Supreme Magus

Chapter 4223: Unexpected Mercy (Part 2)

"Think carefully, Horde. Is it worth risking your life and those of your siblings to stop us? You have already lost one Horde today. Before the last of us draws his last breath, how many more Hordes do you think will fall?"

"That’s hard to say." Ygri replied. "You’ve proven to be smart and resourceful, Elder Imosi, and I’m not sure we can kill the rest of your kinsfolk without incurring losses.

"According to my estimates, you’ve run out of Life Maelstrom, yet it’s your mind that makes you dangerous. For that reason and in the name of your noble heart and steadfast honor, we Hordes are willing to let you go.

"You have nothing we want, and there is no point in spilling more Ishara’s blood unless you force us to."

"Nothing you want?" Life Vision showed Imosi how the Hordes were capable of weaving Silverwing’s Annihilation despite the great distance between them by spreading small tendrils of spore wide.

Yet even under such dire circumstances, he couldn’t afford to ignore Ygri’s words.

’Anti-Guardian spells require seven Awakened, and the women are in no condition to fight. Either the Hordes are more powerful than I thought, or something is off.’

The Elder thought while lowering two of his eyes to check on the Spirit Barrier in his palm.

’Also, what does Ygri mean, nothing-’ Imosi’s heart tightened, and his soul withered when he found the inescapable prison empty.

Imosi looked all around the meadows with Life Vision but found nothing.

"No!" He screamed. "This cannot be! I never let my guard down. I never stopped checking my surroundings. How could the fungus folk escape my grasp?"

"Because you overlooked the only place that mattered." A familiar voice replied. "Your own barrier. It wasn’t hard to open a small Spirit Steps inside your spell and let the fungus folk join me.

"Remaining still in the same place allowed you to cover all your blind spots, except for the one you yourself created."

Kalla the Wight stood on all fours, her broken body still in the process of mending itself. The fungus folk floated around her, worried about her condition, while Loma quickly regrew his body from the pile of food that she had taken out of her dimensional amulet.

"You should be dead." Disbelief lowered Imosi’s voice to a whisper. "I killed you with my pincers. I felt your life force crumble with my breathing technique."

"Technically, you are right." Kalla nodded, buying more time for Loma to recover and the Hordes to complete the Annihilation. "I should be dead, but as you see, I’m a semi-Lich."

She pointed at the white crystal as big as an apple that she carried on her neck.

"I have a long way until I can turn this gemstone into a life vessel, but it already contains a full blueprint of my life force and enough of my mana to heal me from most lethal injuries.

"Unlike a real phylactery, it has a pathetically short range, but it was more than enough."

"You played me!" The Elder’s segmented jaws snapped open in outrage. "You staged your death to hide among the shadows and help your allies."

"I didn’t stage my death." Kalla shook her head. "I merely prepared for it. I was trying to buy my allies the time to arrive, but you killed me way too quickly. I didn’t expect you to almost kill Loma either.

"I managed to Blink only a small part of him away from the Doom Tide. Luckily for us, it was big enough."

"And luckily for you Isharas, too." Zarta, the black Horde, snarled. "Had Loma died, I would have your blood at all costs."

Imosi didn’t listen to a word Zarta said.

The Elder checked his hand over and over, refusing to believe that his victory had turned into defeat so abruptly. Only after a few seconds, and his breathing technique confirming to him that his Spirit Barrier contained only air, did he dispel it.

Imosi’s maw clicked open, and his body fell down without a care for his legs breaking upon landing. A long, chirruping scream of despair erupted from his throat long before he reached the ground.

His hands beat his chest while his pincers stabbed at the land of Verendi as if the entire continent had betrayed him. Isharas had no tear glands, but something inside Solus told her that the snapping produced by their many joints was the human equivalent of tears.

The other four Isharas fell to the ground one after another, joining their Elder with cries of defeat and letting all the spells they kept at the ready fade away.

"We have still to hear your answer." Shen, the grey Horde, said. "We are not lowering our guard or dropping our spells until you get out of here."

Imosi wanted to keep trashing and screaming, but the Annihilation was aimed at the Isharas and ready to fire.

’From that angle, the Annihilation should be enough to kill at least two of us.’ He thought. ’If the Hordes are skilled mages, they might kill everyone but me in one fell swoop, and I’m willing to bet they are.’

"We surrender." The Elder actually said. "Let us take the bodies of our fallen siblings, and we’ll leave immediately."

"Then do so." Ygri nodded.

"I hope you understand why we did what we did, Horde." Imosi lifted the corpses with the utmost care, as if the dead Isharas were sleeping and he didn’t want to wake them up. "For what is worth, we would have released the fungus folk once we were done with them."

"If you ever were done with them, you mean." Zarta corrected him. "And not before having tried everything you deemed necessary. No matter how cruel the method was.

"I’ve no doubt you wouldn’t have hesitated to resort even to Forbidden Magic."

"That I won’t deny." Imosi sighed. "Yet only as a last resort. I would have prayed every night for things not to come to that."

"If praying worked, both our species wouldn’t be so desperate." Shen replied. "There are no gods on Mogar. Only Mogar."

The Elder didn’t reply, opening a long-distance Warp Steps that he crossed last to ensure that the Hordes didn’t go back on their word and that grief didn’t rob Utho of his mind first and his life second.

"Mom, you’re alive!" Nyka was barely able to stand up, yet she stumbled over to Kalla and threw her arms around her mother’s neck, crying like a little girl who had just woken up from a nightmare.

"Of course I am, silly child." The Wight lapped Nyka’s face. "I didn’t spend so much time in my lab working for nothing. I told you I had achieved a proto-life vessel months ago. And you dare call me forgetful."

"The rumors were true then." Zarta stared at Kalla with greed. "The Eyes and the Ears of Menadion. In the same place."

"In the hands of our allies and saviors!" Ygri snarled, and the fungus folk clouded mother and daughter to protect them. "Loma is alive because of the Wight. Our youngest is safe because of her. Is this how you repay grace?"

"No!" Zarta’s body became nigh-invisible. "I was just surprised."