Only enough flesh to keep Lith’s memory and mind intact remained, everything else was an ever-shifting mass of pure darkness, so thin that it was nigh-two dimensional.
It was the Shadow Step bloodline ability that belonged to Dark Phoenixes like Kigan and Raaz, were Lith’s father ever to Awaken his dormant abilities. The Demons followed suit, disappearing from sight and slithering along the corners of the streets to go unnoticed while they spread throughout the city.
The Voidfeather Dragon’s mass was much greater and something of his size moving around was hard to miss, no matter how thin he made himself. He split his body into smaller pieces moving small groups of them at a time but always keeping the fragments close enough to not lose control over them.
This way, he could hide in plain sight, even using bystanders and carriages to move around more quickly.
‘I don’t get it.’ Lith pondered. ‘What’s the point of compressing the space and blocking dimensional magic inside the city? Sure, most monsters can’t use magic above tier three, but some like orc shamans and Fomors can.
‘Even if it protects the city from invasions, the moment the position of the underground complex is revealed, dimensional magic would be the least of their problems.’
The Voidfeather Dragon could move solely when nobody was looking in his direction and the Demons confirmed to him that there was no one at the windows of the buildings around him either.
If not for the space compressing array, he could have just sent the smaller and faster Demons as advance scouts and then Warped to their coordinates as soon as they found a safe spot big enough to hide him.
‘The real purpose of the array is to focus and compress the world energy. This way, not only does the presence of the mana geyser escapes magical detection from the outside but its energy is also more easily assimilated by the children of Glemos.’ The Voidfeather replied.
‘The dimensional magic seal is just a side effect since the array doesn’t discriminate, compressing the space simply because it’s filled with world energy. Modifying the magical formation so as to not hinder dimensional magic would greatly increase its complexity for little return.
‘Aside from orc shamans, no unfallen race can use dimensional magic, and out of here, the monsters revert to their fallen state so they wouldn’t be capable of Warping inside anyway.’
‘How do you know that?’ Lith was flabbergasted.
They were supposed to be the same person, but now that the Voidfeather Dragon had calmed down, he seemed smarter and more logical than Lith himself.
‘Because I have eyes. How else?’ The Divine Beast shared his senses with Lith who remained amazed by what infusing each of his seven eyes with elemental energy achieved.
There was no sudden development of skills like Earth or Water Vision, but by splitting the elements between the seven eyes, the Voidfeather could observe their individual flow.
The air and earth elements from the arrays compressed the world energy and in turn the life force of the monsters who assimilated it, allowing them to keep a semi-unfallen state.
The water element condensed inside the buildings every time someone pushed a button, giving them the equivalent of tap water. The light and the fire elements coursed through street lamps and home appliances to generate respectively light and warmth.
Unlike Life Vision which showed the strength of a person or the runes of a spell, through the Voidfeather Dragon’s seven eyes Loth could witness the effects of the flow of magic inside both living beings and inanimate objects.
On top of that, through the Spirit Eye Lith could also see how the life force and the fallen core of the various monsters interacted with each other. The Spirit Eye showed him where they knotted, clashed, and where they instead harmonized.
‘I’ve used my seventh eye many times but this never happened. How can-‘
‘Because you filled all the eyes with Spirit Magic.’ The Voidfeather cut Lith short. ‘The other eyes work as a filter, removing the undesired elemental flows that would otherwise hinder your perception.’
By focusing the Fire, Light, and Spirit Eyes one at a time on the same person the Divine Beast obtained their thermal readings, their health scan, and a glimpse of how their fallen life force had messed up with their mana cores.
‘This raises another question.’ Lith said. ‘If you are this good with my bloodline abilities and have an agenda of your own, why didn’t you manifest sooner? Not that I’m complaining but the Void has been much more vocal during my life and a huge pain in the ass.’
‘An agenda?’ The Voidfeather Dragon snorted. ‘My agenda is for you to be happy instead of the lonely, miserable man you’ve always strived to become. The little voice in your head that told you that Solus was right about making friends at the academy was me.
‘Just like I was the one who pushed you to trust Phloria with your secret and forgive Solus after she lied to you about Protector. I don’t want to take your place. I want you to stop surviving and start living. There’s a big difference, you know?’
‘I know.’ Lith sighed. ‘But why have you been so discreet? I could have used-‘
‘More power?’ The Voidfeather Dragon’s mind flared in outrage. ‘That’s the last thing you needed. Power is what made you shut everyone out of your life, thinking you didn’t need them.
‘It’s weakness that taught you the lessons you needed to grow up and showed you your limits. Also, it’s not like I had much of a choice. Keeping the jackass sealed took me everything I had and the few times I tried to influence you, you ignored me.’
‘Point taken.’ Lith nodded. ‘Then how come I didn’t notice any of your abilities until now?’
‘How many times have you taken this form for more than a few seconds?’
‘With this mission, it makes four times.’ Lith telepathically scratched his head in embarrassment.
‘Once back in Urgamakka, when due to your split life force I had no power.’ The Voidfeather nodded. ‘Once inside the Golden Griffon, another after Phloria’s death, and now.
‘You’ve always been fascinated by Chaos and the Cursed Flames but you’ve never bothered asking yourself what, or rather, who protected you from their side effects and allowed you to employ them safely. You are welcome.’
Lith felt a jerk toward himself, which confused him even more. Luckily, the Voidfeather Dragon was too focused on following Solus’ light to give him a second glance.
During the trip, Lith could observe from up close the living quarters of the different fallen races, being surprised by the Tyrant’s bloodline ingenuity. The darkness element that filled the houses of the trolls kept the Decay of their cores at bay. It further slowed down their metabolism and extended their lifespan.
The goblins didn’t live in huge condos just because of their numbers, but because this way they were capable of sharing their powers with the inhabitants of the whole building.
This allowed them to perform magical experiments that required lots of mana despite their flimsy orange cores.
