Chapter 425 - Tamers War - Impact

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Chapter 425: Chapter 425 - Tamers War - Impact The explosion gradually cleared, revealing a transformed battlefield. Sirius gasped after the tremendous effort, feeling how every fiber of his being protested against the power he had channeled. Knowing the cost of maintaining fusion any longer, he decided to cancel it immediately. That way he would still have some energy to jump in shadows and try to escape, as long as enemy beasts had been badly wounded and couldn’t follow him at full speed. But retreating had to wait, he wanted to make sure he had achieved something significant. If the Lion was near death or dying, perhaps it was worth trying to finish the job before fleeing. When visibility returned completely, his heart sank. Unfortunately, the Lion was still standing, though it was quite wounded. Its golden fur was stained with fluids that could have been blood or dispersed energy, and several deep wounds marked its left flank. But it had survived, and Sirius could see why. The Man o’ War had energy absorption, and that had helped it regenerate damage using the dark mana from Sirius’s attack impact itself. Additionally, the Scorpion’s black-purple armor was almost completely destroyed, but had been barely sufficient to keep the fused creature standing during the most critical moment. However, Sirius noticed something more: the purifying force of his attack, the light energy from his tiger, had affected Kharzan’s corrupted beasts so much they were disintegrating. He couldn’t see it, but it had even affected Kharzan directly through the connection with his Lion. The enemy tamer looked pale, as if something fundamental had been altered in his bond with abyssal beasts. On the other hand, there was more bad news for Sirius. What Kharzan’s army beasts had achieved with their counter-attacks was not to win the power struggle but to significantly diminish the power of Sirius’s ultimate strike. Approximately half the lesser monsters that had supported the Lion were eliminated, but the farther from impact, the less damage the remaining ones had received. Kharzan’s army didn’t have too many abyssal soldiers yet, being less than 5% corrupted ones, so most weren’t affected by purification. Sirius hesitated whether he should try to bring down the Lion completely before the front beasts and tamers recovered. Perhaps he could do it with a shadow jump that positioned him for a direct attack... but then it would be much more difficult to escape without energy for another maneuver. In the end, thinking fast again about what his daughter represented and that he mustn’t allow them to reach the bridge pushed him to take the risk. He began charging a wind and light attack, combining elements he had handled all his life and learned to balance during decades of training. Then he jumped in shadows directly in front of the wounded Lion, appearing at close combat distance where his attack would have maximum impact. The Lion lifted its claws too. Both were struggling to push their bodies, the Lion and him. It was a desperate gamble for Sirius that bet everything on one last decisive blow to take away just over half of Kharzan’s power. ♢♢♢♢ While Sirius charged his final attack, Kharzan had realized something disturbing about his opponent’s power. The energy emanating from Sirius’s light was strange, different from anything he had faced before. He felt deep repulsion toward the purifying energy, as if something in his corrupted being instinctively rejected that influence. But worse still, the Scorpion and Man o’ War felt extremely weak in proximity to the explosion of so much of that ’purifying’ power. His Simurgh’s corrupted link beasts were also anxious and affected, though to a much lesser degree due to their distance from the epicenter. Faced with the reality that his corrupt beasts were fundamentally vulnerable to the type of energy Sirius wielded, Kharzan made a drastic decision. Just as Sirius was about to release his last powerful attack at point-blank range... He decided to absorb his Lion. The beast was serving as a shield for the army, and despite this meaning he would lose quite a few troops to Sirius’s frontal blow... The reabsorption was instantaneous and allowed violent and chaotic energy to enter the ranks. The fused Lion-monster dissolved into pure energy that flowed back toward Kharzan just in time. Sirius saw, exhausted, the enormous impact of his power, and also saw his target be sadly missed. Valdris, observing from his position beside Kharzan, immediately saw the opportunity ahead. Sirius was panting, drained from using so much power, weakened by multiple high-level attacks, and now compromised in an exposed position right in front of the wall destroyed by his final attack. "We should finish him