Only the Griffons had joined the battle after infusing themselves with Life Maelstrom.
The boost from the silver lightning made up for the mass gap with the Wood Golems and thanks to the Griffons’ unmatched physical prowess, they could fight head-on with the elves while relying only on Spirit Magic and Light Mastery.
The hard-light constructs served as an extra layer of armor that the children of Rethia could move and combine at will. Even when the constructs were destroyed, the mana used for the spells wouldn’t be lost.
The Griffons reassembled the fragments of hard light into new constructs and added more mana whenever the damage they sustained was too severe.
Rethia led the charge with her Davross mace, Starbreaker.
Her size and mass matched the Wood Golems’ and she outclassed them in everything else. One hit from Starbreaker turned a huge chunk of the Golems into splinters and sent them crashing into their allies, disrupting the elven formations.
Surtr followed closely, imbuing the members of the decoy squad with his bloodline ability, Sanctuary of Life. The light element from the white-cored Wyrm seeped inside the bodies of his allies, strengthening their defenses.
Sanctuary of life enhanced the regenerative effects of light fusion and allowed it to form a network of constructs that coated every bone, capillary, and organ.
Even when a member of the decoy squad suffered a major blow, the small constructs took the brunt of the damage. They also prevented internal bleeding by replacing the blood vessels until light fusion regenerated them.
“The fight started a minute ago and Silverspire has already taken major damage!” Silverwing cursed via her communication amulet.
As a white core, she could wield the Annihilation and the Bastion at the same time. With the help of her tower, those numbers doubled. The problem was that she and Baba Yaga were the main target of the Chroniclers and had to deal with several anti-Guardian spells at the same time.
“Same for Bloodhaven.” The Red Mother had named her tower as well to avoid confusion. “Keep drawing their attention. Lith is almost done and we have only one shot at this!”
The wooden puppet that was Bloodhaven combat form shapeshifted faster than the Golems, had greater mass, and every one of its blows made the Fringe quake. Yet it wasn’t enough and Baba Yaga couldn’t manifest Bloodhaven’s true power while the Yggdrasill controlled the world energy.
Like Solus during her escape attempts, the Red Mother was swarmed by the Golems from above the ground and by the World Tree’s roots from below. The Yggdrasill restricted the puppet’s feet, making it impossible for the tower to dodge.
Apep ate and ate, but he was alone and the Tree had laid countless sprouts throughout the Fringe ready to bloom.
“It’s time.” Lith felt something weird from the stretched black chain but he lacked the time to investigate. Whoever the soul on the other side was, they were refusing to answer his questions.
“I noticed.” Tessa the Titania waved at the crowd of seven-eyed Demons of Darkness armed to the teeth.
“One more thing, Lord Tiamat.” Paax had served many masters in life. One more in death made little difference to him. “This is my gift to you and your allies for bringing me back.”
A wave of Ravenhold materialized a massive magic circle that fed upon the abundant world energy of the Fringe and gave it shape in the form of crows as big as an eagle, each one of a different elemental color.
“This is your personal spell!” The Master recognized it at first glance. “You didn’t leave it in your legacy nor did you teach it to your disciples.”
“It is. The only Magus-level spell I’ve managed to create. Murder.” Paax nodded as he transmitted the runes for the spell via the black chains. “I had no reason to leave it to the people who transformed me into the monster I was or doom others to follow in my footsteps.
“Before moving, please cast it on your own. I lack the skill to add what you call Spirit Magic on the fly but-”
“Don’t worry, old man. I do.” Tessa would have normally needed a bit of time and focus to give her own spin to Murder, but with seven heads and the Life Maelstrom from the Royal Fortress armor boosting her, it was child’s play.
A second, wider magic circle took form, generating emerald crows that joined those conjured by the first array.
“And so do I.” Vastor was just a step late, conjuring a third magic circle that encompassed the other two and reinforced Paax’s, allowing it to generate Spirit Crows as well.
“You should stop flirting like this, dear.” The Titania stared at the old Professor with deep desire. “If you wanted me so bad, you just had to ask.”
“Focus, woman! I don’t have time for your Fae nonsense.” The Master snarled.
“Fine. We’ll ‘talk’ about this later.” She licked her lips seductively.
“Get a room, dammit!” Lith raised his hand and released a fireball in the air.
‘The signal!’ Eight Griffons had remained in the safe area with the Wyrms, pretending to stand guard at the portal leading to the outside world.
Five of them released their full Life Maelstrom on the people forming the When All Are One Array. One sent the silver lightning to Tezka and the remaining two split it among the Demons.
Life Maelstrom increased the power of Vastor’s core tenfold and the When All Are One Array extended the effect to the others as well. Lith split the silver lightning evenly in seven parts.
One for Ragnarök, one for his armor, one for himself, and the other four for the pieces of Menadion Set.
“Menadion Set complete. Only two pieces unlocked. Failure to activate the Anvil protocol.” A feminine voice resounded in Lith’s head through the Ears.
‘I know that, dammit. No point in stating the obvious.’ He thought as he released his Blade Tier Spell, Ruin, and transmitted it to the others via the array.
Five Ruins took form at once, each Blade Spell drawing mana from every piece of equipment with a power core they had. The energy accumulated inside their weapons that focused and amplified it by several folds.
With the massive amount of mana produced by the four cores mimicking Vastor’s, the Life Maelstrom, and the Hands of Menadion, Ruin exceeded the power that even Davross and elemental crystals could handle.
The hidden runes on the surface of the five weapons became visible, releasing the excess energy in the form of light. The mana crystals burned like small stars while metal and wood started to heat.
“Shit!” Not even Vastor’s Grimbark staff was designed to withstand so much energy at once. The Yggdrasill wood blackened and burned as the mana kept accumulating. “Cut the power or our weapons will become useless after a single attack!
“Assuming there will be anything left of them, of course.” Despite his complaints, the Master focused on harnessing the Blade Spell and did his best to unveil its secrets.
‘Coming here with Lith was the right choice.’ He thought after finding a silver lining in his situation. ‘I have the opportunity to experience a perfected black core and now I’m also weaving a legendary Blade Spell.’
