"That technique is a danger, master. We must find it and destroy it!" Torne warned Vicente, feeling what terror it would be to have an opponent capable of getting stronger by sacrificing magicians of an opposite path.",
"Yes..." Vicente agreed as he remembered the situation his group had encountered on their journey to the north of the continent.
"That member of the Congregation of Revelations who attacked us months ago probably wanted to sacrifice me to strengthen him," Vicente said, making Torne and Onyx think back to that day.
"Indeed. He seemed more interested in your pentagrams than fearful. I've never seen a reaction like his before," Onyx commented, remembering that day well.
"The question that remains to be answered is how did that guy find us?" Torne asked as he looked at Lauren, seeing that she knew things they were in the dark about.
And indeed, Lauren had that answer. "The gems got from the temples of the Congregation of Revelations have trackers on all of them. Each person who awakens their magical powers in one temple on the continent has a special record in the main temple, and in the temple in which they awakened their powers.
The record of the main temple contains only the method of locating that magician, while the temple where the awakening took place contains personal information, such as the form and talent associated with the gem."
Vicente frowned deeply. "Can that actually happen? How can they trace an essence that is totally in the control of the magician connected to it?"
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Totally?" Lauren laughed. "Only Paragons or stronger magicians can fully master their powers. Until one becomes a 5th stage magician, the Congregation of Revelations can follow the traces left by the 5th grade spell used on every gem left in the temples."
"Shit! Fucking Congregation of Revelations! That's why the continent has lacked powerful Dark Path magicians for so long! They probably killed those who proved to be too talented!" Torne said in a harsh tone, feeling his non-existent heart beating faster.
One might think that the numbers of Dark Path magicians on the continent weren't that low. After all, sects like Nixlas' Shadows existed until recently. But on a continent where there were hundreds of powerful and many sects and clans, organizations like Lauren's could be counted on the fingers of one's hands.
Even the few sects that did exist, most of them had been living in hiding since the end of the Cataclysm Order, with several of them having turned against the continent and joined forces with the vampires.
Torne could see that the continent's current situation was almost entirely the fault of the Congregation of Revelations, an organization that, with its lies, manipulations and selfish actions, had weakened the continent and brought the worst to these lands.
Now they were in a situation where, even with the existence of someone with Vicente's potential, resolving the current situation before irreversible things happened would be impossible.
The continent had already lost its strongest experts and it could take dozens of generations to recover the lost strength, even if the problem ended today.
However, today Vicente had no power to end the drastic consequences brought about by The Purification. It would take at least several years for him to grow up enough to challenge the vampires head-on!
What could happen between now and then?
None of them could say for sure, but they were certain that the future of the continent was bleak. Much innocent blood would still be shed in these lands until a resolution was reached.
"That's why you shouldn't have destroyed Nixlas' Shadows. If you had joined me instead of acting individually, you would have had a place to protect yourself and cultivate to the level of an Archmage together with me. Then, we could rebel against the vampires and change the future of the continent," Lauren said as she glared at Vicente.
"If it weren't for your idiotic thoughts, everything would be different! We could be the ones to dominate these lands in the future!"
Lauren was now a Dark Path magician in every sense. She was allied with vampires until recently, but she didn't like the bloodsuckers. Her goal was to grow up safely while she was weak and then rebel and eventually dominate these lands.
When that happened, she would bring her dark kingdom to Polaris Realm, destroy the remaining Congregation of Revelations bases and use the vampires' secret technique to empower herself with the sacrifice of Light Path magicians!
That was the way for her to become a Magus!
Unfortunately, her foolish brother got in her way, totally changing her situation.
"That was your plan, but what about the vampires' plan?" Vicente asked her with a neutral look on his face. "Who's to say that you Dark Path magicians from Nixlas' Shadows wouldn't be the next to die at the hands of the vampires?"
"They couldn't do that. We had a non-aggression agreement!"
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"So the non-aggression agreement protected only you? You could act freely against the vampires?" He smiled at her.
If she was plotting against vampires, she had to consider that some vampires were also plotting against her sect!
"No, but..." She hesitated, not knowing what to say to contradict her brother.
"You'd probably die before you had the chance, Lauren. Don't be stupid. The vampires would let you live like pets. You'd be alive, but restricted to your territory and a certain level of strength."
Vicente stood up as he said this, seeing that Casey had almost finished his cultivation.
She looked at him and said. "That was still a better plan than challenging the vampires head-on without having the power to do so. Our group should already be under investigation right now because of you. How long before we're discovered and killed?"
"If you cooperate with us, we may never die because of the end of Nixlas' Shadows. Anyway, enough chat, Lauren. Time to start your treatment."
Casey stood up from where he had been cultivating and regained his best magical and mental state.
Lauren 'looked' apprehensively at Casey, not knowing what this person would do to her at Vicente's behest.
"You can start. I'll weaken her elements so you can find some ease in your work," Vicente said to Casey as he made one of his Throne of Darkness pentagrams appear from his body.