"Yes, I did it! Menadion's legendary mage tower is mine!" M'Rael burst into a laughter of pure joy.
'Don't move and don't use magic, wench. Get back inside the ring.' He also thought at the same time, preventing a mind fusion that might fry his brain and stopping Solus from doing anything that might help Lith to recover the artifact.
'In your dreams, jackass!' Solus felt dirty just from hearing his voice in her mind where Lith's darkness was supposed to be but her rage was pointless.
Her body obeyed like a loyal dog, her will irrelevant to the final result.
Her human form disappeared from the battlefield, leaving behind only her equipment that M'Rael wore with pride. The armor still wore Solus' imprint but now he had her same energy signature, making it accessible to him along with the Sage Staff and the Fury.
"Thanks, Verhen. Everything you've accumulated so far, your magical legacy, and even your precious artifacts are all mine now." M'Rael said to the Tiamat who was still frozen in shock and grief.
"As a thank you, I promise that I'll kill you quickly and turn your corpse into priceless artifacts for my army."
Lith roared like a wounded beast, using another breath of Origin Flames to break free of the ice and charging at the elf with everything he had.
In one go, he had lost Solus, the tower, and everything he had collected since he was four years old that was stored inside the pocket dimension. Aside from War, Double Edge, and the equipment he wore, he had nothing left.
"Please." M'Rael laughed at Lith's desperation and slapped away the giant hand that threatened to squash him like a fly. "You know how they say. The bigger they are, the harder they fall!"
The Fury appeared in his hand, its mass boosted by the tower as much as the elf's. The hammer struck Lith's head like a falling mountain, sending him plunging toward the ground.
The Yggdrasill cursed themselves for the umpteenth time, knowing that all hope was lost. Now that the damned M'Rael had gotten his hands on Menadion's tower, there was no way to stop him.
The World Tree had recognized Elphyn ever since her appearance in Lutia and knew who she was. From the interviews performed by the Chroniclers to Menadion's disciples back when the First Ruler of the Flames was still alive, the old Tree had been aware of her obsession with protecting her daughter.
The old Yggdrasill also knew of the friendship between Menadion and Baba Yaga so connecting the dots hadn't been too hard. Silverwing stealing a Removal Unit from a museum had just confirmed their theory.
The new World Tree had no idea why she hadn't retrieved Elphyn nor did they care. Creating things like the Horsemen was of no use to the Yggdrasill and the tower was bound to be a piece of junk.
Broken, obsolete, and depowered, it was a measly prize for someone who knew the secret of tower crafting. The new World Tree had thought about taking it for themselves, but had decided against it since Baba Yaga's hut was much better.
Not only was the white-cored Awakened stronger than Menadion had ever been, but she had also upgraded her tower every time there was a new magical breakthrough. It was the reason the World Tree had sent a Chronicler to follow Baba Yaga and try to steal her secrets.
M'Rael, however, didn't have the time nor patience for such an endeavor. Beggars couldn't be choosers so the moment the Tree had revealed to him the bond between Lith and Solus, the elf knew what to do.
Removal Units were old pieces of junk, but they were elven pieces of junk so he knew how to craft one.
They had been developed during the final stages of the War of the Races, when the number of casualties had crippled the elven army. Their leaders had decided to beat quantity with quality by fusing their best warriors with Living Legacies.
It granted them Awakening, powerful abilities, and nigh-immortality. The problem was that the bond with a cursed object also eroded the sanity of the host over time. So the elves had devised the Removal Units.
They allowed the elven warriors to get rid of their dangerous partner at will and pass it on to someone else until their minds recovered from the trauma. It allowed the elven army to push back the humans and regain most of the lost lands.
Alas, such a move had only ended up escalating the conflict and forcing the other races to get involved.
No one liked cursed objects and the elves hoarding and using them had brought several among the undead, plant folk, and beasts to demand the destruction of the Living Legacies.
The elves had refused to comply and the mages from the other races had joined the fight, but that's a story for another day.
'Fight him, child.' The Tree said to Solus. 'Whatever he asks, twist his words. Whatever he commands, do it literally. We may be slaves but we are not idiots. We must do whatever we can to hold our ground and give your friends a sliver of hope.'
Solus would have been flabbergasted by someone riding through the telepathic bond with the tower to open an encrypted backchannel, but she was too traumatized to care.
She was trapped in her own mind and body, incapable of defying M'Rael's orders no matter how hard she tried.
'Is this how Quylla felt under Nalear's spell? Will I be forced to kill… Lith!' The weight of that single word snapped Solus out of her shock, allowing her to focus on what was happening.
Even if she was paralyzed, the tower was still a part of her and she could study its workings. The stone of the tower was now coating her Voidwalker armor, giving M'Rael a mass on par with a Divine Beast.
It was the secret behind his inhuman strength. He had even shared such mass with the Fury to make it effective against the Tiamat. Yet that wasn't the worst of it.
M'Rael was now wearing the Eyes, the Hands, and the Mouth of Menadion and seemed to know how to use them even better than Solus herself.
'How? In my Mom's name, how?' She thought.
'That's all my fault, child.' The Tree used the mind link to explain their situation to her and how M'Rael had tortured the Yggdrasill during the previous days in order to learn how to use the tower.
Meanwhile, Lith crashed against the ground, but the pain from the impact was nothing compared to what he felt from Solus' absence.
'What's wrong, Lith?' Faluel asked while charging him with a bolt of Life Maelstrom from her armor. 'Why can't I feel Solus anymore through the mind link?'
'She's gone! That fucker took her and cut the link off!' His pain sent his thoughts reverberating through the network that connected him to the rest of the group.
Those who knew about Solus' secret were appalled, but those who didn't were just confused.
'Stand down and focus on defending yourself.' M'Rael's voice sounded in the heads of the elves like that of a god. 'I'll take care of the rest from here.'
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