Eternal Emerald Dragon

Lind was calm. It was strange but now that he knew where his enemy was, the feeling of fumbling in the dark vanished and he realized he had been truly losing hope.

They had lost so many trying to find one person in a supposedly finite space but he had severely underestimated the tenacity of the Bastard. It was clear that he had been preparing for the final incarnation for a far longer time than he had imagined.

The thralls were not easily made as they had to come from some timeline yet they could not be from the Divine Realm originally. He had not recognized a single one from the Final Fiend War.

While there had been so many battlefields, he had reviewed in detail every report trying to find clues to the Bastard in his old world. Any piece could help and they had left no stone unturned.

He had made a mistake then. The way he had overcome that version of the Bastard had given him a seed of confidence. He had faced the bogeyman alone and won. He thought he had been humble and cautious but the fortress had revealed his hubris.

Far more powerful beings were killed because he had not gone in truly understanding how patient and dangerous their foe really was. He was not facing just another cultivator, but a being that had lived through success and failure on a scale he could never fully grasp.

Yet, the Fiend had made a mistake in an inexplicable rage. Something had thrown off his patience and given Lind the final thing he needed. A direction.

Once everyone recovered, they moved as one but not to any door. His staff appeared and he carved holes everywhere. They saw that the halls they had walked were indeed not only moving but also not consistent in any pattern.

It was not a maze, so much as a delaying tactic. There were no dead ends or fixed choices, just a malleable structure that moved in directions without drawing any attention.

His staff was draining him a bit but they had a plan. As they moved, more thralls finally showed up but he frowned.

They were acting oddly. Not as disorganized as before yet they no longer ran forward with abandon. They were using weapons and artifacts, but they were no longer trying to touch anyone.

It was annoying but far less dangerous. Lind did notice they tried to get to him by far. It was like they were trying to get something from him or get exposed to his staff. Yet, his family and fellow Eternal Realm cultivators moved with far more ease.

With the lack of suicidal attack combined with a direction, their spirits had been reinvigorated. Lind was just mystified at the former issue.

Why were the thralls not winnowing their numbers at all costs? It was important because it was either a new tactic to lull them into a sense of security or something had changed because of what he had done to the thralls.

He had connected to them and was able to disrupt the Bastard's control yet that was all. He had only exerted more control to break the special realm open. Just a handful had been the limit he could exert power over compared to the millions the Bastard used with ease.

So what had he changed?

He continued to focus on the location he had felt he had pulled Goldthorn from but he also looked carefully at the thralls. Their disturbing eyes remained as empty as before. Their white hair and darkly perfect beauty was unchanged. The flow of Qi, however, was odd.

It was almost like something was shifted ever so slightly. It was not something he had done. He could not change the flow of all of them at once no matter how much he wished to.

[Qing, use some of your tools to examine the thralls. Something has changed.] He sent a transmission to his wife and she quickly had a tablet and wand in her hands. She was highly skilled to use them while keeping an eye on his surroundings for any openings.

Since her specialty was soul healing, she made far better eyes for details than most in the chaotic advance. The scent of blood filled his nose more deeply all of a sudden as a surge of thralls tried to simply overwhelm his left side but Ethry scorched them to ash.

Chu was using a similar tactic to the right but she also smiled wide as she blurred to rend her targets apart as she could.

Their protective artifacts were working over time but inside the range of his staff, they were inexhaustible.

Suddenly, Qing yelped in shock.

[Lind! They are alive!] He was confused at first. Of course they were alive. A thrall was a puppet but it was a living one. His mind then caught up and shock flooded him too!

He quickly channeled something new through his staff. It was a mix of his Tapestry and Time powers. He felt the faint connection once more but slowed down his own senses to feel what no other being could.

She was right! Previously, there was only the Bastard pulling the strings and nothing else. The Fiend thralls were just extensions of him.

Now, there was a sliver of the original Fiends inside them! The balance of the scales had shifted with neither Eternal Realm noticing!

His mind focused on a handful and while there was no conscious thought behind them, there was a single unifying need.

{No more. No More. No more.}

The function of their bodies, the base ability of all Fiends, had been locked away! They had been used as tools for uncounted billions of years. They knew their ultimate fate as food for the one they revered.

Fiends acted to live. They acted to evade Heaven and Earth. They acted to be at the top of the food chain. For them, even for the Great One, to be reduced to resources was the worst fate of all.

His Tapestry had restored that sliver of awareness to them somehow. Lind then went wide eyed at a revelation. His final Mystery! It was always there! It had unlocked a path to victory!

[I GRANT YOU PEACE!] His voice shot outward and while his allies were confused the thralls froze as one. Lind lit up like a sun then channeled it into his staff.

They were not attacking him, they wanted him to end them!

Emerald lightning danced along the staff until he twirled it above his head. Every wall around them was liquified and all the thralls dropped to their knees. A disturbing smile spread on all their faces.

[NO! GET UP! YOU ARE MINE TO COMMAND! OBEY ME!] The vile voice of the Bastard rang out but the thralls only flinched. They were done listening to him!

Lind let the lightning fly in all directions and it became sheet lightning. It danced around his allies and struck every thrall right at their dantian. The ash gray bodies cracked apart and then were dissolved as well.

Before they vanished, awareness returned to their eyes.

{Kill him, Lind Frey. End this.}

Lind did not smile at them. Their rebellion at the end did not absolve them. They had consumed trillions to live forever. They would have sided against them given a choice and a chance to endure.

Still, he nodded.

[Go into oblivion.] They did not resist and the thralls were all gone. The once chaotic battlefield fell silent. No more thalls came. He had not gotten them all. There was no way to do that from so far away, but he could feel others now.

He knew where they were.

He also knew they also were waiting to die. He cast his staff into the air and then sent it out. It carved open one pathway after another. His family turned to him as they understood something had changed.

[Ethry and Chu, lead forces to the map I am giving you. Annihilate every thrall. They will no longer resist.] He transmitted the knowledge he had taken from every thrall still connected to him.

He could see the layout of the inner fortress clearly. No more secrets. No more traps. The Bastard was laid bare!

[The rest of you will follow me but will separate under Fey and Shoti at my order. We are on the final march!] A cheer went up as 2 groups of 50 left in the directions he had opened.

Even as the main force advanced, Lind felt more threads break. The thralls were being wiped out and they were not fighting back.

The end was nigh for the Bastard!

⬧⬧⬧⬧

Crystal shattered and metal was bent as the Great One raged.

How dare they?! How dare his tools defy him?!

He had felt the shift too late. It was not from Lind Frey but from within! The souls of the Fiends had been partially infused to his thralls to give them form and life. Somehow, Lind Frey had pulled more of them out without his notice!

Now, they would not obey! He could not consume them either as pain spiked instantly! They were ready to take him down with them if he forced the issue and millions of souls was not a small thing to him!

He either lost them forever or risked everything to take them back! He dare not do the latter as Lind Frey was now tearing through the final defenses! The once certain victory was being taken away!

"I REFUSE TO DIE! I WILL NEVER DIE AGAIN!" He roared but the small azure sphere flickered in amusement.

He narrowed his eyes when a thought occurred to him. He focused on his dantian looking for a particular soul. He then calmed as he found it.

He then looked at the displays as the fierce face of Lind Frey loomed in them.

"Come to me, little dragon. I have one more card to play and you will not win. I will kill you and then everything is mine. None will be left to stop me!" Lanbao shivered in her cage. The conviction in his voice was clear to her.

What move was left? What had the Bastard remembered? She could not fathom what it was but she knew it would be bad. She prayed to the spirits that Lind could accept the sacrifice, whatever it was. She prayed for them all.

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