Chapter 213 (Second to last chapter of Book 4) (Patreon)

Chapter 213 (Second to last chapter of Book 4)

Allie’s world was a stark gray.  Blood dripped from her eyes, ears, nose and mouth while she locked gazes with Jalel only a few feet away.  He was the only other one moving in this out of body experience, but even he could only move his eyes - so he was limited in the same way she was.

[Malignant Prophecy has activated.  Desired Action: High tier manipulation.  Current Willpower stat: 800.  Desired action:  Processing…. Processing… Processing… Insufficient willpower to perform desired action due to interfering and opposing Malignant Prophecy nearby.  Entanglement of bilateral Malignant Prophecy users and their opposing wills has canceled out both thread weaving attempts to secure fate.]

The entanglement broke for the third time, and for the third time she and Jalel both began to scream in agony - each dropping to the ground and writhing around as time after time their opposing Malignant Prophecies clashed violently.

“KILL HER!” Jalel screeched at his subordinates, picking himself up and kicking the barely moving body of Captain Rusof - who was choking on his own blood and failing to regenerate.  “KILL HER NOW!”

“But sire, she is-” One of his soldiers protested warily with a glance over his pauldron.

Jalel cut him off with a sneer of rage.  “OUR WILLS ARE BECOMING ENTANGLED, WE WILL BOTH DIE IF SHE ISN’T DEALT WITH!  Do you want ONE user to die, or TWO!?  IT IS ME OR HER - CUT OFF HER HEAD!”

Wait, did she hear that right?

Was he lying?

Allie blinked away bloody tears and shakily got to her feet, still having one of her legs molded from bone due to the curse burying into her amputated thigh.  If The Blood Moon Requiem knew an entanglement like this could happen, why would they send Jalel here?  If HE had known this, why had he come?  If there was even a chance at one of them perishing and their gift really was all that valuable, what was the thought process behind it?

Was she being set up by Elder Thune?  Or was it Jalel acting on his own accord?  Or was someone else at play here?  If what Jalel had said was just true, and especially if Jalel had come for Riven specifically, were she and her brother being specifically targeted?

Did the queen know about Jalel’s coming?

None of this made sense.  Not after so much effort had been put into securing Riven and Allie for the empire, so there was certainly a larger political game going on here that she didn’t have a full picture of just yet.

Nevertheless, Jalel’s soldiers seemed to agree and braced themselves before rushing her yet again - this time with bloodlust in their eyes.

“You will NOT TOUCH HER!  She is MINE!” Lord Justo Barimont screamed in rage, flinging fireballs at Jalel and turning his back to do so - opening himself up for a staggering strike of Lahn’s spear as the angelic figure blurred forward.

The spear of light pierced Barimont’s chest and sent him rocketing into the protective barrier surrounding the compound with a sonic boom - only for the light of Lahn’s angelic possession to flicker.  Lahn was quickly losing power, that much was obvious to Allie, but she grimaced and faced Jalel’s oncoming soldiers just before another racing surge of pain electrified her spine.

[Malignant Prophecy has activated.  Desired Action: High tier manipulation.  Current Willpower stat: 800.  Desired action: Processing…. Processing… Processing…  Insufficient willpower to perform desired action due to interfering and opposing Malignant Prophecy nearby.  Entanglement of bilateral Malignant Prophecy users and their opposing wills has canceled out both thread weaving attempts to secure fate.]

She screamed, dropping to the floor in unison with Jalel yet again.

Fimrindle was already intercepting two more of Jalel’s soldiers, and they’d even begun to fight one another after Jalel had been attacked by Barimont.  It was now a three way battle, with Jalel’s force, Barimont’s men, and Allie alongside the originally stationed garrison all duking it out.  Then there was still Princess Kathrine and Lady Muren, who’d disappeared to fight elsewhere.

