Life Suppression, however, was a tougher client. It conjured a black five pointed star inscribed in a red circle which allowed the person at its center to feed on the energy the array drained from everything inside its area of effect.
Scarlett inwardly cursed as she realized that both her array and her life force were being turned against her, making the Nue even more powerful.
“Yes! I knew it! You are the key to my research.” Xacha said as the flood of nutrients made the hunger that had tormented her ever since her metamorphosis disappear.
Black flames erupted from her neck, enveloping her skull as her body started to mutate once again.
“What goes around comes around, pal.” Scarlett reacted quickly, turning her Light Sovereign into its darkness magic counterpart. Normally she would have suffered from its deadly effects as well, but thanks to Life Suppression, all of its energy was redirected to the Nue.
The black flames disappeared as the hybrid started to wither. Life Suppression injected the poisonous darkness energy directly into Xacha’s cores, making it spread like wildfire.
“No! All the life force I have collected. Lost!” Darkness magic was the bane of both undead and Abominations. Xacha could feel her blood and black core weakening as the darkness magic seeped through them until it almost reached her mana core.
Her tail fell onto the ground, turning into specks of darkness before fading into nothingness.
“Look at yourself and at what you have become. Do you understand now? Abominations and undead leave no corpse behind because they are simply shadows of their former self.
“If there’s anything left in you of the kind Nue I knew, let me give you a painless death.” Scarlett said, dispelling Shadow Sovereign a second after Xacha did the same for Life Suppression.
“Shut up! What good is a mother who can’t protect her own children? I refuse to die!” The sky blackened and the earth trembled. A black pillar descended from the thunderclouds that were blotting the sun and enveloped the Nue.
“Do you see it? Mogar agrees with me! This is my world tribulation. The planet still considers me one of its Guardian candidates!” Dark clouds gathered and spun around the two Emperor Beasts as Xacha’s form became covered in black scales.
“You’re only half right.” Scarlett said. “The black pillar is just a sign that Mogar has relinquished any hope for you. You’re turning into an Eldritch and there’s no way back from that. You’re right about the tribulation part, though.
“Only it’s not yours.” Scarlett was forced back into her bestial form and then her body started to change, doubling its size. Her fur morphed into red scales as thick as a shield and a new set of feathered wings appeared on the Scorpicore’s back right beside her membranous ones.
Her muzzle turned into a mask of fire, only her eyes remained visible. Scarlett’s red mane erupted into a raging purple flame, hot enough to blacken the ground below her.
The Emperor Beast roared as she attacked the Eldritch with her claws. The two creatures rolled on the ground, spraying red or black blood whenever one of them managed to wound her opponent.
Soon Scarlett realized her mistake. Her fangs and claws were as sharp as those of the Eldritch, but she lacked the deadly touch such creatures possessed. Each wound Xacha’s new body inflicted on Scarlett would also drain her life force, mending the Eldritch’s wounds.
The scorpion’s sting at the end of Scarlett’s tail stung Xacha multiple times. At such close range, neither of them could cast spells and the Eldritch was quickly getting the upper hand since she could heal and attack at the same time.
“What good is venom against someone who has no blood? You took everything from me, so I will slowly savor your death.” In her Eldritch form, Xacha’s heart was quickly being replaced by the hunger that plagued all Abominations.
She was aware that after killing Scarlett, her own cubs would be her next prey. She was too hungry to care anymore for such dead weight. Her mind was becoming colder and more calculative by the second.
‘It’s all Scarlett’s fault! If not for her meddling I would still be a Nue. All of my hard work is ruined!’ Xacha’s train of thought was interrupted by a sudden burst of pain coming from her back.
A Scorpicore’s tail didn’t inject venom. Plants, undead, Abominations, there were too many creatures that would be immune to such a weapon. Acid, on the other hand, worked the same way on all kinds of enemies.
The surprise made the Eldritch falter long enough for Scarlett to escape from her deadly embrace and take flight. She was bleeding from multiple deep wounds and her red scales had been blackened by the Eldritch’s parasitic touch.
‘That does it! Mogar is truly a scumbag. How can it give Xacha a power up, turning her into an Eldritch in the middle of our fight while giving a tribulation to me? Not only does it not give me a single advantage, but also if I fail it, I’ll die, no matter the result of the fight.’ Scarlett thought, using light fusion to treat her wounds.
Xacha was still getting used to her new body, but since air was one of her innate elements, she was able to fly better than Scarlett. The Scorpicore only had the time to weave a single spell before the enemy caught up with her.
‘Damn if I miss my pince-nez. It would help me to understand how much power Xacha has left. Too bad that Chaos magic is too dangerous. If I take any artifact out of my pocket dimension, I risk it getting destroyed. I only have one trick left at this point.’
Scarlett kept dodging and stinging with her tail at her opponent, trying to stall for time as long as she could. Eldritchs were indeed powerful, but because of their hunger, they consumed mana even while standing still.
They needed a constant supply of energy to survive, so during such a heated battle, a newborn Eldritch like Xacha couldn’t last long. She had yet to learn how to use her new abilities to their fullest.
Xacha was well aware that the tables had been turned. Each sting of Scarlett’s tail opened a new wound, making her hunger worse. In the few seconds they had played airborne tag, she had consumed a lot of vitality just to keep up with her opponent’s speed.
Xacha was eager to finish the duel and find something to eat. She focused her remaining energies into a full powered tier four Chaos magic spell, Hollow Void. The black spear erupted the moment Scarlett was forced to slow down to avoid a patch of tall trees.
At such a close range, the spell was unavoidable.
‘Finally! Here’s my chance!’ Scarlett thought as she unleashed a powerful tier four spell, Light Pillar. For a split second, the two spells clashed and Howling Void easily pierced through the construct, but Scarlett was expecting that.
She reversed the light into darkness, so that the opponent’s Chaos magic stripped her own spell of its light element turning the Howling Void into normal darkness magic and vice versa. Thanks to her ruse, Xacha had unwillingly turned Scarlett’s Dark Pillar into a Chaos spell.
The huge energy mass was too big and too fast to dodge. The Eldritch took the full force of the Chaos Pillar, dying on the spot.
