Chapter 4499: Blade at the Neck (Part 1)

"You were right about one thing, traitor." The Dead King lifted the ruins that Colurra’s body had become with one hand, holding him by the neck. "Like there can be only one sun and one king, there can only be one Orpal!"

He called upon the silver fire that blazed above his head and activated his newfound bloodline ability, Feast Soul. Orpal’s silver flame released a beam of energy that its twin orbiting Colurra’s head answered in kind.

The two pillars of silvery energy battled for dominance for a few seconds before the strong flame empowered by Life Maelstrom overtook the weak, dwindling fire connected to Colurra’s life force.

Orpal’s Feast Soul burned at its victim from the inside out and stole everything that the former Treant was. The transformation from Upyr into Vurdalak had turned Colurra into a nigh-identical clone of Orpal, and their life forces were a perfect match.

Mana, strength, and vitality moved from the loser to the winner like spoils of a blazing war. When the process ended, Colurra was dead, and his corpse resembled a dried-up mummy.

Orpal, instead, was bigger, stronger, and his insatiable hunger for power tormented him a tiny bit less.

"I knew it!" He laughed in a frenzy. "I knew my powers couldn’t amount to so little! I’m part vampire, after all, and I need to feed to increase my strength. My problem was that no one in this world is a meal worthy of me.

"According to Night, I have even absorbed one of Colurra’s mana organs. I can now manipulate plant life to some extent! I might not have exterminated those parasites of the Undead Courts, but this is still a great victory.

"It’s thanks to them and their ploy to probe my minions’ minds that I finally uncovered what might be the strongest among my bloodline abilities!"

’Yeah, too bad that the mana organ looks nothing like the one Colurra possessed.’ Night said via their mind link. ’The transformation mutated and corrupted the Treant, and what you inherited from him is the result of that corruption.

’This will take some time and lots of experiments to understand if your new power is better, equal, or worse than the original.’

’It’s more than I had until a second ago, so it’s plenty enough.’ Orpal replied.

"One mana organ from each of my meals. The Vurdalak truly is the king of the undead and the most perfect Divine Beast." He actually said. "And this is just the beginning."

Orpal turned to Jorl, looking at him with a hungry spark in his eyes.

The Storm Griffon wielded his maces and infused himself with Life Maelstrom, preparing for the fight.

’He has Moonlight, but I won’t get down on my knees and beg for mercy. I-’

"What are you doing?" Orpal asked in honest confusion. "I’m not going to eat you. I already have Life Maelstrom."

"Yeah, but you lack my Light Raider, Focus Point, and physical might, to name a few." Jorl replied. "Those might come in handy."

"I won’t deny I gave it a thought, but it’s a dumb move, and you and I know it, Jorl." Orpal shrugged. "I would lose your strategic mind, your charisma in handling our troops, and your invaluable knowledge.

"And for what? A gamble that might as well give me one of your bloodline abilities I don’t need. Do you think me stupid enough to risk a certainty for a possibility?"

"No." Jorl replied, putting his Dusk Wraith maces away.

’Also, he doesn’t know I’ve started turning into a Vurdalak, and even if he did, he can’t eat me unless I complete the transformation. Being a Upyr is my best insurance that Orpal won’t get funny thoughts about me.’

"How much did you change after feeding?" He asked.

In the future, the Storm Griffon might have to defend from Feast Soul or maybe even use it himself. It was one of those cases where knowledge was literal power.

"My mana core progressed a bit, I gained a mana organ, and I feel completely refreshed." Orpal sounded disappointed. "My mass didn’t increase, though, and whatever knowledge Colurra had is lost.

"The worst part is that the energy assimilation is nowhere near 1:1. There is a lot of waste. Still, it saved me hours, if not days of Accumulation. The day I reach the violet, and then the bright violet is not as distant as I thought."

"What are we going to say to our soldiers? They will question Colurra’s disappearance." Jormun pointed out.

"We’ll tell them the truth." Orpal grinned ear to ear. "He had gone insane, and we had to put him down. After all, only a madman can think he can defeat me."

The maniacal laughter that followed only reinforced Jorl’s belief that Colurra hadn’t gone insane. He had simply fallen victim to the madness that plagued the Vurdalak bloodline.

He had no idea how right he was, yet he should have.

As Orpal enjoyed his victory, the first activation of Feast Soul triggered a resonance effect in those who carried the Vurdalak blood. All of them, even those who hadn’t yet developed a light affinity, had the silver blaze appear over their heads.

It burned bright for a few seconds before reverting to its neutral state. The Upyrs considered it a blessing and rejoiced no less than the Dead King. No one suspected it was both a curse and the warning sign that the Upyrs had become each other’s predator and prey.

***

When Baba Yaga reached Tle’ket in Jiera, she didn’t find anything. Orpal and his army of Upyrs had long since left after stripping and storing away everything precious and useful.

He had issued the evacuation order as soon as the Harmonizer had struck Colurra, and his preparations paid off. Night knew her mother’s methods well enough to suspect the secret of the undead Harmonizers and warn Orpal.

It was just a guess, but the Horseman of Night preferred to err on the side of caution since Baba Yaga could easily kill her and slaughter the Upyr army if she found them.

The Upyrs returning from the Gorgon Empire followed the established protocol, scattering into small groups and Warping to different locations before moving on to the meeting points.

There, they would find coded instructions leading to a destination where they would be examined and scanned before being brought to the new fortress.

It took hours to complete the move, but as soon as it was done and the defensive arrays reestablished, Jorl could finally leave Orpal’s side.

The Black Throne waited for him on a nearby mana geyser in the Maneka Region. The equipment he had crafted for Jorl contained a tracker that allowed the cursed tower to know the Storm Griffon’s position at all times.

The cursed tower had relocated minutes after the Dead King, keeping the distance with his disciple unchanged.

The news that Jorl brought worried the Black Throne more than even such an ancient being would expect.

"Interesting." The cursed tower examined the memories that Jorl had shared with him very carefully, studying Feast Soul’s effects frame by frame. "It seems that my theory was right. Orpal’s vampire side is more than dominant."