It was a fucking madhouse, with even more soldiers from House Barimont having poured into the compound through the portal as reinforcements for the young lord.  Funnily enough, within minutes four more groups were also entering rapidly into Panu via the portal:

Princess Kathrine Vonsilla Crushada’s parents had sent their own soldiers through - bearing the sigil of a rose.  Then soldiers from House Wraithtide itself, probably sent over by General Viku, bore the sigil of a neon teal orb wreathed in deathly fire.  More soldiers from Jalel’s own house bearing the sigil of the phoenix poured through as well, with the final group of soldiers bearing a sigil of a wolf.  This last house primarily focused their attention on House Crushada soldiers and were calling out for Lady Muren while rushing into the periphery where the princess battled the other lady of the court elsewhere, which made it very apparent where they hailed from.

Obviously sent through other entry points in the empire or somehow using system shenanigans that Allie didn’t understand, dozens upon dozens of vampiric soldiers in the inner sanctum of the keep were erupting into an already blazing battle between House Barimont, the house Jalel hailed from, House Muren, House Wraithtide, the original garrison from the imperial throne, and House Crushada; with bodies and blood piling up left and right as they came.  Soldiers from Wraithtide and Crushada were teaming up against House Barimont after leaping into Panu from the portal’s spinning orb, House Muren remained neutral to others aside from House Crushada which they actively engaged, and the battle was spilling out into all areas of the keep with many of the Wraithtide soldiers rushing towards Allie’s position after fighting through masses of enemies.

The cacophony of blades, battle cries, screams and erupting magics from an ever growing number of hundreds of level 70-90 elites of the Blood Moon Requiem killing one another was almost deafening.

***

The training pagoda was aflame, and smoke billowed up around the two combatants - far removed from the main course of fighting in the adjacent building.

Kathrine gurgled incomprehensibly due to the sizzling hole in her throat, dropping to her knees while acid boiled out of numerous wounds covering her body.  She managed to send another wave of blood magic at the vile bitch who’d poisoned her, but Lady Muren merely laughed - blurring left and avoiding the attack but also staggering due to how tired she was.

“Is that all you’ve got, you pompous, arrogant brat!?” Lady Muren wheezed while holding two wicked daggers, a long sizzling gash along her stomach with part of her intestines hanging out to mar her dress.  She stood upon a hanging platform furth up in the training pagoda, the place all but abandoned due to the more intense fighting going on inside the main building of the compound.  The only exception to that were the seven bodies of soldiers laying around them.

“Come on Kathrine, show me what you’ve got!”

Kathrine vomited in the firelight of roaring flames, hitting the floor with both knees and getting a cackling laugh from the woman ahead of her as Lady Muren’s red eyes flared brightly.

“I guess not then!  I do believe you’re at your end, wench.  This has been fun, but I think we’d better end it now - don’t you!?” Lady Muren pulled up both blades in front of her ripped dress, blinking away the smoke and ash that partially obscured her vision.  One dagger rippled with flames, and the other with blood magic - and with a screech she launched herself towards the royal.

A thunderous crash sent both women stumbling when an angelic figure smashed the overly handsome Lord Barimont into the barrier nearby, smearing his guts all along the translucent wall as onlookers from Wrightsville all watched the infighting with both awe and horror.  Most of the outside soldiers had no idea what was going on, but due to the noise and explosions coming from the compound a perimeter had already been set up by the Thane Necropolis military for the protection of the civilians; should the barrier come down.

“As I said, vampire…” The angelic figure of Lahn, or Denaskus, said in a booming voice with burning golden eyes.  He leaned back from the vampire lord in disgust, as if the thing he was pinning to the barrier was some kind of grotesque bug.  “I, Denaskus, will be the last thing you ever see.”

“I’LL BE SEEING YOU IN HELL!” Lord Barimont roared back, exploding into flame and detonating the spot he and Lahn had landed in.

Stone erupted about them and Lahn staggered, his golden wings flickering in and out as the last remnants of his power began to fade.

