Black Star

The **Black Star** was a cursed object of the Lost City of Kaduria that bound its inhabitants' souls to it and siphoned their mana for its escape attempts. It breathed like a living being, but instead of air it sucked in world energy and expelled a toxic gas. It merged with Treius Clein in an attempt to kill Lith, but is killed instead.

## Appearance

The cursed object took the form of a star shaped white mana crystal. During the shadow phase, it became a mass of black smoke that would attack the barrier.

## Personality

The Black Star always considered itself an apex predator and unparalleled existence. Humans lived or died at its whims, and it knew no fear.

## Abilities

The Black Star had the ability to store multiple mana cores and create vessels for them. Regardless of the number of times the vessels' bodies were destroyed, the Kadurians still lived, though the artifact wasn't able to assimilate their memories.

## Background

The Black Star was once the guardian of the city meant to protect the inhabitants of the city, the Kadurians. It had been a prisoner for countless years and its birth had caused the disappearance of magic from the city. Its original purpose was to empower the Kadurian mages, but the artifact's mana crystal nature allowed it to make the exchange a two way path, enslaving the Kadurians. By reviving the inhabitants it discovered it could fool Mogar into believing there was life to nurture in the city, allowing it to force world energy through the barrier to reenergize itself. By consuming the mana from their cores, the world energy would perceive the almost empty cores and gush out from the mana geyser the city was built on, making it easier to be collected and stored inside the network of spires all over the city. The Kadurians were the only flaw in the mechanism as the artifact could not make them happy nor force them to stay alive until the end of every cycle - this made Rangers the perfect scapegoats of their anger and allowed the artifact to control their madness.

In the previous year Treius Clein, an Awakened youth from the Blood Desert, had taken care of the Rangers assigned to Kaduria, bribing or killing them on the condition that the Black Star would become his partner. When Lith enters the city, the cursed object makes a mind link with Solus asking for her help, but Solus rejects it. Lith proceeds to kill the 8 clerics and destroy the gemstones containing world energy meant to reenergize the artifact, and the Black Star unsuccessfully attempts to retaliate. Lith uses the Repentance and Freeze failsafe spells to subdue the Black Star, slowly reducing its hold over the Kadurians and freeing their souls. Right as Lith is about to finish it off, Treius arrives.

He attacks Lith but is easily countered, forcing Treius to approach the Black Star. The two merge, promoting Treius' core to blue and allowing the Awakened youth to access the Black Star's energy and some of its abilities. However, Treius' lack of experience and ability due to his laziness quickly put them on the back foot, until the artifact finds a memory of Treius that lets them shapeshift into a red dragon.

As the shadow phase begins again, Lith undergoes his third world tribulation and assumes his hybrid form. Lith utilizes a mix of Origin Flames, Yurial's Hexagram and the life forces of the Kadurians to cripple and kill Treius before finishing the Repentance spell, shattering the Black Star.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 383
2. ↑ Chapter 393
3. ↑ Chapter 394
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 386
5. ↑ Chapter 384
6. ↑ Chapter 385
7. ↑ Chapter 397
8. ↑ Chapter 395
9. ↑ Chapter 399
10. ↑ Chapter 402