Novel Full Chapter 593 - Taming the Swarm - 8
Chapter 593: Chapter 593 – Taming the Swarm – 8
After the first round of “greetings”…
The reversal was complete, the experienced noble who had been treating them as children was now faced with legal documentation that turned the tables entirely. Morgain’s professional composure began showing cracks as she processed the implications of what had just happened.
Around them, soldiers who had been observing the exchange began to realize they were witnessing something significant. The political dynamics of the entire defensive position had just shifted with a few pieces of paper. But…
Aldric let out a dry, humorless laugh that carried the weight of decades spent dismissing challenges from those he considered beneath him.
“Documents,” he murmured with disdain that dripped like poison from every syllable. “And I suppose you have all the necessary SEALED documentation? Because the type of authorization you describe requires specific SEALS from the royal family…”
Larissa smiled for the first time in months. A small, nervous smile, but genuine, the first crack in the wall of grief she had built around herself.
“Of course.” Luna unfurled the documents with the royal seal clearly visible, the magical authentication glowing softly in the light. “Everything perfectly legal and appropriately authorized.”
Morgain approached to examine the papers, her eyes narrowing while she verified each line with the scrutiny of someone who had spent years navigating legal technicalities. Her expression gradually hardened as she realized the documents were indeed legitimate.
“This is… technically correct,” she admitted reluctantly, each word seeming to cause her physical pain. “But highly irregular. The circumstances that permitted this authorization are…”
“Are irrelevant,” Larissa interrupted, finding her voice growing more intense and ’full-bodied’ with each word. Years of legal education and political observation crystallized into confident authority. “The documentation is valid. The territory is hers by right. And you are violating protocol by operating here without her permission.”
Aldric straightened, his expression becoming dangerous in the way that some powerful people became when their authority was questioned by those they considered children.
“Arrogant girls who don’t know the real world,” he said, his voice dropping to the tone reserved for threats. “Do you think some simple papers give you real authority? I have thousands of veteran soldiers here. Morgain has more. You have… what? Three maids and a handful of guards?”
The threat hung in the air like poisonous smoke, its implications clear to everyone present. Luna felt her control cracking, reality crushing her hopes like an avalanche of cynicism and raw power.
It was then that Liora stepped forward, her expression changing from friendly concern to something much more dangerous, the controlled fury of someone who had watched friends suffer too long in silence.
“Lord Aldric,” Liora said with a voice sweet enough to hide venom, “did you just threaten my friends?”
Something in her tone made the guards present tense instinctively. Aldric frowned, but his political arrogance overrode his survival instincts.
“So what little princess? Are they going to run to their parents?”
The mockery was obvious, designed to remind them of their missing family.
Liora smiled without humor, and for the first time since they had arrived at the wall, the temperature seemed to change.
“Princess? I am Liora Ashenway… And it turns out I have explicit permission from my grandmother Selphira to use whatever amount of power I want.”
Liora extended her right hand, and both her Spirit and her Bashe materialized simultaneously at her sides. But she didn’t stop there…
The fusion was instantaneous and glorious, her beasts combining into a creature of black flames that then duplicated and fused with her.
No tamer present was capable of reaching a similar power level.
Selphira’s name combined with a new female dual tamer of this caliber openly showing her power carried serious implications for the girl’s future. Morgain visibly paled, recognizing the political earthquake that such backing represented, while Aldric unconsciously took a step back.
“Selphira…” Morgain murmured, the name carrying weight that transcended simple familial connection. “Selphira agrees with this?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Liora responded with false cheerfulness that made her words more threatening than any shouted challenge. “In fact, she told me that if anyone tried to stop me, I should show them how outdated that archaic way of thinking had become.”
“So… Please,” Liora said, her voice now loaded with authority borrowed from one of the kingdom’s most powerful tamers, “continue explaining to me why you think you can intimidate my friends.”
A sphere of black fire began forming over her extended palm, growing until it was more than a meter in diameter. The heat was so intense that the air itself began undulating as it continued expanding.
