‘I would risk it all, if I was certain of victory, but I’m not. My best shot would be activating the Prime Engine but again, it’s not enough to win, only to buy a bit more time. Even worse, it would betray the existence of the tower and at that point, my life would be over.’
Lith turned his head in the direction of the wagon where the children were, knowing that his best shot at getting out of there alive was to lure the enemy there and bait the Eternal Fortress at striking at Elysia.
At that point, a Guardian would come out and drive the lost city back. Even such a powerful being could only stall for time since killing Thaymos was impossible. It was a huge gamble for little return.
The Guardians might read his intentions and refuse to help until the last moment or maybe even take back their vow after rescuing them as a punishment for Lith’s manipulations.
His mind foresaw several outcomes, one worse than the previous, in the span of a few seconds but it wasn’t that staying his hand. The mere thought of putting his daughter into danger, of exploiting her life as a tool made every fiber of his being churn in disgust.
‘It’s my duty to protect Elysia, not the other way around. She’s in this situation only because I brought her to Jiera. I promised to do anything, to become anything in order to protect her and I will!’
Lith let the blue flames go rampant, relinquishing his body in favor of that of the Void Demon Dragon. The blue fire raged anew, shrouding him and infecting Thaymos’ body with every blow, block, and when they merely brushed.
Solus went back to the tower to avoid getting burned. From there, she cast Nova Spells non-stop and passed them onto Lith after amplifying them with the Mirror Hall.
The Void Demon Dragon used the blue flames to burn through the multiple defensive layers of the Eternal Fortress and released the spells at once from point-blank range.
The camp became as bright as day as the lightning storm of Nova Mjolnir, the fires of Nova Eclipse, and the hard-light constructs of Nova Extermination hammered at the lost city.
Lith emitted the Nova Roar last, imbuing it with a wave of blue flames that coated every shockwave and elemental aspect of the spell.
Thaymos chuckled like a baby, simply raising his hand in reply.
An emerald barrier coated his body, shattering the Nova spells into sparkles of mana upon contact. He got rid of the blue flames by severing the afflicted parts of the barrier and then replacing them with new energy.
[“Impressive! You forced me to use a defensive spell.”] The Eternal Fortress clapped his hands as the exhaustion from the repeated use of the blue flames ravaged Lith’s body.
Yet it wasn’t the strain on his cracked life force that made his legs buckle, bringing the Void Demon Dragon down to one knee.
‘How could I miss it? This whole time the lost city hasn’t used a single defensive spell. All of our efforts to wound him succeeded solely because he didn’t bother raise his guard. None of our blows would have reached him if he didn’t allow us to.’
Mana sense showed Solus how upon his arrival near the camp Thaymos had become even stronger. She had taken control of the mana geyser, but the energy that the still-incomplete tower couldn’t channel was his for the taking.
On top of that, the whole area was enriched with world energy that had spilled over the geyser over the centuries. The vegetation and soil surrounding the camp were laden with power that the Eternal Fortress was now harvesting.
[“Let’s end this.”] Thaymos tried to crush Ragnarök with his fist but Lith managed to store it away in time. [“Fine. Struggle all you want. I’m still going to kill you and your living legacy.”
[“Tell me, is she immune to these wondrous blue flames of yours?”] Without waiting for an answer, the lost city coated his fist with emerald energy and struck at Lith. [“Let’s find out.”]
Amid the chaos of battle, Thaymos could feel that something was draining the energy from the geyser and struggled with him for control. The cloaking devices hid the tower’s aura but the tug of war between artifacts gave away its position.
The Eternal Fortress aimed the blow carefully, making sure that the living projectile would cause and suffer the most damage before reaching its target.
[“Those you love and what you’ve built will be destroyed by your own hand. Those pesky barriers your allies put so much work into creating will be rendered useless by the trust they put in you. Isn’t that poetic?”]
Lith’s body was sent flying, bouncing on the ground once before reaching the Wayfinder. Thaymos’ fist had shattered his ribs and skull, his life spared only due to the Immortal Body array.
The contact with the ground broke his spine and twisted is legs in unnatural angles, the Spirit Barrier of the Voidwalker armor spent and the metal worn out.
As Thaymos had predicted, the defensive measures of the camp recognized the living projectile as an ally and let him pass unimpeded. The Void Demon Dragon bounced a second time against the external ring of wagons of the Wayfinder, scattering them away and setting them on fire with blue flames.
Even amid his agony, Lith managed to channel the pain to drive back the hatred and become a Tiamat once again. The flames spread nonetheless, bringing down the barriers set up by Quylla and Aalejah while the out of position wagons weakened those of the Wayfinder.
The third bounce crushed the middle ring, scattering people and supplies to the wind. Solus tried everything to stop him, but she had only offensive spells at the ready and the defensive systems of the tower were busy keeping Lith alive.
The Tiamat came crashing against the partially built Gate, just like the Eternal Fortress had predicted. The destruction of an artifact rooted in the middle of the mana geyser was bound to trigger a chain reaction that would kill the Destroyer and weaken his cursed object.
Thaymos would then swoop in and kill the weakened mysterious girl.
[“No matter how powerful she is. I’ll absorb her essence just like I do for my loyal servants. Her death will fuel my greatness and bring me one step closer to achieve my dream of conquest!”] He burst into a roar of laughter that died as quickly as it had started.
A warm light was extinguishing the blue flames and had stopped the Tiamat in mid-air after gently dispersing the kinetic energy of his flight. His body shrunk to human proportions and his wounds disappeared like they had never been there in the first place.
A maiden of light held his body between her arms, weeping in silence.
“It’s alright, dear. You can rest now.” Tyris said to Valeron the Second who had witnessed everything from inside Lith’s private wagon.
Kamila had activated the projector the moment the alarm had resounded, too worried by the news that Friya had carried to notice that the tremors had woken up the babies until they had started crying.
