"What?" Both Orpal and Erion said in surprise.
"We need this bastard, Dead King." The Storm Griffon sounded almost polite, which creeped Orpal to the bone. "Yet we can't let him keep this attitude. He must be taught a lesson in discipline and respect."
"And you are the one who's going to teach ?" The Jormungandr spat every word out, releasing his acidic spit that sizzled upon contact with the ground. "What if I don't want to listen? What if I just call for help?"
"Then your nest will have sothing interesting to watch." Jorl activated his communication amulet, replaying the bits where Erion expressed his disgust for Fenagar, the Awakened Councils, and his desire to dominate the continent of Jiera.
"You aren't the only one who's been recording this conversation, bastard." The Griffon's beak sohow curled in a smile. "The only difference is that yours will hinder our plans if you are dead, mine will destroy your reputation if you're alive."
Until that mont, Orpal had believed a serpentine snout couldn't express as much rage and hatred as a human face, but Erion proved him wrong.
"I underestimated you." He admitted bitterly once he realized how deep the grave he had dug for himself was. "We are at an impasse, now."
"No, not quiet." Jorl handed his communication amulet to Orpal. "I can still beat the shit out of you. I can still teach you a lesson. It's you who can only squirm like the worm you are. You're alone, bastard."
"We'll see about that!" Erion had kept his full size the whole ti, so he only had to jump at Jorl to comnce his onslaught.
The Storm Griffon, instead, had kept his humanoid form, yet even reverting to a Griffon didn't change much. Jorl was at the deep violet, which gave him no size advantage over a bright violet Lesser Leviathan.
Jorl was still 20 ters (66') tall while his opponent reached over 30 ters (100') in length. The Jormungandr easily wrapped himself around the Griffon and had enough tail left to bind his left leg and clip his wings.
Jorl couldn't fly, and from so up close he could barely gather any strength. Erion's mouth, instead, was free to move and attack with its acidic bite whenever he spotted an opening.
"Who's the bastard now?" The Lesser Leviathan hissed as his fangs dug deeply into the Divine Beast's shoulder.
"Always you." Jorl managed to grunt with pain without sounding any less confident. "I just gave you the advantage you needed to understand how pathetic you are!"
The Storm Griffon pumped the Vurdalak's blood stored in his mana core and his body swelled. The soft, golden lion fur was replaced by a thick, black hide. His eyes turned from silvery to burning red, and a set of mbranous wings ford right below the feathered ones.
A Griffon's beak couldn't grow fangs, but its edges beca jagged like a saw's blade, achieving the next best thing. Darkness elent painted Jorl's claws and talons black and made his Vampiric Touch painful to bear.
"Co on!" A bolt of silver lightning boosted his abilities tenfold, making it easy for him to break free. "Is this all you can do after the Dead King gave you all the ti to prepare your best tricks?"
Griffons were the mightiest among the Divine Beasts, and Life Maelstrom made them ten tis stronger. To make matters worse, it also empowered the Vampiric Touch that now absorbed the Jormungandr's vitality ten tis faster.
Jorl's muscles were now strong enough to break Erion's hold, but Vampiric Touch stopped Erion's every attempt to struggle. The Jormungandr had to unfold his coils and jump away before it was too late.
"I can do much worse." Erion tapped into the arrays that collected the surrounding world energy, making the activation of his Doom Tide bloodline ability instant.
"Stupid move, even for a bastard." Jorl activated the blue fla orbiting over his head and with it the Frost Soul bloodline ability.
It created an imbalance in the water elent that dispersed the mana of any spell conjured from world energy and poisoned bloodline abilities like Doom Tide. Erion absorbed massive amounts of world energy and the Frost Soul it carried.
The Jormungandr froze on the spot, his body turning into ice before he could realize what was happening. Yet it was no winter slumber but an icy death. Frost Soul inflicted Erion pain like he had never felt before.
His scales fell and bled, just for the blood to freeze and fall, bringing down a small chunk of flesh.
'I need to stop the Doom Tide before my body collap-' Luckily for him, Jorl struck Erion with a powerful punch that shattered the ice before it could reach his internal organs.
Unluckily for Erion, it also shattered his spine.
"This is the power of a Vurdalak, you insolent worm!" Jorl stomped his foot right below the Jormungandr's head. "This is the power you so stupidly disrespected. Know that I've mastered only four Souls and can only use Life Maelstrom.
"The Dead King, instead, has six Souls and all the Guardians' bloodline abilities. I'm weaker than he is, yet I needed one hand to beat you. Imagine what he could do. What you could do with our help."
Erion remained frozen, but due to shock and awe, not cold.
As for Orpal, he was grateful his helm hid his dumbfounded expression.
'Have I finally gone mad, or did Jorl really praise ?' He thought.
"Fine." Erion wheezed the word from under the taloned foot that had never stopped sucking his life with Vampiric Touch. "I've learned my lesson. I'll follow the Dead King. Please, let go, Lord Locus."
There was no trace of the Jormungandr's previous arrogance in his voice. ln noticed how this ti Erion used the title with respect, but also the greed in his eyes. A greed so great that it almost resembled a Dragon's.
Almost.
'He may respect , but I can't trust him. I recognize ambition when I see it, and this guy has it in spades. I have his loyalty for now, but if he ever thinks he has a shot at surpassing , he won't hesitate to betray .' Orpal thought.
"Release him, my knight." He said after noticing Jorl's repeated winks.
Only then did the Griffon lift his foot, and the Jormungandr healed his wounds with his breathing technique.
"I can't wait to face you again once I'm a Divine Beast and share the Dead King's gifts as well." Erion snarled at Jorl before bowing to ln.
"Anyti, worm." The Griffon's bored voice managed to make the Jormungandr's blood boil like never before. "Just say the word and I'll make you crawl… Oh, wait, you don't need my help for that. My bad."
The Griffon bowed in apology, driving Erion insane.
"You son of a-" A taloned hand squeezed the Jormungandr's neck so tight that it broke again.
"Never. Insult. My. Mother. Only I can do that." Jorl emitted such a killing intent that Erion had no doubt the Griffon had shown but a fraction of his power during their fight. "Are we clear?"
Erion couldn't form any words, so he just nodded like a frenzied parrot.
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