But it was not enough, and Lord Barimont’s exhausted, crimson eyes went wide in horror as the angelic figure remained in the flames that crackled and burned at the ground beneath them.

Denaskus grew a wide, malevolent smile.  Raising his hand and summoning a bolt of pure white lightning like the god of thunder himself, he arched his back and positioned himself to throw - but then abruptly disappeared when Lahn’s body couldn’t handle it any longer.

There was a pause, both vampire women and the man pinned to the wall watching as Lahn became nothing more than a mortal human once more.  His eyes were burned out, gone completely, his left arm was nothing more than a stump now - completely gone.  His flesh was completely charred, and the brilliance he’d once radiated now sent damaging sparks of lightning all up and down his flesh - causing him to shudder and jolt before dropping him to the ground in a smoldering mess.

Lahn hit the ground, and he didn’t get back up.

“HAAAAAAA!!!” Lord Barimont screamed in excited victory, only pausing to cough up blood and yank the spear of light out of his body - tossing it to the side and dropping to the ground next to Lahn’s unmoving frame.  The vampire lord wretched, then doubled over and began laughing like a madman.  “THE PIG HAS DIED!  THE PIGGY HAS DIED!”

Devolving into a fit of giggling, the badly injured vampire lord rolled on the ground in a state of hysteria - finding massive amounts of amusement in Lahn’s demise.

Kathrine too soon doubled over, her eyes sagging and her body unable to support her any longer when her left cheek hit the burning pagoda floor with a wet thunk.  Shakily beginning to draw herself out of the flaming building, she felt an abrupt pain in her stomach when Lady Muren’s foot crashed into it.

Kathrine doubled over and flipped twice before landing on the stone outside, Lady Muren following gleefully close behind while twirling her two curved daggers in either hand.  In the background, the area near Riven’s Eye Wormhole lit up with magic that abruptly turned the dark clouds above a bright red.

“Lights out for you next, bitch!” Lady Muren gleefully crowed, oblivious to the change above her and jumping up in the air and aiming to land on Kathrine’s prone form when a thunderclap of sound rocked the compound.

The barrier around the compound shattered.

A black spear staff covered in flowing blood crashed into Lady Muren’s body halfway through her leap, obliterating her torso entirely and splattering her remains on the pavement.  With a wound like that, there would be no regeneration.  There would be only death.

The ground quaked, the civilians previously watching the scene ran screaming, and an aura far more powerful than any other on this part of the planet descended upon the compound with overwhelming force.

The sky above opened up, and a sinister visage of a great maw opened up to reveal an abyss amongst the clouds.  A storm of crimson and shadow roiled overhead as the temperature abruptly dropped, and red frost began accumulating all across the landscape surrounding the compound at a rapid pace.

*CRASH*

Like a meteor from the heavens, Riven descended upon the compound and shattered the earth.  A booming echo reverberated from his impact, sending debris high into the sky as the maw across his breastplate hungrily shrieked and wailed.  He straightened, slowly raising his head to where the sound of battle echoed in the nearby fortress before turning a curious glance on Kathrine.

He teleported to her, and she stared back up at him wide-eyed while choking on green acid that was burrowing into her flesh more and more as time went on.

***

Riven didn’t know what to make of this.  Infighting?  Here?  At The Blood Moon Requiem’s compound?

He abruptly got to one knee and yanked out half a dozen high grade health potions he’d bought from the Elysium Altar for occasions such as these.  Usually he relied on his own healing and didn’t often need a healer, but it was always better to be safe rather than sorry - and he was thankful that he hadn’t forgone the option despite spending a fortune on potions that were far superior to what locals could make at the moment.

“You are in seriously bad shape.” Riven said, pouring the contents of three red vials all over Kathrine’s upper body before pouring two more down her throat.  “Jesus… That poison is nasty stuff.  You gonna be ok?  Do I need to pull out more?  What’s happening inside?”

Kathrine gasped for air and immediately stifled a sob, taking in huge gasps and breaths while wiping tears away.  “Your-Your sister!  And L-Lahn!”

