Chapter 35: Decision
"You look like a rat. How about I make you into a real rat?" Han asked as his Evolution Magic Circle appeared beside him.
A Dark Dragon slithered from behind him and coiled around his arm. It peered into the Evolution Magic Circle with a condescending gaze, reminding Roden of Xena’s eyes. He convulsed and vomited at the sight. The Dark Dragon waited for Han to splash a vial of blood into the circle. Once he did, it shot through the circle and into Han’s prey, biting his neck.
Cold. Deeper than bone.
The man’s eyes rolled back as pain tore through his neck. A burning sensation followed, worse than anything he had ever felt. Brown rat fur sprouted across his skin. His skull and bones cracked and shifted.
What is going on? I... I am not losing any of my lifespan even though I swore my True Name on it. This brat... is turning me into a rat? For real?
Lowering his head, he glanced at his hands. Instead of human skin and bones, he saw a rat’s paws. His breath caught in his throat. In shock, he tumbled forward.
Han sneered. "You’re so compatible with your summons’ bloodline. It’s like you were always meant to be a rat, but you somehow were born human. Maybe your entire bloodline searched for a way to become one with rats, and I just fulfilled your fate?"
Amid Han’s laughter, his stomach dropped. Jokes aside, what Han had done was beyond anything he’d imagined. It was an advanced spell no acolyte or initiate should be able to use.
Roden roared, "Do you not understand what you’ve done to me?! I swore my True Name in this battle! I swore my life on it! I should have died, but you turned me into a rat and prevented it! This noble sacrifice! You trampled on my noble sacrifice, you fucking monster!"
"Trampled on your noble sacrifice... I love the sound of that," Han said with a sneer.
"You will pay for this! I will murder you now that I have some of my mana back!" Roden screamed, breaking through Xena’s needles and dropping to all fours, screeching at Han.
His tail slapped the wall. His eyes went bloodshot, and he took a few steps forward.
Han snorted. "You really think I’m keeping you alive so you can hurt me?"
A coldness spread across Roden’s chest. Beneath his fur, the Obsidian Cauldron throbbed, making itself known. It raked through his body like a dragon’s claws, claiming everything. The cold gnawed into his flesh and bones, then sank into his soul.
He collapsed onto his stomach and shivered on the basement floor, which felt like warm sand compared to the Obsidian Cauldron’s cold flames. Han’s presence swept through him like a dragon wrapping around and squeezing him.
He lay flat on the ground.
"Roden. You’re strong enough to hold your own against Xena and Bellatrix. But..."
Han’s voice compelled him to look up.
"...you fear me."
I do.
For the second time in his life, Roden looked up and saw a giant he couldn’t overcome. The first was the Plague Priest in the Ender Cult. Since that day, he had looked up to that man and modeled his spells on his teachings.
And now he felt the same way toward Han. No. This was different. Han was a giant he couldn’t imagine ever overcoming. Even without wings or horns, Roden saw the shadow of Han’s lineage in Han, and he shivered harder.
He shook uncontrollably.
"Don’t you want to die? Answer everything and I’ll grant your deepest wish: to die by my spell," Han said. His tone stayed flat.
What he had done to Roden was more than a simple evolution. He had changed the rats’ bloodline and implanted in them an instinctive fear of Han’s race, the Black Dragon. Only one Black Dragon existed, which meant Roden feared Han most.
Han didn’t know his dragon’s howl had already awakened a fear of dragons within Roden’s human bloodline. Because of that, Roden was even more vulnerable to Han.
"Ask me anything!" he stammered.
"Didn’t I already ask you something?" Han replied.
Roden’s heart went cold. "It... it wasn’t me! I didn’t plant that note for the Shadowless Academy exam!"
"How did you know about Xena?" Han asked.
"I was nearby when wyverns carried her to Tenaxis’ lands. I planned to snatch her for myself but never got the chance until others decided to invade Tenaxis’ main household!"
"Others?" Han probed.
"The Shadowless Academy exam is just a cover for other Dark Practitioners and Dark Families to attack Tenaxis’ main household! Because Edward Tenaxis, head of Tenaxis, created his Magnum Opus, an artifact to resurrect people!"
Bellatrix jolted.
Resurrection? At what cost?
It wasn’t the first means to resurrect people. Rituals, sacrifices, and other methods existed, but an artifact was the simplest and most convenient. Edward Tenaxis’s Magnum Opus had undisclosed criteria, but artifacts were prized because most people could use them without special prerequisites. That made them lucrative and dangerous. Even people with normal mana could use artifacts sold by Tenaxis.
He considered it his greatest work. Nothing else he made would surpass it.
Han clenched his fists.
Things were messier than he’d thought.
Why would someone target me? Is it related to me being sealed? If they’ve been after me all this time, they really want me gone. Only Tenaxis insiders know about me, so my enemy is in the main house. That much was expected... I can’t forget the Red Dragons, either.
Han turned to the rat. "All I needed. Now, die."
He didn’t watch him die. Han activated his Obsidian Cauldron, absorbed Roden’s mana, and turned his flesh, bones, and blood into mana, killing him. Outside the basement, Hanna waited.
She bowed. "Your decision?"
"I’m confined in this mansion, and someone’s aiming for my neck. It’s time to move out and spread my wings," Han said, smiling.
"As you wish. We’ll prepare everything as quickly as possible so you can move out while the mansion is still plagued," Hanna said.
The toxins in the house were a good deterrent against other Dark Practitioners.
Han smiled. "Be quick, and don’t forget my Spellweaver’s Monolith. I love writing on it."
"Of course," Hanna said.