Chapter 161: Emperor's Ki

Howard ended up fainting 10 minutes after escaping from the Arthraku. 

However, a beautiful blonde hair girl was carrying him on her back with tears dripping down her cheek. Inla was certain that her brothers could've easily escaped if it wasn't for her, however, she had to be a fool and go try and find a present for Howard in the morning.

There was a very special type of garland called the silver crown garland plant that when worn was supposed to calm the mind and the spirit. She went searching for it, and instead of finding one to bring back to Howard's side, she instead got kidnapped and then used to pretty much gaurantee her brother's deaths!

Even now, she could tell Warletz and Bracston were still fighting because of the noise that could be heard in the great valley trail. The great valley trail was a road that Authoritarian children traveled through in order to arrive at other mountain peaks, and it was normally a place of no violence with very little foot traffic.

However, because of the Ki Drain from the Arthraku, Inla was just one blonde haired girl amongst a sea of different types of Authoritarians. They were rushing to try and get as far away from the fight between her brothers and the Arthraku as possible! Many of them brushed passed her while she dropped her head in sheer disgust. 

"I-I'm a failure," Inla wiped a tear from her eye. "I failed my brothers, and I failed you Howard. Heh, I left this morning to try and make you happy, but instead am the reason you're suffering. I know right now you'd be standing over the Arthraku's dead bodies if I didn't get in your way. Even though you said you'd kill me, you-you still hesitated. My brothers would've never done what you did! They would have killed me immediately to secure victory! Why did I have to get in your way!"

Inla turned and looked up at the distant 56th mountain peak and then sighed before marching through a valley of trees in order to arrive at a caravan. It happened to be the mountain peak of Warklin's greatest enemy, so she didn't understand why she told Howard to come here!

"Let's hope that temperamental bastard doesn't mind me staying her," Inla put Howard down against the cavernous wall and wiped a tear from her eye. "Hmph, now brothers! Please! Please live! If you die, I'll never forgive you! I won't even name my children after you!"

Inla could sense Bracston and Warletz Ki slowly dissipating in the air. She imagined the battle was over, but she couldn't tell who won. All she knew is that she couldn't sense two of her brothers! It was driving her crazy! Had they died?

### 

A large black storm appeared somewhere in the distant Furnace.

Necrolith, the weakest Night Lord, was bowing in front of one of the strongest Night Lords while a large black doorway appeared behind him. It wasn't everyday that two Night Lord's met, but because of the Four Gaurdians Necrolith had to spend over a year recovering.

He finally decided to seek out Armecolith, the only Night Lord he knew that had enough reason to think about making an alliance with his brother. On a large staircase surrounded by millions of archelon zombies - an extremely strong type of ancient zombie - the two of them made eye contact. However, it was clear that even the S ranked Necrolith was terrified. His brothers strength was near the peak of the SS rank!

"You're telling me you want to destroy the Horned for what reason?" Armecolith walked down the staircase while a few archelon zombies appeared from the black doorway behind him. "You lost a battle, so you want me to risk my 100 year plan just to wipe them out now."

"It's not that!" Necrolith waved his hands in fear. "It's just that this little brat, Howard! I-I sensed him immediately when he arrived! He-he's a full heir of Earl! That bastard that caused us to live in the shadow all these years finally has someone worthy of his title! We must kill him, or even your endless army will fall!"

"Hoho, I doubt you could kill a 1000 of my archelon zombies. They have extremely tough defense and are fast. Once I summon a few million more even the Arthraku will be overwhelmed! Why would I give up taking over the Furnace, why would I risk it now?"

"Because that brat Howard has his main ability, I can tell! Back in the day, if you remember, Demon King Earl instantly emulated all your abilities and improved them almost immediately! What we call Emperor's Ki! He has it and he used it to try and kill me! Your army won't know who to follow, you or Howard! If he can copy your Ki, he can control your archelon zombies! He's just in the A rank now, but soon he'll be a rival to even you!"

