Chapter 29 #2
An explosion of gray power had Morien Morgrave materializing right in front of me.
A flick of his fingers had me knocked to my knees on the grass.
“Stay down and no harm will come to you,” he told me. His gaze dropped to my belly. “Not until that child is born.”
I choked.
He knew?
He knew about our baby.
And our child was part necromancer… in his hands… no.
“You’re done. The Celestial power has been extracted.”
“Ah, yes, but I still have my own black magic that wasn’t tied to that. Not to mention, my son has provided me an immense boost too.”
“That was what I felt… you were draining him.”
“Draining him, weakening him, on the verge of ridding myself of Remnant and his son too.” He looked out at the battlefield.
“Hmm. Gregor is no more. Well, he became too reckless and emotionally volatile near the end. We will retire from this foolishness until the child is born. If you are good for me, I will allow you to remain to raise him.” He flicked his magic at me, forcing my chin up, making me grit my teeth.
“You will bear me an entire line of necromancers who will belong to me and be shaped by my blood and teachings.”
A shudder rolled through me.
“The Wraith aspect will only serve to enhance their power. You know that I have never cared for Puritas rhetoric—they were just a means to an end to me—so do not fret, you being a hybrid being does not put you in danger from me. In fact, know that you are now a sacred object to me.”
“You can’t do this.”
“I assure you that I can.”
“This baby’s conception is an unrepeatable phenomenon.”
My son was a product of me and all three of my loves, not the way Morien believed it to be. And it had all come together in a one-off event to create our baby. The circumstances, all four of us, the timing… it couldn’t be replicated.
“If there is one thing my son and I have in common, aside from our necromancy, it is making the impossible possible.”
He released my chin, then abruptly turned toward the battlefield.
He twirled his hand, his gray magic sparking on his fingertips.
“Vinculum Exuro,” he rumbled.
In the next moment, I watched as black collars materialized around the necks of every single Puritas soldier, collars that had clearly been glamored.
Morien’s power flamed, and then the soldiers jolted, all hundreds of them.
Blood began oozing from their noses, their ears, then their eyes.
Morien told me, “Gregor’s invention which I’ve co-opted.
The collars share an energy frequency melded with the blood donations that each Puritas member makes to Gregor upon their induction.
That utterance was me sending a detonation command, connecting all of them as one, disposing of them rather efficiently.
They are too loyal to Gregor. I will build my own followers, those who will not waver and will kneel only to me. ”
I gasped as every single Puritas soldier fell in death then, right there on the battlefield.
The hybrid volunteers and Nyx, Kai, Warlow, Ariana… all of them stilled in absolute shock.
And then they noticed Morien.
They saw Cassius and Rhyza being trapped in that awful spell.
Morien registered it, then swept his power around me, forming a shield but also freezing me with Undead Domination.
And as Cornelius and Warlow, joined by the others right behind them, led the way to attack him, Morien stepped forward, thrusting his hands up toward the sky, flash lightning sparking in split-seconds, as his glowing gray magic raged on his palms.
He slammed his hands down, then that dangerous wave rushed toward them all.
All of them—the entire now still battlefield.
Risen Reckoning.
I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t even fucking blink.
All I could do was see straight out at Cassius right in my eyeline, in the line of fire like everyone else.
I love you, I communicated through the Soul Brand.
A rush of his love came back to me, overriding the fear and anguish.
Eruptions of amber and yellow smoke occurred at the edge of the battlefield, and then Gabriel Morgan and Calla Corretti materialized.
His shock of white spiky hair lit up the battlefield, as did his wife’s sparkling red dress that matched her hair.
Ryker hadn’t wanted his father involved in the heart of this battle due to his previous issues with black magic corruption.
The two of them began creating portals to evacuate the hybrid volunteers.
Nyx and Warlow rushed over there to help, because we were talking two thousand beings, some who were injured and reeling.
But it wouldn’t be fast enough.
