Solus wanted to keep yelling but she felt weak. She tried to Spirit Blink but there was a space-compressing array stopping her.
Solus needed but one glance with mana sense to know she had no chance of escaping from M’lak, let alone the World Tree. Both fight and flight would just delay the inevitable.
“Fine.” Solus dropped the ring to the ground and the tower of Menadion rose like a mighty tree.
Her mana core stopped bleeding. The combined effect of the tower, the Sage Staff, and the Fringe would even restore her mana over time but without a host, her life force would not recover.
‘Marvellous!’ The Yggdrasill studied the tower with Root Cause and noticed it was nothing like the old blueprints in their possession.
All the runes were modern, more powerful, more efficient. Even from the grave, the First Ruler of the Flames had managed to turn her greatest masterpiece into something even better.
‘Now, give M’lak a tour of the tower. For some reason, I can’t see inside.’
“Not so fast.” Solus said. “What happened to Lith?”
‘You’re a smart woman. You know he’s a dangerous man and would chase me to the ends of Mogar for you. What do you think happened to him?’ The Tree’s voice was neutral but Solus could swear that the creases on the bark were curling up in smug smiles.
“Are you telling me he’s dead?” She asked, her heart pounding in her chest.
‘He left me no choice.’ The Yggdrasill sighed. ‘Losing a Tiamat is regretful, but there’s still Elysia. Also, I couldn’t risk Verhen calling upon those gods-damned Eldritches and-‘
The ground shook as the entirety of the World Tree writhed in agony. The villages built on its colossal branches experienced the next best thing to an earthquake and all Chroniclers fell to their knees, holding their heads in pain.
“Let me guess. The jackass you sent to finish the job is dead and you’ve experienced his pain through your bond.” Solus felt her spirit surge as she conjured the Hands, Eyes, Mouth, Ears, and Fury of Menadion.
The Hands shapeshifted into combat clawed gloves that covered her arms up to the elbow. The Eyes fit the Mouth’s eye sockets to perfection, docking to them. In the same way, the Mouth docked in the empty space of the Ears, forming a full helm with protective lenses.
‘How do you know?’ The World Tree was still recovering from the shock of losing a part of themselves and the agony from Ragnarök’s Reverse Imprint ability.
“As you said, I’m a smart woman!” Solus threw the Fury, hitting M’lak square in the chest.
The result was the same as if he had been hit by a speeding train. The elf burst up in a gory firework, his flesh, blood, and bone splinters flying throughout the room.
‘This is impossible!’ The World Tree said. ‘The Zouwu pierced Verhen’s lungs, ruptured his heart, and severed his head!’
“Those are steps one to three. What about four to ten?” Solus recalled the Fury to her hand, throwing it at the tree’s body while activating the Furies’ Flight enchantment.
Everyone knew about Lith’s Abomination side, but very few were aware of his real origin. Solus knew the Void and how tenacious he could be.
‘If George took completely over, then those wounds are meaningless.’ She thought. ‘The only way to kill an Abomination is by dispersing and neutralizing their energy. Lith is still alive!’
Solus tried to access her pocket dimension, only to find that the space-compressing array blocked that too. Even worse, without Lith, she had lost the Dragon’s ability to override such seals by expending a spark of life force.
The nine hammers hit the massive body of the tree, each opening a crater one meter (3’3″) deep and four meters (13′) wide. World Tree’s wood was the second sturdiest material on Mogar, but still second to Davross.
The impacts caused a smaller, more localized quake, but Solus could see that even such power had no consequence on the Yggdrasill’s vitality. The Fae was big. Bigger than any Divine Beast she had ever seen.
Just the room she was locked into was so large that it could host dozens of towers and have plenty of space left. Every one of the walls was several meters thick and coursing with powerful magic.
‘Tower Warp it is, then.’ Solus accessed the Warp Mirror, finding its surface blank. ‘By my Mom, I had forgotten Fringes are naturally isolated from the rest of Mogar. The World Tree’s mana fills the Fringe to the brim, creating a second insulating layer.
‘To make matters worse, most of the world energy here is under the Yggdrasill’s control. If they hadn’t let me conjure the tower, I couldn’t have done even that.’
‘Enough with this senseless struggling!’ The Tree roared telepathically. ‘You can’t escape. I made sure of it. You have no host, no bloodline abilities. Be a good girl and submit or I’ll make you!’
Countless spear-shaped roots emerged from the wooden walls, bolting at Solus. At the same time, the Chroniclers who had recovered from the shock of V’horr’s death answered the Tree’s call and Warped inside the room.
They were still shaken from M’lak’s loss as well, but death by hammer was much less traumatic than what Ragnarök did to its victims.
Solus cursed and split the hammer again. Seven she sent flying and two she kept for herself, switching to a dual-wielding fighting style.
The Chronicler’s rained spells on her from every side while the roots battered her body with their dull sides. Solus fought like a lion, but even with the tower’s help, there wasn’t much she could do.
The many enchantments and artifacts in the room blinded the Eyes and deafened the Ears. The spells stored in the Mouth required a stronger core than her own since she had prepared them for Lith.
The Hands and the Fury were all she had and they weren’t enough.
And Ripha Menadion knew it.
Even from the grave, the First Ruler of the Flames rose to correct the situation.
“Warning!” A feminine voice resounded from the tower. “Elphyn’s life is under attack. Assessment.”
The Hands lit up first, followed by the Eyes, the Mouth, and the Ears. With the tower damaged and incomplete, some protocols were unavailable. Or rather, they had been until the Yggdrasil had given the Ears to Solus, completing the runes’ command strings.
Then, the light spread to the fifth piece of Menadion’s set. The Fury. The hammer lit up as well, generating a mass of energy that spread over Solus’ skin and connecting the Fury with the rest of the artifacts of Menadion.
The power core of the hammer had been devised to be complementary to the tower’s, providing it with enchantments exclusive to Elphyn as her final line of defence.
“Menadion’s set confirmed. Elphyn’s energy signature and biometrics confirmed. Activating True Heir of Menadion protocol. All restrictions lifted.”
“What restrictions?” Solus blurted out loud, like everyone else.
In answer to their question, the external layer of the Ears’ protrusions started to spin at increasing speed. The white crystals they bore split into three and glowed with prismatic light as cables formed inside the helm, giving Solus synaesthesia.