Riven cocked his armored head to one side, brows immediately furrowing.  “Tell me.”

Kathrine took in another desperate gasp, ripped the last health potion he’d taken out from Riven’s hands, and poured it along other wounds on her body that were still fighting the acid.  Sinking down with momentary relief, her eyes darted to Lord Barimont who was just staring at the two of them with a blank expression.  “You need to go!  He did this, he tried to take Allie away and he killed Lahn!  And now Jalel is inside trying to kill Allie because-”

“TO KILL ALLIE!?  INSIDE!?  WHO THE FUCK-” Riven didn’t even finish his sentence and whirled around - his eyes briefly landing on Lahn’s prone form.  He briefly paused, sparing Lord Barimont only a passing glance before disappearing through a rift in space - leaving Kathrine to stare daggers at Lord Barimont in silence.

Lord Barimont’s red eyes slowly narrowed, and his fangs began to show when he picked himself up and headed Kathrine’s way.  He cracked his neck on the way over, pulling out his flaming whip while Kathrine painfully staggered to her feet.

The two vampires only had a moment to stare at one another though, before Athela’s blinding form ripped his head off and buried it into the ground below with a single, violent tearing motion.

Lord Barimont’s body fell, never to get up again.

***

Allie’s whimpering scream was only emphasized by the sword being shoved through her armor and into her heart.

Jalel’s eyes were bloodshot even beyond their normal crimson appearance, he breathed heavily and was putting all his weight down onto the weapon to finish her off as his men desperately fought off reinforcements from House Crushada, the original garrison, and House Wraithtide.

He hissed scornfully, specks of saliva slapping her in the face beneath him while he suppressed her magic with his own.  “If one of us has to go, it isn’t going to be me!”

She struggled, feeling her beating heart rapidly pounding as the steaming metal dug deeper and deeper into it.  She began to spasm, kicking and lashing out violently but unable to do much more than sob.  She was simply out of juice, having used most of her mana battling Lord Barimont, and didn’t have anymore to give.  Fimrindle was banished too, having been killed by Jalel himself, as was Captain Rusof who had also died at the hand of Jalel.

“Sorry to see you go, cousin, but just do us both a favor and stop resisting!” Jalel said between his teeth - pushing as hard as he could but having a hard time of it due to the quality of Allie’s soulwoven armor.  “All that screaming and crying isn’t going to save you - so just - LET - GO!!!!”

*BOOM*

Jalel’s body shattered when a portal tore open in space and released an exploding blood nova directly into his face - the mana engulfing Allie protectively at the same time while tearing the room around her apart.  The vampiric prince was flung through the next reinforced wall and then again through the next when a myriad of blood lances crackling with black lightning crashed into him like a storm - the frost around the room quickly building to the point that people began to slow down by the freezing effect despite their high levels and vampiric bodies.

Out of the portal stepped Riven, coated in radiating blood, shadow, and sin energy while his eyes seemed to have expanded beyond their normal range in bright crimson lights.  Jackal hissed in his right hand, and his left arm flared with oozing, writhing red mana - dozens of spinning storm razors snapping to life in the backdrop of his figure.

Due to his sheer level discrepancy and his natural affinities, even when compared to the level 90 elites of The Blood Moon Requiem’s younger warrior class, his mere presence sent some staggering to their knees.  Some froze over when he fully emerged, others passed out, and others seemed to have a hard time breathing while his aura radiated malice onto the entire compound with absolute authority.

Only a third of the vampiric elite were able to completely ignore his presence with auras of their own, yet they were like candles in the abyss - only protecting themselves and unable to do much for their comrades no matter what house they hailed from.

Riven did a quick check on Allie, seeing that though she was sobbing - she was still alive and her wound was regenerating as normal.  He looked back up just a moment later to see Jalel blur ahead - far faster than a normal level 90 could do even considering he was a pureblood.  The act surprised Riven immensely and he barely had time to react, but he did so nevertheless with a quick activation of Profane Blessing of the Crow.

