Chapter 4203  Doomed Bloodline (Part 2)

'If Erion is just pretending, however, then it's much worse. Even if I make no mistake, he might still set me up as a traitor or pin all the blame on me in case our mission fails. I would be nothing but a stepping stone to him.

'A sacrificial pawn to buy himself the good grace of the Dead King to learn as much as Erion can from him before turning his tail and cutting ties with us. After all, Erion's cover is perfect.

'He never took part in a strike force, and there is no proof of his allegiance to Orpal. Even if we expose him in retaliation, his bloodline can deny our accusations. And why wouldn't they, if the Upyr powers can be passed down to their descendants?'

***

Verendi continent, at the borders between the Zamana and Phytrik region, inside a mountain cave, at the same time.

"I can't believe we missed that bastard. Again." Utho the Ishara sighed, his voice produced by the chittering snaps of his segmented mandibles. "We had him, her, it, or whatever that fucker is, yet he slipped through our pincers like the dirt he is!"

"Patience, Utho." Anaka, his sister, replied. "We knew this would be hard, and losing our temper would achieve nothing but provide the fungus folk an opening in our encirclement the next time we find him."

"You should listen to her, child. Your sister is the voice of reason." Imosi, the elder of the Ishara bloodline, nodded. "We carry the hopes of our brethren. When we return to the Rathi continent, I don't want to tell our clansmen we failed because of you.

"This time, it was no one's fault. The fungus folk had left a sack of his spores somewhere. There was no way for us to know that the thing we had captured was just a decoy until it withered inside the Spirit Prison.

"Yet if you don't keep your anger in check, the next time we might lose our quarry because of you. Is this what you want? To bring even more shame to our already ruined bloodline?"

"No, Elder. I'm sorry." Utho lowered his head and stinger as humiliation replaced fury in his heart.

"I'm not angry at you, child, I'm only afraid to see your potential go to waste as it happened to our foremother, Selkis." Imosi patted the young Divine Beast's shoulder, making their chitinous shells clink.

"Everyone here has been chosen for this mission because our brethren considered us the best among our kin. It's our sacred duty not to let our people down and prove worthy of their trust."

"We will, Elder." Anaka stood up to look at Imosi in his eight eyes. "We'll capture the fungus folk and learn from him the secret of the white core. At that point, all we have to do is send our Lesser Isharas to the Hydras, and our Great Work will finally begin!"

"Once again, our sister Anaka is right." The Elder turned around, facing the members of his team one at a time. "For too long, the children of Selkis were left to languish because of our foremother's stupidity.

"Since the day Selkis forgot about her secret duty to Mogar and was stripped of her powers as the Guardian of Children, we have resigned ourselves to fall into oblivion. When the Mother of all Isharas died, she deprived us of the infinite potential she held.

"It has been centuries since a new Ishara bloodline arose. During the millennia, our blood has only thinned, and the number of Lesser Divine Beasts born from our young increases.

"If we fail our mission, sooner or later there will be no more Isharas, Lesser and not, and our bloodline will become no different from those of Emperor Beasts. Yet even though Mogar turned its back on our foolish ancestor, the Great Mother didn't turn its back on us.

"Even after Selkis betrayed her vow, when she forgot that power and magic weren't her purpose but merely the tools Mogar had entrusted her to protect the children, we didn't revert into scorpions.

"Our foremother strayed from her path, but we were allowed to keep her final, evolved form. Mogar still needs us, and it has finally offered us a hand. The Hydras have found a way to restore the might of our Lesser kin.

"Verhen and Narchat, cursed be their names, showed everyone that species on par with a Divine Beast can be born without a Guardian progenitor. There is no Vurdalak or Indech Guardian, yet such species exist. We have all witnessed their power."

On the day of Raldarak's birth, the effects of the Demon Dirge had reached the Rathi continent as well, reinforcing the Isharas' determination.

"If an Indech or a Vurdalak is possible, then why shouldn't it also be possible to evolve past our Divine Beast form and achieve a form similar to the white core whose powers can be inherited by our descendants?

"The fungus folk will teach us how to reach the white core, while the Hydras' research how to awaken the Guardian blood in our veins. We'll study our white cores just like the Hydras studied the traitor Dragon, Ufyl.

"We'll unlock the power and bloodline abilities of our apex forms for everyone, and once we do, we'll work our way up once again. Maybe we will all reach a power on par with the Guardians, maybe only one of us will, if Mogar takes them back to its bosom, or more likely, none at all.

"Yet even if we fail, our bloodline will rise above all others. We Isharas will be the leaders and sages the Awakened Councils look up to. We'll be the paragon all Divine Beasts strive to equal rather than the cautionary tale they tell their children.

"So, when any of you feels anger and frustration gnawing at their patience, remember that everyone you love is on the line. If we fail, the Ishara bloodline is doomed, and Mogar is my witness, we will not fail."

***

The Warp Gate in the barn brought Solus, Loma, Nyka, and Kalla to the Blood Desert. Much to Solus' surprise, their IDs and transportation to the Verendi border were ready, and they only needed to pick them up.

"Why so surprised?" Loma the Horde looked at Solus' dumbfounded expression in confusion. "I told you how important this is for my people, and even though there are not many of us, I'm not alone.

"Ygri is in charge of Verendi, and the moment they heard about the fungus folk, they informed the others, and we requested Overlord Salaark's collaboration."

"Which I granted." The Guardian appeared out of thin air. "The Hordes have no trouble slipping past the borders by letting their spores be carried by the wind, but their helpers rarely can do the same.

"Which is why I've prepared everything you need to enter Verendi without alerting the Awakened Councils on either side or raising any suspicion, Featherling." Salaark pointed at the official papers, and the merchant caravan Solus' group was going to join for a while.

"Fake documents?" She asked as she examined her new identity. "You even added a hologram of our aliases' appearance, Grandma. This will make things much easier."