Chapter 4281: Monster Half (Part 1)

"I wish I shared your confidence." The Master replied. "You had a brilliant idea, Tezka, but I think you are biting more than you can chew. Tell him, Theseus."

"For the hundredth time, I’m not a Healer!" The Bastet-Meneos replied. "Paquut was a butcher. A cruel monster that twisted the life forces of his victims for a laugh. I just inherited his knowledge."

"Still, Paquut experimented on life forces as very few others in Mogar’s history did." Tezka pointed out. "Keeping alive his victims required finesse. He learned how much all kinds of life forces can take without breaking, which makes you our second-best expert after the Master."

"And I agree with him." Theseus said. "You are taking this too far, Tezka, and on a path only you seem to see at that."

"Because it’s my Fylgja life force." Tezka replied. "I studied it for countless hours while I tried to achieve the white core and prolong my life for as long as I could. Back then, I didn’t even know what I lacked and what I could improve, but now I do.

"I have studied the life force of the Divine Beasts in the Organization and even the life force of a Guardian." The mention of the experiments the hybrids had performed on his mother while they held Ileza captive made Theseus bristle.

"What once made no sense is now so obvious that I can’t believe it took me so long to figure it out. Yet I’m not ashamed to admit that it wouldn’t have been still enough without Xenagrosh. You gave me the final piece of the puzzle."

The Shadow Dragon had been true to her word and had never revealed anything about the tower or the means that Baba Yaga had employed to save her life. She had only allowed the Master and the members of the Organization to study the changes in her life force.

According to Tezka, that was enough for him to figure out a cure for himself and maybe for the rest of the hybrids as well.

"I hope you are right." Zoreth lied through her teeth.

She was more afraid of what Tezka’s success might bring than of the potential deadly consequences of his failure.

’We are already unmatched as we are. Why isn’t it enough?’ She inwardly asked.

"You all know your roles." The clones fused into the real Tezka as they advanced towards the Madness. "Zogar, Theseus, I don’t care what you think. As long as I don’t ask you to intervene or I lose consciousness, do not interfere with my work.

"We can only do things my way and know why I succeed or fail, or make a collective mess and clutch at straws afterwards. I want you here because if I’m wrong, you are the only ones who can restore my life force, even if it falls apart.

I need your trust. Is that clear?"

"Crystal." The Master nodded.

"I still disagree with this, but I’ll do as you say." The Bastet crossed his arms.

"Bytra, I need full control of the Madness. Give me your Absolution, please. The original, not a copy." Tezka extended his hand, and the Fourth Ruler of the Flames gave her hammer to him without hesitation.

"I will speak to you during the procedure." The Suneater looked around the room, meeting the eyes of his fellow hybrids. "I’ll explain my theory as I put it into practice, and I’ll prove to you that I’m right. Zogar, if you please."

The Master established a telepathic connection between the hybrids and activated a diagnostic array that displayed the current status of his life force.

A long time ago, when Tezka was still a Fylgja, he wasn’t much different from a regular Emperor Beast. His old life force resembled a solar system with a giant violet at its center and six smaller elemental stars orbiting it.

After becoming an Abomination, the darkness star had turned into a black hole, swallowing everything else. When he fell into an Eldritch, the black hole had grown in size, and Tezka had recovered the remaining five elemental stars.

Yet they were all smaller than the Chaos black hole, especially the light star, and without life, there couldn’t be Spirit Magic either.

The Master’s experiments had brought the Suneater back to life, giving him the body and mana core of a Warg. It had marked the reappearance of the seventh star, and every progress Vastor made in merging the Eldritch and Warg life forces had allowed the other elemental stars to grow in size.

Now, Tezka’s life force resembled a supermassive black hole around which spun four giant elemental stars, one silver star, one emerald dwarf star, and what looked like a comet that moved back and forth across the quasar.

"This is the problem." Tezka pointed at the comet. "My Warg life force. Using Lith’s evolutionary classification, it’s a mere rank 1. A magical beast that became stronger after its Fall, but it’s still far below a rank 2 Emperor Beast."

His finger moved to encompass the six stars, leaving the black hole aside.

"Our Eldritch life force, instead, is a rank 3. Don’t get me wrong. I’m aware we are all superior to Divine Beasts and that even the weakest among us can go toe to toe with a white core and live to tell the tale, but this is no measurement contest.

"I’m explaining what Baba Yaga did to Xenagrosh and how it works to you. The coexistence of our different life forces allows the weaker ones to be elevated over time by the strongest.

" As you can see from the size and power the elemental stars have reached after the Master’s experiments, my Eldritch side has enhanced my Fylgja side. At the same time, the Eldritch and Fylgja sides try to elevate my Warg side, but they fail."

He pointed at the pathetically small comet that dwarfed even in comparison with the emerald star.

"They fail not because they lack power, but because the Warg life force is defective from birth. Its natural growth path has been severed at the moment of its Fall. No matter how long we wait, our monster half will never match our other life forces.

"Without that crucial step, our three aspects will never be able to meet as equals and merge into something new. Even if one of us were to strong-arm their life forces to fuse into one, the monster side would be destroyed in the process.

"Useless to say, that moronic hybrid would either die for good or go back to being an Abomination."

"If what you say is true, then what are we doing here?" Abthot asked. "Also, how does this explain Xenagrosh’s sudden evolution?"

"You didn’t pay attention." Tezka snorted. "I said that the natural growth path of our monster life force is severed, not all paths. There is still a way, and I will show it to you if you shut up."

Abthot raised her hands in apology and mimicked the gesture of sealing her lips.

"Here’s my plan. I’m going to enter the Madness and use Nandi’s world energy and Theseus’ and Zoreth’s vitality to permanently alter my life force. I’ll focus solely on the Warg aspect and remove the blocks that prevent it from reaching rank 2."

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