Jackal whipped up and smashed Jalel’s longsword away, leaving the man open to a swinging kick that shattered Jalel’s right arm and sent the other prince spinning into a stone pillar - knocking the support beam over with a groan and crash.

Riven held up a hand, pointed towards the other man that was getting up from the rubble with bloodlust in his eyes.  A roar of wind howled around them and dozens, then hundreds of spinning storm razors with sharpened blades of black and red swirled in a cloud behind Riven’s position.  “Die.”

Hundreds of projectiles torpedoed forward - causing the air to shriek upon their passing and leaving trails of blood ribbons behind them.

Jalel’s eyes narrowed and he activated one, three, seven, twenty protective treasures from his spatial sack - each of them shattering as more and more of the barrage smashed down onto his position.

As Jalel used up his treasures, Riven charged up Jackal with torrents of black lightning.  His spear staff howled with glee, and he pointed the curved blade in Jalel’s direction just when the barrage ended.

A snapping sound accompanied the rupture of shadow-infused lightning, and the mass of energy larger than Riven’s torso shattered space and crashed into Jalel’s body.

The other prince however activated an ability of his own, flickering in and out of existence to dodge most of the attack but cursing loudly when his right arm and shoulder were ripped off entirely.

Jalel lunged forward, disappeared, and reappeared next to Riven with a snarl of rage.  He lifted a glowing red hand and reached for Riven’s neck, only to be yanked back down by tendrils from Gluttony’s maw across Riven’s chest as the visage in the sky howled hungrily.

“I remember you… and not just because of what Kathrine has told me concerning your punishment from the queen.” Riven muttered, staring down at the silver-haired man with ice-cold hate.  “You were as annoying back then as you are now.  Let me finish what I started in Negrada.”

Usually Riven avoided punching things because he simply didn’t need to.  However in the few instances he DID need to, Messenger had a unique feature that could be utilized.

> Ripping Claws: Punching someone with the spikes of your gauntlets will cause massive hemorrhaging damage over time.

*CRACK*

Riven’s gauntlet smashed down into Jalel’s pale face, its jagged edges protruding from the knuckles as blades tearing off flesh from Jalel’s skull.

Jalel screamed in agony and hate, attempting to teleport away again but unable to do so when Riven’s aura clamped down onto the man.  Jalel’s struggles became more frantic while blood poured out of his face, hemorrhaging onto the ground underneath them when Riven raised his fist up once more for a second strike.  “THAT SHARD OF GLUTTONY WAS MINE!”

Riven didn’t even respond.

*CRACK*

This time his knuckles took bone, his fist blurring forward and shearing off Jalel’s lower jaw entirely amidst yet another scream.

*CRASH*

Jalel was flung through another wall, and Riven stepped forward to follow - smashing through two more vampiric guards bearing the sigil of the phoenix on their breastplates like they were nothing before continuing forward into the next room.

“Insect.” Riven said with venom, kicking Jalel when he tried to get up and then stomping down onto the other prince’s neck.

Only Riven was surprised when Jalel melted away, and a silver mace smashed into the back of Riven’s armored head.

The effect of a silver infused weapon was felt even despite no skin contact, with just the mere presence of the weapon having a more severe effect than Riven would have liked to acknowledge.  He stumbled forward, holding the back of his head and having a blaring headache only for another strike to snap up into his jaw.

“You may have the levels on me now, but you do not have the experience.” Jalel spat blood, his jaw having regenerated rather quickly even for a vampire.  He huffed and pulled out yet another talisman, snapping it and healing his wounds fully while simultaneously banishing the red frost on his body before audibly cracking his neck when Riven turned to stare at him.  “I am a warrior hundreds of years old, and I will not be defeated by the likes of a nobody like-”

Jalel abruptly screamed, as did Allie in the next room, and he sank to his knees while clutching at his head when the entanglement of Malignant Prophecies flared yet again.