It just wouldn’t.
Cornelius, Mia, Jaxon, Ariana, Vorzyr, and Kai thrust up a wall of multicolored power just as Morien’s wave hit.
They all jolted, feet slipping in the grass, fighting to hold it.
Something that couldn’t be held for long against death magic.
Especially not Risen Reckoning.
Morien laughed and I could hear the sadistic excitement in it. “Moments. Moments are all you can endure. Teleporting out would serve you much better. Although, annihilating such supremely powerful beings will certainly clear the path for me, so by all means, continue your futile efforts.”
A burst of speed caught my attention, and then Lucian Black arrived, and began immediately assisting with the evacuation, his gaze flicking back and forth to his family on the front line as he went, clearing fighting to focus through it.
Another two bursts of speed, and then I saw Remnant cut across the area too, and join Lucian.
The second one? The second one had my heart leaping into my throat.
Lazriel.
He stopped on his way to help with the evacuation, as he caught sight of me over by Morien trapped. He noted Cassius and Rhyza.
Remnant turned back and went to him, urging him to focus, even though I could see Remnant’s eyes flickering with emotion that they were trapped and in the line of fire.
But there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t breach Undead Domination.
Hopelessness and anguish threatened to get the best of me.
And then green lightning tore up the night sky and Ryker Morgan burst in, his magic leapfrogging out toward Morien.
He knew it couldn’t cut into Risen Reckoning, so what was he—
It became clear in the next second when a thunderous roll of energy swept through the area.
Ryker had been providing a distraction.
Red lightning joined Ryker’s, then shot down in a violent, blazing stream right in front of the shuddering wall everyone was holding up.
As it cleared, Sylas came into view, in a deep crouch, his crimson power enveloping him and protecting him as Risen Reckoning streamed into him—only him now as he took the full force of it.
“Father dearest,” he gritted out as he rose to his feet. “We weren’t done.”
“I assure you that we are. Now that I know your lover is carrying a necromancer child. One I can train to my liking, one who will not be such a despicable disappointment. My grandson.”
“Despicable disappointment? Yeah, not being pro-massacre, mass persecution and domination, then sure, label me a disappointment.” His gaze flicked to me, but bounced off me almost immediately.
I felt his emotion and terror for me and our baby through the Nexus Band link, and he couldn’t afford to let it rule him right now.
He sucked in a breath, his palms flaming wilder, his shield holding steady.
Morien grunted and pushed harder, but Sylas still held.
“You can hold me off, but only for a time. You cannot overpower me. I have your power boosting me and while you’ve clearly recovered, I also bear black magic.”
“Black magic? You mean the thing that Ambrose discovered I’m actually immune to?”
Morien sneered. “It won’t be enough to spare you. You’ll fall soon enough, tire, and then they will all be ashes.”
Sylas flicked sparks of his magic behind him, and it broke Undead Domination on Cassius and Rhyza.
I saw him consider doing the same to me, but something flickered in his gaze and I caught sight of a trickle of his crimson magic discreetly traveling across the ground instead, barely perceptible.
It encircled the bottom of the dome around me and then faded into it and out of sight.
What was he—oh. He knew Morien wanted to take me and the baby.
With Sylas needing to focus on Risen Reckoning, if Morien tried to escape while he was handling that, and tried to take me, Sylas might not be able to stop it.
So I had a feeling, knowing how his mind worked, that he’d just tethered both me and Morien unbeknownst to him, so he could pull both of us back if Morien tried to jump into a portal and disappear.
I smiled inwardly. He’d just trapped the maniac.
Cassius’ white power flamed then and he added it to the wall, standing between Ariana and Mia.
Rhyza rushed over to help with the evacuation, where Remnant and Lazriel embraced her with such relief. Lazriel kept looking over at me, Cassius, and Sylas, though, so terrified for us, Remnant and Rhyza working to offer him any comfort that they could.
