“Verhen had to lock his family behind the Council’s and the Kingdom’s protection while we had to back off. We never managed to follow his movements and the few times we did, he was in highly secure locations where our options were limited.
“Then, the bastard became a Divine Beast. If not for Night and Thrud ordering us to leave him alone, we would have dealt with him back then, while our blood cores still gave us an advantage over a runt with a deep violet core.
“To make matters worse, we kept underestimating him. Who would have thought that a baby, a hatchling, would have reached the violet core in the same time as Awakened with a powerful bloodline legacy at their disposal?
“It’s like the bastard Awakened in the crib and spent his whole life on a mana geyser!” Shelk said.
The first hypothesis was correct while the second was wrong. The rapid development of Lith’s mana core was simply one of the many perks of having a mage tower even before knowing what Solus’ stone ring was.
It was much, much better than living on a geyser and much, much worse for the Undead Courts who still had no idea of their enemy’s true abilities.
“Now, we are fucked! We are so fucked that I expect every one of us to die with a little Tiamat bursting out of our chest. Verhen is now not only a Divine Beast, but a Divine Beast with a bright violet core.
“If we wait too long and he gets accustomed to his new powers, we’ll have no chance of victory. Bloodline abilities, mass, raw physical strength, there’s nothing that even an undead elder can match him in.”
“That’s not true.” Ezhman countered. “Blood cores grow naturally past the bright violet. We can never reach the white, but some of our oldest members are still stronger than Verhen.”
“Really? Do you really think that any of them is going to face a Divine Beast and put their eternal life on the line for us? Because I sure wouldn’t.” Shelk replied, turning the enthusiasm into despair.
“If this is what you think, why are you proposing to kill Verhen in the first place?” Anmira asked.
“Because I believe we have no other choice.” The Blood Warlock lowered his gaze, his voice sounded worried if not scared. “Once Verhen masters his powers, he’ll be the one hunting us.
“I doubt he has ever forgotten about the Undead King’s ploys and the help we gave him. Verhen never forgave us, he was simply biding his time and now he’s almost done waiting.
“Soon he’ll have no need to play defense anymore. When that happens, he’ll bring with him his Demons, his sister, the Council, the army, the Association, the Abominations, and the gods only know who else.
“Before you say anything stupid remember that unless we attack first, Verhen is going to have the time to raise an army of Demons of Darkness, each one with the power of a bright violet core!”
Every one of them had watched the videos from the War of the Griffons. They knew what Lith could do with a bit of time and a mana geyser at his disposal. Facing him alone was already hard but if he brought reinforcements, there would be no chance of victory.
“For the first time from the founding of the Undead Courts, time is not by our side. The more we wait, the fewer our chances of victory. If we don’t create an opportunity to recover the ground we’ve lost, if we don’t become the makers of our own fortune, the only path left for us is extinction.”
The representatives of the other two Courts remained silent, searching for any argument that would counter such an ill-prophecy.
Yet they found none.
After Veeza the Lich had triggered and lost a war, the Empress was mercilessly hunting down the Courts with the aid of the Organization. In the Kingdom and the Desert things weren’t much better. The Eldritches uprooted the undead from the underworld while the Royals from society.
As for the Desert, the Organization had no foothold there but for a good reason. Salaark allowed no black market and her nomadic society didn’t leave many opportunities for the undead to hide.
The local Courts existed by allying themselves with the rogue tribes and the bandit clans that refused to submit to the Overlord’s law. They lived off by pillaging the villages and trading the stolen goods with merchants since most oases were off-limits.
The undead in the Desert were forced to live as nomads as well, stealing what they could from the unused mines and running away as fast as they could once the members of the Nest spotted them.
“All in favor?”
***
City of Lutia, Trawn woods, Lith’s tower.
Kamila was indeed struggling against the feeling of weakness and the anxiety that had arisen after Elysia’s birth.
Without the Divine Beast’s senses, the world around her had become a dull and cold place. She couldn’t see the vibrant colors of a flower anymore. She couldn’t smell a mix of subtle fragrances and recognize them all.
It was like having a layer of cotton hard-pressed against every centimeter of her skin, muffling her every sensation. That and the sudden loss of her physical and magical prowess had led her to depression.
Lith had suggested her to move inside the tower because the dream house was filled with happy memories that soothed Kamila’s spirit while the mana geyser helped her to practice Accumulation.
Without Elysia refining her body and mana core for Kamila, she now had to do it herself.
“I don’t know what to do anymore, Duke.” Lith was talking with Marth, the White Griffon academy’s Headmaster, and his wife Ryssa. “Our life has never been so peaceful. The pregnancy is over, Elysia is healthy, and we are surrounded by our friends and family.
“Kami is supposed to be happy but she’s not. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so down, not even after we broke up. Do you guys have any advice?”
“I’m sorry, no.” Marth said. “I’ve walked a mile in your wife’s shoes and I can tell you just one thing. It’s not her fault, yours, or anyone else’s.”
“How did you get over your post-power depression?” Lith asked.
“With time.” Marth sighed. “I had to keep moving forward day after day until I stopped living stuck in the moment when I fused with the White Griffon.”
“That’s it?” Lith was relieved to hear that the solution was that simple. “We just have to wait until it goes away?”
“No, it’s far from easy.” Marth shook his head while trying to find the right words to express the burden that was still weighing on him. “It’s like having lived your perfect day and having experienced true happiness.
“On paper sounds great, but when the following day your life goes back to normal, that joy becomes a curse. Everything good that happens, every one of your achievements gets weighed against that day and found wanting.
“You can’t help but see everything through the lens of that day, turning your present sad and disappointing.”
