Chapter 1256 - Spoils of War (Part 2) (1/2)

The squad leader fueled the Council amulet with mana and several Warp Steps lighted the darkness.

'Where's Solus?' Tista and Phloria asked in unison with a mind link.

'Home.' Lith projected into their minds what he supposed had happened. Solus's tower warping to the geyser outside Reghia and then reaching the city from there. 'Do you want to go back to Zhen and tell Khalia's parents what happened to her?'

The girls broke the mind link to not draw attention and simply shook their heads. Tista already felt the burden of the life she had taken; she didn't have the strength to tell the merfolk that Khalia had died twice.

Once at the hands of the Kolgan and the second at her own.

Lith felt the life force that empowered his body slipping away again, making him worry that as long as he had cracks, not even Forbidden Magic could cure his condition.

The Council and the entirety of Jiera rejoiced at Kolga's destruction, but Lith's group had no desire to stay there a second longer. They refused the invitation to the celebratory banquet and went back to their building, finding the tower waiting for them.

Inside, Solus was back to having a deep cyan core and an energy body. Just like Lith, her cracked life force couldn't keep anything she had gained from her stay in Kolga, and without a proper body, even her mana core was crippled.

The Hands of Menadion lay on the center of the table in the dining room, still free of imprint and waiting for a new master.

”I'm really sorry for your loss.” Phloria said to the other three.

She could tell from the black light in Lith's eyes that Death Vision was back. Tista was on the verge of bursting into tears at the trauma of putting down an ally with her own hands.

Solus, instead, had lost all of her usual joy. Even though she had been a human being just for a few hours, it had been enough to get used to all the sensations that only a human body could give her.

She couldn't help but feel as if a curse had turned her back into a puppet after she had finally become a real girl.

”Thanks.” They all said in unison.

”Where's the crystal and why didn't you imprint the Hands?” Lith had no wish to share his latest discovery about himself, even with Solus.

They both had their respective burden and by sharing it, they would only double their suffering.

Solus had a hard time accepting how much blood had been spilled because of her legacy and yet it was nothing compared to what would happen if the existence of the Hands was revealed, let alone that of the tower.

The two artifacts together were enough to trigger all the World Wars that Mogar had luckily avoided until that moment. As for Lith, meeting and losing Carl again had hurt him deeply. The discovery of being some kind of interdimensional Dracula only made his burden heavier.

”The crystal is safely stored in the tower's mines.” Solus replied. ”I'm curious to see if it can further evolve and if not, what are its effects upon the weaker crystals.”

She showed them a projection of the bas.e.m.e.nt, where the Eye of Kolga encrusted in the wall spread white veins. Having been already cut, in theory the white crystal couldn't grow, but they had no idea what the limits of the tower were or how white gemstones behaved.