Unlike Emriss, a Dreadgod was truly immortal.
The Silent King saw another possibility unfold at the last second, and this one was truly irritating. Lindon, who should have given up, dragged a trail of black fire as he ran up to the Dreadgod.
The Silent King spared him a bare fraction of attention but redoubled the pressure on Emriss. His copies were tearing layers of bark from her, and no one else could get close to their battle. Lindon’s mind was weak and would take only minimal effort to break completely.
With one corner of his mind, the Dreadgod shoved Dross aside and assaulted Lindon. He gave up on keeping the Void Sage as a prize; holding back might cost him the chance to kill Emriss, which he couldn’t allow.
He tore Lindon’s mind to shreds.
Only to realize, at the last moment, that he was tearing only leaves.
Emriss had left a shield inside Lindon, buried so deep that even the Dreadgod hadn’t sensed it. The Silent King felt a moment of confusion. She’d protected him instead of herself. Why…
Condensed destructive energy slammed into his body. A Forged claw of Blackflame madra combined with an Enforcer technique and a huge comet’s tail of fire and destruction madra. Memories he’d stolen from Lindon gave him the technique’s name: The Dragon Descends.
It certainly resembled a black, serpentine dragon diving into the ground. In the moments before it detonated into a dark star.
Even immortal and perfect as the Dreadgod was, that hurt.
The ground for miles had already been ravaged and torn, but now the land was blighted even further. Black fire annihilated the hill the Silent King had been standing on and blasted down to burn a crater in solid stone. A chunk of the Dreadgod’s side was seared away, and even its left eye was singed.
But its fury blazed hotter than any flame.
The Silent King reached deep into its spirit and roared, resonating with its hunger. Whether it died or not, its brothers would devour every living soul on this continent. A ripple shot out from the Dreadgod, seeking sympathetic resonance with hunger madra.
The Silent King called for more Dreadgods.
It ran into the first one an inch from his throat. And there the call stopped.
White fingers sank into the skin of the tiger’s neck and began to Consume. For the first time in centuries, fear shivered through the Silent King.
He had known the arm of the Slumbering Wraith could threaten its existence. That was one of the reasons why he had tried to recruit Lindon.
But it could eat a call for help? Had Subject One always had that ability?
How had he not seen that in the future? These possibilities must have been hidden, cut from the list of possible outcomes.
Cut. Snipped away.
Almost…pruned.
See you next time, Emriss Silentborn whispered into the Dreadgod’s mind.
But the Silent King hadn’t given up yet. He snarled and swept his paw at the tiny human that dared to seize him by the throat.
An oversized, blue-white palm strike of pure madra landed on his huge chest. Lindon’s Empty Palm.
Unpowered by madra, the Silent King’s paw hit Lindon’s side with the force of a housecat. The King looked into the empty eyes of the Void Sage and thought that having some more physical power might not be so bad.
Next time, when it returned for revenge.
18
Lindon Consumed the Silent King. He stole his own memories back. He stole the dream essence that had been missing from his mind.
Then he kept stealing.
His arm was hungry, it was burning with greed, and it didn’t crack under the weight of the Silent King’s power. In fact, it had room to spare.
Lindon would have buckled under the Dreadgod’s will, but he had help. Emriss Silentborn took on the lion’s share of the burden, and Dross kept him from collapsing. Not to mention the other Monarchs, who had been wrestling against workings of the Silent King until moments ago.
Dross interrupted Lindon’s thoughts. [Tiger’s share. Reigan Shen is a lion, but this is a tiger. She’s taking on the tiger’s share of the burden, if you want to be technical. Which I do.]
Lindon’s spirit was at its limit swallowing so much of the King’s power, and there were still oceans to go. The dream aspects and the memories were sucked up by Dross, and Lindon could feel him evolving by the second.
Centuries of life strengthened the Dreadgod, and Lindon wanted them all. There was never enough.
Only now was the Silent King technically on the verge of death.
I’ll keep them off you, Emriss Silentborn whispered. But only for a moment, or they’ll fight us both.
Northstrider and Malice both focused on Lindon.