Chapter 353: _Their True Intentions

Elian’s POV

*****

Once the original spark of light from Garrick and Lucian’s clash cleared, Elian got the chance to witness their battle.

The black mist coiling around Garrick’s body whipped out like snakes, some grabbing Lucian’s limbs and attempting to subdue him.

But the Alpha King didn’t kneel.

With a guttural growl, he shoved Garrick backwards, hacking down scores of the dark tendrils wrapped around him. He fixed his stance as Garrick charged again.

“You’ve got no idea,” Garrick’s black sword met the might of Lucian’s silver blades, “how long I’ve waited for this moment. How long I’ve dreamt about making you and your father suffer in the most painful ways possible.”

“Well,” Lucian didn’t even flinch at the jab at his late father. “That doesn’t sound weirdly obsessive at all.”

“You’ll take me seriously once I’ve cut you down like the undeserving fool you are.”

“Aww, Garrick. Projecting, are we?”

As Lucian and Garrick’s battle shattered the marble floor and made the walls around them crack, Elian fixed his eyes on the witches and the evolved Umbra beasts.

[They’re too much for you to handle.]

‘For now,’ he grabbed Kyren’s necklace. ‘This bad boy should’ve recharged for another round of what happened in Arcadia’s capital.’

[Yeah, but unleashing it would mean breaking Kyren’s seal. On his core.]

Elian raised his head.

The humanoid umbra beasts took slow, menacing steps toward him while the witches used their magic on the Ascension platform doors behind them.

They were going to force it open and head down to the sacred pool.

And gods knew he wasn’t ready to see what chaos they’d be able to unleash with it.

‘Fuck it,’ his grip tightened around the necklace. ‘He gave me this to use whenever my life is in danger.’

As if on cue, a soft crimson light ignited out of the necklace. It brightened, pulsing through his body as his own mana core resonated with its energy.

“Looks like that’s the case now.” A cold smirk curved his lips.

Before the umbra beasts could make any moves, he lunged.

A blast of crimson and violet energy pushed back two of them. Levitating off the floor, he sent a roundhouse kick to another beast’s head.

It crashed through a wall, skidding through the floor of the room on the other side. Elian didn’t even spare it another glance, clenching his fists as more energy throbbed through his chest.

Like a cannon, he shot past the remaining umbra beasts and even past Garrick and Lucian. The witches tried defending themselves with a force shield but he broke through it, seizing one by the neck.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” He hissed, squeezing hard before yanking his arm back.

The witch was sent flying backwards—right into the waiting slash of Lucian’s blades. Blood splattered. Then the witch’s body plopped lifelessly to the ground.

The Alpha king gave Elian a proud wink before facing Garrick again.

Unfortunately, the other witches didn’t only manage to slip past Elian. They opened the Ascension platform doors and got the lift to take them down.

“No!” Elian was about to blast them but the metal doors sealed shut.

[They’ll be in the underground sections in a few seconds.]

‘We don’t have a few seconds.’ he swiped a finger forward, creating a portal leading to the sacred pool’s cave.

Fortunately, the wards down there recognised his signature enough to not immediately block his teleportation attempt.

The next moment, he arrived at the cave below the palace. At the centre of it, the sacred pool sat undisturbed, its silver light illuminating the dark stone walls.

Elian’s neck snapped to the Ascension platform doors, his fingers already sparking with magic.

They soon slid open, revealing three of the cloaked witches. They stepped out calmly, the familiar pressure of spells lingering around them.

[Three against one… Are you sure you can do this?]

Right now he could feel it.

Kyren’s magic pulsing in his veins, way more powerful than when he used the Bond Resonance skill. But he knew that also meant the seal on the Rogue King’s core was broken.

Which meant wherever he was right now, Kyren was aware he was in danger. While also having full, undiluted access to the destructive might of his transcendent core.

In other words…

‘Worst comes to worst, Kyren could come assist us.’ He answered. ‘In the meantime these witches aren’t getting close to the sacred pool no matter what.’

He’d barely finished that thought when one of the witches disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. The others followed one by one.

Then one of them appeared just a couple of feet in front of him.

Elian stamped his foot, propelling himself off the ground. Crimson and violet chains exploded around the witch, catching his limbs and spreading them apart.

The figure twisted in mid-air, robes fluttering like tattered shadows, but Elian poured more power into the bindings. They tightened with a metallic groan, drawing blood from the witch’s wrists where the magic seared into flesh.

He didn’t hesitate.

With a sharp twist of his wrist, he yanked the chains downward, slamming the witch into the cavern floor hard enough to crack the stone and send dust billowing upward.

The other two witches materialised on either side of him, their hands weaving intricate patterns that summoned swirling vortices of obsidian energy.

One hurled a spear of concentrated shadow that screamed through the air toward his chest.

Elian met it with a barrier of pulsing violet light, the collision erupting in a shower of sparks that lit the cavern like fireworks.

The impact jarred his arms, but he countered immediately, channeling Kyren’s magic through his palms.

Twin bolts of crimson lightning lanced out, faster and more ferocious than anything he had summoned before. They struck the first witch square in the torso, lifting her off her feet and hurling her against the far wall.

