Supreme Magus

"What's the meaning of this?" Menadion asked. "I don't remember ever having a cult."

"I wish I know." Bhaz was as surprised as her while Cyrra looked at the Forgemasters like they had lost their minds.

"We are not a cult!" Pharo Blackroot, a Redcap, said. "You are a legend, First Ruler Menadion. You built your tower, the legendary set that carries your name, and you are the mother of modern fake and Awakened Forgemastery both.

"Meeting you is a dream that none of us ever believed would come true. Yet here you are, Master Menadion."

"I'm not your master." Ripha didn't know whether to feel flattered or creeped out by such unconditional devotion.

"In a way, you are." Barham the Wyvern said. "We can see far because we stand on the shoulders of giants and you are the first and greatest among those giants. We are all students of your teachings which makes you our master. Please, let me help you."

The Wyvern tried to pull Menadion's seat for her and the rest of the Forgemasters tried to beat him to the punch. Before Ripha could say anything, the room almost devolved into a brawl about who deserved the honor of serving water and steaming delicacies.

"Enough!" Almost because Bhaz's roar put a stop to their antics. "Cease your antics and go back to your seats. The purpose of your presence is to act as representatives of the Awakened Council and reassure our guests of our sincerity, not make us look like a bunch of madmen."

The Forgemasters stared at the Dawn King in hatred and soon the build-up of mana from their spells became clear even to those without Life Vision.

"He's right." Menadion said. "Please, go back to your seats."

The violent auras burst like a soap bubble as the Awakened obeyed like a meek flock of sheep.

"Do you want to go first or I do?" Bahz asked, having a hard time hiding the embarrassment of being so blatantly disrespected in his own home by the people he had hired.

"I'll start, if you don't mind." Lith said and the Dawn King nodded for him to continue. "The reason I contacted you is I want to know how the Undead Courts are reacting to the return of the Incontinent King and what you are planning to do about it."

"Yours is a reasonable concern." Bahz replied. "As everyone knows, the Undead Corts have long since been divided and each one of them is split into countless smaller factions driven by petty interests.

"To answer your questions, most of us are worried and a few of us are scared of your mad brother's return. No one is excited at Poopie's proposal and as far as I know, even the Night Court's most power-hungry members have no desire to submit to him again."

"Thanks for your kind words." Cyrra snarled. "I can confirm what Bahz said. My Night Court suffered the most under the Incontinent King's rule. Our numbers are at an all-time low and our resources depleted. First Poopie and then Thrud robbed us blind."

"Is that the reason some of you are worried and scared?" Solus asked.

"No." Bhaz replied. "All Undead Courts are slowly recovering and now that we are united, we don't fear the Incontinent King. Or rather, we didn't. We are worried because the crystal-destruction spell proved useless.

"We are scared because of this." He tapped on the mana crystal with his hand, generating a scaled-down hologram of the fight between Othre's Night Court and Orpal's Chosen.

"I'll play it from the start and pause it at the pivotal moments. Watch carefully."

The Chosen fought hard and dirty, but aside from that, there was nothing special in him.

"This is when we used the crystal-destruction spell. Do you notice something we don't?" The Dawn King replayed the scene multiple times at different speeds and from different angles.

Lith wore the Eyes of Menadion the whole time not to miss a single frame.

"No." He replied. "Your assessment is correct. The spell didn't cause any reaction in the prism. There is no vibration, drop in the output, or change in its host's prowess. Baba Yaga's spell is nothing but hot air now."

"Just as I feared." Bhaz sighed. "Let's move on."

The fight progressed until the Chosen was on the brink of being overpowered and suddenly transformed into an unknown creature.

"This is the reason I was about to call you this morning." The Dawn King froze the image and zoomed in. "I noticed a resemblance between the Chosen's new form and Poopie's Vurdalak body."

Another flick of the mana crystal conjured a hologram of the Chosen standing side by side with Orpal's. They both had two small straight horns protruding from their foreheads, a jet-black skin, and flames floating above their heads akin to an incomplete crown.

Yet while Orpal's membranous wings came out of his back, the Chosen had the membrane connecting his arms up to his little finger to his hips.

"It worries me because it reminds me of this." A third touch of the crystal projected a second pair of holograms.

They depicted Locrias' Demon form and Lith's Tiamat body. Locrias' wings were not upside down and he only bore six eyes, but aside from that the resemblance with both the Tiamat and the Chosen was uncanny.

"If I'm right, Poopie is similar to you enough to create his own lesser versions. The good news is that based on the position of the wings, a Vurdalak seems to be a lesser Divine beast just like a Wyvern is to a Dragon." Bahz said while pointing at the holograms of Locrias and the Chosen. "No offense, Barham."

"Much taken." The Wyvern grunted.

"The bad news is that Poopie has already achieved the fifth flame and he's still a hybrid. There's no telling if once he reaches the violet his minions will become more powerful as well."

"I agree there is good and bad news but not for the reasons you've just stated." Lith said after studying the five holograms for a while and comparing notes with Solus and Menadion via a mind link.

"This is bad and if I'm right, you and I both will have to rethink our defences from scratch."

"What? Why?" Cyrra and the Forgemasters said in unison, standing up from their seats in shock.

The Banshee refused to believe the Night Court had wasted what little treasures it had left for nothing while the Awakened felt wounded in their professional pride.

"First, the good news." Lith tapped on the hologram of the Chosen's fifth flame. "This one is a dud. I can't be absolutely certain until I see it with my own eyes, but the structure of this thing is all wrong.

"On top of that, if you watch the flames during the fight, you'll notice that four of them pulse in unison when the Chosen uses his powers while the fifth flame always has the same beat. It's not something born out of life force but a common spell."

Bhaz rolled back to the appearance of the flaming crown and focused solely on the five flames for the entire duration of the fight.