"Well then, I guess I'll take a small risk," Armecolith sighed and pointed at a large section of his army. "Take 100,000 archelon zombies and go to the Dark Bloodlands and stop the Horned from making that damn army I've been sensing. They have spent years trying to come up with a technology to combat the Night Lords and their advances must be destroyed! However, that means you must be willing to serve under me? Will you do as I say Necrolith, or do I have to kill you now!"

"Hmph, this is just a temporary truce!" Necrolith smiled and bowed on one knee. "After we stop the Horned from creating their Spawn army, I'll be back to destroy you! Do you hear me brother!"

"That's what I expected," Armicolith had eighteen skeleton heads embedded in his torso with a human countenance on his shoulders. They were small skeletons, but each of them seemed to be full of a different type of Ki. 

Armicolith had created a vortex in each of those skeleton heads that rapidly sucked up Ki and used it to strengthen his bones. By now, even if all Four Gaurdians attacked him, not a single inch of his body could be damaged as long as those eighteen skulls remained.

'Necrolith, you must have really gotten scared if you visited me. I'll pay a visit to this Howard myself in a few weeks while you're distracting them in the Dark Bloodlands. Then I'll kill you before whatever insidious plot you're planning comes to life!'

Armecolith could tell that Necrolith wanted to gain control of his Archelon Zombies, and that all this talk about Howard was mostly a deception. However, Armicoloth had also sensed Howard growing in strength. Ever since Demon King Earl banished them to these hideous forms, there had not been a day that went by that Armecolith hadn't planned to destroy the Horned. 

He planned on creating an army of over 10 million Archelon Zombies before destroying the Horned, however, he was at 5 million now! Because of Howard's arrival, in less than a year he'd feel confident in attacking the entire Furnace! Nothing could get in his way.

"Good luck," Necrolith did a bow, "Whatever you're planning to do to Howard, I warn you, he's improving fast. Better to act sooner than later."

"The 10,000 Archelon Zombies I promised will follow you when you leave," Armecolith pointed towards an incoming tide of 3 meter tall zombies. They had large, extremely muscular bodies and seemed to have been made from a powerful ancient race with eyes that seemed to be full of endless rage. "Now, go! Go destroy the Horned while the rest of the Furnace attacks them from all sides! Ha, if even the Arthraku are attacking them now, they're doomed! This Howard is going to be the downfall of their entire nation!"

###

Bracston and Warklin heaved for air while they fought side to side.

One dead Great Lament Lizard rested on thier right side with the corpses of two of their brothers. However, because of the barriers on their skin, they were still somehow managing to hold on. Yet they had confidence! Confidence that they could still hang on!

"Not bad," Oclen smiled, "You managed to survive for 12 minutes and you even killed one of my brothers. However, don't you find it odd that Macran disappeared? Don't you feel a little bit odd?"

"Heh, you're bluffing," Bracston wiped blood off the side of his mouth. He had a smile on his face as he stared at his two brothers. They'd both sacrificed themselves in order to kill Worletz, and he was proud of them. "You-you have taken as much damage as us. I'd say we have a 10 percent chance of winning!"

"Oh, that's too high!" Oclen smiled and held up his finger. "Macran activate it now! Deactivate those damn shields so we can get some rest!

Bang!

A large force spread through Bracston's body before both of his arms burst into bits of blood. He looked down and instantly saw a small creature beneath him with a smile on his face. With the last of his energy, he tried to detonate his Ki but instantly felt a darkness overwhelm him.

Boom!

Bracston disappeared into a cloud of smoke while Macran changed back to his human form. He sighed and wiped off the blood raining down on him with a look of disbelief.

"Heh, Howard sure is a pain in the ass! What are we going to tell Horkel's family? Aren't they one of the richest in all of Arthraku Nation!"

"We'll tell them that Howard died because of their sacrifice! Now let's go and figure out what the hell we did wrong! In two weeks, that little fake demon king is dead!"