As soon as Chaos and Decay reached a perfect balance, the black and white wings sprouted from his back, sizzling their way through the Dominator armor.
The artifact hadn’t been devised to cover the new limbs nor did it have in-built openings for the wings. Vastor did his best to shapeshift the armor out of the way but he was inexperienced and had only a vague idea of their size.
“The elemental eyes are typical of evolved humans but this is the first time that I see them charged with Cursed Elements instead of the regular ones.” Lith ignored the other changes, deeming them irrelevant.
“Do they have some special ability?”
“Sort of.” The Master shrugged. He had never heard about Domination nor had he received any formal training. “I could see the focus points of the enemies’ spells and replace their will with my own.
“It was weird, but it allowed me to hijack them and turn the spells against their casters.”
Lith nodded, his poker face hiding his surprise under a confused expression.
‘Fuck me sideways, this is the first time I heard about something like this.’ He thought. ‘My eyes, Morok’s, and Lyra’s can’t do anything like that and she’s a Fomor. I wonder how different Zogar has become from a human.’
Vastor then explained to them how the synergy between his cores, wings, and eyes granted him the ability to collect elemental energy and weave it in a spell within moments.
“The only annoying thing about this is that after all the hard work to lose weight, I gained it back one hundred-fold!” He sighed.
Luckily for him, he already knew about Gravity Fusion, but it would take the Master a while to get used to his new mass and then neutralize it with fusion magic.
“Don’t worry, dear, you look amazing.” Zinya hugged him. “With your shining wings, you look like a god descended from the sky. Can I touch them?”
“Wait a second.” Vastor took a step back and then put a flower on each of his wings. “Chaos and Decay are highly destructive. There’s a good chance that prolonged contact is harmful.”
After a few seconds, the flowers were still there. Two minutes later, the suspense was long gone and replaced by boredom.
“Can I touch them now?” Zinya asked.
“One second.” The Master made his mana circulate through the wings, making them shine with elemental power.
Yet nothing happened again. The Cursed Elements were contained by the wings and wouldn’t emit more than light unless he willed so.
“Okay, knock yourself out.” Zinya, the kids, and Kamila took the offer. “I meant… never mind.”
He still felt awkward about his new condition and had assumed that only his wife would touch him. Being groped by so many people wasn’t part of the plan.
“There are no elemental veins here.” Aran checked the feathers’ front and back. “I count this as my brother’s win.”
“No, it’s not!” Frey replied. “Lith’s wings aren’t better, just different.”
“Frey is right.” Elina intervened to nip the new Blood War in the bud. “We are all friends here and this is no competition.”
“Okay, fine.” Leria pouted. “Then who’s stronger?”
“Do you really want us to fight just for that?” Lith replied. “What if we get hurt?”
“Dya.” Elysia nodded, finding the matter ridiculous.
“I changed my mind.” Aran went pale at the idea and so did Frey. “I don’t care who’s stronger.”
Filia was tempted to flaunt her success in casting the Loop spell, but she closed her mouth without saying anything.
‘Even if Uncle Tezka is right and I do have talent, that was not my doing. Without the Yggdrasill staff, I don’t even remember how I did it and without its power, I would never manage to do it again.
‘Mom makes a fuss every time I ask her about Awakening so there’s no point talking about something I don’t understand and can’t practice.’ She inwardly sighed, keeping her chagrin hidden to not ruin the moment for the others.
After a while, everyone returned home via the Vastor Household’s Gate.
“I know it’s supposed to be your day off, but please, don’t leave their side tonight.” Zinya said to Tezka after tucking the kids in their beds. “If they have nightmares, I want them to have someone looking after them until my arrival.”
“No problem.” The Suneater was a bit puzzled by the request since the master bedroom was close by. Also, he pondered why she was still holding Grimbark, but he just shrugged his doubts off.
“I’m sorry.” Those were the first words that Vastor said to her when Zinya entered the room. “I’ve put your children in danger. Again.”
He was sitting on the bed, his head down and his shoulders slouched.
“Also, I’m not even fully human now. Maybe you and the kids should move out of the house for a-” Her hand on his mouth put an end to his rant.
“Don’t you even say that.” Zinya stared him in the eye with an angry look on her face. “You saved me from Fallmug first, then from Night and from Meln. I live on borrowed time and I want to savor every moment of the life you’ve gifted me.
“On top of that, according to Zoreth, the prisoners confessed that the ploy was about hurting Lith through me. It would have happened with or without you. You are not the reason for the attack, only for my children’s survival so I forbid you to blame yourself. Are we clear?”
Vastor nodded and she let go of his mouth.
“Now, I have a few questions before we go to bed.”
“Shoot.” The Master saw the anger disappear like snow under the sun and then be quickly replaced by a huge smile and sparkling eyes.
“Do you really have control over your Abomination half now?” She asked.
“Technically, there’s no more Abomination half. I’m no longer a hybrid, more like some kind of new human species. It’s far from finished but-”
“Great.” Zinya seemed to have no interest in technical jargon. “So we don’t need to sleep with this thing between us anymore, correct?”
“Yes, but why are you still holding my staff? To check how long my body can last without it?”
“No, it just helps me think.” She shook her head. “Last question. If you are not a hybrid anymore, you are also not sterile, right?”
“Maybe.” Vastor blushed in surprise. “I don’t know. Give me a few days to perform a few experiments and make sure of it.”
“You took the words out of my mouth.” Zinya dropped the staff and let her dress slip off her body, ready to spend as much time in the “lab” as necessary.
***
Verhen Mansion, at the same time.
“Poor kids, they can never catch a break.” Lith sighed while handing Elysia to Kamila for the last meal before bed.
“It’s the price to pay for having an Archmage in the family.” Kamila shrugged. “A few bumps on the road are well worth the trip if you ask me.”
She looked at the baby girl with love, almost feeling again the connection that they once shared. As for Elysia, she was still hungry but it was getting better.
