'Fuck the Kingdom and the rewards. My life comes first.' Lith darted back and hid behind the Odi machine in the middle of the room to catch his breath.
Just as he had predicted, Dawn still needed the device for her own research. Being the one who had helped the Odi in their experiments, she knew all too well that there was only one built.
"Smart, but not enough." The Bright Day ceased her attacks and moved behind the machine as well.
'Okay, she's exactly where we want her.' Solus nodded.
'Really?' Lith didn't even get a full breath of Invigoration that Dawn was already looming over them.
'Really. Let's be real. She is as strong as I would be in my tower form if I was at my full power, if not even stronger. Fighting her with magic is suicidal since she outclasses us in experience and number of spells.
'Our only choice is to force her to fight us in close quarters. Her body is still based on Acala's which makes her way weaker than you.' She explained.
'You forget that she outclasses me in swordplay and hand-to-hand combat as well. Even with the boost from your pseudo tower form, we were on equal footing.' Lith darted forward, closing the distance between them before Dawn could cast a single spell.
'We don't have time for a full tutorial. Do you trust me?' Solus asked.
'Why do you think I threw myself into the tiger's mouth? I trust you with my life. Always.' Lith gave Solus free reins and activated Full Guard. The blue aura that now surrounded him brought his perception on par with Dawn's.
The spell bestowed upon him a full awareness of his surroundings, leaving no blind spots in Lith's guard.
"A crutch for the weak." Dawn recognized the spell and clicked her tongue in disgust.
"I dare you to repeat that after giving up both your immortality and your centuries of experience. We're not weak." Solus replied.
"We? Really?" The Bright Day chuckled, her voice both old and young at the same time. "Are you young, naïve, or both?" She lunged her crystal sword in a feint, waiting for Lith to sidestep the attack before changing her stance with a flick of her wrist.
Dawn dodged Lith's counter stab, throwing him off guard, and aimed for his heart. Lith was in no position to defend himself, so he turned the lunge into a roll without trying to stop his motion.
The crystal sword pierced through his armor and gut, cauterizing the wound on its passage to make it harder to heal. Lith didn't feel anything thanks to darkness fusion sealing off his pain receptors, but his situation was still dire.
During their previous fight, Dawn had been controlling Acala's body, a tool she barely had a few months to get accustomed to. Now she was using her own, and the difference was like heaven and earth.
All of her attacks were seamless, with no wasted movements nor openings. She had reached such expertise that she would predict even moves that Lith had learned back on Earth.
'Guess my sensei was right. All disciplines become similar at very high levels. Here goes everything.' Lith still couldn't understand Solus's plan, but wound or not he trusted her judgment.
He pivoted on his back foot right after the roll, turning around toward the enemy and slashing diagonally at the same time. Dawn intercepted Ruin's tip with her own blade, pushing it aside.
Lith added the momentum from her push to his own, spinning on himself to perform a right elbow strike aimed at her temple.
"Smart, reckless, but not enough." Dawn blocked with her right arm. The blow still managed to crack her bones that were now bent in an unnatural angle, but her crystal sword would have pierced Lith's head before he had the time to adjust his stance.
Or so she thought, until a second right arm came out of his side, striking at her chin with an uppercut and throwing her off balance. A second left arm grabbed Dawn's broken and unresponsive arm, pulling her too close to use her sword but in the perfect position to take two right hooks at the same time.
One on Dawn's left temple and the other on the side of her chin. The full force of such blows would have killed even an Awakened way stronger than Lith, but for Dawn internal organs were just like a pair of socks.
She could always make another.
Only then did Lith remember that in her tower form Solus could materialize her body. Feeling their bodies partially fused was weird, but personal space and boundaries could wait for a non-lethal situation to be discussed.
"I am neither naïve nor young." Solus replied to keep Dawn off her game while they kept hitting her non-stop from impossible angles. Ruin danced from one hand to another in an unpredictable pattern.
The bond they shared ran so deep that even if they had never practiced before a four-armed style, it was second nature to them. No matter who wielded the blade, the other was always ready to assist or pass Ruin the moment Dawn started to adapt.
"It's you who are ignorant and conceited. Horseman, Dawn, call yourself whatever you want, but the truth is that you're nothing but a parasite." Solus's words enraged Dawn, whose face was full of deep cuts and her armor of wide cracks.
The Bright Day couldn't understand how a lesser member of the family could stoop so low to share instead of dominating a filthy hybrid, let alone how could their combined efforts have put her into such a disgraceful condition.
"You and I are both born from Forgemastery, but you've forgotten the basics of the basics." Solus couldn't stop talking, the teachings of Menadion were becoming clearer again in her head as she fought.
"You don't just place the most powerful mana crystal above the mightiest of metals. That's something even a child can do. The real magic starts when the two become one." Solus passed Ruin to Lith, using her arms to conjure and compress all the world energy she could muster from the geyser.
Lith understood her intentions and breathed a jet stream of Origin Flames that set ablaze Solus's world energy as well, turning the jet into a pillar of fire the size of a road tunnel.
The blast pinned Dawn to the wall and its force prevented her from moving while the stone around her melted and boiled.
"Not bad for a Wyrmling." Dawn laughed. Origin Flames of that magnitude blocked all forms of magic and the soggy stone didn't offer her any hold, but she didn't care.
"It's as large as the breath of a Dragon. Too bad that it lacks the punch of the real thing. I've fought ancient Dragons and Phoenixes, yet I'm still here. What makes you think you're any better?" Dawn asked.
"Gods, Lith is right. You guys always talk too much." Solus added a spark of her own life force to Lith's and the blue Origin Flames became a searing white ocean.
The crystal armor blackened and cracked. The crystal sword lost all the mana it held and then crumbled along with her four limbs. Dawn's head, the only part of her body that the armor didn't cover, burned to ashes, leaving behind only the chest holding her crystal.
Yet once the Flames were gone, Dawn's armor self-repaired and her limbs grew back again, whereas Lith could feel that Solus's light had become dimmer. Like a candle about to burn out.
