Chp.34: Capturing a spirit

Inpu had continued to battle Serengal and Corgorin for a while. After realizing that they had been deceived, and that their brother had actually fallen into a trap, they became enraged and tried to reach out to him, but the spirit blocked their way; as a result, the two dragons were now unleashing their wrath upon him. Technically this was exactly what Inpu wanted, since his real job, in addition to acting as a false major spirit to deceive the dragons, was also to keep anyone who tried to approach the battle occupied. However, it was becoming difficult even for him to keep up with the two dragonesses.

Inpu was still just a minor spirit. He wasn't weak, but he also couldn't be called a being at the top of the food chain. Each of the two dragonesses possessed a level diamond strength, which combined with all the items, weapons and tricks at their disposal could lead them to stand up to even level adamantium entities. The combined power of Corgorin and Serengal was therefore far too much for him, and he soon found himself playing more defensively than offensively: even if he could lift the sand to create eddies or real structures like that tentacle he had used until recently, the two dragons managed to dodge such attacks so well that they were practically useless. Rather than trying to hit them it was better for him to use his power to defend himself, forming walls of sand around himself and executing short-range attacks to keep the two of them apart. After all, his job was to keep them out of battle, not kill them; while in this situation he was making no progress, he was also not taking any steps back. That was enough from his point of view.

However he was beginning to think that something was wrong. The two dragons weren't changing their attack patterns, almost as if they weren't really trying to break through his defenses. He had initially assumed that this was due to their anger, which had blinded their judgment; however, he was beginning to suspect that perhaps more was at stake. "You should surrender" he said in an attempt to get some reaction out of them. "Your brother is now doomed, regardless of your intervention. Even if I let you pass, you could not change his fate and you would only obtain a premature and useless death. Rather, think about saving yourself. I won't chase you if you run away. Flee into the desert and hide under the sand, and never emerge again. Your brother will die today, but you may be able to live much longer"

Those words were clearly provocative; Inpu knew that the more his opponent became angry, the greater the chances that he would lose his temper and reveal his intentions involuntarily. It was a psychological mechanism so familiar that even mortals knew how to use it. Serengal let out a snort; he knew that was the spirit's plan, but he decided to play along anyway. "We won't run away. We don't abandon the family, and our brother is part of the family"

"What a lofty purpose. What a noble cause" Inpu replied. "Nothing is more sacred than family, after all. I can understand your sentiment and admire your persistence. But sometimes, you have to know when it's time to let go, even if you're talking about your own family. destiny of your brother, and if this brother of yours loves you as you love him, then you also know that he wouldn't want your death and if he were here he would ask you to flee and save yourself. Isn't it equally noble if you respect this will of his and..."

"Listen, mister playwright, we don't need you to tell us what our brother would like and not like! We are so used to having the same concepts repeated a thousand times that by now it is as if he were constantly next to us telling us what to do or not to do!" Corgorin grumbled. "But if you really want to know, we don't give a damn about his will, not when his life is in danger. If we know everything will be fine, then we do as he tells us; otherwise, if even the unexpected slight, we go and retrieve him ignoring his squeals of protest and dragging him by the tail if necessary. This is the way every member of our family thinks, and personally, I love it"

"M-Mister playwright!?" Inpu snapped losing his composure for an instant. If he had blood in his veins, one of them would have started pounding in his head by now. That dragoness was one of the most irritating and irreverent beings he had ever met! It managed to get on his nerves despite all his efforts to remain calm!

Suddenly something caught his attention. Something was happening on the battlefield nearby: laughter was rising from it, followed by the sound of something imploding and the fiery breath of a wyvern. Inpu immediately understood that something was wrong: the laugh didn't belong to Carrion or to the greater spirit he had just summoned, but to Haku! "What's going on?"

In response, a triumphant smile formed on the faces of Serengal and Corgorin. "Apparently Haku has finally dropped the mask and he decided to beat those two idiots well"

Inpu's eyes narrowed. He didn't like that situation. "Explain yourself, mortal! What do these words of yours mean?"

"They mean that Haku had already planned all this, and that we didn't fall into your trap at all... it's you who fell into ours" Serengal replied with a very satisfied look. "And when I say 'you', I am referring to all your rowdy gang, of which you yourself are a part. And now I say that the time has finally come to teach who is the boss to you too... mister playwright. NOW!"

Inpu didn't have time to get angry that the other dragon had also decided to start teasing him by imitating Corgorin, because suddenly the sun was obscured by what looked like a passing cloud, but which was clearly too low to be such; and besides, who had ever seen a cloud in a desert? The spirit was suddenly enveloped in something viscous and liquid, and soon realized that it must be a huge amount of water. However, this water was not falling to the ground as it should have done, but was swirling around him forming a perfect sphere; the sand, both around him and under his feet, was swept away and pushed outward into the sphere, where it formed huge pillars which then collapsed the next instant causing an avalanche of sand that flew through the air and collapsed. scattered in the wind. Inpu found himself trapped in a giant bubble of water with a radius of nine meters, which swirled extremely strongly and thus generated a current that kept him stuck in the center of it.