“Warrior?” Riven repeated, cocking his aching head to the side while blood began to flare up around him - engulfing him entirely as the earth began to tremble.  “No, Jalel.  You are a fool.  A proud and arrogant fool.”

With that he teleported behind Jalel right when the other prince recovered and used Jackal to uppercut right between Jalel’s legs.  He felt something crunch under the blow, heard Jalel scream, and then sent the other prince high into the air hundreds of feet up with the impact that left a huge gash in his lower abdomen and groin.

Riven followed, teleporting yet again behind Jalel’s airborne position and using a network of wretched snares to entangle him before whipping Jalel’s ensnared body around and flinging it at the ground with immense force.

His hands blurred into clawing motions to charge lance after lance before impact, summoning a swarm of storm balls and storm razors beside them.

Jalel crashed with an explosive thud, and red ice rose up from the ground to secure him tightly along with more and more layers of wretched snares that sprang up around him.  High above him the storm of black and red abruptly changed, and the massive swath of mana overhead that hadn’t created projectiles was pulled into Jackal like a swirling river of red and black.

The heavens descended.

Black and red crashed down upon Jalel with a thunder, sending pieces of the Elysium Altar’s base platform sky high amidst the blurring bombardment that shook the earth.  Jalel created a dome of blood to protect himself but was unable to defend against most of it - only barely managing to slip out with another teleport only to be met with Riven’s own portal ripping open next to him.

Jalel turned, horrified and bewildered that Riven’s mana control was so good.  “HOW!?”

Riven’s weapon snapped forward, and the maw of a canine created from blood flashed ahead.  The air split apart and the blade tore through Jalel’s weapon that he’d raised to block like it was nothing, splitting Jalel’s body in half entirely and crunching down on the two remnant halves with the bloody jaws of the ability.  When the crimson jaws snapped shut, a reverberating cloud of deep purple sin energy sparked along its teeth.

• Jackal’s Lunge: Point this weapon in any direction and activate this innate and unique martial art, charging the blade with blood mana to create the visage of a jackal’s maw and blasting forward.  When your blade strikes an enemy, the red jackal will close down on them to deal additional blood and sin damage.

Jalel’s splintered body flashed a bright crimson a second later and reformed, gasping for air and turning to run.  He staggered though, remnant sin energy remaining along unclosed wounds before Riven’s body burst into flame and crashed into him from behind.

Soldiers bearing the sigil of the phoenix were seen dashing Riven’s way, but they were quickly intercepted by others bearing house Wraithtide’s orb of flames in a quick melee.  Riven blinked once, then tore Jalel’s men apart with a crash of red ice that blew holes open in their bodies via spikes in the ground.

“You’re really starting to annoy me.” Riven said softly in Jalel’s ear upon turning, grasping the other prince behind the neck while Jalel screamed as hellfire licked at Riven’s fingers.  He picked Jalel up, then smashed him back down into the ground.  He did this over and over again, keeping a firm grip on the other man and repeatedly beating him to death against the metal floor of the Elysium Altar’s outer body.

A swift strike with a hidden dagger snapped the blade off on Riven’s throat, but the bloodsilk of Messenger held firm - much to the surprise of both men.

Riven blinked, momentarily stopping his beating, and began to laugh - while Jalel’s swollen, bloody, and regenerating face fell into a horrified panic.

“HOW?!” Jalel screamed in denial, trying to fish out another item from his spatial sack only to be stopped with a violent clamp of the wrist.

Riven sneered, snapping the man’s hand off with a grip and twist.  “Some warrior you are, eh?  How’s that experience coming in for you now?!  A classic case of overconfidence!”

He stopped Jalel’s screaming by slamming his armored fist into Jalel’s open mouth, shattering the man’s fangs and gripping his spine.  Yanking once, twice, and then three times he decapitated Jalel with brute force and then opened Gluttony’s mouth along his chest.

