Chapter 3443 Dominant Side (Part 2) "Son of a filthy-" The words died in the Dawn King's mouth when he noticed Lith's glare. "I mean, that ugly piece of shit played us like a fiddle. I'm amazed by your attention to detail, Supreme Magus Verhen. I've watched the footage several times yet never noticed this." "Second piece of good news." Lith snarled in anger. "I don't think Poopie's dominant side is the Dragon's life force but the Vampire. Look at this." He pointed at the membranous wings, the bulging upper torso of the Chosen, and the lack of scales. "This is not something like a Wyvern but a Chiropteran" "Are you sure?" Bhaz pondered. "Your Demons have no scales either!" "Because their body is made of darkness, not flesh." Lith replied. "Also, there is another way to confirm my theory. Did the Night Court use ice spells against the Chosen?" "Of course!" Cyrra nodded. "Ice is the best way to slow down a Ghoul's regeneration and keep their scattered pieces from reattaching themselves to the main body." "Show me." Lith said and Bahz obliged. "I was right. There is no drop in the Chosen's strength when hit by the cold waves." "Again, it's a Ghoul." The Banshee shook her head. "All undead are immune to cold, just like your Demons." "And again, that's only because they don't have a physical body." Lith replied. "Valia, show them." The Demon possessed her own body and kept it perfectly preserved with Necromancy. The moment she abandoned her human form and became a Demon of the Fallen, her pitch-black skin became covered in small scales. They moved up and down gently, as if the scales breathed along with her, releasing a heat that steamed in the cold of the Stonewall Fortress. "Dragons are beings of fire and I'm no different." Lith shapeshifted into his Tiamat form, revealing the crown of silver flames on his head and raising the temperature in the room by several degrees. "It's the reason I'm weak to cold. This thing is not." Bhaz instinctively took a step back. Undead were supposed to be immune to fire, but the unnatural heat Lith emitted felt like it would burn the Blood Warlock like paper if he stood too close to the silvery flames. "I was right! You did become stronger despite being still a bright violet core." He blurted out in surprise. "Mine is a new kind of Divine Beast, Bhaz." Lith clicked his foot-long (30 cm) tongue. "Of course I get stronger every time I discover one of my abilities. Now, if we are done stating the obvious, it's time for the bad news. "Not only are you right about the qualitative change Poopie's powers will undergo when he reaches the violet, but we now know for certain he has a way to uphold his promise. He can pass his powers without a prism." "I'm sorry, you lost me." Cyrra said. "Think about it." Lith shapeshifted back into his human form. "Abominations can't procreate. Even as a Tiamat, it will take decades for my daughter to be able to fight and most of my Demons are wandering souls that join my side for a single battle. "But what about undead? You are almost as sterile as Abominations but you have another way to increase your numbers quickly." "Good gods." Bhaz covered his mouth with his hand in realization. "Exactly." Lith nodded. "Remember the wording of Poopie's offer. One prism to those who bring the head of a member of my family and the combat form to whoever joins him. They sound like the same thing but they are not. "Night can only produce so many prisms before she becomes weaker than a regular undead. If Poopie can make Thralls, instead, there would be no burden on her. Who knows, maybe he can even turn living beings into Vurdalaks." "But if a Vurdalak is some kind of undead, how could a Ghoul possess its powers?" Cyrra asked. "The prism." Solus replied. "Night's prisms grant her the same bloodline abilities of her Chosen and to them her abilities. Or in this case, Poopic's." "If you are right, all the cold-based arrays and traps we had Forgemastered to counter the Incontinent King are useless. We prepared everything to fight a Dragon-like Divine Beast, not a Vampire-like one." Bhaz slammed his fist on the table. "Yeah, that's the other part of the bad news." Lith nodded. "Just like me, Poopie is a new species and there's no telling what he will be able to do once he reaches the violet. "Maybe he'll be able to replace blood cores with a 'Vurdalak' core and turn undead into this thing. Or maybe he'll be limited to living beings. Either way, it's best to assume and prepare for the worst-case scenario. "If Poopie is anything like me, then he has the means of building a loyal army that possesses powers similar to his own on top of those of regular undead. If we are lucky, his minions will share the limited range of my Demons. "If we're unlucky, not only will the lesser Vurdalaks be able to go as far away from Poopic as they want, but they will also carry a fragment of his essence, allowing him to be in multiple places at the same time. "With Night's omni pocket, each one of his clones can conjure Poopie's Davross equipment and then pass it on to the next the moment they are defeated or they accomplish their mission." "This is a nightmare!" Cyrra clenched her own head, resisting the temptation of ripping her hair out. "It's called worst-case scenario for a reason." Lith replied. "On top of that, these are just the possibilities I can predict based on what I've seen Poopie do and what I can do. Reality can be even worse but it's more likely to be much better. "I'm assuming all of the Vurdalak's powers have no side effect or limitation which is not how most abilities work. Not even Baba Yaga or the Odi managed to reach perfection. My Demons can't go anywhere they want and need my power to exist." Lith only repeated the limits of his abilities that were already of public dominion. "I bet Poopie's minions are going to be no different. They may drain his strength permanently until they are destroyed, have their free will intact, making them prone to rebel, and the list goes on. Still, I'm going to assume the worst. There is no such thing as overprepared." "Indeed, but this doesn't help us one bit." Barham the Wyvern sighed. "Once something is Forgemastered, it cannot be undone. Even if I were willing to purify everything with my Origin Flames, it would take me months and we'd lose countless ingredients." "More than half our work is for nothing." Adria said. "Maybe, and maybe not." Menadion pondered while studying her surroundings with the Eyes. "I have mastered the art of Creation Magic. If you provide me with the right materials, I can alter everything you've prepared. "I can even upgrade them, and the only thing you'd lose is the ingredients forming useless pseudo cores." At those words the convened Forgemasters cheered and applauded like she had accepted to take them in as her disciples.