Unfortunately for the Vagrash, Aran wasn’t just Lith’s weak point, but his own as well.
Normally, Lith wouldn’t go all out right off the bat. He would plan several moves ahead and take his time to prepare contingency plans while he studied the most efficient path to victory.
Triggering him, however, meant to not put a single dent in his analytical mind so much as to turn him into a sadistic monster seeking to inflict the maximum pain possible before giving his opponent an excruciating death.
Iskha had just wasted the only spell he had at the ready while Lith had none, bringing them on equal footing. Lith took a deep breath to refill his empty lungs with air as War appeared in his hands amid a burst of emerald flames.
The fury of the angry blade matched that of its master, making War emit an ear-piercing screech as it got rid of the blood sheath. The Vagrash had just the time to make Orichalcum bracers cover his forelegs before Lith was upon him.
Iskha blocked a rightward slash that covered his left foreleg in ice but the impact numbed his limb. Darkness fusion kept him from feeling pain, but it couldn’t stop either the vibration coursing through his bones or the cold stiffening his muscles.
Another slash coming from the opposite direction forced him to use his other paw. This time, Iskha managed only to deflect the blade’s course so that Lith could exploit the remaining momentum to lunge War in the ground and use the hilt as a pivot to kick the Vagrash in the snout with his feet.
The force of the hit made Iskha step back while the first magic produced by Lith’s movement flooded his eyes with darkness, clouding his vision.
‘Something is wrong. Even if there really is a Wyrmling under that armor, he can’t be as strong as I am with such a puny body. Yet each blow is heavier than the previous as if he’s gaining mass the more the fight goes on.
‘If he had been this strong before I shapeshifted, I wouldn’t have lasted a single punch.’ Iskha thought, unaware that what he considered a farfetched explanation was nothing but the truth.
Lith had given the Scalewalker armor that shape so that he could shapeshift freely without anyone noticing and ensuring that it would cover the entirety of his hybrid form. He had abandoned his human form before the first attack landed, becoming a Wyrmling.
On top of that, each first magic spell that Lith weaved with his body allowed his vortexes to become denser in mana. The elemental runes tempered the vortexes, allowing the energy that was pointlessly spread over a large surface to condense toward its center.
With each spell Lith cast, his body drew both energy and matter from his surroundings, increasing his mass. With each spell he cast, his three life forces harmonized with each other, making him stronger.
Lith used the recoil from the vertical dropkick to perform a backflip that freed War from the ground and turn toward the enemy before the Vagrash could recover, creating an opening. Lith darted forward while keeping War in front of himself in a two-handed grip.
It allowed him to defend from any sudden attack or to sever the Vagrash’s head from his neck if nothing stood in his way. Iskha couldn’t see Lith, but his other senses allowed him to pinpoint the enemy position.
He didn’t dare to bite at the enemy, too afraid that the metal Wyrmling would cut his head after sidestepping the attack. As for his forelegs, he could barely use them to stand, let alone to attack.
Yet Iskha was far from defenseless.
His jagged tail whipped at Lith from above, its steel-hard tip aimed at the Wyrmlig’s head. Lith sped up even further by pushing his enhanced body to its utmost limit, making the tail miss its target.
Or so he thought until Full Guard warned him of a threat coming from behind. Rather than hitting the ground and losing momentum, the scaled tail had bounced on it without slowing down.
Lith spun around, slashing at the flexible limb to cut it off, but the moment the Adamant touched the jagged scales Iskha felt it. The Vagrash flexed his tail, using the muscles that connected the various segments to disperse the impact and extend the tail even further.
Each scale was actually kept close to the others by a flexible tissue that could be expanded or contracted at will. On the one hand, it allowed the Vagrash a high maneuverability of their tail and to double its length when needed.
On the other hand, however, as long as the scales were compressed together, the structure they formed was as hard as steel, while once separated there was just a thin string of bones and muscles connecting them.
The tail dodged Lith’s attack and coiled around War before its tip resumed its rush toward his head.
‘By my Mom, that thing is akin to a snake blade from videogames.’ Solus thought while keeping her glove form on Aran’s right hand, ready to activate the barrier ring at a moment’s notice.
Lith switched to a one-handed grip, pulling War free while he intercepted the living projectile with his free hand. The gravity ring enveloped Iskha into a magical sheath that lowered his weight, allowing Lith to pull the tail with both hands.
He swung the Vagrash back and forth above his head, sending the Emperor Beast to slam against the ground as if it was a dirty rag.
He reverted the gravity the moment after Iskha reached the apex so that the Vagrash would hit the ground with the energy of an avalanche before making him light again. At the same time, the angry blade flew around, attacking the enemy on its own and opening shallow cuts whenever Iskha failed to deflect it with his paws.
Without its master, War could only put so much strength behind each attack, but it still made the Vagrash’s situation more desperate. Being forced to split his focus, by the time Iskha found a way out, he had already taken a lot of damage.
‘I’m such an idiot sometimes.’ He thought while activating gravity fusion to counter Lith’s ring.
All Emperor Beasts sooner or later learned how to shapeshift, but it only changed their appearance, not their mass. To not destroy the ground at their passage nor kill a romantic partner, they combined the six elements with fusion magic to obtain gravity fusion.
It allowed them to be no different from regular humans unless they desired otherwise and it couldn’t be blocked by the arrays that protected many human cities since they had no effect on the elements that naturally comprised a body.
The moment the swing reached its apex again, Iskha spread his wings to use the savagery of the attack to his advantage and to get away from the enemy.
“Prepare for round two, sucker!” He said while retracting his tail.
Without the gravity sheath, Lith didn’t have the strength to lift such a heavy creature, and the powerful wings of the Vagrash combined with the sudden contraction of the tail’s muscles almost pulled Lith off the ground.
Almost.