The head of the vampire opened its eyes wide, and in similar fashion to how he’d ended the fight with the Azag hive cluster in Chicago - he shoved Jalel’s head into Gluttony’s maw.

The mouth snapped shut, crunching onto Jalel’s skull before pulling the remnants into the abyss in Riven’s chest with black tendrils that licked up the remnant flesh.

[Malignant Prophecy has been fulfilled by saving Kathrine’s life, and your battle is now over.  You have acquired 1 Malignancy Point.  You have a total of 5 Malignancy Points.  Elysium’s wrath now descends in the form of a tribulation.]

The sky above him depicting Gluttony’s maw shattered, creating golden cracks along space itself.  Brilliant multicolored light shattered space around the cracks moments later, and Riven grimaced when he saw a storm erupt from the beyond overhead.

His shoulders slumped.  “Shit.”

*CRACKLE-SNAP-BOOM*

A roaring ocean of power crashed down onto Riven’s position, engulfing his body in searing energies that caused him to scream.  His vision immediately began to blur, but he pushed through the pain and managed to summon the visage of gluttony once again.

The great maw tore through the ground underneath his feet upon his request, roaring to life to challenge the system itself - to protect the bearer of its shards as the abyss rose to the challenge.

His mind snapped.

His body tore apart.

All that was left was darkness.

[Your mana channels have been destroyed.  Your pillars have been shattered.  You have been temporarily afflicted with the debuff ‘Soul Crippling’.  You have temporarily lost access to all of your abilities.  Your soul crippling temporarily negates the effect of up to 1809 stat points from Strength, Agility and Intelligence at random for any given moment, severely weakening you for random amounts of time at random moments throughout any given day.  You have condensed your Malignancy Points into a Malignant Fertilizer, and your Malignant Sapling grows.  You have condensed enough sin energy to finish Mark of the Sinner.  Mark of the Sinner’s buffs cannot be accessed due to soul crippling.  Congratulations!  You have survived Elysium’s tribulation.]

***

Half a day had passed, and the sun was setting on the horizon.

Lahn was barely breathing, but he was still alive.  He’d played dead after Denaskus had left his body to preserve what little life Lahn had left, but the remnants he’d left behind were in absolute ruins.

Burns marred his entire body, his eyes were gone, his left arm was gone, his lungs a seared and painful mess.  His soul was in ruins, and the channels written into his pillars were all garbled or just outright gone; similar to Riven’s own situation.  He could barely function, let alone stand, and it was likely that Lahn would never be able to cultivate or grow his mana channels ever again.

But to help Allie, it’d been worth it.

“You’re a damned idiot!” Allie said softly, wiping tears from her face and cradling his charred head in her lap while various healers from the Thane Necropolis did their best to stabilize the young man.  “A damned idiot.”

Salves were being poured all over Lahn, spells and miracles were being cast, and Riven sat exhausted in a wheelchair beside them with a blank expression on his face.  Yattazi was curled up behind him, and Azmoth sat on the large snake to protectively look over his master who was now rather helpless.

Riven stared down at the sleeve tattoo on his right arm.  The ever-moving tattoo still did have some of the black markings it once had, but other sigils now glowed a deep purple - and the entire thing gave off smoky wisps that trailed off his skin with whispers of power that he could not access due to his recent soul crippling.

“You ok, Riven?” Allie asked, looking up at her brother from where she sat cross legged on the ground.  She knew he wasn’t ok, but not asking would make her feel even more guilty.  Her previously amputated leg was now back to normal flesh after using a bone mold in its place, but her soul-woven armor was heavily damaged and she wasn’t sure if it was repairable or not.

Riven nodded her way, even smiling slightly when Athela walked over to him to sit in his lap - wrapping her hands around Riven’s neck and leaning into him while soldiers of House Wrathtide and Crushada cleaned up the mess the battle had left behind.  “I’ll be fine.  Though I don’t know how things are going to progress from here.”

