M’Rael inwardly sighed in relief, channeling the power of the tower inside the Sage Staff before lunging it and activating its six elemental focal points. Lith was caught by surprise by the sudden change of pace and forced to block the blast.
More and more fragments of Adamant fell down, bringing his rage to the next level. The blue aura of flames burst out more violently than ever, but M’Rael didn’t mind it. He switched the Staff with the Fury and had the hammer duplicate itself to employ a dual-wielding style.
Lith fought with everything he had, using Void Magic to keep surprising his opponent and the blue flames to counter spells too powerful or sudden for him to block.
Alas, he was alone and War was dying whereas the tower was recovering and so was M’Rael. The twin hammers found their mark more and more often, sending metal shards flying through the sky and leaving deep dents in the Voidwalker armor despite the flaming aura protecting it.
The High Chancellor felt confident about his victory as the battle slowly fell into his own rhythm and Verhen struggled harder to keep up.
Then, Lith had the Adamant fragments form the blade inside the flames again and struck with uncanny speed. M’Rael used one hammer to block and readied the other to counter but the blow was heavier than he expected.
He was forced to cross the hammers, stopping the attack yet ending up being pushed back. The elf dismissed it as the last burst of strength of a cornered prey yet the follow-up attack was just as fast.
Then the next was faster and so was every attack that followed, forcing M’Rael to turtle up. More and more of Lith’s spells reached their mark, his flaming breath seemed to have become unpredictable, and his blade moved like a snake.
Literally.
With War’s form shattering, Lith exploited the situation to have the flame that held the blade together bend at unnatural angles, going around the hammers or wrapping itself around the hammerheads while sending the tip to strike at the hilt where the elf’s hands were.
The Eyes of Menadion saw and anticipated everything, but M’Rael couldn’t keep up. With every hit, Lith seemed to become faster in body and mind, his spells chained without a pause.
A Plague Storm hit both the elf and the tower, forming a meters-thick cocoon that chased the two fighters but only sapped the strength of one of them.
“What’s happening?” M’Rael asked multiple times with rising panic in his voice.
‘It’s called Tiamat Fear.’ Solus willingly explained. ‘It’s similar to Dragon Fear but it also infects the world energy. The same that you are sucking in via the tower and the Hands.
‘They are just things and are unaffected by the Tiamat Fear, yet you’re a living being and are one with them. Your link with the artifacts is letting the Tiamat Fear reach your mana core and from there, it goes everywhere.’
The sudden revelation left M’Rael stunned so War opened a deep diagonal cut from his right shoulder to his left hip. The tower armor was damaged and the blue flames burned the edges of the cracks, making them harder to fix.
A mirror wound appeared on Solus’ mental image making her clench her teeth in pain, yet she didn’t whimper.
‘It’s not him getting faster! I’m just getting slower.’ Only then did M’Rael notice that he was stuttering even in his mind. That his hands trembled so much that he needed focus just to not lose his grip on the Furies.
Fear affected his spellcasting and strength. The longer they fought, the more the Tiamat Fear spread throughout his core, mind, and body.
‘Wait a second. You never helped me since the beginning of the fight. Why did you tell me the truth now?’
‘Because it makes you scared!’ Solus yelled telepathically as loudly as she could, making M’Rael’s head hurt.
He lost his focus and War found an opening to his body again. M’Rael and Solus were hurt the same way but she used the pain to flood the telepathic channel with her screams until he cut her off.
“Now!” Lith left the flaming blade lodged inside the elf’s body while he jumped back.
Two sets of the tier five Spirit Spell, Griffon Fetters, wrapped around M’Rael’s body from either side. The Sentries had warned him but he had lacked the speed to dodge just like he also lacked the strength to break free.
Griffon Fetters was a spell studied to restrain a Griffon, the mightiest among the Divine Beasts, yet a tower was much stronger. Unless, of course, its wearer was crippled by fear and its body weakened.
Lith knew that every hit to the tower also hurt Solus, but it was the only way he had found to turn the tables. Tiamat fear weakened M’Rael mind while the tower’s protocols that kept Solus safe drained his body.
Another of M’Rael’s mistakes was assuming that Menadion’s tower was just like any other cursed object, forced to protect its host in order to exert its true power. He had no idea that he was right but that Solus was marked as the primary host, making him expendable.
The Griffon Fetters restricted M’Rael and sealed dimensional magic by compressing the space in between their links. Before the tower could accumulate enough power to break free, the Void Demon Dragon unleashed Silverwing’s Annihilation.
The High Chancellor gave everything he had, using every spell, enchantment, and tower floor to survive. Every barrier shattered and every enchantment was snuffed out in front of the emerald tide.
The seven elemental pillars struck him like the finger of an angry god, covering the tower armor with cracks. Despite the power from the Fringe and that accumulated in the Hands, the grey stone crumbled piece by piece, ripping Solus to shreds.
The tower reacted by moving the fragments behind the High Chancellor and draining his life force and mana to ensure her survival. Lith kept staring at M’Rael, recalling the spell the moment the tower’s energy signature and the elf’s became too weak.
The Annihilation had still lots of power left but Lith couldn’t risk killing Solus along with M’Rael.
“Wait. Stop. I yield.” The elf said amid gasps, not even his breathing technique could recover his strength anymore. “You have no need to keep fighting.”
His skin was gaunt and his body skeletal due to his metabolism cannibalizing bones and muscles.
“You are right, I have no need to.” Lith didn’t like M’Rael mistaking the ceasefire for mercy so he cut the extended right arm with the palm out that the elf had raised in surrender. “Yet I want to.”
Blood gushed out of the stump just for it to be set ablaze by the blue flames, making the pain from the amputation a hundred times worse.
“If I kill you, I get my partner back. Two birds with one stone.” Lith stepped forward as M’Rael crawled back, cutting off the elf’s left leg next.
The first and final violet crystal went off, leaving solely the mana and blood accumulated inside War’s enchantments to keep it going. The shattered blade felt its essence fading but also the pride of having no regret left.
