Chapter 4170  Blue Gemstone (Part 1)

***

News of the fall of House Frorl spread like wildfire throughout Amrok and beyond.

"Idiots." The local nobles commented, eager to learn who among them would be assigned the Frorl estate from the Crown. "Letting their degenerate son commit murder in broad daylight wasn't enough.

"They had to antagonize the Supreme Magus."

"Can you believe they ordered their guards to attack Verhen?" They would scoff. "The survivors' testimonies make it an open and shut case. I would pity Frorls, if there weren't the chance I might get a part of their lands."

"By the way, what have they been charged with?" A few asked. "The noble ranking of the Supreme Magus is still unclear, after all."

"Not anymore." Was the reply. "The Royals have decreed that assault on the Supreme Magus is an act of high treason against the Kingdom. The Frorls will be lucky if they meet the executioner after only one month of torture."

"I don't care much about them. What worries me is what Verhen did to the arrays." Most pointed out. "A powerful noble household has been stormed in a few minutes and its magical formations destroyed.

"Not breached like the Dead King does, neutralized as Balkor did, or shut down with a Royal Override, mind you. They were crushed to bits. The Frorl mansion has no magical protections anymore."

That piece of news spread even more far and wide because it meant nobody was safe. Sure, Marquis Frorl had no powerful mages or bodyguards at his service, and the Association had refused to intervene, yet Lith's feat was unprecedented.

It made nobles and commoners wonder how powerful their Supreme Magus was, and how many troops the Royals would need to muster to restrain Lith if he ever turned against the Kingdom.

As for Lith, he prolonged his stay in Amrok after informing his parents of the unfortunate developments of his vacation. Clila had no one left and was in no shape or form to take care of herself, let alone work.

"Is your offer for help still valid, Lith?" She asked after Elfiam's funeral was over.

Lith had offered to take care of it for her, but Clila had insisted on doing it with part of the Marquis Frorl's money she had received as compensation from the Kingdom.

"Of course." He nodded. "Just ask."

"I want to leave Amrok and never return." Clila said. "I hate this place. I hate these people. I hate traffic."

Her voice lowered into a snarl.

"I want to go as far away as possible to a quiet and isolated place. Do you know a city like that?"

"If you don't mind the cold, I recommend Jambel, in the Kellar region." Lith said. "I know the local Baron and the people there are as brave as generous. There are no Tablets there, though."

"Good." She snorted. "I've already thrown away mine. It reminds me of Elfy too much."

"Then, you'll need this." Lith handed her a communication amulet with his contact rune already imprinted. "Just in case someone bothers you, or a friend of the Frorls tries anything funny."

"Thanks." She nodded, cradling the urn containing her brother's ashes in her arms. "When can we leave?"

***

Taking Clila to Jambel and entrusting her to Baron Eiros Wyalon took only a few Steps from the nearest Gate. After that, Lith returned to the Verhen Mansion.

"You look terrible, baby." Elina had rarely seen her son like that, and never at a good time. "How are you feeling?"

"The way I look." He replied with a wan smile. "Don't worry, Mom. I'll get better soon. All I need is the chaos and turmoil of my family."

"I'm glad you can already joke like this." Raaz patted Lith's shoulder.

Then, Selia charged past them in a blur as she chased after Solkar, who had just discovered Fusion Magic. She had almost caught the baby boy when Orikan clung to Solkar's back, and they took off together.

"Did you see the direction he went?" Morok panted at Lith a few seconds later. "I mean Orikan. If you saw Jirya, please tell Quylla. They both escaped right after being fed, and we've split up to cover more ground."

"He went that way." He replied, and the Tyrant sprinted away with a thank you.

"Who's joking?" Lith said, looking his father in the eyes.

***

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away, Jorl and the core members of his rebellion couldn't believe their own eyes.

"This is the moon." He looked at the silvery grasslands surrounding the Black Throne. "You weren't joking. You really took us to the moon."

"Of course I did, kid." The cursed tower sneered. "It wasn't an easy journey, but here we are."

Like Solus' tower, the Black Throne had to wait for a mana geyser on Mogar to align with a specific location on the moon to travel there. Unlike Starforge, however, the cursed tower's trip was longer and more dangerous.

The Black Throne used the temporary corridor of world energy as a railroad to fly to the moon at his top speed and perform long-distance Warps without depowering his core.

Straying from the corridor would have meant death, but he didn't care.

After living for so long, the Black Throne was confident in his abilities, and putting his life on the line was one of the few thrills he had left. His guests knew nothing of this quirk of his, and they never would.

"Not to belittle your feat, but why are we here?" Akhton the Baste asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Black Thone asked, and was appalled by the confused expressions on the faces of his so-called allies. "This place is filled with world energy saturated with Life Maelstrom, you dimwits!

"Here you can train your abilities and spells. You can practice your teamwork and discover your Upyr bloodline abilities without anyone noticing your presence.

"Also, I brought you here to let you get accustomed to our future battlefield. If we fight on Mogar, Night might break past our dimensional sealing arrays and call for Baba Yaga.

"If that happens, best case scenario for her, she runs away while we fight with her mother. Worst case scenario for her, she dies, but we die with her. Either way, we'd get nothing at best and die like morons at worst.

"Nobody will disturb us here, instead. Even Baba Yaga's bond with her Firstborn can't reach this far away as the moon darts across the sky."

"That's a brilliant plan." Jorl nodded. "I can't believe we have the whole moon for ourselves. I wonder what kind of riches we can find."

"Leave this grassland, and you will die." The Black Throne replied. "We are currently at the edges of the domains of the moon's masters. If you get too close, they might notice your presence, and until the next alignment with Mogar, we have nowhere to run."

Actually, they were standing in Lith's turf, but the Black Throne had no way to know that.

"The moon has masters?" Uragar was flabbergasted. "Are you telling me that people live here? That powerful and unknown races populate the moon's continents?"

"Yes, it does." The cursed tower replied. "And no to the rest. There is no one here but us, Leegaain, Fenagar, and a crazy Lich with his deranged Eldritch friend and a cat. We aren't a match for any of them."