The tendrils picked up the bits of Lith’s flesh and blood that lay around while light magic pieced them together like a puzzle before reattaching them to their place with minimal consumption of his vitality.
At the same time, the tendrils also extracted the nutrients from the ground and the water from the air to reduce the burden on Lith’s body to the minimum. He would still be very hungry, but that was a familiar feeling that didn’t make him weaker, only angrier.
“No, you don’t!” Qisal managed to stop his fall while Lith was still tumbling and compressed the muscles of his legs like a spring before leaping in the air. Second Wind was still active, allowing him to reach Lith before he could draw a single breath.
Or so the Wyvern thought until strong hands grabbed his feet, calves, thighs, and tail, turning his jump into a face-first dive onto the ground.
Qisal hated to waste precious time, but he needed to understand what was happening. He thought that the Guardians had stepped in to stop the fight, yet what he witnessed was the result of his second mistake.
Spreading Lith’s blood around wasn’t a good idea. Not after Kolga.
The spurts of black flames had aimlessly seeped into the ground until Lith had fed them with his earth, fire, and Spirit Magic, turning them into Demons of the Lava.
The spirits of the dead that always followed him now inhabited the molten rock, giving it the appearance of Wyrmlings whose eyes brimmed with emerald light.
The Wyvern roared his fury, unleashing a storm of Origin Flames to get rid of those pests. No matter how scary they looked, all Demons fed upon Lith and couldn’t exceed his strength.
Thanks to Life Vision, Qisal could gauge the amount of energy they were comprised of. The creatures would pose a threat to him only if he allowed them to swarm him.
Alas, Lith knew it as well.
A snap of his fingers made the Demons detonate, releasing the wild energy that animated them before the Origin Flames could weaken them. On the contrary, the shockwave generated by the explosions threw the Flames back at Qisal.
The Wyvern tanked the damage from the Demons and his own Flames, relentlessly resuming Lith’s chase, but it was too late.
Mother’s Embrace, the healing spell named after Elina, had already finished regenerating Lith’s four wings in a blaze of emerald flames. The new limbs were still upside-down, yet covered in red-veined black feathers.
Qisal expected Lith to run away and stall for time, but he charged forward instead, carried by his new wings.
‘There’s no point in running away.’ Lith thought. ‘If I create an opportunity to use Invigoration, Qisal will use it as well and we would just go back to square one. I am the only one with spells at the ready and the mana to use them whereas he is injured.
‘It’s a small advantage but it’s all I have!’
The emerald flames that had regenerated his wings had also spread to his eyes and outside the dome, painting the eyes of the Phoenixes green as well. They wouldn’t clap their hands until the match was over, but they stomped their feet on the ground to cheer for their brother.
The Dragons did the same, chanting with the Phoenixes one word.
“Rise.”
“This is cheating!” Xedros snarled while looking at the multitude of glowing eyes. “The Phoenixes are not allowed to help him and the Dragons should remain neutral. Aren’t Wyverns Dragons too?”
“That’s not cheating.” Salaark threw a mean look at him that squashed Xedros to the ground like a bug under an invisible heel. “Lith is still under the effects of the Blood Imprint which enhanced his Phoenix blood, that’s why his wings regenerated with feathers.
“As for the eyes, they are nothing but a sign of our communion. The power of a Phoenix comes from their blood.” She pointed at the remains of the Demons of the Lava. “It gives us more than strength, it also allows us to share our fury.”
While Dragons were creatures of cold intellect, Phoenixes were beings of fiery passion. It gave them the ability to share mind links and abilities that defied distance.
“She’s right.” Raagu said and Inxialot quickly nodded. “There is no flow of energy going in or out of the barrier. What are you seeing is Lith’s strength, the Phoenixes are just rooting for him in their own way.”
“We are cheering for Lith and not for Qisal because we’re tired of your rants, Xedros.” Gentor the Golden Dragon said. “Our race respects wisdom, not power. Without wisdom, there’s no achievement, just folly. You are the living proof of that.”
“Our race, instead, respects growth over seniority.” Sinmara the Phoenix said. “Age is meaningless if you learn nothing despite the passing of time. Power without change leads to staleness, like it happened to your bloodline.
“Life is meant to break us down. It’s up to us to rise again and be better for it.”
“My son, you are the only one who gives any importance to the “lesser” word.” Leegaain said. “The reason why neither race respects you is that you have done nothing to deserve it.
“Age and power are meaningless if they bear no fruit. Your obsession to become a Dragon has made you lose your way and waste your talents. It’s not too late to wake up from this nightmare of your own making.”
Meanwhile, in the middle of the arena, Lith and Qisal were seconds away from clashing. The Wyrmling had charged forward in a straight line to add his momentum to that of the spells and strike so quickly that the Wyvern wouldn’t be able to dodge.
Qisal had done the same, but he kept Second Wind active and enough air in his lungs to counter any sudden spell with Origin Flames. The former allowed him to easily dodge Lith’s tier three Spirit Spell, Void Spear, by circling around him without the need to decelerate.
The focused beam of air, darkness, and earth couldn’t pierce what it couldn’t hit. Even its tracking ability was pointless in the face of raw speed. Before Void Spear could turn around, the Origin Flames would’ve put an end to the fight.
Qisal kept Life Vision active to make sure that Lith wouldn’t Blink and hurled a stream of flames at his back while the spell was still taking form. The Origin Flames burst forward, yet they hit nothing but air.
Lith kicked the air, dodging them with a sudden movement as if he was still on the ground.
‘I may not be an experienced flyer like him, but I remember what Rem taught me in Jiera. Moving underwater and moving in the air works the same. I can use magic to give them substance and use my footwork.’ Lith inwardly thanked the merfolk for teaching him how to swim like one of her kin.
He sidestepped the flames, moving behind Qisal and striking at his spine with all the strength Lith could muster before the Wyvern had the time to react. At the same time, Lith circulated fusion magic and mana through his body to cast the tier one Spirit Spell, Hammer Time.
The emerald energy of Spirit Magic coated his fist like a glove, manifesting the aspects of earth, light, and air. The first two made the spell harder than any non-magical metal while the latter spread the damage throughout the Wyvern’s body like ripples on the surface of a lake.
