps.

”This isn’t part of my deal with Friya, but Orpal tried to kill my children!” The Suneater’s muzzle curled up in a savage smile. ”It’s only right that I kill all of his bastards. There is nothing on Mogar that will stop me!”

’He’s right behind us!’ Uragar screamed, sounding high-pitched even in his own mind. ’I can’t shake him off. I’ve cast multiple Collapsed Space to make his Warp Steps explode, but Chaos Dimension stops them. What do we do?’

’The only thing weaklings like us can. We follow the plan.’ Jorl sighed.

The cursed book opened the last Steps leading to the starting point of the expedition, where the rest of the members of the task force waited for the return of their leaders.

”You took your sweet time, apprentice. And you brought company.” The Black Throne’s sensory arrays went off the scale the moment they detected Tezka’s energy signature. ”Order and Chaos, whoever that is, I don’t want him anywhere near me!”

Tezka had left the area of effect of the Suneater spell, but he had already returned to his peak strength, bringing him above and beyond most of the creatures the Black Throne had ever encountered.

A darkness-sealing array spread from the tower’s base, forcing the Suneater to a halt. As Tezka unleashed his tier five Mirror Spell, Rumbling Storm, the Black Throne activated his latest enchantment, fruit of his studies on modern magic.

A Silverwing’s Annihilation erupted from the tower’s spire and snuffed the Rumbling Storm out like a candle. The Tower Tier anti-Guardian spell crashed into the Chaos Dimension, forcing Tezka to give his all to repel the attack.

”You are the Black Throne!” The Fylgja recognized the building from the many descriptions and stories he had heard about it over the millennia. ”I thought you were long gone.”

”Congratulations. You were wrong.” The cursed tower said. ”So long, sucker!”

As soon as Uragar and the others entered the range of his spells, the Black Throne Spirit Warped them inside and lifted off the ground without ever stopping to fire the Annihilation.

The cursed tower moved at supersonic speed, and with means that Tezka’s dimensional magic couldn’t ride, yet that wasn’t the reason he didn’t even attempt chasing it.

”This is really my lucky day.” The Suneater laughed in exhilaration. ”I’ve finally learned the basics of Eternity magic, and I’ve stumbled into the final missing piece for our research.

”I’d better keep my distance when I tell the Master I found an ancient cursed tower that’s capable of upgrading itself and uses modern magic. He might try to kiss me.” Tezka smiled. ”But first things first.

”Don’t you ever think I’ve forgotten about you, little fellow. I’ve postponed your execution because I wanted to give you company for your trip to the afterlife, but I’ve changed my plans. Your friends are more useful to me alive.

”You, instead, have outlived your usefulness. The only question left is, how do I kill you without making a scene? Living legacies never go down without a massive explosion, and I don’t want to bring even more attention to me right now.”

Back when he was a full Eldritch, Tezka would have unleashed a powerful Chaos spell, and Chaos Warped away before the cursed object exploded in his face. Even if part of the fallout reached him, his black core would have fed upon the energy and used it to heal any damage he might suffer in the process.

Now, however, Tezka had a physical body that could die and no desire to test how much punishment it could take. Moreover, the Fylgja didn’t want to ruin Lith’s chances with whatever he had come to do in Jiera.

The Suneater spell created a localized solar eclipse that only the people in its close vicinity would experience, whereas the uncontrolled death of the Ring of Space was bound to produce a pillar of energy visible for kilometers.

On top of that, the collapse of the spatial enchantments of an artifact like the Ring of Space would produce dimensional distortions of catastrophic proportions.

The Awakened from all over the region, if not even the local Guardian, were bound to swarm the place and investigate the event until they found a plausible explanation.

”Lith is the kind of guy who enjoys his privacy, and so do I.” Tezka expanded the dome of Chaos Dimension to 100 meters (330’) as he flew toward the sky, conjuring another Suneater spell that filled his body with unparalleled strength.

”You won’t go out with a boom, Salanoth. It would make your death memorable, and you don’t deserve it. You’ll die with a whimper, without anyone noticing aside from those who have your contact rune.

”In a while, you will be forgotten, and no record will be left of your existence. This is your punishment for lying about my people to me.” Tezka moved as far in the outer atmosphere as the world energy allowed him before shooting a Hungry Void at Salanoth.

The Chaos spell ravaged the already mangled fragments of the Ring of Space, breaking her mana crystals and fracturing her mana lines beyond the point of no return.

The resulting explosion would have shone upon Mogar like a second sun if not for Chaos Dimension and Tezka’s newfound insight into Eternity Magic. He combined gravity and dimensional magic to harness the wild energy and split it into countless streams.

As his hands and fingers moved, the energy currents formed a vortex that spun faster and faster until it shrank to the size of an orange. Chaos Dimension turned the mana that until a second ago animated Salanoth against itself, trapping even the light released by the conflagration within the spell’s confines.

”There, kill confirmed.” Tezka clenched his hand, squashing what was left of the cursed ring’s mana like an annoying bug. ”This should be enough to reassure even someone as paranoid as Lith.”

The Ring of Space was gone, but the actual Davross ring that comprised its body was still there. Weaker than bronze and ready to bend at the slightest pressure, but nothing that time and plenty of world energy couldn’t fix.

Tezka scanned the area with the Maw and the Skull of Bytra to ensure that no one had noticed his presence before opening a Chaos Steps back to the Armory.