Chapter 4394: Dawn of War (Part 4)
Chapter 4394: Dawn of War (Part 4)
Acala remained silent, his gaze darting in the direction Dawn had disappeared as if he were watching something that he couldn’t afford to miss.
"I know this trick. Dawn pulled it on me in the past. You’re using her Morning Star spell!" Orulm said as a quick barrage of Chaos needles he threw all around the Ranger revealed the presence of a translucent hard-light construct.
Morning Star was infused with so much mana that it gave Acala enough extra mass to fight a Divine Beast on equal footing.
"Yet that kind of magic consumes way more energy than Dawn receives from the sun. Even her can’t use it for long unless she has her mage tower!"
The traitorous Ranger smirked, but he was looking away when he did. If he was taunting Orulm or reacting to something Dawn had just said, it was impossible to tell.
"Where is it?" The Breaker widened the sensory range of the Skull of Bytra to look for Sunrise. "It can’t be far." He said, yet his voice lacked conviction.
A Horseman’s mage tower was a powerful, yet limited tool. Their crystal steed could draw the world energy from its surroundings, but could only transmit it to its master through physical contact.
Sunrise empowering Acala even from a few centimeters of distance was unheard of, yet the mage tower was nowhere to be found.
The traitorous Ranger reacted to those words by pulling a new prism out of the crystal in his chest, renewing his armor and shield. At the same time, he conjured several spheres of light that instantly exploded, spreading their energy around and messing with the Skull of Bytra’s readings.
Blood dripped out of Orulm’s nose as the sensory overload inflicted him internal damage, but his determination paid off. The Skull spotted a thin tendril of light that ran under the floor and passed right where Dawn had stood until a few seconds ago.
The hard-light cable carried a huge amount of world energy that followed the exact same path of the bond between Horseman and host, fooling the Skull’s initial readings before Orulm focused on the Ranger.
The Breaker tried to follow the energy to its source, but the tendril extended far away, and Acala charged forward at breakneck speed.
’Oh, fuck!’ Orulm failed to deflect the lunge with his spear and the Twilight Blade pierced through the Shadowscale armor. ’This bastard knows about the Skull and its weakness. This was all a trap!’
The realization hit the Breaker hard, but not as the tier five Eclipsing Shockwave spell that released a burst of darkness-infused bolts of lightning inside the Breaker’s body as Acala pulled his sword out with a twist.
He pressed forward with another thrust that he switched into a diagonal slash when Orulm tried to dodge it. By sticking so close, not only was the longer reach of the spear pointless, but it also became a very poor defensive tool.
Fellbane had no hand guard, so by sliding the Twilight Blade along the spear’s haft, Acala could always cut Orulm’s fingers.
"You are supposed to fear me and keep your distance, you damn bastard!" The Breaker stored his weapon inside his pocket dimension and switched to hand-to-hand combat. He infused his every limb with Chaos, turning them into deadly weapons.
Acala kept his weapons, but he conjured the tier five Battle Mage spell, God of Darkness. Three orbs of pure darkness element appeared over his head while a black mist coated his crystal armor.
The Chaos robbed the darkness of its light counterpart on impact, reverting into darkness and turning the God of Darkness into God of Chaos. Orulm inwardly cursed Acala and threw away what was left of his pride.
He displayed the full martial prowess that he usually reserved for Guardians and white cores, using it to fight at the same level as a mere human who had yet to live half a century.
The Breaker also stopped stubbornly holding his ground, stepping back when necessary and using strategy instead of relying on raw strength.
The mere act left in Orulm’s mouth the bitter taste of defeat, but it was better than failing his mission and becoming the laughing stock of the Organization. A palm strike at Acala’s shield propelled the Breaker back and bought him the space he needed.
Orulm unleashed a volley of tier one Chaos bullets infused with Break energy that the traitorous Ranger intercepted with his shield, falling into the enemy’s trap. Acala’s layer of light element neutralized the Chaos, but it was helpless against the Eldritch’s ability.
The crystal shield collapsed first after the Break energy severed its connection to Dawn’s real body, turning the prism back into a common mineral. Then it was the turn of the God of Darkness spell that lost one rune for each Break bullet it absorbed.
Acala realized the identity of his enemy only when the three orbs of darkness element started to flicker, and his crystal armor fell apart because it was no longer capable of channeling the light element.
Morning Star failed last as the Eldritch ability erased enough runes of the spell matrix to make it crumble.
"Checkmate." Orulm was too disgusted with himself to smile at his defenseless enemy as he unleashed a tier five Chaos Spell, Void Hunger, and infused it with Break energy.
He aimed it at the shining crystal on Acala’s chest, hoping that killing one of the legendary Horsemen of Baba Yaga would be enough to wash away the humiliation of using his most powerful ability against such an inferior opponent.
***
Jiera continent, ruined city of Tle’ket, at the same time.
"Boss, I mean, Dead King, you have to see this!" Erion the Jormungandr wasn’t one to intrude during Orpal’s training unannounced, so his barging in piqued the Vurdalak’s curiosity rather than arousing his anger.
’Either the sky is falling, and we are all dead, or Erion’s betrayal got exposed, and he’s as fucked as Jorl is.’ Orpal smiled at the thought. ’The conniving bastard is too egotistical to care about anyone but himself.’
Night couldn’t refute such a claim, but coming from Orpal, it was as outrageous as charcoal calling obsidian black.
"This better be good. I was on the verge of- Gods below!" An Awakened in Batara had heard the commotion caused by the Dawn Court’s attack on the Blood Minotaurs’ headquarters.
The event would have been of no relevance to the Awakened community if not for the Bright Day leading the charge on top of her steed, Sunrise. Seeing a mage tower in action was a rare opportunity that no mage worthy of their name would miss.
Moreover, the Awakened Council was aware that the Organization had replaced the Undead Courts in ruling the underworld of the three great countries after their ruinous alliance with the Mad Queen.
The Horseman of Dawn leading the attack in Batara might have been the first of many conflicts that would redefine the balance of power and restore part of the hold the Undead Courts once had over human society.
If the Bright Day had become their new leader, then the Awakened Council couldn’t consider the Undead Courts a declining force any longer. Last, but far from least, the members of the Council were eager to see how the Horseman would fare against the Master’s hybrids.