Fear replaced excitement as Night and Orpal realized they had no actual understanding of their opponent.
Jirni’s equipment was a mystery and so was her mind.
They felt like insects stuck into a web that a crafty spider had weaved in the form of a jar and covered in honey. Night was an old being and that made what she didn’t know or understand even more scary.
Orpal based his confidence on her expertise so her insecurity infected him.
‘Behind you!’ Night was no different from Solus in her ability to look everywhere at the same time with Life Vision.
Jirni wasn’t a Verhen and she didn’t live in Lutia so the Horseman could help her host against the Archon. It was the only reason Orpal escaped death.
Skywarp was true to its name, allowing Jirni to Blink right behind Orpal after leaving a hologram in front of the entry point as a decoy.
The Dead King turned around, using Thorn’s staff to block the hit aimed at the exact spot where Night’s crystal was. He was stronger than Jirni, but now she weighed tons.
“I forgot to tell you that my daughter Friya helped him. My bad!” Friya couldn’t share with Orion the Hydra’s bloodline techniques, but dimensional magic was her own thing.
The Davross of the two weapons screeched upon impact and Orpal was sent flying away from Moonlight. The mindless artifact wouldn’t act without an order from its master and remained there, standing still.
‘How can a human be this strong? I’m an Awakened!’ He thought as a flap of Jirni’s wings turned her into a golden bullet aimed at his throat.
‘The Royal Fortress armor is renowned for amplifying the physical abilities of its wearer to match those of an Emperor Beast.’ Night replied.
‘I’m as strong as an Emperor Beast!’ Orpal said in outrage.
‘You only weigh 90 kilograms (198 pounds) of purified flesh, bones, and muscles. She weighs tons and has that!’ Night forced him to focus on the Life Maelstrom that coursed through the Royal Fortress armor and that was now spreading to Skywarp.
The glaive cutting through the air emitted a high-pitched scream that made their skin crawl. They had already heard something like that in the past when fighting War.
Orion had poured everything he had learned from the Council, Lith, Vastor, and Balkor into Skywarp.
His decades of experience as a Forgemaster, his love for his family, and his relentless desire to protect his wife. Skywarp wasn’t just the latest piece in the War series, it was also imbued with a bloodlust second only to Jirni’s.
The semi-sentience combined with the blood bond with its master allowed Jirni to utilize spells like dimensional magic that required the willpower of the caster to work.
It was supposed to be something impossible for a non-mage, yet Orion had pulled it off. Skywarp made Jirni even capable of flight, yet she had no reason to at the moment due to the Royal Fortress armor already having the same ability.
Jirni moved her arms on the sides, preparing for a backhand slash.
‘Don’t worry about this.’ Night read the enemy’s moves thanks to her centuries of battle experience. ‘A glaive is a little more versatile than a spear, but it lacks in speed and precision.
‘To perform a slash, she needs a wide movement that will leave her ready for a counter, but knowing Jirni, it must be a trap. Let her strike, deflect her weapon with yours and then strike at her vitals!’
Just like Lith, Orpal was used to the mind link and the Horseman’s voice didn’t bother him.
Quite the contrary, by sharing her mind, Night could make the trajectory she predicted appear in front of his eyes and even show Orpal what the best movements to counter it were.
He telepathically nodded and prepared to react when suddenly Night saw with Life Vision a dimensional entry point appear in front of Jirni and an exit point right behind Orpal.
‘I was right, it was just a trap! She’s going to strike from behind like before.’ Night was in charge of using Life Vision to save the Dead King’s limited mana and allow him to focus solely on the battle.
He turned around, lunging at the point where the Horseman had predicted Jirni’s head would appear, but the spear bit only air.
Jirni hadn’t moved from her spot, slashing the Dead King’s back with a powerful movement that cut the Davross of his armor and sent him crashing on the marble floor below.
‘What? How?’ Orpal and Night thought in unison.
Little did they know that Friya’s mastery of dimensional magic had reached the point that she could harness the elements to form what looked like a dimensional opening but it was just a light show.
Even to Night’s trained eye, the Blink had seemed real, but it had actually been a ruse designed against Awakened. A normal person would have not noticed the fake dimensional door and Jirni’s attack would have been telegraphed.
The Constable grinned, proud of her daughter and how she had learned her mother’s trickery.
Orpal had claimed that she was alone, but Jirni had a completely different opinion. If the armor represented her long-dead ancestor, the weapon in her hands embodied how much her family loved her.
Even though they weren’t there in the flesh, to Jirni they were fighting right beside her.
“Do you see what I mean?” Jiza said. “Oghrom would be proud. She is not just using the power of the armor, she has bent the power of the armor to her needs.”
The two Emperor Beasts nodded, trying their best to crack Orion’s cloaking spells and understand the secrets of Skywarp. Feela was deeply impressed whereas Faluel was stunned.
‘I thought that War was a fluke but another one? Again a weapon with no power core but semi-sentience.’ The Hydra thought. ‘What would happen if Orion managed to create something with a power core? Would his weapon develop a true ego without the need for Forbidden Magic?’
As a Forgemaster, the thought filled her with both excitement and fear. The fear arose from the shocking discovery that despite their short lives and no bloodline abilities, the humans could achieve such greatness.
Meanwhile, Jirni dived toward the Dead King while performing a downward slash with her glaive.
‘Another telegraphed attack, but this time you have the back against a wall. Her dimensional trickery is meaningless!’ Night urged Orpal to let her take the wheel, but he refused.
‘This is my fight! What kind of man can’t defeat a puny woman double his age and half his weight? She’s no Awakened, I can’t lose!’ The Dead King followed Night’s instructions, using Thorn to strike Skywarp from the side and deflect the attack.
It would have worked, if not for Jirni exploiting the obvious counter to her obvious attack. She used the strength of the impact to pivot on the pole of the spear, shifting her momentum from the glaive to her left foot.
The slash turned into a kick so powerful that the talons on the boot pierced through the Davross of the Black Rose armor and reached Night’s crystal, opening a deep hole into it.
Jirni had just used another of the Griffons’ bloodline abilities imbued in her armor, Focus Point.
