Chapter 4530: Blueprints (Part 2)
Chapter 4530: Blueprints (Part 2)
"One moment." Lith Warped out and in, returning with the full set of elemental tools. "Here. Give it a try."
Zoreth placed the air and earth Rune Stores in front of her eyes, wings, on her forehead and cheeks, but nothing happened.
"Nothing. No resonance, or even an itch." She sighed. "I guess my remaining mana organs are still too atrophied in this form, or maybe the evolution of my humanoid side hasn’t progressed enough."
"Nonsense." Lith shook his head. "If you can do it with your Arke form, you can do it now. Your affinities don’t change with your appearance, and as you said, these are tools meant for you to learn how to master them. I think you’re simply using them wrong."
He had the darkness and light Rune Stores float before her eyes, the air and fire in front of the energy eyes on her wings, and the earth and air Stores behind her back, below her wings.
"Wait a second." The Shadow Dragon’s eyes widened in surprise. "I can feel something. Move the last set lower, please."
After a few tries, Zoreth experienced a strong itch when the earth and air stores were placed near the bottom of her ribcage.
"This is it!" She said in excitement. "It seems my evolution keeps going more troll than human. Maybe I will develop two more wings like you, Lil Bro."
"More like two more limbs like a Traughen, Big Sis, and probably each will have its eye like a Fomor. Switch to Arke, just to make sure."
The Air and Earth Store also reacted when placed in the space below Zoreth’s eyes and her shoulder blades, heralding the future changes in her body.
"I want those things so bad." Zoreth sighed. "Please, don’t forget to ask Dhiral. The little imp knows me, and with a little luck, he won’t say no."
"I will ask him. It’s the only thing I can promise." Lith replied.
"Now, if you allow me, I’ll go next." Bytra cleared her throat, and only after Solus and Menadion gave her permission did she touch the crystal tank.
"Mana cores: partly dormant and compromised. Life force: uncategorized and not fully stable. Life force composition: 25% Eldritch, 25% Eldritch Raiju, 50% rank 1+ Goblin." The Fourth Ruler of the Flames said while staring into Solus’ eyes.
After that, the Infirmary’s diagnosis for Bytra was the same as Zoreth’s, down to the last word. It warned the hybrid not to attempt any forceful manipulation of her life forces, but her prognosis was positive.
Both hybrids showed clear signs of improvement and had partly overcome their undead condition. Solus swallowed hard as she stared at the depiction of Bytra’s life force.
The black hole of the Eldritch was still there, and so was the burning giant violet star of the Raiju side. The goblin side looked like a gas giant planet surrounded by multiple elliptical ice rings.
Both the planet and the rings seemed to be comprised of some kind of water and were unstable. Sometimes the external rings fused with the rest of the mass, forming a frozen giant.
Then, the frozen giant collapsed on itself and shattered in what could only be described as an asteroid belt that encompassed the two other life forces. After a while, the asteroids merged into the gaseous giant and the process started anew.
The twin celestial bodies spun around each other while the gaseous giant orbited them both, moving in a figure-eight that reminded Lith of the symbol of infinity. Because of the goblin side’s instability, fragments of the ice rings were sucked in by the Eldritch side or crashed into the Raiju’s side as a meteor shower.
Yet the goblin race’s innate talent to adapt turned the curse into a blessing. Every time the black hole sucked part of the gas giant’s mass, it became more resistant to the gravitational pull and the corrupting touch of the Chaos.
Similarly, the ice that fell on the giant violet became part of it and shared the resistance the gaseous giant had reached over time. When the goblin side orbited around the Eldritch, it acted as a defensive shield for the Raiju, suppressing the black hole’s destructive power with increasing efficacy.
When the gaseous giant orbited the violet star, instead, it nurtured it and offered it the protection of its ice rings.
Menadion zoomed in on the goblin side, discovering that no matter whether it took gaseous, liquid, or solid form, the fragments of the life force shone with inner light that changed color according to their current physical state and position.
The six colors of the elements were the most common, but sometimes a drop of water or a chunk of ice sparkled with the emerald light of Spirit Magic.
"A binary star system." Lith pondered out loud. "With the monster side acting as a buffer. Your new life force is quite similar to Zor’s. Bytra, yet it’s also different."
"What did you expect?" The Fourth Ruler of the Flames shrugged. "I’m just an Emperor Beast, whereas she is a Divine Beast. Even if the Master is right and my Eldritch side can elevate my beast side, it won’t happen until my goblin side evolves."
She couldn’t say more without violating the bond of trust with the rest of the Organization members, but the message was clear.
’The Master must have used Zor’s life force as a blueprint for the rest of his Divine Beast-Eldritch and somehow found a working solution for the Emperor Beasts as well.’ Lith and Solus thought in unison.
’Confirming the progress of Zor’s human and Odi life forces was just a pretext to show us Bytra’s life force as well and warn us.’
Lith’s deduction was correct. After Tezka found the shape that would allow his hybrid life force to develop his Fylgja and Warg side and reach rank 3, the Master used the results of the Suneater’s research to reshape the life forces of the rest of his hybrids.
Vastor had used Zoreth as a blueprint for the Eldritches who carried the blood of a Divine Beast and Tezka for the others. The success of the Body Sculpting procedures had bolstered the Organization’s prowess and brought it one step closer to the Master’s goal.
"Since you’ve shared your secret with us, it’s only fair that we share a few things as well." Solus sighed and shapeshifted into her Vritra form, her Talos form, and then her Divine Beast form.
"This doesn’t make sense." Bytra was utterly shocked, shifting her gaze back and forth between Solus and Menadion. "I can understand Lith sharing his Phoenix and Dragon blood, but since when did you evolve as a human? Also, what’s that metal thing?"
"You’re right, Bytra. My daughter and I were regular humans, but my death changed everything." The Fourth Ruler of the Flames crossed her arms and reverted to her Sigil Demon form
"You forget that the reason I’m bonded to Lith is that Mom bonded me to the tower to save my life, Bytra." Solus said. "It has become a part of my life force as much as his.
"I never acquired a hybrid form because my wounds were too deep, but my human side kept growing along with my Divine Beast and tower side."