Supreme Magus

Chapter 3909: Human Form (Part 2)

Lith burned with envy for a brief moment before his fatherly pride trampled all over his petty feelings.

"That’s my girl!" He peppered Elysia’s face with kisses, making her giggle. "Why are we so different?"

Lith pointed at himself and then at Ryla.

"Isn’t it obvious?" Baba Yaga said, and everyone stared at her dumbly. "I have no idea why Balors and Fomors have blue skin, but I know why yours is red. It seems that a rank 3 human’s body is infused with so much life force that it spills over your skin.

"I wonder what would happen if the power of your mana core flowed just as strongly." To Ryla and Urhen, it sounded like an idle question, but everyone else knew the answer.

Once mana joined life force, Spirit Magic was born. Lith’s red skin proved that he was just one evolutionary step behind the First King.

"As for your wings, they are no different from a white crystal." Baba Yaga continued. "Unlike those of a Fomor or a Balor, the elements are perfectly amalgamated. Your feathers can absorb all elements at the same time instead of one at a time."

"This is amazing!" Lith spread his wings, and he felt the world energy flood his seven eyes.

Elysia managed to imitate him a moment later, lighting her eyes with the power of all elements.

"No, this is underwhelming." The Red Mother snorted. "This is nothing like the form you reached in Jiera. You are not like Ryla and Urhen, Lith. You are already Awakened."

"That’s a very good point." Quylla pondered. "Do you think this is like the Voidfeather Dragon missing the Dragon Eyes? Something Lith’s human side has lost to balance itself with the other aspects of his life force?"

"No, silly child." Baba Yaga shook her head. "This is the first time Lith takes the true form of his human life force. It’s like a muscle he never exercised."

"I don’t have the time to practice my skills as..." Lith looked at himself, yet no name came to his mind for that new form.

"Red Human." Tista suggested, obtaining countless glares in reply, even from Elysia. "What? So, he can call me Red Demon, but I can’t call him Red Human?"

"You could have always named yourself differently, Sis, but this is beyond the point." Lith sighed. "Zoreth doesn’t have long. She can’t wait until I work this thing out."

"Luckily for her, she doesn’t have to." Baba Yaga shapeshifted into her Asura form and wore the Master and Apprentice Hands of Menadion, matching the elemental gems with her corresponding arm.

"We don’t need the Elemental Storage for this. Ryla and I will be enough." She placed one elemental hand near Lith’s corresponding eye while staring at the Spirit Eye. "Activate one elemental power at a time, Ryla, starting from now."

The Asura channeled the endless flow of world energy from the mana geyser below her feet, the two towers she was connected to, Starforge and Bloodhaven, and the Hands of Menadion inside her body.

She wrapped Lith in it and then flooded him with the raw power of the elements. At the same time, Ryla unleashed the golden lightning, the red fire, the swirling water, the orange aura, the shadow double, and lastly the inner light.

Father and daughter absorbed the power of the elements from their wings one by one and channeled it into their eyes. The human bloodline abilities flooded their bodies, filling them with more strength than they could handle.

The wings on Lith’s and Elysia’s back unfolded and released the excess energy in the form of colored plumes of smoke. Yet Baba Yaga never lowered the pressure, taking care it remained just above Lith’s and Elysia’s respective capacities.

’I don’t know how developed Elysia’s instinct is, and I’m not going to endanger a baby.’ She thought. ’I’ll keep her safe while Lith figures it out. Once he does, she should be able to imitate-’

Lith’s pristine wings burst into elemental flames, derailing the Red Mother’s train of thought. Elysia followed suit a second later, right when her father reached his breaking point.

The elemental flames grew in size until the white wings couldn’t contain them any longer. The conflicting energies struggled for dominance, pushing each other away as they forced their way out of their vessels.

Lith’s wings burned into nothing, devoured by the raging battle between the six elements. Then, the flames split into six wings, each comprised of a single pure elemental energy.

They were arranged in the same pattern as Lith’s eyes and produced no heat, leaving the stone floor of the Infirmary and those who stood behind Lith unscathed. Elysia’s wings too had turned into pure energy, but they had failed to split.

She released two bursts of prismatic light from her back, the elements forced to find their balance.

"Thank the gods." Kamila sighed in relief, feeling a huge burden lifted from her chest. "I trust you, Yaga, but if Elysia hadn’t kept giggling the entire time, I would have come over there and kicked your-"

The resonance between father and daughter spread to the unborn Raldarak, triggering his transformation as well.

Kamila’s skin turned crimson red, and two white wings popped out of her back. Then, she felt her skin press violently against her clothes until the Voidfeather armor adjusted to its wearer’s new size.

Kamila looked around, discovering that she now stood just a head shorter than Ryla.

"Take one step closer and I’ll deck you." She clenched her fists and raised her guard the moment Baba Yaga let go of Lith and turned toward her.

"So much for trusting me." The Red Mother smiled and raised her hands in surrender. "I’d never apply any pressure on the little Ral. I just wanted to congratulate you both and tell you how beautiful you look."

"What do you- gods-dammit!" Kamila conjured an ice mirror, discovering that her number of eyes and the color of her hair hadn’t changed.

Her face, however, now bore the same perfect symmetry as Ryla. Her skin was so fair that it reflected and amplified the magical lights with its inner warmth, and her hair hadn’t been so luscious since Salaark’s beauticians had prepared Kamila for her wedding.

Even her eyes had become bigger and more seductive. Kamila’s body felt lighter and full of energy, as if she had carried invisible shackles until that moment and they had finally been removed.

"Turn me back, please." Kamila said in panic. "I can get over losing a bit of power one Ral is born, but not this!"

"Just stop staring at yourself in the mirror, dear." Elina suggested.

"Mama?" Elysia asked, flying from her father’s arms into her mother’s.

"Don’t worry, baby girl. Everything is fine." Elysia’s arrival forced Kamila to put the mirror away.

"Now what?" Lith asked.

He was the only one with blazing energy wings now and couldn’t wait for the transformation to be over. Ryla and Urhen looked at him in a way that unsettled him, and the giggles of his sisters made everything worse.

"Now touch the Infirmary, silly child." Baba Yaga said while keeping the pressure of the elements solely on him. "Once I collect the data, you can take whatever form you want."