Chapter 4541: Missing Elements (Part 1)
Chapter 4541: Missing Elements (Part 1)
"Did you get hurt?" Zinya asked. "How bad was it?"
"Can you show us your fight, Dad?" Filia and Frey asked, drawing a stern gaze from their mother.
"Can I?" He asked Zinya with a chuckle.
"Show it to me first and then I’ll decide." She clenched his hand and used a mind link.
It shared not only the battle, but also the feelings he had experienced. Zinya cried when she saw the Master fight to protect Ryssa as if she were her, and the child the Dryad carried in her womb as if it were theirs.
"Mom?" Filia asked in worry. "Is it that bad?"
"No." She sobbed. "It’s amazing. Your father is amazing. Show them, Zogar."
The children focused more on how their adoptive father had given his all protecting Dhiral because he saw them in him, so the mind link ended in a long family hug.
"Well? What do you think?" Vastor asked Tezka the first moment of respite he had.
He handed the Rune Stores to the Suneater as soon as he returned home, giving Tezka the time to perform a cursory examination.
"I’m baffled." The Fylgja scratched his hairy chin. "These things are clearly the work of a genius, but I can’t figure out what they are supposed to do. Every single test I performed came back negative. They don’t possess a shred of mana, nor are they able to contain it."
"We’ll continue this discussion with the others after dinner." The Master shrugged.
The most brilliant minds of the Organization pooled their resources to study the Rune Stores, but they failed to scratch even the surface of their mystery until Xenagrosh returned from Lith’s home.
"How did you get the Rune Stores, and two sets at that, Father?" She asked in amazement.
"How do you know what they are?" Vastor asked back.
A quick mind link let the Master and the Shadow Dragon share part of their day and the knowledge about the Rune Stores. Zoreth also conjured elemental weapons from the foam constructs, showing the other hybrids how the Rune Stores complemented her abilities.
"Good gods, she’s right!" Kigan felt nothing when he placed the Air, Fire, and Darkness Stores near his wings, but his eyes reacted. "I can sense and absorb the elemental energy much faster than normal, and my entire body trembles with excitement."
"What about the other three?" Zoreth asked. "I know you’re a fallen Balor and are not supposed to undo your fall, but you’re still an evolved human. You fused with a three-eyed Balor, so you should have all elemental affinities."
"Good question." Kigan moved the remaining Rune Stores all over his body, and even rubbed them against his skin, but to no avail.
"We are a bunch of idiots!" Tezka snapped his fingers. "Fallen Balors have their eyes fused in pairs. Put all the Rune Stores in front of them!"
Kigan did as bidden and discovered that each one of his eyes reacted with two Rune Stores of opposing elements.
"This is it!" The foam constructs floated on their own, releasing energy jolts that arched at the hybrid’s eyes and back. "I can feel something, but I have no idea what it is."
"Don’t worry, we can see something." Tezka stared into Kigan’s eyes, seeing the outline of a second pupil and its iris slowly take form. "The Rune Stores are allowing your suppressed elemental eyes to manifest themselves."
"Really?" Kigan had just started to see the flow of the elements in everyone and everything around him when Tezka snatched the Rune Stores and put them away in his pocket dimension.
"Hey, why did you do that?" The Phoenix-Balor hybrid snarled in outrage.
"Because of this." Nelia the Frost Griffon conjured an ice mirror in front of him.
Kigan noticed blood tears dripping from his eyes, and the veins in his sclerae bulged out so much that they were about to burst.
"Remember Dhiral’s words, boy." Vastor said. "The Rune Stores can help us, but they are dangerous. Your body can’t withstand such a sudden change without collapsing. You need to tread with caution.
"I suggest starting with only one Rune Store per eye until we understand the direction your evolution is going."
"A sound idea." Kigan’s eyes had stopped bleeding, but a veil covered them, blurring his vision. "Those things almost tore me apart. I need some rest."
"Let me help." Nandi focused a powerful stream of world energy on his fellow hybrid, feeding his abomination side and boosting his already uncanny recovery speed.
Kigan needed just a barrel of nutrients to return to his peak condition.
"This is just hilarious." He laughed. "All humans seek the power of Divine Beasts, yet I, a Divine Beast, will get my hands on the power of evolved humans before them!
We picked the Balor side for me, thinking it would have granted the power of the elements to my Origin Flames. Instead, it might give me the power of Lith’s Indech! Xenagrosh, Father, and I are all on the path to acquire the power that evolved humans possess."
"Speaking of Father, have you tried the Rune Stores yet?" Theseus the Bastet asked.
"No, I was with Zin and the kids the whole time. Besides, before Zoreth returned, we had no idea how to use them." Vastor replied, bringing the Darkness and Light Stores near his eyes. "What the?"
There was no spark of energy or any visible effect. Life Vision showed no reaction either.
"Let’s try with the other Stores." Xenagrosh said. "We know where your eyes are going to open since they should follow my same pattern and Lith’s."
Once again, there was no visible reaction.
"This is absurd!" Kigan snorted. "It works for Xenagrosh and me. Why shouldn’t it work for you too? Tezka?"
The Suneater took the Rune Stores, but he didn’t feel anything either. Holding them with his elemental tails didn’t work, nor did it amplify any of their abilities.
"Nothing as well." He replied. "There’s one thing I want to try, though."
Tezka channeled a tendril of elemental mana into each Rune Store, like a weak mage or a baby would. He developed such a strong connection with the world energy that he lost his balance for a moment.
The Suneater perceived the elements for the first time since his death and looked at his surroundings like a blind man who had suddenly regained his sight.
"This is incredible." The shock in his voice scared the other hybrids so much that they stepped back. "Let’s see if this works."
The six Rune Stores moved atop Tezka’s corresponding elemental tails, flooding them with a constant stream of energy. The darkness suppressed the Chaos, the light element compensated for the natural imbalance in the hybrid’s life force, while the other four elements flowed freely.
Tezka closed his eyes and used his tier five Body Sculpting spell, Starsight, to observe his Warg life force and adjust the flow of the four Rune Stores to counterbalance its wild energy surges.
Suppressing his monster and Eldritch sides hurt, but it allowed the emerald star to grow unimpeded by the flaws of its fallen neighbors. Tezka’s Spirit tail grew a bit longer, but it reverted to its original size the moment he interrupted the Rune Stores’ energy flow.