Supreme Magus

Chapter 3782: Family Reunions (Part 1)

’To draw elite mages to my side, I need a strong image.’ Orpal grunted. ’I need the charisma and the authority to inspire confidence in my future subjects. All things I can only achieve through victory.

’I sent my clone to the Distar Household to ensure that even if Leech somehow saved the rest of her friends, the Distar bloodline would have died tonight.

’I planned to deal the Kingdom and Leech such a blow that my victory would have overshadowed the other "failed" missions. The death of a pillar of the Kingdom, beloved by the Royals, and armed with the best protections they can offer, would have shaken everyone to their bones.

’The Royals would have proven themselves incapable of defending their most loyal subjects, and grief would have numbed Leech’s mind in the days to come. That was the fight I was supposed to win in order to keep the public attention away from my apparent defeats.

’I didn’t expect the Queen to step in, nor to be that powerful. She took the spotlight away from me and ruined my recruiting strategy.’ He sighed. ’I may have won three games out of four tonight, but if the rest of Mogar thinks I’ve lost them all, that’s what happened.’

’Cheer up. No one could have predicted the Queen’s coming.’ Night still had no idea of the secret Warp Gate in the Distar Mansion. ’You did everything you could and more. You even relocated our headquarters to Talgor to prevent our troops from revealing our position in case of capture.’

Orpal knew how resourceful his hated brother was and couldn’t afford the risk of underestimating Lith. Each strike team had received the coordinates of a different rally point, where they would go after the mission and be scanned for trackers before being transported to the new headquarters.

None of the Upyrs knew of the sudden move to Talgor, so even if one of them was captured and interrogated, the worst they could do was point the Kingdom at the now-empty city of Hervor.

Anyone who stepped inside Orpal’s previous headquarters would be blasted into smithereens by the explosive traps he had left.

Only the Upyrs who reached the correct meeting point would be brought to Talgor, and only after their identity had been confirmed and they had been searched for foreign objects.

There was no way to locate Orpal’s current base of operations.

’It was a pointless precaution.’ The Dead King sighed harder. ’No one survived. No one was taken prisoner. All their communication runes have disappeared too quickly. There was no time to interrogate them.’

’Clearly, we weren’t the only ones out for blood today.’ Night nodded.

Orpal’s body was whole again, and after putting on some clothes, he went to his bedchambers for a healthy venting session.

"Why is my bedroom empty?" He walked out of the room a second after walking in. "Where are..." He tried and failed to remember the names of his concubines. "The Dryads, the Titanias, and the Harpies?"

"Congratulations, Daddy." Jorl threw a bunch of pink and blue ribbons at Orpal and gave him as many cigars, shoving only one in his mouth. "You did it. Whatever happens to you, the Vurdalak bloodline will live on."

"Answer my question, dammit!" Orpal threw the ribbons on the floor and smoked the cigar in fury. It was a really good cigar.

"I just did." The Storm Griffon shrugged. "I told you, you just got redundant. The ’fair maidens’ got what they wanted and left. They exploited the chaos of the relocation to slip away unnoticed."

"What? Why?" Orpal was flabbergasted.

"Off the top of my head, you’re not the great lover you think, they never cared about you, and they don’t want to get involved in whatever you’ll do next. After all, they are guaranteed to become Upyrs even without your help.

"As the babies grow and their Vurdalak blood flows inside their mothers’ bodies, they’ll likely become full-fledged Upyrs in due time. I bet those women have gone back to their families.

"They are going to need the influence of their entire species to ensure their safety and that of their children. The Awakened Council won’t take the news of their association with you well, no matter how brief it was."

"Fuck!" Orpal snarled. "The only silver lining is that I kept our destination a secret and we took plenty of detours. Even if those whores try to sell my skin to save theirs, the Council will never find me."

***

Verhen Mansion, at the same time.

"Daddy!" Lilia, Leran, Fenrir, and Solkar jumped into Protector’s arms as one. "Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Solkar was too young to talk, so he just barked to agree with whatever his older siblings said.

"I’m fine, my little champions, and it’s all thanks to you!" Even in his human form, Ryman’s arms were thicker than most trees.

There was plenty of space for the four children as he hugged and kissed them.

"Dad was in a bad pinch, but his little warriors saved him." He nuzzled the children’s faces, tickling them with his beard.

Selia waited for Ryman to be done reassuring the children before stepping forward to welcome his return. She too needed to be comforted and had been worried sick the whole time.

"Was it that bad?" Selia hugged Ryman tight, looking at his face for signs of mana abuse that she now knew how to recognize.

"Kind of." He returned her embrace, feeling Selia trembling between his arms. "Enough that I don’t want to talk about it in front of our little warriors."

"Meanie!" Lilia and Leran pouted. "We helped you fight! We deserve to know what happened!"

"Daddy!" Fenrir didn’t care much about such things, only that her father was back and her mother was now calm.

"Bark!" Solkar happily clung to Selia’s leg, hungry for a meal.

"Is everything alright?" Kamila asked while Hushing her surroundings.

Seeing the Demons rush to their respective families worried her, and the weird expression on Lith’s and Solus’ faces only reinforced her worst fears.

"Have Meln’s Upyrs become that strong?"

"No." Lith checked the reports from the other sites of the attacks and, after confirming that no one needed his help or was dead, turned to his wife. "Something painful happened, but it was something good."

"Okay, now you lost me." She tilted her head in confusion.

"Please sit, Kami." Solus said. "We need it."

A strong cup of tea, a mind link, and a cup of an even stronger tea spiked with liquor later, Kamila knew everything about the fight and the brief encounter with the consciousness of Trequill Lark.

"Gods." She wiped her tears. "I wish I were there with you. I would have loved to meet him one last time and tell him goodbye."

"I’m happy you weren’t there, instead." Lith replied. "I’m sorry, Kami, but you are still weak. We’re lucky there was no second unit lying in ambush because when Lark appeared, we were fish in a barrel.

"Everyone was so shocked that the house might have crashed on our heads and we wouldn’t have noticed."

"Don’t listen to him, Kami." Solus playfully slapped Lith’s hand. "He’s trying to rationalize his feelings as a moment of weakness."