Supreme Magus

As Lith felt Solus's pain like his own, he remembered about his fight against the Odi and found the answer he needed. Lith conjured as much life force as he could in his mouth, emitting a blast of Origin Flames.

In their normal state, Lith's life forces balanced each other to the point of overlapping to perfection. Now, however, after restoring the human and beast side, the Abomination counterpart had fed on so much life force that it bloated akin to a boil ready to burst.

Lith couldn't decide how much each of his life forces would contribute to the Origin Flames, he could only hope that like all natural things, his body would seek to restore its internal balance.

The excess life force came out of his mouth, setting ablaze the world energy that the Puppeteer Abomination had gathered during their fight. Usually, a spark of life force was enough to turn his breath into a deadly weapon, but this time Lith used the equivalent of a forest fire.

With each iota of Origin Flames he emitted, Lith could feel his body hurting from his many wounds and he accepted it with a smile. The more pain he experienced, the more the hunger that had drowned every other feeling faded.

The living shadow that his skin had turned into reverted being pitch black scales.

'How is it going?' Lith asked while doing his best to keep the flow of life force under control. If he cut it off too soon, he might not have another opportunity whereas if he cut it off too late, his life span might shorten even more.

'Not as well as you think. Thank heavens we took shapeshifting lessons from Faluel. Without them, I wouldn't know how to alter your life forces so to protect the human ad beast side while making sure that only the Abomination part suffers from the strain of producing so much Origin Flames.' She replied.

'I don't care about that. I want to know how you feel.' Lith said.

'You've stopped hurting me.'

Solus used their tier five Healing magic spell, Scalpel, so that Lith's life forces only focused on recovering and suppressing their Abomination counterpart while the latter become weaker and weaker to fuel an attack akin to a volcanic eruption.

World energy was everywhere, but to produce Origin Flames Lith had to gather and compress it in his lungs before igniting it with his life force. The amount of power he was releasing set the plain ablaze, turning the air into a fire mist reaching several thousand degrees.

Instead that bright blue, the flames coming out of his mouth were deep violet and they turned brighter as Lith's life force mixed with that of the trolls, the orcs, the goblins, and everything else he had consumed in his frenzy, even the grass.

The battlefield turned into a white wildfire that spread as fast as the wind and consumed every living being on its path. Lith breathed and breathed until he felt too tired to continue.

'It's okay, you can stop now.' Solus said while interrupting the treatment and focusing on her own recovery. Lith's equipment was blackened inside out due to the Chaos energy Westhar had used to attack him and that he had emitted himself.

'Thanks.' Lith closed his mouth and the stream of flames ended.

His life forces readjusted themselves, making Lith feel as if someone had put him inside a blender. Great was the price that any living being had to pay to use the Chaos and only the oblivion that swallowed him relieved Lith from his agony.

Yet even after Lith had lost consciousness, the white fire spread, following every ounce of world energy that even the simplest spell conjured like a shark on a blood trail.

"I guess that's my cue. So long, sucker." Bodya had no means nor need to face the Origin Flames head on. He dived underground, closing the passage behind him and leaving Westhar no way out.

The Puppeteer cursed his bad luck and Blinked away enough to buy himself the time to open a dimensional passage. Fighting a Nidhogg underground was as foolish as fighting a Roc in the skies.

Yet dimensional magic required to conjure world energy. The spell worked akin to backdraft, drawing the hungry Origin Flames on both its entry and exit point. Westhar had no choice but to Blink non-stop to escape the encirclement but the flames kept getting closer until they caught up with him.

While the Abomination drowned in a sea of Origin Flames, screaming on the top of his lungs, Bodya reached Olua who was using her best diagnostic spells to understand how severe Lith's condition was.

"We need to get out of here and we can't use spells to do it." She said to answer his silent question. "The kid has bad cracks on his life force and needs immediate help."

***

Free country of Lamarth. Beyond the eastern borders of the Gorgon Empire, in the Headquarters of the Master. A few days before Lith left for Jiera.

Xenagrosh the Troll-Abomination hybrid looked at the gene tank where the body of Zogar Vastor floated for days in the nutrient liquid that provided his body with all the nutrients he needed to survive the change.

The Abomination tissues had spread all over his body and now only a few pink streaks were still visible under the blackness of the Chaos energy. Much of Vastor's belly had disappeared and he had grown several centimeters taller, making it hard to recognize him.

An Abomination's body was comprised of pure Chaos energy that they could reshape at will. Shapeshifting was second nature to them, which helped Eldritchs to hide their nature but at the same time made them lose their sense of self first and their sanity later.

"Damn, he's changing too much." Xenagrosh said. "The Master could have altered his appearance anytime he wanted, yet he never did. A slender body means he's losing the battle for dominance with his Abomination clone."

"Why do you call him Master even now? It's not like he can hear you." Nandi the Minotaur-Abomination said while keeping the flow of world energy that coursed through the gene tank in check.

"Because that's the name he chooses for himself, just like I choose Xenagrosh." She replied.

"I don't get it. My name is Nandi and I'm proud of it." The Minotaur shrugged.

"That's because you're a clone, like Bytra. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you are inferior, just naïve. Your original self discarded his name because it reminded him of too many bad memories. The very same that cause you fits of Blood Madness."

"I-" Nandi attempted to say but flashes of his past cut him short.

He remembered when he had just turned into an Abomination, feeding on his own very clansmen who had tried to help him before moving on the others. He could still hear the familiar voices screaming and pleading him for mercy.

Back then, he only felt the hunger but now the remorse grew as he managed to give each voice a name, remembering how dear to him were his victims. Nandi cried in agony, wishing for the voices to stop and leave him alone.