Chapter 508 Hollow Victory Part 1

Living Legacy was just the name Abominations had for cursed objects, since for them they were more of a blessing than a curse.

An Abomination had no body that the living relic could corrupt, nor could their minds be swayed with promises of power. Abominations were power made flesh. They would actively seek cursed objects and enslave them to their will.

Lith smelled like an Abomination to Tezka, his gauntlet was clearly alive so he did the math. Or so he believed.

Living Legacies would never help their masters. They would only wait for their captor’s destruction to regain their freedom and find a victim they could subdue. Abominations and cursed objects were like minded, they sought slaves, not companions.

Tezka’s biggest mistake had been misunderstanding the relationship between his opponents and he was now paying the price for it. Solus’s spell was now injecting darkness magic into his body, sapping his strength by the second.

Tezka tried to shapeshift into tendrils to escape the spikes’ deadly grasp, but his body was still that of a hybrid. Cursing the weakness of his own flesh, Tezka had to employ an expensive Chaos magic spell to break free before it was too late.

While Solus kept him busy, Lith had cast his tier four dimensional spell Collapsed space to forcefully shut down Nightmaze and kill Tezka in result. Abominations were sturdy, but not even they could survive being ripped to shreds.

The hybrid could feel the space around him distorting and managed to escape from the jaws of death just in the nick of time. Lith welcomed him with a barrage of tier four spells that would have finished Tezka off if not for Endless Night’s second ability, Night’s End.

The enchanted blade cut the space around him and created a dimensional sphere that Warped the incoming attack in random directions.

"You are much better than I expected, brother." Tezka said, trying to buy enough time to mend his wounds while under the protection of the dimensional shield. He had more holes in his body than swiss cheese, making it impossible for him to even stand.

"We shouldn’t fight, but join our forces. We are both incomplete. I can teach you Chaos magic and you can help me against my enemy. Once I train you, he will not be a match for us. What do you say?"

Lith didn’t reply. He cast cantrips at the barrier’s every side, making sure it had no gaps he could exploit. He didn’t need Solus to notice Night’s End weakness.

’As long as he stays in there, he is invulnerable but he is also completely blind.’ They thought in unison as they used dimensional magic to empower Night’s End more than it was necessary.

Barrier or prison, it was only a matter of balancing the elemental energies in play. A prolonged dimensional spell like those Endless Night unleashed, would already put the surrounding space under a heavy stress.

Lith and Solus boosted the defensive spell until cracks appeared in mid air, distorting the air like a kaleidoscope. Then, they twisted and turned the spatial cracks before darting away from the cave at breakneck speed.

The sudden silence scared Tezka more than any explosion could.

’He could be casting an array to negate dimensional magic. It would make Endless Night useless, but at least neither of us could use Blink. It would take away the advantage he gets from Live Vision.’ The hybrid thought.

As soon as he was able to move again, Tezka dispelled the barrier.

"Round two, brother. I..." He chocked on his own words as Night’s End disappearance triggered a chain reaction. The whole underground cave exploded with such strength to make the ground within several hundred meters tremble.

***

Free country of Lamarth. Near the Master’s hideout.

The real Tezka suddenly fell to his knees, feeling like a part of his soul was being torn to pieces. Endless Night wasn’t just an artifact, it was part of his own life force. Pain ravaged his body as he realized that whoever had stolen his weapon had managed to destroy it, probably for good.

***

From outside the cave, Life Vision, mana sense, and the tracker agreed about the eradication of the Abomination fragments. Even when Lith stood at the base of the hill, the magical device was unable to pick up any residual signature.

Normally, Lith would have grumbled about losing his loot due to the explosion or rejoiced at the destruction of his enemies. Yet this time victory felt sour. The satisfaction from killing the hybrid wasn’t enough to make them forget about the rest.

Solus was still shocked by the carnage she had witnessed, while Lith was trying to find a way to cope with his actions. The desperation in the wargs’ eyes when they had chosen to die rather than submit to their fate had opened old wounds.

It was the first time he empathized with his victims. The Abomination was their cancer and just like Lith back on Earth had used a gun, they had used him. He didn’t feel what he had done was wrong, yet it upset him in a way he couldn’t put into words.

’Are you alright, Solus?’ He asked the only question that really mattered.

’No.’ Her tone was sad. Giving in to her anger didn’t make her feel better, it had just been a temporary respite before having to face her doubts and fears again.

’Are you?’

’No. Let’s return to Maekosh. If your hypothesis is correct, the death of the warg pack will trigger their accomplices within the city.’ He replied.

’Honestly, I don’t care about the mission anymore. I just want to get out of here. I want to be alone for a while.’ Solus meant it. This time each one of them was facing a personal crisis, making them unable to support the other.

At their arrival, the tracker revealed one weak signal coming from a house in the farmers’ district. Pazeol’s obsession led his creations to be so precise that now that the tracker was locked on, there was no escape from it.

Life Vision showed only one faint life force inside and it was slowly getting weaker. Lith prepared his spells nonetheless and readied himself for the worst. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.

Inside the small and messy home that painfully reminded him of his own, there was a deadly pale man sitting on a chair. He looked so ordinary that Lith might have crossed paths with him several times during the past few days and not even registered his existence once.

The farmer’s eyes were dimmer than his life force. He was still alive, but already dead inside. Lith recognized that gaze. He had seen it every day while looking at himself in the mirror after Carl’s death.

Near the man, there was another chair where another woman was sitting with a small baby held in her arms. They both seemed to be peacefully asleep, but Lith knew they were actually dead.

"Do you feel proud of yourself?" The man wheezed while looking at Lith with a deep seated hatred he knew all too well. The farmer was able to recognize the Ranger from the memories of his fallen friends.