Eldritches had no Life Vision so she only noticed the thick layer of darkness magic when it was too late. The radiance of the light element masked the presence of its counterpart but it was still there.
It was the massive amount of darkness magic that was hurting Orulm beyond what even an Eldritch could take. Abthot tried to Chaos Blink away, but the elemental imbalance near Auros distorted the spell just like it had done to Orulm’s.
[“Bug off, bug.”] The lost city slapped the Ogre-Abomination hybrid away with his free hand that was now white hot.
She tried to use the plant nature of her monster half to split her body into vines and dodge the attack, but a sudden cold wave froze her in place. Turning into smaller pieces made her water-rich body more vulnerable to the cold and when the open palm hit her, she felt herself burning with the heat of a small sun.
Eldritches were resistant to all elements but darkness yet the same couldn’t be said for Abthot’s monster half. The thermal shock broke her into shreds that caught fire the moment the ice trapping her thawed.
Her screams of pain didn’t join Orulm’s solely because she had no mouth left.
‘Is the lost city turning one element into another?’ She wondered in shock as she consumed a good chunk of her energy to reassemble her form. ‘How can someone on Jiera have mastered Void Magic?
‘Verhen personally taught Vastor and he has yet to master it. This doesn’t make sense.’
And yet it did.
What Auros used wasn’t Void Magic. He had simply weaponized an extreme elemental imbalance. By draining the world energy of one element via his pseudo cores and hosts, the counterpart became over-abundant.
It caused spells of both elements to fail and inflicted great damage simply by proximity. Orulm could have drained the light element and fueled his powers if not for the thick layer of Origin Flames enveloping him.
They ate at his body from inside the fist while the darkness magic attacked him from the outside.
The Eldritch kept screaming yet he refused to die. The lost city tightened his grip until there was almost no space between his fingers but death seemed to be running late that day.
[“Wait a second.”] Auros stared in shock at Orulm with Life Vision.
According to the mystical sense not only was the Eldritch’s life force recovering but also his energy signature matched that of the lost city.
[“Shit. You noticed.”] The screams of pain turned into laughter as Orulm pried the fist open with brute strength. [“I was hoping that my little act and your ego would keep you from using Life Vision. Oh, well. All good things come to an end.”]
“Language!” Abthot yelled in annoyance after getting far away enough to regain her strength by sucking a patch of trees dry.
“Sorry.” Orulm said. “Thanks for your patience. I’m done with my preparations.”
“And so am I. Let’s take down this arrogant brat.” Abthot injected one of her tendrils inside each of the dead trees.
The fragments took root, spreading Chaos through the withered wood and turning each one of the trees into a perfect copy of the Ogre-Abomination hybrid. Looks and energy signature were identical.
Only the limited amount of mana the copies held made the original easy to recognize. At least until they sucked everything in their proximity dry, bringing their black cores almost to match with Abthot.
She had gained from her Ogre core the ability to turn corpses into loyal and expendable servants while Orulm’s monster half belonged to a Skinwalker. Such monsters were capable of mimicking their victims to perfection.
They inherited even the memories, the physical skills, and the energy signature of those they devoured, keeping them until the next meal gave them a new form.
In Orulm’s case, the hungry nature of Chaos had mixed well with the bloodline ability of the Skinwalkers, allowing him to acquire the characteristics of his enemies just by consuming their energy.
Such effects would last only until the stolen essence was completely expended or digested, but until that moment, the Eldritch held several advantages.
The energy Orulm had consumed during the first two clashes was too small to give him access to the lost city’s full memory but it was enough to create a breach in Auros’ hive mind.
Everything the cursed object planned or feared was clear to Orulm now and thanks to their shared energy signature, magic could do him no harm anymore. The darkness layer was useless and if not for the Origin Flames, Orulm would have finished his meal much sooner.
The Eldritch could now slip through every barrier and defence the lost city would conjure since the enchantments would mistake him for one of the many hosts.
Auros roared in fury, turning his golden body orange by infusing it to the brim with earth magic. The sudden elemental imbalance conjured a violent thunderstorm that the Bringer of Unity hoped would buy him the time to understand what was happening.
He was so focused on the mystery that Orulm represented that by the time he looked at Abthot, there was no way to distinguish the original from her clones.
‘This is impossible. It takes centuries for an Eldritch to tap into their full potential and they are not supposed to reproduce. How could she violate both these rules?’ The lost city thought in shock.
The Ogre-Abomination hybrid had created only five copies since due to Auros’ influence there wasn’t enough nourishment around to fuel more. What the Bringer of Unity t feared wasn’t the Eldritches’ numbers but the unknown threat that their newfound abilities represented.
Auros chose to ignore Orulm since now his spells were harmless and with his puny body the Eldritch’s physical attacks were nothing to the orange giant. The Skinwalker-Abomination hybrid smiled, using that respite to gain some distance and weave a new set of spells.
[“It’s useless! You Abomination can’t use Spirit Magic and there’s nothing you can do that a mere array can’t stop.”] Auros said and Orulm translated for Abthot..
The lost city advanced slowly and clumsily, taking his time to conjure a new set of elemental sealing arrays for each step he took. He was wary of the Annihilation and had no desire to discover if among their new abilities the Eldritches had also gained the means to destroy his pseudo cores.
“Yeah, but arrays go both ways.” The Abthots scoffed as they Blinked around, surrounding the giant in a circle formation.
The six of them plunged their hands into the ground, spreading their spells while also sucking the world energy coming from below dry to fuel them.
Channelling massive amounts of earth element gave Auros a degree of defence almost on par with a Fenrir’s bloodline ability Mana Body, but with one difference. It required mana, not life force so in order to use it the lost city could seal neither earth or air.
The former would negate his own spell while the latter would make it impossible to safely split the elements. It was the reason Abthot could still use earth magic in the area beneath the lost city and create a fissure big enough to trap him.