now!" Valdris shouted. Kharzan didn’t hesitate for an instant at his ally’s suggestion. The corrupt Simurgh, suddenly released when its tamer absorbed the Lion, rose into the air with fury that had been contained within Kharzan throughout the entire confrontation. Corrupt spirits of fire and earth were its abyssal additions, transforming it into the black, armor-covered version of a Royal Phoenix. The mythical creature, with its combination of fire power, earth, and regenerative capabilities, launched itself directly toward Sirius. From multiple directions, surviving beasts also converged toward the Yano tamer who had caused so much damage to their forces. Sirius found himself suddenly surrounded, his energy almost extinct, facing multiple opponents while gasping exhausted. It was the moment that would define whether he would become a sacrifice for having tried and almost succeeded in stopping the enemy advance... a heroic but ultimately useless death that would open the path to the bridge for Kharzan’s forces. ♢♢♢♢ Ren was already gathered with Luna, Liora, and Larissa in what had begun as a wide guest reception different from where Lin slept but now resembled more an improvised alchemy workshop. Larissa had arrived recently, after finally managing to convince Arturo that her analysis of the situation was correct. "Kharzan will advance toward the bridge without approaching the castle," she had argued, "and if Yino enters the territory, they’ll attack this very castle first. Retreating to Selphira’s mansion would actually be safer for me than staying on this ’the next front line in line’." Arturo had reluctantly agreed, sending her with some guards and several carriages full of materials she had requested. The situation at the bridge and Julius’s needs required additional resources, so Larissa had to get them from Pegasus, who had supported the operation to ensure Victor’s supply line wouldn’t be affected. Ren had requested the specific materials through the message Liora had sent hours before. Now that they were all together... It seemed Ren had an idea that could change the course of confrontations. In the letters, Larissa had reported alarming information: bridge troops were stronger than expected because 80% already seemed to have abyssal energy at some level. Yino had advanced much further in their controlled corruption process than they had anticipated. "That’s when I thought of the golden spores," Ren explained while organizing materials Larissa had brought. "I can create weapons that help against abyssal forces, but I would need many crystals to foster growth of the moss I brought." "And I was able to get them for you," Larissa smiled with satisfaction and as if expecting praise while pointing toward boxes full of high-density mana crystals. Ren immediately began working with crystals and other materials, creating special gloves and face masks. Using his own spores and crystal energy, he directed his little mushroom, which Luna insisted on calling "Mooshito," to the disgust of both Ren and the mushroom itself, to create materials capable of controlling golden spores without contaminating users. "Why ’Mooshito’?" Ren asked with exasperation while adjusting spore concentration in a pair of gloves’ film. "It’s obvious," Luna responded with a smile. "It’s small, it’s a mushroom, and it’s adorable. Mooshito." The little mushroom in Ren’s hair pulsed with what was clearly disgust at the nickname. "He doesn’t like it either," Ren muttered, but continued working. ♢♢♢♢ With protective equipment prototypes ready, Ren demonstrated how the golden spore "bomb" creation process would work. "With crystals I can make golden spores multiply exponentially," he explained while putting one of the crystals in a small spore container. "The key is preventing them from forming fruiting bodies by giving them just enough energy to reproduce, but not to mature completely." Spores responded immediately, multiplying at visible speed until filling the container. "Then I wrap them in these thin skins covered with my own spores," he continued, using his mushroom to create a protective layer around the container. "This keeps golden spores stable until impact." The final result looked like a small ball, containing enough dust to create a good-sized cloud to devastate abyssal forces in a significant area. "These are the bombs we can create to launch against abyssals from the air," Ren concluded. "Victor can use his flying squadrons to distribute them where they’re most needed," Larissa understood. "And all of them?" Liora asked, pointing to Ren’s neighbors and parents. "I decided to let them help me assemble them," Ren announced, distributing gloves and face masks to everyone. "While I handle cultivating and covering each skin with spores for the bombs."

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