She crumpled, smoke rising from her charred robes, but not before she unleashed a desperate counter-spell that clawed at Elian’s side, tearing through his shirt and leaving shallow gashes that burned like acid.

The second witch pressed the advantage, teleporting in a blur to appear behind him. Her fingers dug into the air, pulling forth a web of dark threads that wrapped around his ankles and tried to drag him down.

Elian roared, the sound echoing off the ancient walls, and stomped again. A shockwave of raw energy rippled outward, shattering the threads and sending the witch stumbling backwards.

He followed up with a sweeping arc of his arm, manifesting a massive blade of intertwined crimson and violet flames that sliced through the cavern’s gloom. The witch barely dodged, but the edge caught her cloak, igniting it in unnatural fire that refused to be extinguished.

She screamed, batting at the flames while her companion recovered and joined the fray.

They attacked in unison now, their magic synchronising into a relentless barrage.

Bolts of necrotic energy rained down, each one designed to sap strength and corrupt the soul.

Elian danced between them, levitating higher, his body a whirlwind of power. He retaliated harder, summoning chains that lashed out like living serpents, coiling around one witch’s throat while he blasted the other with concentrated orbs of explosive mana.

The cavern trembled under the onslaught, stalactites crashing down from the ceiling as their battle intensified. Sweat beaded on his brow, but the thrill of dominance surged through him—Kyren’s magic felt like liquid fire in his veins, amplifying every strike until the witches seemed almost pitiful against his fury.

Then, in the heat of it all, Kyren’s voice sliced through his mind like a distant echo.

‘Elian.’

Just his name. Nothing more.

But the tone carried a fractured edge that sent ice shooting down Elian’s spine.

He faltered mid-cast, one hand instinctively reaching out through their bond, seeking the familiar warmth of Kyren’s presence.

Nothing answered.

The connection hung empty, a void where strength and reassurance should have been.

Panic flickered in his chest.

What had happened? Was Kyren hurt? Captured?

The distraction lasted only seconds, but it was enough.

The witches seized the opening.

Their combined magic surged forward in a tidal wave of darkness, slamming into Elian’s defences and cracking them like brittle glass.

He was driven back, boots skidding across the slick cavern floor, closer and closer to the sacred pool’s shimmering edge.

Its silver waters glowed invitingly, untouched and serene amid the chaos, but Elian felt a rising dread. They were herding him there deliberately.

He pushed back with everything he had, unleashing a storm of violet chains and crimson blasts that forced one witch to her knees.

The other circled, her spells weaving tighter, pressing him nearer still. His breaths came ragged now, the strain of borrowing Kyren’s transcendent power beginning to tell. It clawed at his core, a deep ache spreading through his muscles and mind, as if his body wasn’t built to contain such raw, untamed magic.

Fear gripped him—not for himself, but for the pool.

If they drained it or corrupted its essence, the consequences would ripple far beyond this cavern.

He went all out, yelling as he summoned a colossal vortex of energy that engulfed the space between them. The witches reeled, their attacks faltering under the sheer intensity, but the effort cost him.

Pain lanced through his temples, his vision blurring at the edges. Still, he pressed forward, determined to end this.

In a final, desperate gambit, the two remaining witches poured their magic into one devastating strike.

A sphere of writhing shadow formed between them, growing until it eclipsed the pool’s light. They hurled it at him with a unified cry, the force behind it shattering what remained of his barriers.

Elian tried to dodge, but the blast caught him full in the chest, propelling him backwards with unstoppable momentum. His feet left the ground, arms flailing, as he tumbled over the pool’s edge and plunged into its depths.

The water—pure, moon goddess divinity—closed over him like a living embrace.

It wasn’t cold; it was alive, humming with ancient power that seeped into his pores, flooding his senses with overwhelming light.

As he sank, struggling against the current that pulled him deeper, Elian caught sight of the witches through the rippling surface.

They weren’t advancing. They weren’t draining the pool or rushing toward its power.

Instead, they stood calmly at the edge, hoods lowered just enough to reveal satisfied smirks beneath their veils. No triumphant spells, no greedy hands reaching for the sacred waters.

Realisation hit him like a thunderclap: their goal had never been the pool itself. It was him. Pushing him in, submerging him in this divine essence that now warred with the foreign magic raging inside his body.

His limbs locked up, spasms ripping through every muscle as the goddess’s power clashed violently with Kyren’s broken seal.

Visions flickered at the edges of his consciousness—flashes of moonlight, forgotten rituals, and something vast stirring beneath the surface.

The strain built to a breaking point, his heart pounding erratically in his ears.

He tried to surface, to fight back, but the divinity held him fast, probing and consuming. Darkness crept in from the corners of his sight, the spasms intensifying until his body convulsed uncontrollably.

‘System? System, can you hear me?’ he called out desperately.

No response.

Then, with one final, agonising twist, everything went black.

Elian slipped into unconsciousness, the sacred pool’s glow fading into oblivion around him, leaving only the echo of Kyren’s single, worried call lingering in his fading thoughts.