Morien roared as he saw the evacuation was speeding up, already two hundred hybrids gone from the battlefield now. He thrust more power forward, sending Sylas staggering back, just ten feet from the magical wall.
Morien laughed as Sylas’ shield shuddered, his palms flickering unsteadily.
“Even with your black magic immunity, the boost of your power thrumming through my veins has rendered you unable to match me.”
“You know how I love to push the boundaries of what’s possible, old man. Sometimes those boundaries can be pushed too far and I’ve been guilty of that.” He called over his shoulder. “Right, Ry?”
“You’ve struck a healthy balance now.”
“I have, yes.” He glared at Morien. “Unlike you, power-hungry fucking fool. You see, striking that balance is actually an advantage. It made certain parameters much clearer to me. It’s how I was able to determine a solution to this very situation we now find ourselves in.”
“What are you—”
Morien’s words caught in his throat as Sylas eased his palms apart, and it forced Morien’s stream into two at the tail end.
“No!”
Sylas smirked and pulled his palms further apart, separating the stream further down, the gray shimmering waves being pulled away from their targets.
Ryker smiled. Cassius’ eyes shone. And Kai, of course, smirked darkly, knowing the psycho was about to get his. I heard a shocked curse from Lazriel. The others on the frontline held steady in deep concentration.
Sylas’ hands shook as the stream furthered into two split rivers.
And then he suddenly thrust his left palm forward.
It sent the left stream whipping around and slamming into Morien himself.
The asshole shrieked as it desiccated half his body in seconds.
His power barely held, and Sylas took full advantage of it, slamming his palms together and creating a shockwave that blew Morien back.
Risen Reckoning cut out.
Morien scrambled back to his feet and went to fire at Sylas, his body moving in an unbalanced way because he was half-desiccated.
Sylas batted his magical pulse away, then fired again and again and again, blowing Morien back into a tree.
The second he hit and ricocheted off it onto his front, Cassius burst into the fray and fisted his straggly hair, dragging him up close.
“There will be no peace for you, no afterlife, just obliteration.”
And then squeezed his glowing white hand around Morien’s throat and yanked, tearing his head from his body in a brutally gory display.
He growled and kicked the body away, then dropped the head on top of it, and turned to Sylas. “Do your thing. Ensure he does not return again.”
Sylas stared at him for a moment in a mixture of awe and shock. “Yeah. I’m… I’ll see to it.”
The dome around me dissipated with Morien now dead, and I rushed over in the next second.
I’d barely made it to them when a rush of speed blew around me a second before Lazriel was throwing his arms around me from behind and holding me to him.
I chuckled and nuzzled against him.
Chuckling? After all of that? Yeah, only my men could bring that to me in moments like this.
Cassius cleansed his hands with his magic, then wrapped himself around me too, as we watched Sylas sweep his crimson power over Morien’s body—and head.
Cassius tensed as Ryker came over.
“The kill was authorized,” Ryker told him, assuring him that he wouldn’t be apprehended for murdering Morien in front of everyone.
“Very well,” Cassius uttered, nuzzling against me.
He didn’t regret it, or the way he’d done it.
That was how Cassius was.
He did what he had to do for those he loved.
He crossed lines and slammed through bureaucracy.
Out of love.
Out of protection.
And I couldn’t fault him for that, as brutal as it could sometimes be.
Because loving my men, building this family together, I understood the impulse.
Morien couldn’t have been allowed to survive this.
He just couldn’t.
And now… with him gone, Puritas completely destroyed… it was done.
It was really done.
We watched Morien become nothing but ash, then Sylas eradicate even that with his power.
He blew out a heavy sigh and took a moment to process that Morien had actually been defeated, that the threat was gone, that the man who had caused him so much trauma and pain was really no more.
And then he turned and smiled out at us.
In the next moment, he was throwing his arms around us and holding us so close.
I sank into it, into them, into the men I loved.
We were safe now.
We were free.
And our life together was calling.