Supreme Magus

Chapter 4395: Ultimate Predator (Part 1)

If Dawn defeated whoever came to Batara’s defense, the Awakened Council would study the Horseman’s strategies and apply them in the eventuality that a conflict with the Master’s Organization ever arose.

If the hybrids defeated her, instead, the Awakened would still have records of the Eldritches’ most powerful spells and research a way to neutralize them. Either way, the Awakened Council had a lot to learn from the conflict and nothing to lose.

The only wrinkle in that situation was that even though the Organization was still in probation, they were members of the Council. If Dawn proved to be an overwhelming threat, the Master might have requested assistance and the Awakened Council would be forced to deliver it.

It would have been a shame to miss the show, but intervening would have also earned Bytra’s favor with the first responders, and maybe even the services of the Fourth Ruler of the Flames.

Even though she was now an Eldritch, there was no Awakened Forgemaster who wouldn’t have given an arm and a leg to become her apprentice.

"What is Dawn doing there?" Orpal’s face was split into two halves, one with his features and the other with Night’s. "I thought she would stick to your mother’s skirt and hide from us to avoid ending up like your poor brother."

"That’s what I thought as well." Night replied, her feminine voice coming out of the corner of her side of the mouth. "That bitch disappeared for months, and now she dares to show her face in public. This smells fishy, but it’s too obvious to be a trap."

"Batara has no mana geyser, so your mother’s tower wouldn’t be much better than our own." Orpal nodded. "On top of that, Dawn made too much of a ruckus for an alleged trap. She knows we are not stupid.

"If we appeared in the middle of Batara under the eyes of the Council, they would join forces with the Organization and the Undead Courts to kill us. Whatever her goal is, she made a scene on purpose. She doesn’t want us there."

The Upyrs around the Dead King shuddered at the weird monologue. Not only was the constant shift in Orpal’s features creepy, but it was also a symptom of the divide between the Horseman and her host.

"Has she gone insane?" Orpal and Night frowned when Dawn dismounted Sunrise and sent the mage tower away. "What’s the point of bringing her steed along if she’s not going to use- Gods above!"

The Dead King stared in disbelief as the Horseman of Dawn split her body into two without losing any of her physical or magical prowess.

"This is impossible!" Night snarled, taking over Orpal’s half of the body. "That must be a trick! One of them must be some new kind of hard-light construct that Dawn controls like a puppet.

"A crystal clone. Anything but that. She can’t have done it before me!"

"Done what?" Night’s silvery voice distorted into Orpal’s as he reclaimed his half of his face and stared at the Horseman in fury.

"Reaching the Manifestation stage." Night inwardly cursed. "It’s a Horseman’s ability that creates an extra body for them and allows them to act together with their host instead of replacing them."

A few seconds later, when Dawn and Acala fought two Empowered Abominations and killed them with ease, Night couldn’t deny reality any longer.

"Let me get this straight." Orpal’s voice was low, but it seethed with rage. "Leech surpasses me as a Divine Beast, having access to all aspects of his life force, and Dawn surpasses you as a Horseman.

"We have been bested by our respective siblings and left in the dust, correct?"

"Correct." Night spat the word out like poison. "Yet look at the bright side. That bitch is nothing special. If she really got cocky just because of Manifestation and starts going around alone, we can take her.

"This time, we’ll make no mistakes, and once I have access to her mind, we’ll be able to learn from her how to achieve Manifestation. It will more than double our offensive strength."

"It also makes acquiring a Divine Beast-sized full set of equipment of paramount importance." Orpal pursed his lips. "You can keep Thorn and the Black Rose armor, but I can’t display my full power if I have to fight naked."

"True." Night actually hoped that upon reaching the Manifestation stare she would obtain a Vurdalak body as well.

Yet there was no point arguing over equipment they still did not possess, so she kept those thoughts in a hidden corner of her mind.

They kept watching the fight, failing to recognize Orulm and Abthot in their hybrid forms. No one could use Life Vision on a hologram, so Awakened and Upyrs weren’t surprised when Acala fended off the Eldritches attacks.

After Dawn kicked Abthot away, a second Awakened followed the two women, and Erion’s amulet projected a second hologram to follow both fights at the same time.

"Your sister’s host is lucky." Orpal sneered. "The Master must have sent a couple of runts still wet behind their ears, or a loser like Acala would already be dead."

***

Meanwhile in Batara, the traitorous Ranger faced Orulm’s Void Hunger from point-blank range and with no protection left. To make matters worse, the Breaker was clearly aiming his spell at the crystal in the middle of Acala’s chest.

’There’s only one Eldritch in the Organization who can cripple tower tier spells as if they are chore magic.’ The traitorous Ranger thought. ’Orulm has changed so much since our fight against the World Tree that I didn’t recognize him.

’Why didn’t Dawn warn me about him? I refuse to believe she has forgotten the energy signature of one of the few beings on Mogar who can kill us in one shot.’ Acala set his questions aside and jumped back, gaining as much distance as he could from his opponent.

His lightning-fast reflexes amazed Orulm, but didn’t change the outcome.

"Checkmate." Void Hunger erupted from the Eldritch’s right hand faster than a bullet, covering the distance with its prey in the blink of an eye.

The air element surrounding the Chaos Pillar sucked the human Ranger in and neutralized his flight spell. Acala barely had the time to raise the Twilight Blade when Void Hunger hit him.

The Ranger put all the light element he could muster into the Twilight Blade, reverting part of the Chaos into darkness while it was still at an arm’s length.

At the same time, he channelled the water element inside the Davross, severing the connection between the world energy and the Chaos that the light element failed to contain.

Another chunk of the Void Hunger faded away, but there was still plenty left when it finally reached Acala. The traitorous Ranger stored the blade inside his pocket dimension at the last moment, sparing it from the permanent damage that Break would inflict.

With no other protection left, Acala covered his arms in white crystals and sacrificed his limbs to stop the onslaught. Yet that wasn’t enough. With only stumps left, Acala turned to the side, taking Void Hunger on his right shoulder and back.

The impact lasted for a split second, after which half of the traitorous Ranger’s body was gone.