Chapter 1945: Legacy Lesson (part 3)
The Harmonizer collar created by Morok"s father used the constant pressure exerted by the world energy coming from a mana geyser to reshape the life force of its wearer. It was no different from someone packing too much stuff in a suitcase and then closing it by force.
Vastor"s spell, instead, neatly organized everything, optimizing the s.p.a.ce and sharing it equally between the different components so that the new arrangement would be as stable as the old one.
The procedure went on until the three life forces were painted with each other"s color. Then, the Master took a white mana crystal the size of an adult man and a barrel of tonic out of his dimensional item.
"Eat to your heart"s content." He pointed the two objects at Theseus who nodded before digging in.
His Abomination side absorbed the abundant world energy stored inside the crystal while his living body drank the delicious liquid that was filled with enough nutrients to feed several elephants for weeks.
At the same time, Vastor directed the final part of Harmonizer at Theseus" life forces. It was a steady, powerful stream of pure light magic that nurtured all the different parts at the same time.
The three life forces recovered their strength, growing in size, and so did the transplanted tissues embedded at their inside. The tissues created channels that allowed the different energies to ebb and flow into each other so that they were no longer separated.
The Divine Beast, Meneos, and Abomination life forces were now perfectly mixed, creating a balance between them. The distance between the black and the Meneos core shrunk as their energy harmonized along with that of the life forces.
The new balance was delicate but functional.
The hunger was contained, the imperfection of the Meneos core covered by the black one, and together they had completely restored the Divine Beast bloodline, further empowering it with their own.
"It"s done." Vastor said with a sigh from exhaustion. "How do you feel?"
"I don"t feel hungry anymore." Those were the first words of most Eldritchs hybrids and Theseus was no different.
The sudden absence of an impulse that had tormented him for millennia and had put everything at risk until a second ago was simply overwhelming. The Bastet looked at his arms, noticing that the patches of black skin were gone.
He stripped, uncaring of the presence of others and modesty as he checked his new body. Pa nda
Novel The partial fusion of his different life forces had restored his Divine Beast form, but its features had been altered. As a Bastet, he looked like an anthropomorphic bipedal feline with a black skin comprised of cracked magma covered in red lava dots.
His head was now hidden under a Meneos skull mask that resembled that of a lion but with a mane of dark violet flames instead of fur. Sharp thorns came out of his joints and spine, extending all the way down to his tail that ended with a bone sting
Theseus" body might have grown up to 30 meters (100") tall, but he kept his form small enough to fit into the cavern and not make it collapse.
The reborn hybrid started to jump with joy and Dolgus congratulated him.
"I"m really glad that your ordeal is finally over." The Griffon said. "Now you can start your own journey. You don"t need me anymore."
Theseus nodded with a smile that died the moment he realized he would be alone again.
"I"ve been alone for millennia until Paquut joined the Organization. What good is this power if I don"t have any goal nor anyone to share it with?" He thought.
In stark contrast to their enthusiasm, the other side of the room was depressed.
"Another failure." Zoreth said.
"A partial success, you mean." Bytra corrected her. "Theseus can now live freely and he"s not a threat to others anymore."
"Not a threat my pale a.s.s!" The Shadow Dragon replied. "The blood madness is still there and he can live a half-life at best, like us. He can"t have children and he must be careful when interacting with weak living beings or his touch alone will kill them."
"Indeed." Vastor noticed Lith"s silent question and answered it. "As I told you earlier, my Harmonizer spell is still limited. It stabilized the three life forces, allowing them to mix and coexist, but there are still three of them instead of one.
"It"s the same for the cores. A perfect being can only have one so they were supposed to merge, just like the life forces. My spell is just a temporary fix that grants my children a normal life but it"s far from being a solution."
"And I think I know why." Lith said, leaving the members of the Organization flabbergasted.
Vastor"s spell was an incredible treasure for Lith. It was likely to help Nalrond to fix his life forces and it might turn both Protector"s and Marth"s children into a new species instead of hybrids.
Lith didn"t want to just take such a gift and the trust that came with it for granted. He felt that giving something back was the right thing to do.
"Please, Pro- I mean V-, I mean Master, take a look at my life force." He said while making Solus slip off his body to avoid detection from Beyonder"s eye.
"This is amazing!" Vastor and the two Abominations said in unison as he shared with them the scan of Lith"s life force and how it had changed since he had reached the violet.
"The problem of your Harmonizer spell is that it mixes the energies of different life forces without altering their shapes. They are still a black sphere, a solar system, and some kind of tree." Lith said.
"I"ve become a Tiamat instead of a hybrid because my three life forces became one, taking a form that not only kept them stable, but also allowed them to nurture each other.
"My Abomination side protects the others from any threat and shares with them the energy it steals instead of h.o.a.rding it. My human life force coats the elemental energy within my body, keeping Chaos and light separated.
"Lastly, my Divine Beast life force shares its powers with the other two, giving them enough energy to tap into their hidden potential." As he spoke, Lith showed Vastor with a hologram how his life force had changed from when he was a Wyrmling.
"As you can see, until I reached the deep violet my condition was no different from that of Theseus. To reach the next stage, you need to find a shape that his life forces can share, turning compet.i.tion into collaboration." ᴘᴀɴᴅᴀ-ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ
"Easier said than done." The Master sighed. "Your life force as a deep violet was already incredibly complex but now is much worse. Still, my research is no longer swamped thanks to you."
The two men shook hands while Bytra hugged Lith instead.
"Thank you, little brother." She said, her eyes veiled with tears. "You have no idea how much this means to Bytra and me."
"I just said a few words." At the thought that just a while ago he had been planning on killing them all, Lith felt even worse.
"They may be just words to you, but they gave us hope. You just shattered what for years has been an insurmountable wall. Now, Dad"s research can finally progress again." She replied.