“Please, you and that Dragon are pathetic one-trick ponies. You can’t do squat from a distance and the other one is useless in close-quarters combat.” M’Rael said to the Void.
One brief moment of distraction was all it took to make the delicate balance of the fight collapse.
When Morok stopped in mid-air to turn around and dart toward Ajatar, he became a fixed target long enough to also be easy prey.
The arrows coming at his back exploded before hitting their mark thanks to the elemental stream coming from his V-shaped bones, but the resulting explosion sent him spinning like a top.
The following volley of arrows reached its target, piercing and sticking to his armor until he looked like a porcupine. The tier five spells they were imbued with kicked the Tyrant off the sky, filling the air with a mist comprised of his own flesh and blood.
Nalrond’s constructs froze when he looked over his shoulder, allowing the elves to surround him, and Friya missed the timing to rescue him because she was looking back too.
Morok’s scream made Quylla lose her focus, but at least she had the quick wit to retreat instead of standing still and released all the spells she had at the ready as cover fire.
A barrage of heat rays mowed down the elven lines where they had dropped the shields in favor of their bows, but the wounds were small and already cauterized, making them easy to heal.
Aalejah could only watch helplessly as the offensive formation she had organized crumbled and her defensive arrays were taken down in quick succession.
‘If the elven troops join their forces with M’Rael, our chances of victory will go from little to none!’ She thought. ‘What the heck can I do alone against so many opponents or against someone who could take down three violet-cored Awakened like it was child’s play?’
The High Chancellor walked toward Faluel to finish her off, deeming her to be the greatest threat to his plan.
‘Without her, the only opponent with Davross equipment will be gone and her treasures will be mine. Without the Life Maelstrom, nobody can stand against a mage walking with his tower as one! I’m-‘ His train of thought derailed when the Sentries alerted him of an incoming attack.
“The fuck?” Double Edge went millimeters away from his face and only because even though it was heavy, Adamant and Dragon bones were no match for the tower-fused Fury. “How can you still stand?”
Lith didn’t reply, the Tree went on a dissertation about the origin of Abominations, and Solus babbled about a lion cub and the circle of life.
“Shut up!” M’Rael snarled as the voices in his head hindered his focus without actually explaining anything.
Lith still had part of the Life Maelstrom Faluel had infused him with and had split it with War so that the angry blade could clash with the much stronger hammer without breaking.
‘Blocking the Fury with a blade is idiotic but it’s better than death.’ Lith did his best to dodge and deflect whenever he could, but he there were times when he had no choice but to parry.
Also, he couldn’t politely ask M’Rael to stop blocking. Thanks to the Eyes, the elf had a clear idea of Lith’s martial style and was exploiting such knowledge to beat the blade to its breaking point.
“You bastards!” The High Chancellor said to the Tiamat and his own unwilling slaves. “That’s how you did it!”
M’Rael had sent the Sentries scouting the battlefield to make sure that the Lesser Dragons wouldn’t miraculously revive as well just to discover a bald patch of ground where Lith had laid until a moment before.
The Void couldn’t get far from him, but plants were still living beings and the Fringe was filled to the brim with world energy. The Abomination had sucked everything dry and sent the stolen life force to Lith to heal his wounds the moment they had been opened.
“Guilty as charged.” Lith pressed forward with everything he had, channeling fusion magic through War to double its effectiveness.
‘If only I could conjure my golems or get my hands on the equipment stored in the pocket dimension, I could also call upon the Demons for help. Right now, it would just be a waste of energy.
‘I’d lose mana to summon weak and naked soldiers with no guarantee of having enough time to recharge my core with Invigoration.’ He inwardly cursed, doing his best just to stop M’Rael from finding his balance again.
The elf was forced to sept back in order to avoid the Void’s claws and not let the black fog surround him. Lith had no control over his Soul Projection, but it was still like being two against one.
The problem was that M’Rael was faster and stronger than them plus with the Eyes and the Sentries there was nothing that Lith tried that the elf couldn’t anticipate and counter.
Feints and spells were foiled just as easily with M’Rael using the Eyes of Menadion to read their runes as soon as Lith conjured them and the Sentries to follow his blade’s every move to predict its trajectory.
“Stop staring at us like a moron and kill him!” The High Chancellor shifted to a two-handed grip on the Sage Staff and passed the Fury to Solus.
‘Killing her old master is the perfect rite of passage to break Elphyn Menadion down and end this farce.’
Too bad that the sentence lacked a clear direct object so Solus just threw the hammer at one of the elves surrounding Nalrond, turning them into a pulp and rescuing the Rezar.
“I meant Verhen! Kill Verhen!” Solus obeyed the worst she could, having her arms pop out of the tower right in front of his eyes and blinding him temporarily while she tried to strangle Lith.
Tried because he was too far and M’Rael had never specified how she was supposed to perform the task. She also recalled the Fury as fast as she could, which Lith dodged easily since he knew Solus well enough to understand her plan.
M’Rael, however, didn’t. When the hammer flew past Lith, the elf failed to grab the hammer and took the full force of the blow right in his face.
‘Good job, child!’ The Tree brimmed with joy as their captor stumbled back, his vision blurry from the blow.
Lith followed in the Fury’s wake, aiming a horizontal trust right in the gap between the helm and the chest plate’s collar of the Voidwalker.
‘If the moron didn’t alter my blueprints, I can cut off his head and rescue Solus.’ Lith regretted not going to help Faluel, but he preferred gambling on a possible victory than achieving a certain stalemate that might end as badly as before.
‘Go back to your cage!’ M’Rael sent the order to Solus telepathically since he had no time to waste.
He linked his consciousness with the Sentries, replacing his still-useless eyes with their readings and ordering the tower to reach accordingly. The Fury intercepted Double Edge with surgical precision, setting it off its target and dealing a blow so heavy that the metal cracked and Lith’s hands went numb.
