Chapter 266: Escape Tokens...

"What is that?!" Kai exclaimed, his voice laced with disbelief as Thalion appeared before him like a phantom stepping from a nightmare. Though usually composed under pressure, Kai now felt an unfamiliar chill of helplessness. His curved blades, wicked as they were, seemed laughably inadequate against the towering figure cloaked in darkness. Thalion's claws, elongated and wreathed in pure darkness, glinted with lethal intent as he activated Shadow Claw and brought it down in a savage arc.

Kai froze, paralyzed by the sudden surge of dread. Sylas, quick on the draw, hurled him out of harm’s way with a gust of wind just in time. Thalion's strike tore through the earth, carving five deep scars into the cracked ground, black smoke hissing from the gouges.

“Unfair!” Sylas barked as he ascended into the air, frustration thick in his voice. “There’s no way someone gets this lucky. He must’ve just claimed that form after someone in his camp killed it.”

"You can't win," Thalion said, his voice rumbling like it emerged from the void itself. Oily smoke drifted from his lips and eyes, and the shadows clinging to his body ignited into black flames, growing wilder, obscuring his silhouette and making it harder for Kael to get a clear shot.

“Oh yeah?” Sylas scoffed, forcing a shaky laugh. “You’re outnumbered, and your own people aren’t even backing you up!”

"Because you're a fool," Thalion growled in response. Without warning, the shadows beneath Kael writhed, and razor-sharp spikes of pure darkness erupted. Kael escaped death by a hair’s breadth, rolling away—only to snap his bow in the process. The sharp crack echoed louder than it should have. Thalion's smirk widened as he lunged toward Kai, who was retreating from the creeping black mist.

But Kai’s reaction wasn’t fear—it was something deeper. Defiance, maybe even madness. The blade he now held shimmered with unsettling power. It looked ancient, corroded by time, yet the air warped around it. Faint screams and ghostly whispers echoed from its edge. A cursed weapon, no doubt.

There was no room for retreat. Thalion poured more power into his Shadow Claw and slashed down. Kai met him head-on with the cursed blade. Ethereal energies curled from the weapon just before their clash, and Kai’s aura flared violently. The impact shook the earth. Kai was thrown backward, sailing into the air, while Thalion anchored himself with tendrils of darkness lashing from his back and into the ground.

Before he could give chase, lightning crackled through the air and struck his back, jolting him mid-step. Screams echoed in his mind, foreign and agonizing, but Thalion forced them out with a pulse of pure soul energy to cleanse the interference. He’d won the clash—Kai’s shoulder was ruined, white bone jutting from torn flesh.

Without hesitation, Thalion seized control of the shadows beneath Kai and sent a spike lancing upward. But the cursed swordsman had already produced an escape token. In the blink of an eye, he vanished. Gone.

Thalion clenched his jaw. So close. Those damn escape tokens were absurdly overpowered. How could he kill anyone if they could vanish with nothing more than a flicker of thought? Fine. If he couldn’t end them here, he’d make sure they feared ever facing him again.

Now that Kael's bow was broken, there was no reason to stay grounded. Thalion surged into the air, returning to Eagly. As he ascended, the black inferno consuming the battlefield shifted into a crackling azure blaze, electric arcs leaping between tongues of flame. He directed the fury toward Kael, who had been trying to circle around the fire to reach Kai.

“The flames—again?!” Sylas cried out above, eyes wide in disbelief as Thalion morphed mid-air. “Oh no… not the bird again,” he muttered under his breath, clearly remembering what had happened last time.

Thalion now cloaked himself in Tempest Glide, and with a howl of wind, he rocketed toward Sylas like a living bullet. Panic flashed in Sylas’s eyes as he looked to Kael for help—who merely shrugged in helplessness. Thalion almost laughed. Of course, Kael didn’t have a spatial ring. His arrows had likely been stored elsewhere, and now? He was completely exposed. A mid-battle theft of a spatial ring was a stroke of genius.

If Thalion had been even luckier, maybe the escape token hadn’t been in the ring either. If that were true, Kael was well and truly doomed. Thalion grinned. Even if Kael was somehow faster, he wouldn’t last in a prolonged chase. He lacked the endurance and the fear now clinging to his heart would do the rest.

Thalion had to suppress a smirk as he watched Kael fumble to reassemble his shattered bow. The air around Thalion and Sylas crackled with tension, and though Sylas scrambled to put distance between them, it was a hopeless effort. He wasn’t nearly fast enough, and Thalion barely needed to try. With Tempest Glide cloaking his form, lightning coiled around his limbs, propelling him forward like a thunderbolt given shape.

Sylas realized too late that flight wouldn’t save him. In a desperate move, he transformed into wind itself, vanishing in a blink as he teleported several hundred meters away. It was a trick similar to Thalion’s own Mistform, though born from wind rather than blood. But even this clever maneuver wasn’t enough. Thalion was fast—far faster—and closed the gap again in seconds.

