At ?rst, Orpal bonding with the Horseman had ?lled Trion with hope,
thinking that his older brother would turn himself in and expose Night in order to defend their family.
Then, after Trion had realized Orpal's true intentions, hope had turned into a rage and hatred so powerful that they had kept him sane during all that ti. For over one year Trion had been forced to helplessly watch his once esteed older brother slaughter innocents just for the fun of it.
Now that he was close to Lith, however, he had clung to the thin chain between them and accepted the power that Lith unconsciously emitted along with his desire to slay Orpal.
A wish that Trion was willing to ful?ll.
"Trion, baby, is it really you?" The fear from her current predicant disappeared from Elina's mind as the grief and pain from the death of her secondborn resurfaced.
"Yes, Mom. It's really ."
Trion threw the Nightwalker away like a rag, without looking his mother in the eye out of sha. "I'm so sorry for everything I've said and done. Please, forgive ."
"There's nothing to forgive because I never resented you." Warm tears stread down her eyes while puffs of black ?as ca from his.
Lith and Orpal were both so shocked that neither moved a muscle for a while.
"Thanks, Mom, but I don't deserve your kindness." Trion pointed an accusatory ?nger at his older brother. "But that piece of shit is much worse than ! He knows that Night killed . He knew about her plans to hurt you and he still bonded with her!"
Orpal shrugged, opening his palms in surrender as he laughed heartily at those words.
"You knew?“ Elina asked.
"Of course I did!" He replied with a snarl. "We fused our minds and bodies multiple tis."
"How could you ally with the person who murdered your own brother?“ Elina's fury grew to the level of Lith's and Trion's.
With every word she heard all traces of motherly love for Orpal disappeared, making her want to rip her womb out for giving birth to such a monster.
"How could I not?“ He replied. "Also, I'm glad to have the opportunity to thank you, little brother. If it wasn't for your stupidity, I would have never gotten this chance. So much power would have been wasted in the hands of an idiot like you!"
Lith had never liked Trion, but he wasn't stupid enough to watch a gift horse in the mouth. He stood up, taking a deep breath of lnvigoration as new energy ?ooded his newfound Demon, bringing his eyes up to six.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you! Everyone here is either my Thrall or my accomplice and they will all testify that you are Tiamat. You have no idea how even the most grateful of people can turn their coat once they get a little taste of immortality." Orpal said with a savage smile on his face.
"Refuse my order and I will destroy your life. I will tum you into a wanted criminal and our parents will lose everything they have. One wrong move and my soldiers will kill everyone in Lutia, including Zekell and Rena." At a snap of his ?ngers, several recording devices were brought in.
With Sealed Space active they couldn't broadcast, but they could still record and transmit the mont the spell was lifted.
‘Keep calm, Lith.' Solus said. ‘There's no way to know if Orpal is telling the truth. So of the waiters look scared of him and most of the custors now are just frozen in terror.
‘Killing Orpal and his soldiers is one thing, but if you slaughter innocents your reputation will be destroyed. He's goading you into making a massacre!’
Lith tried even to activate the Call of the Void, but he could feel that it wouldn't extend past the Sealed Space either.
'S0lus, I can't blind people. I can't Warp away. There's only so much l can do. Orpal is right about one thing. I have no choice left.‘ He replied, his heart bleeding with pain.
"I-Ie's lying!" Trion said. "Most of the people here are just paralyzed by his spell. Orpal only bribed those guys and had them bring his soldiers in their hiding spots there, there, and there!"
The Demon pointed at the exact locations where more Nightwalkers lay in ambush and the walls behind which other kinds of Thralls waited for their master's orders.
"Rena is safe. Orpal failed to get past your Emperor Beasts and the Queen's Corps. He's just bluf?ng!“
"I-low do you know?" Orpal asked in surprise.
"l followed you around until now. I know everything!" Trion snarled.
‘Then pass it to via the mind link, you idiot!‘ Only then did Lith realize that the chain between them was so thin that Trion had access barely to a fraction of the power and knowledge of a regular Demon.
It took him but a thought to reinforce the chain and let his brother tell him everything he knew about Orpal's plans.
"I'd rather die than help you." Lith snarled. "Do you think I'm an idiot?
Once you take Mom and Kami, they will be as good as dead. You'd used them to force to obey, and even if I did, I have no guarantee you'd keep your ?lthy hands off them."
"Do your worst, because that's what l'm going to do."
Lith snapped his ?ngers and the several Sealed Space spells that covered the Heavenly Wolf restaurant shattered one after another.
Solus and the Eyes had completed analyzing the spell, giving them the opportunity to counter it.
Even with their combined Domination they couldn't overtake so many spells, each one backed by a different willpower. What they could do,
instead, was to use their power over the elents to break the delicate balance that Sealed Space required to work.
At the sa ti, Lith emitted a wave of power that destroyed the blinding arrays, making Life Vision and mana sense work again, and surrounded Orpal with a Sealed Space of his own.
Solus stood in front of Elina to protect her along with Trion while a six-eyed Locrias appeared behind the Thrall holding Kamila. The ex-
captain killed the man and took out his blade, ready to ?ght whoever tried to approach her.
The Dead King tried to activate the other contingency asure he had created, but they were cut off from him and with them the signals that he was supposed to use to coordinate the actions of his Chosen.
‘Who needs the Dragon Eyes when we have nadion's?' Solus jumped up, proud to have learned a new tier ?ve spell in the space of a single awful conversation.
in order to avoid the sensory overload from the Eyes‘ full capacity,
she scanned the whole room with mana sense and kept them ready to analyze Orpal's next trick.
"Plan three!" Orpal yelled after his ntal commands received no answer and Night remained still.
His body grew to gigantic proportions, reaching a height of 20
ters (66 feet). His colossal Vurdalak form spread its wings, covering Lutia with shadows.
"If I can't obtain your servitude, I'll gladly settle for your life!" Then,
the titan threw his right ?st at the restaurant.
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