Inpu realized that he had fallen into a very well thought out trap. He was not a water spirit, but an earth spirit; as a result, he couldn't resist the current and was prevented from moving away from the center of the water bubble. Also, since the edges of that bubble were so far from the center, he couldn't use his power to strike whatever was generating that bubble and destroy it; beyond a certain distance, in fact, he could no longer manipulate the sand enough to give it a solid consistency. The best he could do was move a few grains, but the sudden movement of tens of kilos of sand had meant that on the border with the bubble there was only extremely compacted sand, from which it was practically impossible to extract even a single grain. And even if Inpu did, what could he do with a single speck? He was screwed, he couldn't free himself from that prison of water.

He looked out of the bubble. Though he struggled to see what was happening outside due to the fact that the water was limiting his vision and the current was constantly tossing him in every direction, he was able to notice several shapes appearing from every direction. They were clearly bestmen. One, two... ten... twenty... one hundred beastmen! One hundred beastmen had just appeared out of the bubble, many of whom still had huge jars of water in their hands!

Of course, all of that was part of Haku's plan. Since he already knew a minor spirit would be present, and he had big plans for him, he had devised an efficient way to capture him. The best way to capture a spirit was to place it in an element opposite to what that spirit represented. Since they were in a desert, it was pretty much certain that Carrion summoned an earth spirit, possibly one with a high affinity for sand. Therefore, the best way to capture him was to place him in the center of a cage of water. Without being able to be in contact with his element, the spirit would have been helpless.

That was what the hundred beastmen he had requested from Zamor were for. In fact, each of those beastmen had been given a rune that allowed the water to swirl in a single point, already suitably loaded with dragon's blood. By itself, this rune could not have created a bubble of water greater than half a meter; but by combining together the volume of water of more than a hundred bubbles, a gigantic and fit for purpose bubble could be created. Since all the bubbles created with this rune spun in the same direction, once they came into contact the two currents would merge and with them the bubbles as well. All that was needed was someone to activate the rune and, of course, the material needed to create the bubble: water. There was none in the desert, so the ruan would have been totally useless, but Zamor and the other beastmen leaders had agreed to give two jars full of water to each of the hundred beastmen who would participate in the trap. Even if it risked being a waste, Haku had ensured that the water would then be recovered, and furthermore they were now close to the Thul Oasis and, even if things had gone badly, they could always extract water from underground. Having obtained both the materials and the right amount of people to ignite all the runes simultaneously, the trap was ready to be activated.

And the plan had worked perfectly. During their fight, Corgorin and Serengal had discovered how far Inpu could exert his powers and had communicated this to the beastmen, who had gathered around the spirit at a distance of exactly nine meters; then, as soon as they heard Serengal's signal, they all activated the runes, creating a bubble of water from which Inpu had no chance to escape.

Serengal and Corgorin had escaped from the bubble before it could fully form, thus avoiding being trapped inside. But even if that had happened, it wouldn't have been a problem for them. Their bodies flickered and then lost their beautiful dragonlike appearance, displaying that of two large great basilisks stripped of the protective armor on their backs, a most disgusting scene. Just like Haku, Corgorin and Serengal too would never truly risk their lives, not when they had the invisibility rune alternative. "It is all ready?" Serengal asked one of the beastmen.

The beastmen nodded. "Yes, we have already drawn all the signs and made sure that the wind and sand didn't erase them"

"Good" Serengal said, then pulled a woman's body out of her dimensional bag and moved into it. That avatar had the mana core of a mage in it, so with it she could use magic. Serengal didn't have a talent in that area like Maldor, but she could still follow instructions and perform magic once it was explained to her, thanks in part to the fact that dragons memorized anything with ease. Therefore, after having Isaac explain that spell to her, she was able to reproduce it at any time. "Let's finish this story then!"

Two magic circles appeared in Serengal's hands and a purple light appeared around the bubble, which illuminated two concentric circles within which there were numerous symbols. Inpu immediately understood what was happening: even if it was very botched, and it was clearly the work of someone who knew little about that branch of magic, that was clearly a summoning circle! The beastmen had clearly traced it throughout the battle, making sure all the markings were reproduced perfectly. In fact Inpu was not wrong: the one who had taught Serengal that magic circle was Isaac, who knew little of the magic of evocation, therefore it was very imprecise, but given the situation it was enough. In fact, Serengal wasn't trying to summon a spirit... she was trying to steal one!

Minor spirits were connected to their summoner by the latter's mana, just as greater spirits were connected by divine power. Therefore, if someone severed the mana link and replaced it with another, they could gain control of that lesser spirit. Normally this would not have been easy, as the original summoner was bonded tightly to his spirit and would have fought if anyone tried to steal it from him... but by now Carrion was almost at the end of strength, and the bond that kept Inpu bound to him was extremely fragile. It was very easy for Serengal to sever it and so was to replace himself in the link, thus binding Inpu to Serengal's current body and making herself his new mistress.

"It's done" Serengal declared when she finished the spell. Hearing this, the beastmen took their jars and placed them inside the bubble against the current, thus filling them very quickly. Within minutes, the bubble shrunk in size until it disappeared altogether; not all of the water had been recovered, but still most of it had. Now instead of the bubble there was only a large hole at the bottom of which Inpu was standing, motionless and waiting for new orders. Serengal stepped in front of him and sneered at him. "Now you work for us"