He could have used his lightning beam, but decided against it. Charging it would make him vulnerable, and besides, he preferred the thrill of close combat. His talons surged with power as he activated his claw skill, arcs of energy dancing along their edges. He wasn’t here to win efficiently—he wanted to make it hurt.

Sylas tried to push him back with a wave of blue fire, but Thalion tore through it like it wasn’t even there. The flames had become his own. His affinity and passive abilities rendered him completely immune. As he emerged from the blaze, talons aimed at Sylas’s face, the young mage barely had time to react.

Sylas turned to wind mid-flight, but not fast enough. Thalion’s claws raked across his shoulder, tearing a chunk of flesh free before the transformation completed. The wind mage reappeared beside Kael and slammed into the ground, twitching violently as lightning surged through his body. Blood poured from the fresh wound in his chest like a ruptured vein. He screamed, writhing but unable to move.

Thalion hovered above, the air around him shimmering as he began to gather power. Azure fire flared into existence, dancing across his limbs while energy surged. He was charging the lightning beam—this time, there would be no escape.

Kael looked up at him with wide, horrified eyes. His expression was a mix of disbelief, helplessness, and pure hatred. It wasn’t the face of a man ready to die—it was the face of someone forced to watch fate unfold. And then, just as the final surge of power gathered in Thalion’s hands, Kael pulled out a shimmering token. Another appeared in Sylas’s hand.

In an instant, both were gone.

The lightning beam struck empty sand with a blinding flash. The desert floor exploded, the heat fusing grains of sand into molten glass and throwing dust high into the air.

"Damn it," Thalion hissed under his breath. If they were hiding now, he’d never find them. Worse, the tokens they used bore the same markings, which meant they’d likely teleported to the same safe location. Linked escape tokens—the expensive kind.

He’d failed to kill his former comrades, and now they knew almost everything. Every form, every strength, every trick he’d used was burned into their memories. That knowledge was dangerous. Once the tutorial ended, they could inform their gods. And that was something Thalion couldn’t afford.

If any god discovered what he had done, he might be finished. Outsiders weren’t supposed to exist here. Still, the divine couldn’t yet descend into this world. There were restrictions. The level caps in place were brutal, and even the gods were bound by them. For now.

A voice boomed from above, snapping him from his thoughts.

"Welcome, new people! You now have the chance to become full citizens in the greatest and fairest empire of them all!" Jack’s voice thundered from one of the floating skyships, magically amplified by a wand pressed to his neck. "Thalion, our ruler, is a charismatic and powerful leader who will protect you from all evil! Don’t hesitate—join us now!"

His words echoed across the desert, powerful enough to make the very sand vibrate.

Thalion raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I thought you were staying in the catacombs."

Jack shrugged, perfectly at ease. "I was, but it got boring. And when we heard Kael was charging ahead, they sent me to check things out. Just in case."

Thalion sighed and turned away. "Fine. Let’s return. We don’t have much time left. Ankhet’s resurrection is only hours away."

He shifted back into his human form, walking toward the catacombs. But before joining the next battle, he needed to confirm one last detail. What item had Kael received from his god? Something had allowed him to alter the Sanguine Thorn, now transformed into the Crimson Virethorn.

The answer came in the form of a mythic item:

Heartroot Elixir (Mythic)

This elixir was crafted by the god Aeta, one of the most powerful divine beings across the infinite realms. His domain spans vast territories, and his followers are many. Aeta does not concern himself with the weak. Only those marked by destiny receive his blessings. To create the Heartroot Elixir, more than a thousand Sanguine Thorns were sacrificed—an offering that must have taken centuries to collect. And even that was not enough. Dozens of other ingredients, each unimaginably rare, were added to the mix. The Sanguine Thorn is nearly impossible to replicate. Only a handful in the multiverse have managed to manipulate the plant’s essence. Aeta is among them. And though the Thorn was not made for him, he altered it—for you, his chosen. This elixir allows you to bestow a new elemental affinity upon the Crimson Virethorn—one that could surpass even the power of blood. The plant will no longer need blood to cultivate. Instead, it will draw strength from something else. Something more available to you. Go now. Lift your head high. You were chosen.

Thalion rolled his eyes as he finished reading.

“What a ridiculous wall of praise,” he muttered. Ninety percent of the message was just self-congratulatory drivel. Only one sentence had any actual use.

Still, the elixir was powerful. With it, he could reshape the Crimson Virethorn, unlocking new affinities and new potential. He’d consider which affinity would benefit him most—ideally something his current forms lacked. His Tidecaller Serpent form already let him burn even beneath the sea, so fire was more than covered. He needed an affinity that added utility, something that wouldn’t interfere with his blood arts or his human form.

But that could wait. For now, there was a pillar that needed to be destroyed.

And time was running out.