Lith followed the Demons as they advanced, feeling a sting in his heart whenever he heard the dying throes of youths he could only hope were thralls.
Becoming a father had healed most of his emotional wounds but it had also restored part of his humanity and conscience.
‘I wonder if they had a family somewhere. If the only reason these men and women have joined the Dawn Court was to ensure their loved ones a better life.’ Lith thought while weaving the tier zero Chaos spell, Bite, and the tier zero Decay spell, Fast Forward, through Ragnarök.
Practicing two Cursed Elements at the same time was taxing on his mind and core, but he had no other way to get rid of the Decay generated with each Chaos spell he conjured.
The elemental crystals helped him to fine-tune the spells while the angry blade’s blood scabbard endured the consequences of his mistakes for him. It was something that neither War nor Ragnarök could do and it was made possible by the recent upgrade.
The blood that Lith had added to the power core of the angry blade as an amplifier now coursed through the remains of his fallen enemies collected by Ragnarök, turning them into expendable extensions of his own body.
Lith used Mirror Magic only against thralls because their deaths would provide him with the blood and life force he needed to replenish Ragnarök’s strength.
Becoming a father and regaining his humanity had brought Lith to understand the weight of the lives he took but that didn’t make him soft. On the contrary, it reinforced his determination.
‘The Undead Courts aren’t going to stop coming after me unless I make them. Every person I kill is one less enemy that Elysia will have to face in the future.’ Lith thought, killing the thralls with clinical precision despite their desperate pleas for mercy.
‘It’s much better for me to shoulder this burden than let my daughter live under the constant threat of immortal monsters. If Elysia wants to join the Nest or become Leegaain’s apprentice it’s going to be her free choice.
‘Not because she’s scared for her life or that or her mother!’ Lith didn’t want to die, but he had to prepare for the eventuality.
With his crippled life force and the many enemies that he had made during his life, he knew that sooner or later something from his past would come back to bite at him. Aware of his mortality, he didn’t want to make Elysia pay for his mistakes.
The only way he had to protect her was to clean up his own mess and leave her a clean slate.
The once luxurious corridors of the Dawn Court had now turned into a slaughterhouse. The priceless works of art that once decorated the walls lay shattered on the floor while the high-end furniture was reduced to charred splinters.
As he walked amid the carnage and destruction, Lith could almost hear Kamila’s voice in their last argument.
“I know that the undead have attacked the Verhen Mansion, but do you really have to do this?” She had asked. “Can’t you just leave the army to deal with this?”
“After General Morn, after Deirus, and how those assassins got the blueprint of our home, do you really trust the Kingdom to not let its corrupt members screw this up?” Lith asked back.
“Fine!” Kamila scoffed. “But if you really have to do this, why not bring Zoreth along? Why don’t you ask for Surtr and Sinmara’s help? Heck, bring the whole Organization with you!”
“And then what?” Lith countered pointedly. “Let everyone know that I associate myself with ancient Abominations? Everyone would start to believe that I’m the Master and at that point, the undead would be the least of my problems.
“As for Surtr and Sinmara, I don’t want to become reliant on them every time things get hard. My enemies aren’t going to stop coming so I need to make sure that I can take them on by myself.”
“Is this a matter of pride, then?” She stomped her foot in frustration. “What if something happens to you? What if one of the Courts you are going to storm today is ruled by an ancient undead so powerful that not even you can beat them?
“What I’m going to tell our daughter when she asks me why she had to grow up without a father?” Not knowing what else to do, Kamila took the sleeping Elysia from her crib and gently shoved her in Lith’s face.
The crib was Hushed so the baby had no idea what was happening. She opened her eyes, seeing her beloved parents and yet sensing the tension between them.
“Dya?” She asked, extending her arms to Lith while shapeshifting into her Tiamat form to get some clarity.
Lith took her in his arms, using the Dragon scales to let her know how much he loved her and that everything would be alright.
“Tell her I wasn’t scared.” Lith replied. “Tell our daughter that her father fought for her until his last breath.”
The vision blurred his sight for a moment, the regret from making Kamila worry and leaving her on such a sour note still weighed on his mind. His guilt turned into a determination that spread to the Demons of the Fallen through the black chains.
The dark horde roared, doubling their efforts to make sure that their master would go back home and patch things up.
***
At the same time in a side corridor, Solus was wearing every piece of the set of Menadion that they had recovered. The Eyes were deciphering the network of arrays, showing her the most direct path to the control room.
‘Once I turn the magical formations off, the geyser will be up for the taking and this will be over.’ Solus used the Hands to accumulate the free world energy and use it to fuel her tower half.
The more the tower core took form, the less strain the Eyes put on her and the faster she could take over the mana geyser.
‘I know, but don’t be impatient.’ Raptor replied, his thoughts sounding like the wind howling through an abyss and somehow forming intelligible words. ‘We are still weakened.
‘Keep less energy for yourself and send more to the Demons. If they get pushed back, we’ll have to deal with everything by ourselves.’
‘Good point.’ Solus still had a hard time dealing with the Void who was now possessing her steed yet she had no reason to ignore his advice.
She released part of the accumulated power through the emerald gemstone embedded in the palm of the Hands, turning it into mana and providing the Demons with a small but steady flow of energy.
‘Much better.’ Raptor’s feline snout curled up in a satisfied grin as the Void also received his share.
Memory crystals carried the memories and a sliver of the personality of the Crystalsmith and Lith had brought things up to the next step. During the reforging of the golems, he had altered the Spirit Crystals so that they could host the embodiments of the different aspects of his life forces.
