Chapter 55: For the Ultimate Longevity

Valerr power-walked down a corridor of black obsidian, dressed in her battle gear she had worn during the Place of Prince's insurgency.

Her plans ended up as utter shambles. She had to retreat with her tail between her legs because of that selfish Etshian prince who ended up dead anyway.

All was not in vain. If that self-servicing fool didn't blow himself up, they wouldn't have been able to locate Genie and that alien.

The Royal Shaman's had tapped into the weystone's energy surge to triangulate their location. The alien got away, but they got Genie who was more important to the sharmans' plans anyway.

"His vitals are stable, Sire. We should be able to extract the Star Crystal from him." A wiry old man in all-white robes confirmed. This man was one of Alric's shamans.

Valerr entered the experiment lab, which was a squarish room with runes etched all over obsidian walls, floors and a ceiling at least two storeys high.

Within the lab's center was an enormous glass cell containing Genie who was unconscious and naked within smoky waters.

She huffed with disgust at the sight of the demon-spector, then eased her expression when she stood next to the man's father—Demon King Alric Marsh.

Alric was a middle-aged and distinguished man, dressed in full leather armor of red and black with the royal seal on the pauldrons and vambrace. The man looked acutely similar to Lyon, but with short and slicked back hair. Unlike Lyon's crest, his emblem carried the star within the crown symbol.

"Lyon is still on his throne, his rule over his people has been fortified and I hear the border war with Etshian never happened. Please explain how you intend to make up for your failures."

Valerr remained quiet. She knew that what annoyed Alric more than excuses was empty promises.

"You have Genie. Isn't this enough to sate your plans?"

Alric eyes narrowed. He discreetly activated his magic, which he used to pin her to the far wall.

Valerr yelped and pleaded for second chances.

"When you came crawling back to me with your tail between your legs, I gave you the chance. You're useless to me now," he aloofly said with his eyes still staring at his incapacitated son.

Alric released his magic.

Valerr whimpered then went still: her body dropped to the floor as a lifeless heap.

Henchmen entered to carry her body away for disposal.

Alric didn't look back. She was just another concubine who had proven useless. He had given her more than one chance to do right for his continent, even set her up as the Valide Sultan because she showed the most promise above the others.

But her fumble with the palace insurgency allowed Lyon to, not only restore order over his palace and country, but reinforce his peoples' loyalty to his banner once her treachery was proven and exposed. Her value significantly diminished to being another highly disposable asset.

"Sire! He's stirring." The wiry shaman excitedly announced when Genie's aura began swelling with cosmic power, making the booth dense with smoky white energy.

The shaman excitedly drew a magic symbol midair, which began monitoring and analyzing readings from the booth.

Alric smiled when an image of a blue-crystal orb appeared within the symbol.

"The Star Crystal."

The shaman clapped with glee and madly shouted, "Sire, we can save our world!"

"By using Earth." Alric finished the man's joyous celebration.

Although his former shamans made an error with their summoning of the wizard. It was a blessing in disguise in the end. The alien had bonded with Genie to speed up the Star Crystal's power.

Once he had the jump portal ready for Earth's star system, he could use cosmic power on the planet to reinforce Lux's lifespan. This would activate a one-way planetary transfer of resources from Earth to Lux. And saving Lux from its current death cycle.

Everyday more of Lux's nature was corrupted by the planet's dying core energy, which transformed and tainted plants and animals to be monsters. It wouldn't be long before the cycle reached an apex, and the demon race faced extinction.

Alric couldn't let that happen. He dedicated his life toward the planet's longevity. The other continent demon kings lacked vision or care: content to get fat on their thrones and worry about trivial matters.

But not him. Politics was just a means to achieve his planet-saving vision. It didn't really matter that he couldn't destabilize Lyon's rule. The civil war was merely a ruse to force his sons into their cosmic powers for the Star Jump. Genie was the first to hone his powers for the Star Crystal.

Besides, all would submit to his plans once the planet was being saved by him.

"For the ultimate longevity." Alric reaffirmed his cause.

The shaman continued to monitor and analyze Genie's slumbering form. But became flustered when his readings and calculations started showing anomalies.

"What is it?" Alric demanded.

"It's the Star Jump readings from the local Weystone. By the lower values, we still need the other cosmic artifact for activation after all. As per text from the Chronicles of Sol and Chronicles of Wix, we need the wizard." The shaman's gray eyes reflected the text he was reading.

Alric calculated an easy plan to retrieve what was needed.