The Land In Between

C H A P T E R 2 8

Amihan's instincts flare up and he swerves to the side, just by the nick of time where a familiar looking sibat was just thrown in his direction. He stares at where it came from and sure enough, he sees Makisig standing on the dais of a throne, this time looking thoroughly pissed. He actually mirrored his wife in that way.

Makisig glares and retracts his hand in a graceful way, the sibat following its master's bidding. He shoves his hand forth and the sibat starts flying through the room, and it is only then Amihan sees the rest of the people Makisig was fighting against. He was already familiar with Manisilat and Mangangauay, having met the two in former terrible circumstances, so he assumes that the large, hulking man raging forward with a sword was Mangkukulam.

The High King flicks his wrist from side to side, effectively parrying all of the strikes. By his side, he hears footsteps and just as he moves his head to look, he sees Manisilat grinning madly with her arms up, ready to beat the man senseless. Makisig raises his other hand, and a clear crystal shield appears. Manisilat gets thrown to the upper wall of the room. Amihan hears the same familiar shattering of crystals coming from the side of the throne room, where the other two Divinities brandished their own crystals. Even when they had different wielders, they looked every bit the copy of each other.

'Hiwaga once said that the Divinities all had the same energy signature. As a result, all of them must use crystals as well. It is their baseline!' Amihan observes more and catalogues everyone's specialty for future use, using his trained eye to watch how all of the Divinities fight against Makisig. He is already familiar with Hiwaga's illusions, so even if she wasn't currently present in Adhika's memory, Amihan had more than enough knowledge on her.

And from what he has heard and seen, Manisilat had something similar to telepathy by means of touch. It is probably why she worked best fighting bare-handed. Despite being a woman, she had strength to her punches, seeing as even Makisig was having slight issues dodging from her grasp. Her ability could be advantageous that way.

Meanwhile, Mangkukulam could drive people insane with bloodlust; it was how Bayog Magat was able to indirectly kill First House. So far, Amihan has yet to see Mangkukulam use it on Makisig, which is a rather smart strategy. 'After all, it is a good idea to not make the High King any more angry. Doing so is asking for a death sentence.'

Amihan senses a Divinity using their power but he can't detect who. Makisig perks up ever so slightly and Amihan knows he feels it too. There is a small stiffness to the High King's movements, as if someone was forcing his body to stop moving and Makisig's eyes trail to Mangagauay. The Divinity had his staff out, pointing towards Makisig as crystals floated luminously by Mangagauay's sides. Makisig growls and gestures his arm upwards, in an almost chaotic and hurried manner, as all the Divinities were forced to kneel.

Amihan completes his findings, 'And of course Mangangauay, with his ability to control bodies. Bold move...Well, rather, a stupid one, actually.'

"You've all been fairly brave for fighting your High King like this." Makisig says, a sneer decorating his face. Even Amihan feels his hair rise on end at his horribly angry expression. 'He looks to be of light but I've never seen him act like a High King of Darkness ever more than now.' Manisilat's face begins to sweat, and Amihan sees at the corner of his eye a stray light floating by one of the stone pillars. He runs to it, "Adhika!" The little soul does not listen, instead tries to float towards her mother, who was struggling against the control of the High King.

Makisig doesn't spare them a glance as he brings his hands down, which forces everyone's face to slam down to the concrete stone. They looked incredibly subservient, kowtowing to him in uniform manner. Makisig then glares at Mangagauay, the Divinity's power now completely useless. "Since all of you Lower Slaves love to use the abilities I so graciously have given you, all of you will stay put until I find out which one of you made the Soul Star." Amihan gets his suspicions confirmed, 'So the Four Agents are all the High King's Lower Slaves. He technically has power over them, though I'd never seen him lord over Hiwaga before.'