Chapter 2544.4: They Come at Night (part 4)

Syrah didn't hesitate and ordered the weakest among the warg to sacrifice themselves. The cull was imminent and they would die soon anyway.

'I can use the remaining nine warg's mana and strength. Keeping them alive and unconscious would be pointless. Every hit will require a sacrifice and I need as many warg as possible conscious to pass any further wound upon them.

'They have no Harmonizer and their lives are meaningless whereas their deaths can ensure the survival of our species.'

The Queen unconsciously touched the metal collar on her neck, knowing that the next Queen would need it to produce a better and more stable offspring. Then, she gritted her teeth, hating herself for having those thoughts.

'Curse you, Glemos. You were no god, just a cruel monster who taught us to consider our lives nothing more than numbers in an equation to solve. Since the day we've been born, our dreams, wishes, and ambitions are irrelevant.

'Each one of us has value only based on what they can bring to the tribe and have to be replaced as soon as someone better arises. Even the Queen.'

Syrah howled her rage, wishing to fight the crowned demon to the death and put an end to the misery of her existence. Yet she couldn't. Even though she hated it, Syrah valued the Harmonizer on her neck more than herself.

She was the past whereas the artifact was the only chance they had left for a better future.

A future where the Elder Beasts would lift the curse afflicting their life force and join their lost cousins again, if not even arise as the sixth race of Mogar.

It was a future she would not live to see, but the idea brought the first smile to her face since her husband's death. She conjured one tier five spell after another, hammering at the still-stunned crowned demon to protect that dream.

Lith had taken hundreds of spells from point-blank range and even though each one of them by itself could do little damage to the Voidwalker armor and the Abomination form it enveloped, together they were a force to be reckoned with.

The impact against the wall would have squeezed the air out of his lungs, had he any. The darkness-based spells were those who hurt the most, but they all contributed to eroding the energy mass of his proto-Chaos body and fueled his hunger.

The following tier five spells that the Queen cast by channeling the mana of 300 warg and Hati, however, carried enough power to end him. Lith released all the spells he had at the ready and activated the Spirit Barrier of his armor.

At the same time, he ordered the nearest Demons to intercept the spells and detonate themselves. The resulting explosions weren't enough to scatter the mana completely, but they still took the brunt of the damage.

More Demons joined Lith with their own spells, almost neutralizing what remained of the attack. For once, the almost was intentional. The remnants of Syrah's magic were still rich with mana, a perfect meal for the Abomination Touch.

Lith spread his wings and arms to catch as many elemental bits as he could to regain his strength. His Demons did the same, passing the collected power upon him so that the Void could bestow upon their fallen comrades a new body.

While the armies of Demons and monsters fought tooth and claw near the south entrance, Syrah smiled in grim satisfaction as the black tide was slowly repelled. Many of her subjects had fallen but they had died valiantly, bringing with them one or more of the shadow creatures each.

Then, the blackness rose from the ground again as Lith regenerated the Demons thanks to both the power he had stolen and that he had recovered thanks to his breathing technique.

"Fight all you want, Syrah, but you can't win." The crowned demon king from the hole in the wall along with several new shadows that brought the battle to a standstill again. "Every soldier you lose joins my cause."

Despair filled the Queen's heart as she saw the new Demons wearing the faces of those she had sacrificed, but her rage soon overshadowed the grief. The voice with which the crowned demon had said her name belonged to Ikara.

The figure of her husband's tormented soul writhing under the black armor drove her insane. She charged forward, ordering Ryla and Br'ey to join her and put an end to that nightmare once and for all.

Meanwhile, Protector was torn between duty and compassion. Lith had paired him with Locrias and now the former captain of the Queen corps covered the Skoll like a shroud.

It allowed the two to combine their strength and Protector to disguise himself as a demon, with Locrias giving him the eyes and the shadow body that he needed to play his role.

Back on the surface, when Protector had listened to Lith's plan, his heart had swelled with pride at his friend's ingenuity. It was brilliant in its simplicity and would achieve everything that Faluel wanted.

Were they to succeed, countless lives would be saved in Zelex, Garlen, and even Jiera. Protector secretly hoped that thanks to the help of the beast Council, the Hati could be redeemed.

The Skoll felt a kinship toward the Elder Beasts. He wondered if their pups could become friends with his children and maybe, even help them to master their own bloodline abilities.

Yet none of the good things that might happen in the future eased his conscience for the bloodbath they were causing in the present.

To carry out Lith's plan, Protector had to slaughter the Hati so that they would become desperate enough to fall for the final act. Protector knew about the cull and that were they to fail many more would die, but that didn't make it easier for him one bit.

Just crippling the Hati was out of the question.

Any enemy he left alive only had to pass their wounds to stand up again and strike at him from behind. On top of that, the Skoll needed those kills in order to pretend to absorb the Hati's powers and revert to his true form without arising any suspicion.

Lith had been clear about that: "Regain a bit of your fur for every warg you kill. Bring out your wings and horns only after killing at least one Balor or Fomor. Anything else you kill, grow in size."

To make matters worse, each Hati captain channeled the might of the 50 members of their pack. They were stronger, faster, and magically more powerful than a mere bright blue-cored Awakened.

If not for Locrias mending his wounds, using Domination to repel part of the constant barrage of spells, and casting magic non-stop, Protector would have already died.

'This is wrong! This is all so wrong.' He thought while an orc shaman drained the world energy, a Balor unleashed an elemental pillar on Protector, and a Hati captain almost punched a hole in his gut.

'These people are fighting to protect their city from monsters of legends. I can see from their eyes how terrified they are. How could we agree to this?'