There was a pause while the two siblings locked eyes.

“You might have to be the one that takes Messenger into Chalgathi’s trial if I don't recover in time.” Riven said eventually, averting his gaze from his sister with a frown.

The burned wreckage of The Blood Moon Requiem’s compound smoldered and smoked, only a part of it still intact and undamaged after hundreds of warriors had died there in the political struggle between noble houses.  Kathrine had left to go home after Riven had turned his ire upon House Muren, House Barimont, and Jalel’s house - which was now known to him as House Firebird.  But those noble houses were all still very intact and absolutely irate about what had transpired here, with only their youngest and lowest leveled soldiers being able to even visit Panu, and Kathrine had told him that the political upheaval was so big that the rest of the elder council had to get involved to settle things down after the entire Empire had watched events transpire.  Meanwhile Elder Thune and the High Queen surprisingly enough remained rather absent from the public scene.

Apparently, The Blood Moon Requiem was on the brink of civil war.  It was unknown if it would happen or not.  What was certain, however, was that if the empire didn’t split apart into fragmented pieces of itself - there’d be a reckoning in the form of a blood feud.  It was the way vampires in the empire dealt with these kinds of things, according to Kathrine, where entire houses would sometimes be wiped out in miniature wars to settle disputes in order to keep the greater whole of the empire from fracturing.

Allie thought over recent events, then reached out and grasped Riven’s hand - squeezing tightly and keeping eye contact.  “Thank you.”

Riven chuckled.  “No need to thank me.  I love you.”

“What happened is my fault.”

“Nah, I used the prophecy to save Kathrine.  If anything, it’s my fault for choosing to do it.”

“But she wouldn’t have been in danger if not for me.”

“Stop blaming yourself Allie.  We’re fine, that’s all that matters.”  Riven gave Athela a quick peck on the forehead and his smile grew wider.  “It isn't permanent.  Plus, this gives me an excuse to really go at it with totem making again in the meantime.  You know Hakim and the others I talked to you about?  I told them I’d be spending more time with them and would power level them - and that I’d get back around to craft again.  It’s been a long time coming.”

Allie averted her gaze, ashamed at what had happened and sighing when she saw Lahn stir in her lap.  “How are you going to power level them like you are now?”

Riven looked her way a second later and raised an eyebrow.  He gestured to Athela, and then to Azmoth.  “Athela and Azmoth of course.  They can do it.  Yattazi however will probably leave for another master soon, we spoke about it already and she doesn’t want to stay with a crippled warlock that can’t level himself for an undisclosed time - thus inhibiting her own growth.  I get it, and I’m not mad.”

The huge basilisk behind him gave a low hiss of acknowledgement.  “Thank you for undersssstanding Riven… I hope you are not upsssset with me.  You have been a good friend while I have been here, but I hope to sssssucccceeeed in my ascension to higher power sssssooner rather than never.”

“Don’t worry about it.  We hardly knew each other anyways, and your help has been appreciated for what it’s worth.”  Riven smiled somewhat sadly over his shoulder, only to be drawn back into a smile when Azmoth grunted his way.

“I never leave.  I stay.” Azmoth said with a wave of his claed hands.  “I annoy you til end of time.”

Athela giggled, then nodded in agreement and ruffled Riven’s hair.  “Yeah.  I agree.  Who’d take care of you like this if not for us!?  Even if it were permanent I'd not leave you.  We’ve been with you since the beginning, and we’re here to stay.  We don't know how long this will be, but I'm sure it can't be too long.”

Athela shot the basilisk an annoyed glare.

A heavy silence permeated the area while Riven contemplated their words, but eventually another smile tugged at his lips.

Riven gave a salty laugh, then closed his eyes and let his head drop.  Yawning and leaning into the demoness on his lap, he let the smile on his lips remain.  “Thanks.  It means a lot to me.  But for now, how about we talk about this later - eh?  I’m rather tired after what happened, and I’d really like to enjoy a nap.”