“Yes. Everything you said is true. I’m younger and much poorer than you, yet I’m still better than you.” The Tiamat plunged his hands deep into the ground and when he pulled them back, he held two swords that he used to stop the wind blades in their tracks.
He had conjured them with the elements of creation, earth and light. The former gave them substance while the latter made them as sharp and sturdy as a metal blade. Syrook could see with Life Vision several emerald runes etched on their surface.
Spirit Magic gave them a simple enchantment and even a pseudo core. Dragon Eyes allowed Syrook to understand what Lith had done but not how to replicate it. He was no Forgemaster and the art of Light Mastery was a myth to him.
Lith charged forward, exploiting the blades’ longer reach to compensate for their lack of durability.
Or so he thought until the Black Dragon had its pair of enchanted gloves, Sunder, extend their fingers and then join them into edged weapons. The Adamant cut through the blades made of stone and light first and then deep into Lith’s chest in a single slash.
“Any last words?” Syrook’s grin disappeared as Lith’s Light Mastery generated two hard-light constructs that reconnected the severed ends of the Tiamat’s swords, further extending their range.
While Sunder was still stuck inside his body, Lith lunged at the enemy with his blades, piercing through scales, flesh, and bones until the tip of the swords came out of Syrook’s back.
The Spirit Magic runes released bursts of lightning that sent the Black Dragon into a spasm and flames that burned him from the inside.
Syrook twisted and pulled Sunder while Lith did the same with his constructs. Each contestant had now two gaping holes in their chest that made it difficult for them even to breathe.
The clash had ended in a draw, but to the Black Dragon’s pride, it was no better than a defeat.
‘I have artifacts and a violet core whereas he has toy weapons and a deep violet core. I should have won already!’ Syrook gritted his teeth to not let the fury go to his head while taking deep breaths.
He was using Invigoration and charging up the biggest burst of Origin Flames he could make.
‘He has artifacts and a violet core whereas I have makeshift weapons and a deep violet core.’ Lith kept racking his brain for a solution.
Running away wasn’t an option. He had accomplished the mission that the Kingdom had tasked him with, but letting the Black Dragon live was out of the question. Lith already had enough enemies.
Adding a powerful Divine Beast to the list and giving him the time to plot his revenge would have been beyond idiotic.
‘On top of that, I must be careful about everything I do because Syrook can learn it with Dragon Eyes and use my weapons against me. My bloodline abilities are my best bet, but there’s nothing I can do except summon Demons. Unless…’
Lith remembered what he had learned from Xenagrosh about the life force of the Abominations, about the way Syrook conjured the Origin Flames, trying to put everything together.
The Tiamat’s body started to twist and writhe as it shapeshifted into another form.
Lith focused on the stars that comprised his life force and turned into a seven-eyed Voidfeather Dragon whose body was covered in red scales while his back, spine, and his single set of wings were covered in black feathers.
It was just as tall as the Tiamat, reaching 20 meters (66 feet) of height from head to toes. The main differences were the long neck that took one-fourth of his height, the 7 meters (23 feet) long tail coming out from his back, and the shorter hind legs.
That form was moody and Lith still felt awkward in it.
Yet while the life force of the Tiamat looked like a galaxy where the void of the Abomination kept itself away from the myriads of stars, that of the Voidfeather Dragon was different.
The stars would assemble to form a single constellation that resembled a Dragon where the red thread of the human side and the void of the Abomination formed a framework that connected the stars to each other.
“What do you think you are doing?” Syrook had never seen a Dragon like that and his curiosity almost overpowered his rage.
Almost.
“Science.” Lith had the black tendrils of his Abomination side seep inside each and every star, turning them black.
At his next breath, when he added to the world energy the spark of life force necessary to ignite the Origin Flames, half of it belonged to the Abomination.
A black light burst from between his scales, starting from his chest and quickly raising along the neck and into the mouth, just like Syrook’s violet light did.
The two Dragons mirrored each other movement, opening their mouths at the same time. Yet the flames that came out of Lith’s mouth were black and they moved as fast as a bullet.
The Void Flames were imbued with just enough Chaos to suck the light element from the darkness component of the world energy and turn it into Chaos as well.
The Void Flames reached the violet Origin Flames while they were barely outside Syrook’s throat, triggering the detonation before he could try to activate Dreadwing and use the darkness to smother its destructive power.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Solus exploited that moment of respite to put out the Origin Flames and get back on her feet while Locrias kept Quaron busy. The Ranger was wounded, but it was nothing that light magic couldn’t easily fix.
Being the Harbinger of a Dragon gave Quaron an amazing vitality. He didn’t need to rest or feed to recover from his wounds because his body could store nutrients for a prolonged period of time, just like a Dragon’s.
He had gotten up right after Locrias’ sneak attack, without giving him or Solus another opening that they could exploit.
Locrias was using every ounce of his skill and experience to keep the enemy at bay, but his condition was no different from Solus’s.
After his soul had taken the form of a Demon of Darkness, he had fought tooth and nail against the Skeletal Knights while trying to understand the limitations of his new body.
Lith shared with the Demons his knowledge about true magic, but each one of them could only cast a couple of spells before fading away. It was the reason why Locrias had saved his strength until Lith had activated Domination, allowing him to overtake the body of an undead.
Even with the power of the blood core and the new equipment, however, Locrias was still the literal shadow of his past self. The energy he had couldn’t compare with his old bright blue core and his weapon paled in comparison with what he was used to back in the Queen’s corps.
Only when Lith had shared Invigoration with the Demons could Locrias show his real prowess and dominate the battlefield. It had been him casting tier five spells exclusive to the corps that Syrook had seen from above, tearing the Knights to shreds thanks to the endless supply of mana he received.
