Supreme Magus

"He's slower than me but he started moving before I did. He anticipated my attack." The Behemoth said while slowly increasing the pressure on Shargein's wrists and enjoying the strained expression on the Wyrmling's snout.

Shargein was used to watching his mother train with his Dragon Eyes so the techniques of the two Awakened seemed slow and predictable in comparison.

Yet neither the talent he had inherited from his parents nor the skills they had taught him were enough to beat someone overwhelmingly stronger who didn't underestimate the Wyrmling.

"Enough playing with him! We have no use for a second hostage, just kill hi-" Janya couldn't finish the phrase, her throat frozen in place like the world around her.

The clearing was already silent before the two Awakened triggered the Warping Array. Animals recognized a hunter on the prowl and had either run away or hidden in their burrows. Yet the wind was still supposed to blow.

The clouds floating in the sky were still supposed to lazily move, following the high-altitude currents. What happened, instead, was complete stillness.

Janya and Garvi couldn't move a muscle and even their mana cores failed to circulate a single strand of mana. Only the runnels of sweat dripping off their faces proved that time kept moving forward.

Suddenly, Shargein's flaring orange aura was flooded by a blackness that erupted from his feathered body until the area around him was darker than night.

'This doesn't make any sense.' Garvi thought, his mind the only part of his body that still answered his commands. 'There is no record of an orange core becoming an Abomination. Also, I have yet to hurt him badly and he sure didn't strain his core.

'Even if somehow this Wyrmling tuned into a newborn Abomination, two bright violet cores like us should be able to kill it without a single spell. Heck, with my strength, a punch should suffice. What's going on?'

The answer to his and Janya's questions manifested itself when the blackness in Shargein's aura converged into a vertical-slitted pupil staring at them in boundless hatred.

The strength of the Wyrmling's grip increased by the second and Garvi watched helplessly as his Adamant armor cracked under Shargein's fingers, quickly followed by his arms.

"What did you say?" The voice was neither feminine nor masculine, just unbridled rage.

It didn't come from the Wyrmling but out of him, in the same way as his aura.

There was no mana in those words.

They were just air vibrating through an invisible throat. Yet their violence struck the two Awakened like an avalanche. Only the sturdiness of the Adamant of their armor and the Spirit Barrier enchantment saved their lives.

The woman and the Behemoth were both sent flying like motes of dust in the wind, their equipment covered in cracks from the shockwave and their bones vibrating so hard that it gave them a concussion.

Garvi and Janya were still puking blood from their internal injuries when three blades fell from the sky. The Tyrannical Sun, Father of Wrath, and Worldbreaker swords circled around Shargein and Elina in a triangular formation.

When the Awakeneds' blurred visions cleared up, they saw the woman wearing the Master of Greed armor while the Conqueror Moon armor covered the Wyrmling.

"That's not a lesser Divine Beast." Janya managed to whisper amid tears.

As if conjured by her words, another wave of power erupted from Shargein. His red feathers turned white and two diagonal-slitted pupils appeared in Shargein's aura and eyes, forming a six-pointed star.

"What did you say?" The voice returned as the Wyrmling started to float in mid-air, not because of a spell or the flapping of his wings but because the aura he exuded pushed him up with its sheer violence.

***

Blood Desert at the same time.

Aran and Leria had finally completed their homework and could now play with their friends until dinner.

"I can't wait for Grandma Elina to return." Leria said. "I've never eaten saltwater fish and just listening to the stories of her trip made me hungry. I can't wait to taste it instead of imagining it."

"And they say girls are the romantic ones." Aran scoffed. "How can you think with your stomach when you should admire the sunrise? It's not something we get to see every day."

"Don't be silly, dummy." Leria sneered. "It's evening and the sun has yet to set. How can it be sunrise again?"

"Then tell me, miss know-it-all, what's that?" Aran pointed east, where a sphere of blinding white light was rising from the horizon.

Leria looked west and found the real sun, whose light had turned dimmer and orange as night approached.

"Dad!" She had no idea what was happening but was pretty sure there had never been two suns shining over Mogar. "Mom!"

She ran to her parents, hoping to be reassured or at least protected from whatever was coming.

***

Griffon Kingdom, Raagu Drerian's house, at the same time.

"There is something wrong with Lutia." The master of the house and human representative of the Awakened Council tapped her finger on the sleek tea table between her and her guest. "Whenever something weird happens, it always originates from Lutia.

"Take this fellow, for example." Raagu passed a folder containing the few information her apprentices had found about a candidate for the Awakened Council despite running a thorough background check. "He's a ghost."

"Nalrond Fastarrow?" Feela the Behemoth skimmed through the information, finding nothing that her own background check hadn't already uncovered. "Have you asked me to come here because you are honestly curious about him or because you want to raise a claim on him?"

Now that he was no longer recognizable as a member of the legendary Rezar race, Nalrond had introduced himself to the Council as a rogue Awakened and requested a suitable position in the community.

He needed it not only to have access to resources and information no fake mage could obtain without a high-clearance job in the government, but also because once he married Friya, hiding his existence would be impossible.

Nalrond had chosen the perfect time and channel to reveal his newborn Agni bloodline so that no one would try anything funny.

"Please, don't treat me like an idiot." Raagu scoffed. "I know he's a perfect hybrid between human and Emperor Beast…"

"And the first one we've ever met at that." Feela pointed out.

"But even if I wanted him for my faction, what can I do?" Raagu ignored her and continued. "Nalrond was introduced to us by Faluel and has deep bonds with her apprentice, Friya Ernas. That would be enough to stop me, considering that Fyrwal has returned to the scene.

"Messing with her would mean messing with the entire Hydra bloodline. Even if your beast Council decided not to get involved in the matter, I can't make a move against the Hydras. No one in the human Council would support me."

"Not with Fyrwal being one of the only connections the Awakened community has with the reborn Ripha Menadion." Feela sighed.

"Exactly." Raagu nodded. "Those two go a long way back and it's much easier to curry Fyrwal's favor than Verhen's. She represents everyone's best shot at meeting Menadion and maybe establishing with her a relationship cordial enough to become her clients."