"Moreover, until these matters aren't resolved, I don't plan on leaving Lutia unless it's strictly necessary.

"In the meantime, feel free to get back to your respective homes. We all deserve some time to recover from our respective missions. I just need Friya's help to prepare a present for my parents."

"What? They almost brought your childhood nemesis back into your home and you want to give them a present?" Phloria asked.

"Staying angry with them wouldn't achieve anything but break my family apart. If I'm right about Orpal, that's exactly what he wants. I'm not going to play by his rules. I'll just act like always, as if he doesn't exist." Lith replied.

"Okay, but why Friya?" Tista felt a bit offended by his choice. "She's not an Awakened and she's even the less skilled Forgemaster among us."

"Thank you, Tista. I love you too." Friya's voice oozed sarcasm.

"Because among its many horrors, Kolga had a couple of decent ideas I would like to try out. I don't like the fact that whenever one of us isn't home our parents are stranded in the middle of nowhere.

"Regular people cannot fly or Warp, which makes them easy to capture. The moment Mom and Dad get out of the arrays surrounding our house, they are sitting ducks. Even the Queen's Corps can do only so much since dimensional magic can be easily blocked."

"All the more reason why you shouldn't pick Friya." Quylla pointed out.

"One more word and I'll kick all of your asses!" Friya snorted.

"I'm sorry, Quylla, but I need the Master of Space if I want to craft a DoLorean."

***

Duchy of Essagor, Zogar Vastor's home.

After successfully assimilating the Abomination core, the Master had plenty of reasons to rejoice. He was stronger than ever, he was now capable of using Chaos magic, and with each passing day he converted more of his spells into true magic.

His black core had given him the same abilities of a non-Awakened Emperor Beast and some more. Yet not even Xenagrosh reassuring him that aside from Invigoration nothing could discover his hybrid nature could quench Vastor's worry and rage.

Worry because no matter what Xenagrosh said, Manohar couldn't be underestimated. The god of healing had accomplished the impossible with ease so many times that the Master had lost count.

He couldn't bear the thought that a casual brush with Manohar would expose his use of the Forbidden Arts and force him to set his plan into motion before all of his pieces on the board were in position.

Unfortunately for him, Vastor couldn't avoid his esteemed colleague forever. The idea of Tyris piecing together the facts and ruining decades of hard work made his stomach twist into a knot, but even that was nothing compared to the fury that almost clouded his vision.

'I can't believe that those parasites of the Befras dare to mess with both Lith and I. They may be Zinya's parents, but if they think that I'll let them ruin the happiness of the only person on this mudball that gives an honest shit about me, they are sorely mistaken.' Vastor thought as black spots appeared on his skin whenever his emotions let the Chaos energy run rampant.

'I stayed out of Zinya's life to keep her from being dragged down with me in the case something goes wrong with my plan, but I'll be damned before I let the same vermin that almost got her killed in the past poison her life again.

'I wish I could just send Xenagrosh to set them up for an accident, but Lith would take the blame for it. Poor kid, he has to deal with both them and his insignificant brother. That one I can kill.

'I just need to give Lith plausible deniability and make sure to make Meln's entire corpse disappear. The f.u.c.ker has no one and had already gone missing for years. I can either send Meln on a nice one-way trip or make him write a note before committing suicide.

'Scratch that. Lady Verhen has already suffered enough because of Trion. She deserves some peace.' Vastor had a file on Meln of Cyrmu and it was too thin for his liking.

According to the intel that Xenagrosh had collected, after the voluntary military service, Meln had left the army because after two years he had failed to become even a Private First Class.

Meln had proven to be talented, strong-willed, and resourceful, but his thirst for power often interfered with discipline. He had several demerits for arguing with his commanding officers and for starting fights with the other soldiers.

According to the notes, they were all related to his squadmates being promoted faster than him. Meln liked to use his fists more than his brains during an argument, something that the army couldn't tolerate.

Following his barely honorable discharge, Meln had fallen into a spiral of crimes that had led him to get in and out of jail. Even as a criminal he was considered a small fry, barely more than a thug.

Yet the trail went cold right after Lith had graduated from the Academy and earned his family name. Meln seemed to have disappeared for years, leaving no trace of his passage until just a few weeks ago, when he had conveniently learned about his brother's death.

A perfect excuse to knock at the Verhen household.

'Something smells fishy here. Even my contacts in the underworld of the Gorgon Empire and the Blood Desert have failed to find anything about him. If this guy has turned over a new leaf, then I'm a Guardian.' Vastor thought while looking at his own reflection.

A human body was weak compared to that of monsters and the more he lost control of his black core, the more flesh the Chaos devoured. The moment the black dots covered his whole skin, Vastor would die.

He needed to take several deep breaths to calm down. The Master used the breathing techniques that his adopted children had learned through the millennia to make the Chaos subside.

Only then could he use healing magic to cover his now exposed muscles with new skin and regrow his lost bits. The black core gave him strength, but it also fed upon anything containing light element, Vastor's body included.

"No offense, kid, but you're one hundred years too early to return to the human scene. One mistake and you'll doom us all." A rough, familiar voice that sounded like a barking dog made Vastor turn around.

The creature coming out of a dimensional gate in violation of all the defensive arrays of his house looked like a humanoid wolf almost 2.5 meters (8') tall covered by a pitch-black thick fur and with rainbow colored eyes.

"What are you doing here? You're supposed to stand guard to Lith's house in the case Night returns." The Master had a hard time keeping his anger from maiming his body again.

"Wargs are great at multi-tasking. One tail is more than enough now that the Wyrmling has returned." Before turning into an Abomination, Tezka had been a Fylgja, a fox-type Emperor Beast that could grow up to seven tails according to their elemental masteries.

Their powers worked differently from Hydras and couldn't use Domination, but it didn't make them any less dangerous.