In her full form, the creature would have been over four meters (13’2″) tall but she was forced to keep her human proportions to not hit the walls and ceiling with every one of her movements.
“You may be heavier, but I bet you’re not trained to fly in a small space like this whereas I am. There are four of us and you are alone. Don’t be foolish.” Ienta flew around the Tiamat with an irregular pattern.
She made the long Adamant blades that covered her talons clink rhythmically to draw Lith’s attention while Dhenma opened a Warp Steps.
Lith watched their preparation with an amused look in all of his seven eyes.
“Alone?” He cackled, his voice slowly rising in intensity until it became a burst of maniacal laughter. “I’m never alone!”
War screamed as it broke free from the blood fetters of its scabbard and jumped into his right hand. A wisp of light emerged from his gauntlet, taking the form of a petite woman wielding a hammer in her right hand and a staff in her left.
In contrast with the woman born from light, Lith’s shadow rose from the ground, taking the form of a six-eyed demon who conjured a blade from a burst of emerald flames. The previous Warp Steps had consumed very little of Lith’s strength.
He had used Invigoration right before entering the room because he had poured all the mana he had left into Locrias’ plume. The ex-captain of the Queen’s Corps now possessed a power similar to a living Demon.
On top of that, during those last few months, Lith had prepared for him the best replica he could craft of the equipment that Locrias used to wield in the Corps, restoring his full battle prowess.
The woman of light was indeed the weakest of the three, but her weapons shone like stars that sent shivers down the spines of Thrud’s Awakened.
“Attack!” Ienta roared, directing the Treant and the Roc behind her, both in their humanoid form, to take care of one opponent each.
Dhenma didn’t miss the opening and activated a Warp Steps leading him to the barracks where the rest of the Emperor Beasts were. Yet the moment he crossed the dimensional threshold, a simple spark from Lith’s emerald eye made it collapse.
The Steps turned into a guillotine, severing the Sphinx’s body diagonally from the right shoulder to the left hip, killing him on the spot. This time Lith was ready for the corpse returning to the Golden Griffon and stored Dhenma’s equipment inside his pocket dimension before it could disappear.
“Domination! They can use Domination! Don’t cast any spell below tier five!” Ienta said while she managed to block War’s overhead slash by crossing her maces.
‘That’s why you wanted to come alone!’ Solus said, finally understanding Lith’s strategy.
Without witnesses, he had no need to hide his strength and could finally vent all the pent-up anger since he had discovered that Orpal was the copycat.
The Tiamat roared, exploiting his superior strength and mass to push the Harpy back. Life Maelstrom made up for most of the gap in their physical prowess, but it wasn’t enough. Also, flying around gave her better mobility but no footing.
Ienta flapped her wings furiously, generating a wind that kept her from crashing against the back wall and conjured countless wind blades that clanged against the Voidwalker armor.
The clash of magic against scales produced silvery sparks but dealt the Tiamat no damage. Even though they were coated in Orichalcum, the weakest of the magical metals, they were still Dragon scales.
Lith used the space he had gained to take a deep breath and unleash a jet stream of Void Flames. Black light seeped out of his body, moving from his mouth to his heart as he breathed in and then from his lungs to his mouth when he exhaled.
Unlike Origin Flames, Void Flames were densely packed and as quick as a bullet, resembling more a black laser than a burst of fire.
Ienta was still out of balance and took the blow in full. The violence of the impact made her lose control of her flight as the black flames and the silver lightning fought each other.
The primordial forces of life and death battled to a standstill and then just canceled each other, much to the surprise of their respective owners.
“What the fuck?” The Harpy and the Tiamat said in unison.
Ienta had suffered no damage from the Void Flames, but the Life Maelstrom that had coursed through her body and equipment until a second ago was completely gone.
‘If Lith goes all out, then so can I.’ Solus thought. ‘I really want to see what the Fury can do now that it has been upgraded. Sure, it would be much more interesting if I ever saw the old Fury in action.’
She threw the weapon, activating what once had been the Hammerfall enchantment now evolved according to the principles of modern magic into the Furies’ Flight. The Fury split into three hammers that in turn split into three again.
Menadion had given her artifacts the ability to be used by others to more easily teach her apprentices, but the Fury’s ability to split was combat oriented. The fact that its copies allowed others to work with her had been nothing but a happy and unexpected side effect.
Each one of the nine hammers absorbed the surrounding world energy through the white crystals on their surface, working in unison to produce a powerful gravity field that gave the small heads of Davross the kinetic energy of a meteor.
The first Fury struck the Treant with such force that, even though the Fae weighed over five tons, he was lifted from the ground and a huge dent appeared on his Adamant breastplate.
The second hammer hit him square on the face, making it burst into a hail of wooden splinters. The third and the fourth smashed his arms, the fifth and the sixth his legs, while the Furies from seven to nine just pummelled at his torso.
“By my Mom!” Solus stared in awe at the result of her attack, forgetting once again that in battle there was no time for contemplation.
Fae had an uncanny vitality that was further boosted by the Awakening and the Life Maelstrom that empowered the Treant. His bits and pieces reassembled together as he used Invigoration from the pores of his bark to regain the lost strength.
“Stop daydreaming, dammit!” Solus scolded herself while recalling the Fury to her hand.
Asa the Roc stared at Locrias, cursing her bad luck in Beast-speak as the Demon slowly advanced, the longsword kept slightly upward in a guard position that left no openings.
The Tiamat was brutal, but he was also a victim of his own hatred while the woman was clearly as green as they came. The thing in front of her, however, had the calm fury of a battle veteran and the technique of a blade master.
Locrias never raised his feet to advance, preferring to slide them forward to lever lose his footing and keep his stance stable and strong. His upside-down wings snapped from time to time on purpose, making Asa lose focus at the noise and giving the Demon the opening he needed to advance safely.
