Free Web NovelChapter 75: Father....
Thaedric was feeling a lot of things. But first he had to fight the unconsciousness that wanted to drag him under. He could feel the guardian waking like a slumbering beast stretching, thankfully the Iridessa only managed to wake one.
The enchantment words written on his back were burning as if molten metal was poured on them. And worst of all, he felt the guardian in his head.
It was angry. And hungry, for mana. Thaedric felt it, the hunger, the never-ending emptiness that was the guardian. Hunger that would never be satisfied.
Thaedric struggled to pick himself up, fighting the sleep that was clouding his eyes. He shouldn’t even be thinking of sleep with all the pain his body was feeling—his shoulder and neck—but the enchantments on him were controlling his body in ways he didn’t like.
But worst of all was the connection between him and the guardian. Like two bright shining lights connecting them together, one was fainter than the other. The first was the one that connected them as Scion and guardian and the other was the one the Iridessa made.
The one that was just made was shining bright and moving like the tentacles of a beast, latching onto him. Drinking. Sucking him dry. The Iridessa had created a link and turned Thaedric into a battery to power the guardian.
It seemed the Iridessa underestimated the complexity of waking up a guardian. So he twisted Thaedric’s natural bond to make something else.
"What are we going to do?" Kagerou whispered. He was supporting Thaedric by his uninjured shoulder. "We have to heal you."
"No...not before we defeat that thing." Thaedric muttered. Only he could feel the power in that thing. "Sandskar...Sandskar... are you there?"
"Who are you talking to?" Kagerou asked in confusion.
The scarf around him lifted. "I am here. And I can’t think of a way to defeat it. Maybe if I had my full power, but as of now I’m just clinging to you."
Thaedric could feel the power unfolding from the guardian and he shuddered. "Shit. How did the Stormgod tame that thing?" That thing was a Fallen. And a very powerful one at that.
"We have to get out of here." Kagerou followed his own instructions by dragging the two of them back.
"Wait! They can’t defeat that thing!" Thaedric resisted, but his body was too weak. He watched as Lykon and Malak stood in front of the guardian that was picking itself up. "Only me can defeat it. And the Bloodscion!" fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Thaedric wasn’t sure, but maybe they could use their Hydraeus bloodline connection to put it to sleep again. How did the Stormgod defeat and turn those things into guardians? And why?
The Stormgod made living Heirlooms.
And a very powerful one. Lykon sent bolts of mana sword slashes at it, but they splashed off the guardian without effect. It raised its hand and its sword came to it, and with a single step it was in front of them, its sword slashing down.
Malak reacted fast. "Temporal Stasis!" he shouted. His eyes glowed as his bloodline technique activated. But instead of trying to stop the guardian itself, since it had proven ineffective, he targeted the sword. And it hung there, frozen by a soft red glow.
He and Lykon fell back. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Maybe they’ll be able to defeat it. I mean, it’s fast, but they seem to be able to get around that. They are also fast, aren’t they? Then maybe...."
"Kage. Stop."
He stopped rambling, and Thaedric sighed. It was getting to all of them. His head was aching. And the enchantments on his neck weren’t helping.
The enchantments on his neck were drinking mana and giving it to the guardian. And they were drinking a lot of it. "It is not its speed that you should be careful of."
The fight between the three of them continued like that. Malak was trying his best to keep it locked down, but his bloodline technique couldn’t hold it for more than a second. Enough time for Lykon to put his knives to work. He tried cutting it, but nothing stuck.
"Not its defense either," Thaedric continued.
As they watched, dark aura surged from its body and surrounded it. But instead of smoky black aura, it looked like solid black ink, and when Lykon got close again, they latched onto him, dragging him closer to the guardian.
"Shit." Kagerou whispered, his hand tightening on Thaedric’s shoulder as they both watched.
Malak ran forward, his hands alight with red aura. He punched the guardian with his one-second freeze, but he was unable to do anything to help Lykon, and he even had to run backward to avoid the aura tentacles.
Then the air whipped around them as a green light blazed by. A sword soaked in green aura cut the tentacles away and threw Lykon out with one hand and at the same time kicked the guardian back.
"Father..." Kagerou shouted.
Thaedric wasn’t watching. He was looking at the person Liming dropped beside him when he made his dramatic entrance. The Bloodscion. The one Thaedric knew as mother.
Warm memories flooded him, as the woman folded him into her arms. She smelled familiar. Like home. Her shoulders shook and Thaedric bit back a cry of pain as she squeezed his injured shoulder. "I thought I lost you too," she whispered.
She held him for a little while and then she drew back, and she was the Bloodscion again. "We have to get your wound treated. Kagerou, take him to the healer and call every Tier Four and above in the palace." She frowned. All her high-tier warriors had been spread thin throughout the Dominion.
But Kagerou didn’t answer her orders. He bowed as best as he could while supporting another. "Your Majesty. Thaedric thinks he’s...connected with the guardian somehow."
Her eyes snapped to Thaedric, her gaze tracing his face to his neck where the enchantments were still sizzling. She sighed. "It just keeps getting worse."
