2668 Remember Me (Part 2)
The Void Demon Dragon agreed with him so the Dragon compressed Yurial's Hexagram, altering the placement of its runes and turning it into a powerful pseudo core.
I can carry it, but in the meantime, I can't do anything else. You are on your own.'
'No.'Lith replied while gripping War's hilt. 'I'm not.'
"Leave him to me until I give you the signal!" Lith chased M'Rael while the Dragon used the world energy that he absorbed from the Fringe to keep the Annihilation stable and boost its power.
After all, Lith only had a violet core and the Wyrm could use a bit of time to bring the accumulated Spirit Magic on par with the other elements.
'I don't get it.' Ajatar asked. 'What can Lith achieve without us?'
'I have no clue, but I do know what we can achieve without him.' Faluel pointed at their disciples still fighting an uphill battle.
'Good thinking. Let's cripple the enemy's strength and boost our confidence. Fighting a goddamn tower made me feel like when I was still a weak hatchling."The Drake roared as he unleashed a freezing breath of Elemental Flow that decimated an elven unit.
He was still overcharged with Life Maelstrom and his mana core was bright violet whereas the elves were mere bright blue true mages. Compared to him, they were children. Their strength lay in numbers and surprise attacks.
They were no match for the Lesser Dragon in a direct confrontation. Not with Faluel Blinking amid her wounded apprentices and restoring their vigor. Not with her heads spitting acid and tier five Spirit Spells like they were confetti.
Not with Friya turning every Blink and Warp into a death trap that killed its caster and their nearest allies. Not with Nalrond's constructs throwing the elven formations in disarray and his heat rays burning bows and quivers.
Not with Aalejah using her staff to conjure multiple elemental sealing arrays at the same time, making everyone who wasn't an Awakened nothing more than a meat sack.
Not with Quylla using Bloodbind to carry her spells right in the middle of the enemy lines before unleashing them. Not with Morok flying through the battlefield, his eyes destroying everything in front of him while his wings burned everything behind.
"No, no, no!" M'Rael cried in despair. "Do you have any idea what you are doing? How many centuries did it take to give birth and train so many warriors? You are destroying millennia of our heritage!"
"I don't care!" Lith replied. "Once I'm done with you, I'm going to find everyone involved and kill them all."
The elf grunted, having a hard time while operating the tower, blocking War, and keeping an eye on the Void Demon Dragon at the same time. He would have loved to let the Sentries take care of that but according to them, neither the Dragon nor the spell he carried existed.
It was the perfect scenario for Lith's plan yet he couldn't find a single reason to smile, not even inwardly.
The space in his mind where Solus had been was now empty. The pain and the rage that her mere presence kept at bay ever since he was four was running rampant like when he was still Derk McCoy.
The Void was a part of him and with it came everything that the Abomination embodied. It took Lith sheer willpower to keep his emotions under control and not fall into an animalistic frenzy.
On top of that, War's clock was ticking out.
The third crystal went out and even though the power of the blade was unaffected, now every time War clashed with the Fury or the Sage Staff small fragments of Adamant fell down to never rise up again.
Even with the blood and fire acting as an emergency mana circulatory system, the damages to the shattered blade were too severe.
Its spells were quickly and inexorably degrading, forcing War to cut the weakest branches to preserve the main structural integrity. Yet it was only when the second violet mana crystal on the fuller started to blink did Lith panic.
'No, no, no!' He was scared at the idea of becoming incapable of saving Solus without the blade and grieved its loss in equal measure.
'Don't worry.'War replied, its voice feebler than ever.
A semi-sentient artifact couldn't pant or cough, but as its pseudo cores weakened, War's rage was dying out. There was no vigor, no fury, or bloodthirst in the echo of its thoughts, only pain.
"We are still together. Not for much longer, but we still are.'Lith felt the relief of the blade at the realization that with oblivion it would also come the absence of pain. 'Please, remember me once I'm gone.
"Even though I'm just a piece of metal, I'm afraid to die. To be forgotten like I never existed.'
'I will remember!' Lith roared in pain, unleashing a burst of blue flames from both his throat and the blade. As long as I draw breath, I'll remember you.'
M'Rael almost went slamming against a tree due to the double blast, but the Sentries allowed him to dodge even from such a close distance.
'Verhen looks desperate. He seems to be in a rush.' He thought. I wonder if it's because he can't hold the array for long or because he's running on fumes. Those blue flames are too powerful. They must have some side effect.
As if Mogar was listening to him, the second mana crystal went dull and War's flames flickered, giving him what looked like a plausible answer. On the other hand, Faluel and Ajatar were slaughtering M'Rael's loyal troops.
Lith waved his right hand, making the ground split in a shockwave that messed up with M'Rael's footwork. The moment the crevice reached him, a bolt of lightning erupted from it.
It wasn't enough to send the elf into a spasm, but the flash of light produced by the bolt turned into a dense cloud of darkness and then into several chains of light.
They held long enough for Lith to catch up and for War to almost reach the elf's heart.
"What is this trickery?" He asked more to the Tree and Solus than Lith.
'Void Magic.' She replied, leaving the Tree and the elf puzzled.
The Eyes of Menadion showed him the runes of the original spell and how they had suddenly changed their shape and order, yet the artifact provided no information about how Lith managed to do it.
"I'm not the Supreme Dragon. I'm the Supreme Magus!" Lith replied while releasing fireballs that turned into frost waves and more darkness.
I have to gamble everything on the tower being worthy of its fame!'M'Rael stopped his escape, keeping his eyes on the Void Demon Dragon while the Sentries locked on Lith and the tower moved M'Rael's body accordingly.
He kept a tower Warp at the ready in case he was wrong and the Dragon either unleashed the Annihilation or tried to punch him into meat paste. Luckily for him, none of it happened.
The Wyrm kept clawing at the sphere between his hands doing the gods knew what and didn't take part in the fight.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om