The shattered blade could now deform itself via the flames, twisting and turning like a snake past the enemy’s guard but M’Rael always blocked it, no matter how impossible the angle of the attack was.
The Sentries kept feeding him information and the energy coating his weapons shielded them from the destructive heat of the Immortal Flames. A normal enchanted armor would have imploded due to the mana required, but M’Rael’s was no armor, it was Menadion’s tower.
Any other weapon would have melted on contact and its enchantments be consumed at every clash, but Solus’ Fury was the apex of Menadion’s work and it was at one with the tower.
Lith fought hard and lost hard, one swing of the Fury too many and the Flames failed to keep the blade’s shards together.
“Good riddance, Verhen!” M’Rael was about to deliver the finishing blow when a silvery glaive aimed at his neck. “What?”
The Sentries confirmed to him that the Hydra was still on the ground yet Strife was missing.
He parried the blade and prepared to follow up with a shattering blow when an emerald streak tackled him from behind, too fast to react even with the Sentries warning him in time.
“Thanks for the lesson, jackass.” Ajatar said. “Now it’s my turn to teach you something!”
The Drake had turned his body into pure mana with Spirit Fusion and used it to weave together a series of tier five Spirit Spells at the speed of thought. Ajatar had chosen them carefully so that each one of the spells would boost the effects of the next in a destructive crescendo.
M’Rael tried to conjure the powers of the tower to defend himself, but found its energy reserves dry.
“Surprise, motherfucker!” Only then did Faluel stand up, revealing the Hands of Menadion that had been hogging most of the surrounding world energy for a while.
“How?” M’Rael asked, but the emerald onslaught smothered his voice.
The Voidfeather grinned in satisfaction as at least that part of the plan had worked out. Since he couldn’t harm M’Rael, the Dragon had let the tower deflect his spells toward his fallen comrades before switching them into healing magic with Void Magic.
The moment the Awakened had regained their senses, it had taken them just the time for a few breaths to recover their full strength. At that point, they had waited for the right moment to strike.
Faluel had also used tendrils of Spirit Magic to reach her allies from below the ground and imbue them with Life Maelstrom without anyone noticing.
The seven heads of the Hydra cast several spells at once, using true and fake magic plus body casting, keeping herself at a distance to not interfere with Ajatar’s work. She only threw and recovered Strife non-stop to mess up with the High Chancellor’s stance.
‘I can’t compete with the tower in terms of energy manipulation, not even with the help of the Hands of Menadion.’ Faluel thought. ‘What I can do, is to use the power I have accumulated to fuel my Royal Fortress armor.
‘There’s a limit to how much mana my violet-cored body can withstand whereas Tyris’ work has no such problem.’ She could feel the reserves of Life Maelstrom recharging faster than usual and the several spells of the armor gaining new strength from the Hands.
The Royal Fortress armor worked akin to an eight head, allowing the Hydra to save mana and alter the rhythm of her attacks in a way that M’Rael would have a hard time predicting.
Lith looked left at Quylla and the others keeping the battalion of elves away and then to his right where the Lesser Dragons were giving their all. Yet he knew the prowess of his former tower better.
He had taken enough blows to know that despite Faluel’s and Ajatar’s best efforts, it wouldn’t be enough to stop M’Rael.
‘It would be a different story if I had already reached the bright violet core as well.’ Lith gritted his teeth, watching the sixth violet crystal lose its luster and knowing that every second lost brought War closer to its end.
This time, a few fragments of Adamant fell to the ground and no matter how much Lith and War called upon them, they didn’t rise again.
‘M’Rael knows me, but I know the tower better than anyone else. I can deal with it, but I can’t do it with my current power. I can’t do it alone!’
‘You are not alone.’ The Soul Projection changed into the Void that reached down and grabbed the hilt of the shattered blade with his black hand. ‘War, destroy.’
A spark of black life force reached the blade, painting it black and instilling Chaos along the edges of the Immortal Flames.
‘I won’t let you go like that, old friend, nor will I let that bastard hurt you.’ The Voidfeather dragged the Void down. He became the Soul Projection again and grabbed the hilt with his red-scaled hand. ‘War, ignite!’
A spark of violet life force reached the Immortal Flames, turning them from emerald green to midnight blue. The Chaos no longer corrupted the Adamant of the blade, the blue flames consuming everything that the War couldn’t withstand and using it to further increase its strength.
‘What the fuck?’ Lith recognized in the blue flames in front of him those that Aalejah saw within him when she looked at him with Soul Vision.
The same blue flames that he had witnessed in the Mindscape when Mogar had shown him a potential future.
War was stronger than before, its mana flow more vigorous, violent, and destructive than ever. Yet it wasn’t enough. Even with whatever those flames were, the gap with a bright violet-cored Awakened was too big, let alone with M’Rael wearing the tower.
Lith took a deep breath with Invigoration to restore his strength while also turning his attention inside of himself. The Fringe gave him the unique opportunity to communicate with the aspects of his life force.
If the Voidfeather could talk, then he could also listen.
‘Why are you doing this?’ Lith used War to channel his thoughts to the Voidfeather Dragon, focusing his willpower to keep the mind link between Dragon and blade from closing. ‘I get it, you hate me and I deserve it yet Solus doesn’t.
‘That bastard took her away from us and orders her around like she’s a smart home appliance. How can you claim to care about her yet stand there and do nothing? You are supposed to be the good guy yet you stand on the wrong side of this battle.
‘How can you help War yet refuse to help Solus? If you merged with me and the Void-‘
‘I don’t hate you.’ The Voidfeather snarled. ‘That’s the jackass’ job. I despise him because he poisons with his hate everything we touch. Because he feels joy killing our enemies and smiles only when he breaks them piece by piece, as if it can solve anything.
‘You I resent, instead. You whined about your wounds for years yet you were the one tearing them open and making sure they wouldn’t heal. You pushed everyone away because you were too afraid of getting hurt again.’
