“You are welcome Nalrond. Thanks for the lesson, Orion.” Lith said, a bit surprised that a proud artisan would share information with a rival.
“Don’t mention it.” Orion said.
‘The stronger Lith gets, the higher our chances of survival against the Myrok.’ He actually thought. ‘I would have never taught him anything if he was alone. But with his share of Thrud’s spoils and his Demons, one piece of information can change the course of a war, when it applies to an entire army.’
***
Werean region, Medaka Plains, the following day.
After a quick trip to the Desert for a few tweaks on the Voidwalker armor and a good night’s rest to reset Invigoration’s effects, Lith woke up to a call informing him that the final details of the investigation had been settled.
For some reason, the Captain of the Hand of Fate, the Council’s enforcers, had refused to give Lith the coordinates of Pharek’s home and demanded to meet in an open space.
‘This is weird. My paranoia sense is tingling.’ Lith said while looking around the empty area chosen as the point of contact.
The scarce vegetation of the area had been trampled and uprooted during the War of the Griffons. It gave a clear line of sight for kilometers but also no place where to hide or take cover in case of ambush.
‘Agreed. This is the perfect spot for a trap.’ Solus used the Eyes to scan the area for dormant arrays or surveillance spells.
Only once she found nothing could she relax a bit and tune down to the less draining mana sense. The Eyes came from the tower and the tower shared its power source with Solus so the use of the artifact without a geyser still took a toll on her mana reserves.
‘By the way, I was thinking. Pharek of Derios? Isn’t it odd that one of Mom’s closest apprentices is from our region?’ She asked.
‘Not really.’ Lith replied. ‘Orion told us that the first records about Menadion’s life mention that she lived in the Distar region when Derios was still a small village.’
‘So what?’ Solus asked.
‘If your mother really was born in the Marquisate, it’s normal that she befriended people close to where she lived. Also, if Derios underwent the same explosive growth as Lutia, it wouldn’t surprise me if our village was also built because of her.’ Lith replied.
‘Do you think that my mother founded Lutia?’ The idea shocked Solus.
‘No. More like that she lived nearby for the mana geyser where I found you and that the area started developing due to her presence.’ Lith shrugged.
‘It makes sense.’ Solus pondered. ‘Probably back then people didn’t even know who she was and the presence of a mage gave them safety. Then, after we… she died people moved out.’
‘Just like it happened to Lutia after I was exiled.’ Lith used his Tiamat keen sight to scout in three directions at the same time, but there was nothing to see.
‘Someone’s coming!’ Solus focused mana sense on the dimensional rift taking form a few meters from them and conjured the Fury in her hand.
“Hi, little brother. Hi, Solus.” Zoreth walked out of the Chaos Steps first.
She was wearing a full set of deep blue Bookwyrm armor. The Adamant Sky Piercer claw on her right hand crackled with bolts of power coming from the six elemental crystals studded on its surface.
The battle claw emitted energy pulses that scanned the surroundings which along with the barrier enveloping her indicated that Xenagrosh was expecting trouble.
“If the area is clear, why are you so tense?” She pointed at the hammer in Solus’ hand and Lith keeping his palm on the hilt of Ragnarök. “You can come, Byt.”
“Because we’ve been waiting here for a while and I was starting to suspect this is all a setup.” Lith assumed a relaxed stance.
There was little that two monster-Eldritch hybrids couldn’t deal with, especially with that kind of equipment.
‘By my Mom, that’s not the same equipment Zoreth had the last time we met her in Zelex. Her artifacts have been significantly upgraded.’ Solus said. ‘Also, is it me or has that claw gotten closer to the Hands of Menadion as well?’
‘And it’s made of pure Adamant.’ Lith didn’t know whether to be more envious or worried so he went for both. ‘Where the heck does Vastor get so much enchanted metal? Orion is struggling to make one armor for Nalrond!’
“Hi, Lith!” Bytra waved at him before shaking his hand. “Solus.” She kept her distance from Solus, greeting her with a nod.
The movement brought Solus’ attention to what looked like a bandana that both hybrids wore around their necks. It took her a single glance at them with the Eyes to send a cold shiver down her spine.
“What do you mean, waiting?” Zoreth would have liked to ask for recent pictures of Elysia, but the situation was indeed weird. “I’m late on purpose. I don’t trust the Council so I made sure that you would arrive first.
“Your presence is supposed to smooth whatever tension might arise.” She sniffed the air, finding no unusual smell. “Fine. Have it your way.”
The Shadow Dragon raised her gloved hand and discharged the accumulated energy. The resulting pulse expanded in every direction, creating a dome comprised of swirling elemental energy.
The pulse suddenly shattered on contact with a lonely tree located about 500 meters (1641 feet) away. Bytra followed by throwing the Absolution with every ounce of her considerable strength, yet she aimed a few meters away from the base of the tree.
The impact blew the ground into a crater with a boom of thunder, sending the tree and three more people of different sizes belly up.
‘What the fuck? They were hiding underground at the base of the tree but that doesn’t explain why not even the Eyes detected them.’ Before Lith could finish the thought, a fifth figure bolted toward Zoreth, exploiting the depowered state of her weapon.
The creature rode a bolt of lightning and moved so fast that even to Lith’s Awakened senses it was barely a blue blur. It would have struck at Xenagrosh before she even had the time to register the movement if not for Bytra being on guard.
The Raiju used her own electric powers to move fast enough to intercept the enemy.
Her silver bolt and the blue one of her opponent moved to six different locations in six different directions before the Shadow Dragon could lower her hand.
They Eyes failed to lock onto anything and Lith’s seven eyes could barely follow the countless exchanges that took place in a single heartbeat.
‘I can tell that they use two different bloodline abilities and that it’s more a spar than a fight but that’s it.’ The mind link reported the message as the bolts stopped.
Much to Lith’s dismay, the newcomer wasn’t a humanoid blue hedgehog but a humanoid white tiger. The blue streak as he moved came from his armor which carried a pattern of colors and design that Lith didn’t recognize.
“Are we done playing?” Xenagrosh’s tone was flat, as if she was making small talk in an elevator rather than dealing with an unknown assailant.
This marks the first appearance of Warstrider’s cameo. Hope you like it man.
