Titan King: Ascension of the Giant
Chapter 823 - 823: It Is Not Truly Gone

Was this because of Marina?

Orion didn't know why the Tidefang Clan had attacked his fleet, but he knew the lives of Clawpincher and his warriors would not be sacrificed for nothing.

Tidefang Clan… Merfolk… Marina…

His thoughts spiraled, connecting the disparate facts. The Tidefang were a mer-race, which meant a connection to the Demigodess Seraphina was almost certain. That was a complication he did not welcome.

Let's hope this doesn't drag her into the fray. But that was a problem for another day. If she was to be involved, he would face that reality when it came.

The Emerald Dream Realm. On the coast west of Stratus, on the Southern Continent.

This was the same shoreline where Kraken had first been teleported into this world. Orion stood on the beach, watching as a spectral figure approached from the horizon. It was Arthas, and he stood atop the colossal form of the ancient giant-horned whale. Its shape was vast and imperious, and its aura, vast and oppressive even in undeath, was unmistakably that of an Archlord.

Gods, the power of necromancy, Orion thought with a flicker of envy. The ability to command such might is a truly fearsome thing.

Half a day later, the leviathan ran aground, and Arthas drifted from its back to stand beside Orion.

"Kraken was willing to pay any price to keep this thing," Arthas said, gesturing to the beached undead whale. "I refused him." An Archlord undead would have sent the Kraken's power skyrocketing. "Its will, even in death, is not something a mortal like him can hope to command. Besides, it was your kill. I had no right to dispose of it."

Arthas produced a black, ornate funerary urn. As transcendent power pulsed from his hand, the entire whale dissolved into a torrent of black smoke that was drawn into the small vessel. He then handed the urn to Orion.

"Summoning it will require a formidable will. Fortunately, as an Archlord yourself, you now have the strength to command it," Arthas explained. "The corpse was dead too long, and you hadn't preserved it with the necessary rites. Its power decayed. From an upper-tier Archlord, I could only raise it as a lower-tier. A pity."

It was a pity indeed. An undead of this magnitude, a lord of the deep sea, was a unique prize even for a master of undead like Arthas.

"This… is for me?" Orion was speechless. He had given away a corpse. In return, he was receiving an Archlord-level undead mount. The bargain was so lopsided it felt like a dream.

"You don't want it?" Arthas's lips curved into a faint smile. "Perhaps I should take it back, then?"

Without a second thought, Orion secured the urn safely within his storage ring.

"You have your own Skeletal Knights of the Legendary tier now," Arthas continued, his tone shifting back to business. "I will be reassigning Vexis and Rumbold. Rumbold will be guarding the northern territories. If your Skeletal Knight commander wishes to learn more of the arts of undeath, he may seek out Rumbold for instruction." He paused. "As for the path beyond, I cannot say. My own strongest Skeletal Knights have only reached the Legendary tier."

The ritual to create the knights had been a gift from Arthas. It seemed that Clymene had reached the limits of that teaching. Whether she could advance further would depend on her own will and the strength of the souls bound to her.

"Thank you, brother." Orion nodded, his gratitude sincere. Without Arthas, his bond with Clymene would have ended long ago.

Arthas said nothing, simply looking at Orion. There were words he wished to say, but they remained unspoken. The Lord's Stone Orion had given him… it had been the key, the very thing that had illuminated his own path to ascension. This debt was not one that could be repaid with a single undead thrall.

"You did well in my absence," Arthas said instead, the statement grand and yet, from him, it felt natural. "You did not shame my name."

Coming from anyone else, the words would have been an outrageous arrogance. But Arthas had been Orion's guide, his mentor in the ways of this world.

"It was a stroke of luck, nothing more," Orion said with a wry smile, shaking his head. Having seen the sheer number of demigods in this realm, he felt no pride in his own ascension. If anything, he knew it had been a shortcut.

"There are no shortcuts to the realms beyond Lord-tier," Arthas corrected him, his voice firm. "Every single ascension is fraught with peril. Yours, mine, Alexander's, Leonidas's… we all walk the same razor's edge."

He began to walk along the coastline, and Orion fell into step behind him. The two moved in a comfortable harmony, like a master and his student.

"Leonidas told me my power is a spring without a source," Orion admitted. "That in a true battle of attrition, it will not sustain me."

Arthas did not refute it. He stopped and turned, his gaze serious. "You are an Archlord now, with an Archlord-level avatar. It is time you began invading the Godforsaken Lands. Take a few of them, conquer them. Your domain will grow, and the problem you now face will cease to be a problem."

This was advice Orion was happy to hear. Was there any problem that could not be solved by conquest?

He proceeded to recount the major events that had transpired during Arthas's period of slumber, seeking the invaluable perspective of a third party, a mentor who could point out his errors.

"Your timing for the invasion of the Emerald Dream Realm was perfect. Any later, and the Deputy Commander would not have been able to set his plans in motion," Arthas analyzed. "The Secret Art of the Rite of the Serpent Trinity is a powerful prize. Once the Commander and his Deputy have modified it, you will likely be rewarded again. And as for that demigod, Tusha… he is not dead. You shattered his plans. He has undoubtedly marked you for death."

Arthas's praise was welcome, but his analysis was crucial. He offered wisdom and perspective that Orion, for all his power, lacked. The possibility that the demigod Tusha had survived was something Orion had overlooked. A cold knot formed in his stomach.

"Do not let your true body wander the other continents of this realm," Arthas warned. "You cannot know if that evil being is watching us… watching you. And there is another thing. This problem of yours…"

Arthas raised a finger and pointed to Orion's chest, to the very spot where the Curse of a Hundred Blossoms had once bloomed.

"It is not truly gone."

Orion frowned, his expression a mask of confusion.

"Do not resist," Arthas commanded, his voice devoid of warmth. A wisp of pure death-energy coiled around his fingertip as he reached toward Orion's heart.