The souls that Lith had summoned didn’t belong to long-dead people like usual. They were the spirits of those that Xedros had sacrificed to turn himself into a Dragon. They didn’t get to possess any corpse but their own.
It boosted their strength and fury beyond what Lith had ever accomplished before. As the darkness that animated the souls eroded the bodies, it also empowered them, restoring a part of their original powers.
At that moment, despite being covered in wounds, Scarlett found the strength to curse at Lith via their mind link that she had never broken.
‘What have you done? You don’t produce undead, but lesser Abominations. Without a body, no healing can bring Sedra back!’
‘I didn’t do anything. The souls acted of their own will. Besides, do you really think I could conjure the Demons of Darkness from someone alive? You’ve seen the Hydra shade. The body may still be here, but Sedra was already dead before our arrival.’ Lith replied.
Scarlett averted her eyes from Xedros for a second, recognizing in the Sedra Demon the techniques and spells that she had taught him. The Golden Dragon didn’t miss the opening and clapped his hands while she was in mid-air, squashing her like a bug.
The Adamant armor and the Scorpicore’s physical prowess allowed her to survive so Xedros hurled a jet-stream of bright violet Origin Flames that hit her full on.
‘I’m so sorry.’ Scarlett wept as her fury and will to fight abandoned her.
‘I’ve failed you, Sedra. I’ve failed all of you.’ She looked at the Demons of the Fallen, grieving their death even though she didn’t know them. ‘You were just lost children no one cared about. Innocents who accepted help from the wrong people out of despair.
‘Your pleas for help always fell on deaf ears because people like me were always too busy to listen. Coming here was pointless. Even if we win, the only lives we can save are our own.’
Scarlett suddenly felt calm. Her eyes stopped crying and revenge became nothing but a childish tantrum to her.
‘Please, forgive me, lesser Dragons. I can’t bring you back, but at least I can make sure that what happened to you will never happen to someone else.’ Scarlett stared at Xedros as determination replaced rage and Mogar heed her call.
The golden pillar that surrounded the Scorpicore turned white as Scarlett evolved once more. Her appearance became that of her proto-Guardian form, but her height at the wither was now 30 meters (100 feet) and her mass was the real deal.
Mogar gave Scarlett everything she needed, from the flesh and blood to the mana necessary to sustain her new majestic body.
‘Come forth, my child. Come forth, Sekhmet, the Guardian of Children.’ Mogar said while looking Baba Yaga in the eyes and reminding her of the role that she had refused millennia ago.
The Red Mother wept, moved by Scarlett’s personal sacrifice and by the regret for not being brave enough to take the mantle of Guardian.
In her new form, Scarlett felt rage no more, just pity for the dead children and for Xedros, who had stooped so low as to kill his own offspring just to achieve such a measly power.
“I feel sorry for you, Xedros. You were Leegaain’s direct offspring, one of the most powerful Light Masters that Mogar has ever seen, and the progenitor of a powerful bloodline, yet nothing was ever enough for you.” She said.
“Instead of entrusting your dreams and knowledge to your children so that they might rise where you couldn’t, you clipped their wings. You hoarded everything you could because you couldn’t stand the thought of being surpassed.
“You are one of the most pathetic beings I have ever met, but this doesn’t mean that I will give you a merciful death. My first act as a Guardian will be to make an example out of you.” Scarlett roared, sending the Dragon crashing against the back wall with just the air pressure that her voice produced.
‘She acts all high and mighty, but the reality is different.’ Xedros thought. ‘She has yet to get used to that body and power. I barely felt a hitch. It was all bark and no bite.’
His analysis was spot on. Scarlett was full of raw power she had no idea how to use.
Unfortunately for him, their situation had now been reversed. Xedros had picked the cave for its privacy and because his massive size would give him a huge advantage in the case someone found them.
Now, however, between his gigantic body and Scarlett’s even bigger form, there was no space to dodge or play it smart. It would be a slugfest where strength would matter above all and the Sekhmet had the power of a Guardian.
“It seems that the tide has turned, little brother.” Jakra needed but a few swings of Dragonclaw and its enchantments to turn the Demons of the Fallen into shreds, stopping their onslaught while their bodies regenerated.
Yet each time he did it, Lith could get half a breath of Invigoration and renew his strength. Failure after failure, Lith never stopped picturing the attacks in his mind until it became as easy as having a random thought about what to have for dinner.
“I have to kill you quickly before-”
Alas, “before” had already come to pass.
A sudden hail of tier one spells of all seven elements cut the Emerald Dragon short, giving the Demons of the Fallen the second wind they needed. Attacked from every side, Jakra faltered and War bit deep into his flesh.
“My thought exactly.” Lith said as his mass started increasing again and his vortexes spun faster than ever before, making their edges finally overlap.
The vortexes formed perfect bright blue spheres, becoming auxiliary cores that allowed Lith’s mana core to reach the deep violet level.
Much to everyone’s surprise, a silver pillar came from above while a black pillar came from below, both engulfing Lith. Yet this time they didn’t clash but merged into a single silvery black pillar.
The room that was already filled with world energy from Scarlett’s tribulation now brimmed with it and the Demons of the Fallen changed once again, becoming Demons of the Flames.
Each one of them had now black flames surging out of their bodies that held the same magical power of a Final Sunset.
‘Rise, my child. Rise, Tiamat, the Father of all Demons.’ Mogar said while Lith’s three life forces merged into one.
He was a hybrid no more. The human, Emperor Beast, and Abomination sides crossed the barriers separating them. Each one of them lost its respective nature and turned into something new.
There were no impurities to expel, only the need for new mass and for strengthening his flesh, bones, and scales beyond their former limits. Emerald flames engulfed Lith’s body as it started to grow and change.
The light pillar nurtured Lith’s incomplete form, protecting him during the entire evolution process. His height reached now 20 meters (66 feet), his horns, tails, and wings reached full maturity.
The left wing of the second set was covered in red-veined black feathers and the sixth eye, the yellow eye of air magic opened.
