"Don't worry. This is exactly the kind of situation for which I devised my Dampener." Yondra took the small tuning fork from her pocket, imbuing it with her mana.
"Come on, you bastard. I dare you to try and rob us of our spells again."
Lith would have considered it an excellent plan, if not for the fact that the enemy was likely to have endless mana.
'She's right, though. If all Odi have one of those things, I must find a way to neutralize it if I want to have a chance to save Phloria and Quylla. We still have the advantage of numbers and Yondra's artifacts. It's worth a try.' Lith thought while unleashing a Final Sunset.
Jiira activated the God's Will array again, hijacking Lith's spell as if it was just a chore magic trick and stopping the ray of black flames in its tracks. Lith fought with all of his willpower, trying to keep his energy signature and the control over the spell.
Yet just like he had feared, it wasn't a matter of will as much of mana. Jira was simply flooding Lith's spell with his own energy. Final Sunset required a lot of mana, so there was a limit to the amount of energy Lith could employ before becoming too weak to keep fighting.
Yondra's Dampener absorbed a speck of Jiira's mana and analyzed its energy signature, allowing her to disrupt his control over Lith's spell.
Final Sunset resumed its advance, yet Jiira seemed to be more amused rather than scared. No matter how much of his mana the Dampener scattered away, the Odi just had to inject more.
\u003c "Finally a true challenge that can put to the test the fruits of our endeavor! I praise your efforts. You're not bad for a bunch of hairless monkeys."\u003e Jiira said, yet no one understood his words.
"It's not working, we have to go before it's too late!" Lith replenished his reserves with Invigoration, but he knew that Yondra couldn't keep up.
"Fuck, no. He's almost done. Ekidu!" Morok reverted to his Tyrant form using the black eye on his chest to produce a black pillar of energy that his weapons captured and amplified.
He didn't care for his secrete so much as for his survival. Morok darted forward, getting past Yondra and into the array. His Emperor Beast's body was boosted by fusion magic, allowing him to move as fast as a shooting arrow.
He had learned his lesson. No more spells, only physical attacks. Meanwhile, Yondra was sweating bullets. Even though Lith had given her a bit of energy, she didn't have much mana from the start.
Disabling the arrays, unlocking the doors, and using the tier five Magic Knight spell Empty Prison had only made things worse. She needed sheer willpower just to keep standing, so when Yondra saw Morok's real body she didn't even flinch.
One small mistake and Lith's spell would kill them both.
The Tyrant's red eye showered Jiira with flames, but countless ice crystals intercepted and smothered them into nothingness. Thanks to the Mana Reactor, Jiira could empower fist magic to the point of making its effects as powerful as tier three magic.
In such a state, he was even superior to an Awakened. First magic required barely a thought and willpower to be shaped, it had no casting time. The cold wave slowed Morok enough that Jiira had the time to lift his right forefinger before the Tyrant could hit him.
It emitted such a condensed stream of fire that it was almost solid. Morok managed to raise his blades at the last second, deflecting the energy beam aimed at his head. The impact was so strong that it pushed the Ranger back and bent his blades.
Even though they were made of Orichalcum, without the darkness energy coursing through them they would have been pierced along with their master. Morok cursed, sheathing and unsheathing his weapons to repair the damage they had sustained.
Jiira smiled, amazed by the many marvels that were waiting for the Odi race on Mogar's surface. Everything seemed to be ripe for the taking. His forefinger flicked three times, emitting as many fiery beams.
The first two were deflected by the Tyrant's blades, but the third found the way to his heart, opening a sizzling hole the size of a golf ball. Morok sprawled on the floor in a pool of his own blood. His body twitched for a bit before becoming still.
Yondra had barely the time to register what had just happened, putting all the mana she had left in her Dampener. Lith's Final Sunset was their only hope and it was now just a few centimeters from the Odi's face.
Jiira gave them one of the cruelest smiles Lith had ever seen, something that usually appeared on his own face when he outsmarted an enemy.
A simple wave of the Odi's hand made the tier five spell turn 180 degrees, making it now aim against the two humans.
\u003c "There's nothing better than leaving maggots like you a shred of hope. You fight so hard when you believe that you actually have a chance. Then, when I take away that hope, when your expression turns into despair, that's the moment that makes me happy to be alive."\u003e Once again, Jiira wasn't talking to them, just to himself.
Yet Yondra didn't need to understand the Odi language to realize what was going on. The tables had been turned too suddenly to be just because of her getting weaker. The enemy had played them all along, like a cat with a mouse.
The energy beam almost reached her face before stopping again, in a last act of idle cruelty.
\u003c "Any last words, maggot?"\u003e Yet he didn't wait for a reply, resuming the attack the moment he was done with his mockery.
Realizing what was about to happen, Yondra used the last spark of mana she had left to slow the hijacked spell long enough to change its trajectory and give Lith the time he needed to retreat.
Unfortunately, Lith's Final Sunset boosted by Jiira's mana was fast and powerful enough to strike them down almost at the same time. The spell opened a hole in her chest, cauterizing it while piercing through Yondra, before striking down Lith and engulfing him in black flames.
Jiira laughed while waiting for Lith's body to stop moving, and closed in on Yondra. Her Dampener had shattered when Final Sunset had struck it, but her Royal Forgemaster wand was still intact.
Jiira had no notion of dimensional items so he searched both her and Morok, taking away everything he could find before Warping away. The moment he disappeared, Lith dispelled the black flames, thanking his cunning and the Odi's ignorance about tier five spells.
Once Lith had understood Jiira's intentions, he had recalled his Final Sunset, using it to protect himself from the enemy's attack. Jiira had no idea that what he had captured with the God's Will array was just a portion of the spell, nor that the part outside the array was still under Lith's control.
Between the mana boosted Skinwalker armor and his own black flames, Jiira had only managed to inflict upon him small burns. First Lith went to Yondra's side, using Invigoration to check on her condition and lessen her pain.
