Friya jumped at Xoola the Fenrir with the speed of a bullet and punched her with enough strength to make the Divine Beast stumble and fall.
“Are you really asking me what I did?” Tessa’s silvery laughter didn’t match her savage smile or her cruel gaze. “Didn’t that crazy bastard of your father teach you anything about me?”
Six serpentine heads erupted from her back and the same happened to Quylla and Friya. Yet while Quylla’s had silvery scales and each head had eyes of a different elemental color, Friya’s had scales of seven colors.
As the girls screamed in pain, several green vines burst out of their skin and plunged into the ground. They absorbed the water and the nutrients needed to bring Friya and Quylla back to their peak strength.
At the same time, the vines grew at a speed visible to the naked eye, becoming one with their flesh and increasing their mass.
“Mogar’s almighty. When All Are One.” Thrud knew of the legendary Spirit Array but she had never thought she’d witness its effects, let alone fight against it.
“Nailed it in one. Here’s your prize.” Tessa Warped right in front of Thrud in a cascade of golden sparkles, her fist heavy enough to twist the Golden Griffon’s head.
A mace-shaped construct the size of a building appeared in Tessa’s hands and she slammed it into Thrud’s helm while unleashing a heat ray that blackened her feathers.
The Mad Queen tried to Spirit Blink away in confusion as reality hit her harder than any weapon. Yet the dimensional door exploded in her face, throwing her at the crazed Titania who exploited the rebound for a six-armed cross counter.
“The kids might not be on par with my old companions, but it’s my first time sharing the abilities of a dimensional mage and a Light Master.” Tessa said while laughing. “You can do pretty things with them.”
Thrud was bigger, heavier, and more powerful than the Titania and so was supposed to be her armor. Yet while the Arthan set was 700 years old, Tyris kept updating all artifacts related to Valeron.
On top of that, the When All Are One array gave Tessa the mass of the 25 meters (82′) tall Hydra, and even in her natural state a Titania was as strong as a Griffon. She also got Quylla’s Light Mastery and Friya’s dimensional awareness, including Dimensional Ruler.
Thanks to the six extra heads, Tessa could conjure six spells at the same time while the seventh head kept using Invigoration. Between that and the natural regenerative abilities of the Fae, the difference between her and the white-cored Thrud was paper thin.
As for the girls, they got the mass of an Elder Hydra, the physical prowess of a Titania, the six heads, the power of the bright violet core, and each other’s masteries over weapons and magic.
“Shit, we need to stop them!” Xoola the Fenrir conjured her Doom Tide bloodline ability.
Without world energy, breathing techniques would be useless and Tessa would be incapable of matching the True Queen’s strength. The raw strength of the white core would have been enough to seal the deal.
Except that Doom Tide failed.
Six elemental arrays now bounded the Fenrir, isolating her from the surrounding world energy like a Sealed Space spell.
“Have you already forgotten about my Hands of Menadion?” The gems on Faluel’s crowns shone with power as she used the artifact to take hold of the elemental energy and restrict Xoola’s influence.
“Yours is a nice trick, but it’s not enough!” Thrud shrunk back to her human size to not offer an easy target and activated her bloodline ability, Phantom Echo.
Now every one of her spells generated a double that cost her no mana to conjure or focus to control. At the same time, she empowered herself with Life Maelstrom, increasing the power of her body, core, and equipment tenfold.
A few swings of Arthan’s Sword chopped off Tessa’s regular and extra limbs, the Titania now moved too slowly to dodge.
“Your dimensional magic is worth shit if I don’t give you the space the Blink. You would just carry me around and nothing would change!” Thrud roared, her blade piercing through the Titania’s Royal Fortress armor.
Killing a Fae was hard. Even with their heart and head crushed, they would survive.
“Ignoring me is rude, kid.” Fyrwal’s mace struck Thrud’s exposed side, shattering her ribs and bursting her lung. “There’s two of us. Also, did you know that Domination stacks?”
The Mad Queen was sent flying, coughing out a mouthful of blood, but her body healed too quickly for it to matter. Yet it wasn’t the injury that worried her.
“Gods, no!” She said in horror.
“Gods, yes.” Fyrwal’s eyes were stone cold as she channeled the Life Maelstrom that her mace had stolen and shared it with Tessa. “This wouldn’t be possible if three out of five of us weren’t skilled Dominators.”
“Don’t be surprised yet, kid. Fylly and I have still a lot of lost playtime to make up for.” The Titania and her equipment healed in the blink of an eye thanks to the silver lightning boosting them both.
She jumped back to her feet, hammering at Thrud with six Davross-coated fists. Fyrwal did the same, two more sets of arms had appeared on her body as well and she mirrored Tessa’s every move while keeping herself on the opposite side of the Mad Queen.
Thrud was still faster, stronger, and better equipped but Fyrwal’s and Tessa’s flawless teamwork made the gap disappear.
‘This doesn’t make sense.’ Thrud thought while using her sword, off hand, and even her wings to resist the onslaught. ‘Hydras are two-bit fighters. I had to work Ufyl to the bone since he lacked even the basics.’
Thrud was right. In their natural form, Hydras had no arms or prehensile limbs. They couldn’t use tools and even if they practiced, it always felt off to them. The best they could do was scratch at an enemy from up close or bite with their poisonous fangs.
Yet those were last resort means since Hydra’s preferred to keep a distance and employ their multiple heads to unleash non-stop volleys of spells.
Titanias, on the other hand, loved to put their tremendous strength to use. Fae didn’t have a set number of limbs so they could grow as many as they wanted and get used to them with practice.
Fyrwal had exploited her bloodline talents to become the first War Mage and Battle Mage, making up for her lacking physical prowess with the quality and quantity of her spells.
In the same way, Tessa had exploited her bloodline abilities to become the first Warden and Highmaster. Body casting meant that the more limb she had, the more runes she could conjure while pummelling her opponents.
Arrays had a slow cast time, but not for a battle-crazed violet core.
Tessa exploited the arrays’ huge areas of effect to blast everyone around her since her regenerative abilities would get rid of the damage while the members of the other races would remain crippled.
The two women couldn’t be more different which made them the perfect dance partners.
