“By the Great Mother, a Divine Beast!” Queen Sylpha said while looking at Tyris who was sitting beside the Royals, disguised as her Constable Griffon alias. “Someone should really do something.”
Meanwhile, the Royal Court went into an uproar. The Kingdom had several countermeasures to deal with such powerful creatures but no one wanted to pay the price. Each faction tried to goad their respective rivals into volunteering with the most creative arguments.
“The last time we had to deal with a Dragon it was the Kellar region to slay it. I say that for once the Ernas region can prove that its title as a founding pillar of the Kingdom isn’t just for show.” Duchess Lassa said.
“You say it like it was yesterday but it actually happened 300 years ago!” Archduke Gunyin Ernas, Phloria’s oldest brother, said.
“On top of that, your region didn’t do much, it was just one of your Archmages who dealt the finishing blow. The Ernas household has yet to recover from the squabble with Deirus which happened just a few months ago instead.
“I say it’s time that the Horman region pulls its weight!”
“My region is dealing with the famine, monster waves, and with a further decrease in birth rates. We have no people to spare, send someone else.” Duke Jyian replied.
“Everyone is dealing with the famine jackass!” The room roared as one.
‘Why should I care?’ Tyris replied to both Meron and Sylpha via a mind link. ‘He’s not one of my children. A Guardian doesn’t deal with such low level squabbles.’
‘But he’s still the offspring of one of your kind!’ Meron rebuked.
‘Then call Leegaain.’ She replied with a scoff. ‘There’s a reason why I established the Archmages, the Highmasters, the Queen’s corps, and the Corpse. Use them instead of whining to me.’
‘At least say something to raise the morale!’ Sylpha begged.
“Ladies and Gentlemen of the Royal Court.” Tyris stood up and the room fell into silence as her natural charisma made the nobles behave in the hope to gain her approval. “Our Kingdom is facing a crisis that requires us to pool up our wits and resources, not to play a dignified game of hot potato.
“That said, I hereby bear witness that Spellbreaker Verhen completed his mission and petition for restoring the security detail of the city of Lutia. Do you have anything to add, Spellbreaker Verhen?”
“Yes. If my friend and I have to deal with that thing, we call dibs on the corpse. Verhen out.” Solus blushed up to her ears while saying such a thing in front of the entire Royal Court.
Yet even while performing what looked like an anime beam battle, Lith was adamant that she followed his script.
“A reasonable request. All in favor?” Meron asked while looking at Sylpha who rose her hand. “It’s unanimous, then. To the victor will go the spoils according to their contributions.”
As its name implied, the Griffon Kingdom was no democracy. The votes of the Royal couple were the only two that mattered.
Suddenly every member of the Court offered their best artifacts and Archmages, working together as one well-oiled machine to get to the site of the battle before it was over. Otherwise they would lose all claims on the spoils of war.
“Isn’t it wonderful when people set aside their personal interests for the greater good?” Tyris’s voice oozed sarcasm while pointing at the nobles.
Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers away, the battle went on.
“What are you doing laying there on the ground and crying like babies?” Solus did her best Lith impression even though she really felt for the situation of their fellow soldiers.
“Quaron violated the terms of our fight so this isn’t a one on one battle anymore. Fight with me to take the traitor down first and that overgrown lizard later. There are no gods on Mogar, our fate is ours to make!”
Then, she turned towards Zeska.
“You have been promised freedom, but all that awaits you is to live under the heel of a creature that has no idea how hard it is to make a piece of bread. Quaron had promised me to surrender your city if I defeated him, but he lied to me as well.
“How many of you knew about the Dragon? How many things has he hidden from you in order to have your compliant obedience? How can you still put your lives in his hands?”
One after the other, the soldiers of the regiment stood up and started to weave their best spells while their respective commanding officers coordinated with each other after regaining their cool.
At the same time, inside Zeska, the people stopped fighting and started talking about whether to keep believing in Quaron or not.
Syrook could hear every single word yet he didn’t like any of them.
He had invested too much time and effort to make his lapdog win the hearts of the commoners to let whoever was now in that armor ruin everything.
He unleashed against Solus a tier five Spirit Spell, Breakdown, that he had prepared for Lith.
Upon hitting, the hexa elemental emerald sphere would implode on its target and cause their death. Air and earth would block Solus, respectively by inducing an electric seizure and by trapping her limbs in a prison of rock.
Fire and water would alternate in pulses, causing a thermal shock that would damage her equipment and sap her strength by making it impossible for her to breathe. Darkness and light would constantly eat at her and heal her in a cycle that would consume her vitality until her body lacked the necessary energy to keep living.
Solus was too busy checking the script and was caught unprepared in the middle of her speech. She gritted her teeth and had the Sage Staff revert to its true appearance, revealing the set of three colored crystals and as many Evil Eyes.
Then, she emitted a burst of emerald energy that made Breakdown bounce against the Sage Staff and hit the barrier that protected Quaron, making it collapse before he could recover completely.
“What have you done, you pesky thing?” Syrook turned toward her and roared.
Once again, violet light flashed through the scales on in chest while he prepared a second wave of Origin Flames.
“Where do you think you are going?” Lith exploited the moment of distraction to close the distance between them and punch the Black Dragon in the stomach.
Being five meters (16.4 feet) shorter, hitting Syrook’s head would have been difficult due to the fact that the neck of a Dragon took almost one-fourth of their body length. At the same time, however, it also meant that their body would be smaller and their limbs shorter compared to a humanoid.
The hit snapped Syrook out of his frenzy and when Lith tried to follow up with a front kick, the Black Dragon simply wrapped the incoming leg with his tail to block the Tiamat in place.
“Poor idiot! Did you really think that my long neck is just for show?” The Black Dragon bellowed. “It allows me to attack freely in every direction and to use my maw as a sixth limb whereas, with your short neck, you are all bark and no bite!”