Aldric swallowed hard, but maintained his defiant posture despite the sweat beading on his forehead. “Power isn’t everything in politics, girl. You may have an impressive fusion, but you’re not a Starweaver. You can’t legitimize a girl like Luna’s claim with just false papers and threats.”
Morgain nodded, though she maintained distance from the fire sphere that radiated heat like a miniature dark sun. “Lord Aldric is right. External support from a single individual, no matter how powerful, cannot replace the legitimacy of protocols. And with the Starweaver patriarch… indisposed… Luna’s claim is, at best, problematic for the crown on the firstborn prince’s head as well.”
Liora felt her rage intensify like fuel added to flame. These nobles were still being completely rational in their power play, and that made them infinitely more detestable than if they had been simply cruel.
“You are absolutely despicable,” she murmured, the fire sphere pulsing brighter with each word. “Logical, calculating, and completely hateful.”
Without thinking, Liora directed her fire sphere like a destructive comet. The ball of flames tore through the air and impacted directly in the center of the horde of corrupt creatures approaching the wall, the resulting explosion vaporizing a dozen mutants instantly and sending their corrupted remains scattering like ash in the wind.
“That’s for interrupting my conversation!” Liora shouted, though her voice carried more satisfaction than real annoyance.
But even as the remains of her attack faded, Aldric shook his head with the confidence of someone who had weathered many displays of power.
“Impressive power,” he admitted nervously, “but this proves exactly my point. You’re not the one who should be directing the defense of Starweaver territory. We can take our armies and leave… the wall would fall instantly. And no matter how effective you are, you’d still be a soldier. You can’t take an army alone.”
Liora wasn’t a Starweaver, and although she supported her friend, it didn’t help much when trying to get Luna to take the “command role” without soldiers. In a certain way, they were right…
Although Aldric should still obey Luna’s orders in theory, which is why Liora got angry at how low they were being by speaking while hiding details and how obvious what they were doing was. But Luna touched her shoulder.
Luna had felt something break inside her. Not her hope, but her fear. All her life she had been the Starweaver who had to hide behind her father’s protection, the one who always needed to avoid others taking advantage of her innate characteristics.
But that would end now… seeing Liora fight for her, seeing Larissa overcome her trauma to help her, she realized she had been thinking about everything completely wrong.
She was important. She always had been.
She already had enough power… she no longer had to hide behind someone else.
Now it wasn’t about being good enough to help recover the Starweaver name. It was about making the Starweaver name worthy of her.
Luna stepped forward, passing beside Liora, and for the first time in her life, she didn’t hesitate when calling her beasts together.
Her Elemental Devourer Wolf materialized to her left, a massive creature of shadows that seemed to absorb light itself. Her Light and Wind Tiger appeared to her right, its fur shining with energy that made the surrounding air vibrate.
She had also shown her double status.
The fusion that followed was different from anything Aldric and Morgain had seen before. Combining and duplicating the contrary attributes of light and shadow created something that transcended normal magical categories, pure chaos but given purpose and direction.
The result was a presence that made both Morgain and Aldric step back again instinctively.
And Luna wouldn’t let her presence show just power, but also authority.
“Lady Morgain,” Luna said, her voice now loaded with the weight of centuries of Starweaver lineage, “you have thirty seconds to begin withdrawing your soldiers from my territory before I decide to compel you.”
“You can’t…” Aldric began.
“Lord Aldric,” Luna continued, ignoring him completely, “you can stay at my side and coordinate your forces with my orders, or you can leave and put them in my charge. But you will never command anything on Starweaver land above me again.”
The shadows around them began extending like hungry tentacles, responding to her emotional state with eager malevolence.
But instead of attacking the nobles, Luna directed her power toward the corrupt creatures still approaching the wall. The frantic shadows shot out like living projectiles, absorbing the residual flames from Liora’s attack and converting them into veils of destructive energy that multiplied exponentially under her control.
The result was a temporary massacre that redefined the battlefield. Dozens of mutants were annihilated in seconds, their corrupt forms disintegrating under the combined assault of shadow and fire.