Glemos' six eyes opened, attuning to the element that fueled whatever object his traitorous son had taken out in order to neutralize it. Yet his readings came negative and only when an emerald portal opened did Glemos understand what had happened.
"A Spirit artifact?" Glemos didn't like using the Tyrannical Eye since it would leave him exposed to elemental magic, but he had no other choice. "Ekidna, restrain the traitor!"
Yet she remained still, hoping that whoever was about to step through the portal was the answer to her prayers.
Glemos cursed both her and Morok as he used Domination to close the Warp Steps before it was too late, yet something stopped him.
"Nice try, sucker." Faluel the Hydra stepped entered the room in her humanoid hybrid form, all of her eyes ablaze with emerald energy as her Domination countered the Tyrant's and kept the dimensional tunnel stable.
She wore the Hands of Menadion on her heads as crowns, with each elemental gem placed on the head of the corresponding color. Faluel used the artifact to boost her innate abilities and neutralize the defensive arrays of the lab at the same time.
"You have come to your death, Hydra. You can't hold my defenses and fight me at the same time. You may have seven heads, but only one mana flow." Glemos said.
"You are right. Beating your ass is my job." The human form of Ajatar the Drake appeared right behind her, making the Tyrant's heart skip a beat at the thought that more reinforcements would follow.
"Are you insane? If you reveal the existence of Domination to the Council, your species will kill you. Are the lives of a few apprentices worth your own?" Glemos gave up on the Tyrannical Eye, splitting it into six and readying for the battle.
When the portal closed behind Ajatar, The Tyrant sighed in relief just to furrow his brows in surprise.
"I haven't revealed it to the Council, just to a trusted friend." A snap of her fingers opened the shackles that bound Lith and the others. "Only an idiot never shares and only a fool would break into an Awakened's lair alone."
Glemos ignored the provocation, aware that the Hydra had mentioned his previous defeat at the hands of the Drake just to cloud his judgment.
"How did you know I was behind this?" He asked.
"We didn't." Ajatar replied. "But I found it suspicious that the monsters would make mistakes that allowed us to discover their presence only when I was too busy to personally deal with them.
"Just like I found it suspicious that you didn't try to drag me in front of the Council to get your son back. I didn't Awaken Morok and coming from your bloodline, you had solid arguments to become his new mentor, yet you didn't do anything.
"It was almost as if you wanted to stay away from your son so that in case something happened to him, no one would have suspected you. I had no reason to assume your involvement in the monster incursions but I knew you were scheming something to get to him.
"That's why I gave Morok a Spirit Warp terminal."
"I underestimated you, lizard." Glemos' eyes shone, activating the full force of the arrays while readying himself to take control of any spell that Ajatar may throw at him.
Faluel beat him to the punch, conjuring six elemental sealing arrays that surrounded the room, turning off Glemos' magical formations within them. The Tyrant then used Domination to remove the interference of her arrays, but the Hydra countered it with her own.
Yet Glemos could fully focus on Domination whereas she also had to deal with a complex set of powerful arrays fueled by the mana geyser below. Even with her seven heads and the Hands of Menadion supporting her bright violet mana core, there was only so much she could do.
Ekidna could feel the tides of the battles through her wings and jumped at Glemos to help those she assumed were her rescuers. The Tyrant reacted by releasing an emerald pulse from his palm that sent her crashing against the wall with a broken spine.
"Stupid kid. As long as we are surrounded by elemental sealing arrays, your feathers are good only to stuff pillows and your eyes are but a mere decoration. Without them, you are no stronger than a regular Awakened." He said while increasing the pressure on the Hydra.
"Thanks for the help, kid, but this isn't your fight." Faluel said while her knees buckled up.
"It's mine!" Ajatar bolted forward, his body infused with the full power of elemental fusion.
His form shifted from human to that of a hybrid covered in sapphire-blue scales, with a white horn coming out right above the slits of his nose, and razor-sharp claws that slashed at Glemos.
The Drake's mass was much greater than the Tyrant's, but while the former wasn't used to a humanoid body, the latter had spent centuries learning how to deal with bigger and stronger opponents.
He moved his six eyes to his chest to keep using Domination against Faluel while also keeping himself ready to form the Tyrannical Eye. The Drake had cast several tier five Spirit spells, yet he couldn't risk gifting them to the Tyrant.
Ajatar had the advantage of his superior mass and physical prowess while Glemos was weaker, but he could still use magic freely to compensate for his shortcomings.
The Tyrant sidestepped the attack, grabbing Ajatar's hand and exploiting his momentum to slam the humanoid Drake against the wall with the combined force of both Emperor Beasts.
A green blast from Glemos' right hand hit Ajatar at the moment of the impact against the rock, doubling the damage.
Ajatar was still dazed when an emerald flow wrapped around Glemos' arm, turning the limb into a drill as hard as diamond that struck at the exposed space between the scales on the Drake's neck with surgical precision.
Morok and Ekidna gasped in horror as the Tyrant's arm disappeared up to the elbow into Ajatar's body, sending blood spurting throughout the room.
Glemos screamed in triumph until he noticed that the blood was his own and that his arm hadn't pierced through the Drake. It had shattered along with the Spirit Spell so quickly that he didn't have the time to feel pain.
"Since you trusted me enough to show me the secret of your bloodline, Faluel, I'll show you the technique that the Father of all Dragons left to his firstborns, the Drakes." Ajatar said.
"Gravity fusion doesn't just make us lighter or heavier, it can also alter our density, like this." The energy of the six elements coursed through his body, turning his scales white.
Ajatar then performed a simple right cross that Glemos had no trouble dodging. When he tried to redirect the power of the attack again, he felt like he was trying to uproot a mountain.
The friction upon contact was enough to set Glemos' clothes ablaze and to break his left arm as well, forcing him to step away. The Tyrant unleashed a barrage of emerald projectiles while he used Spirit Magic to mend his wounds.
The spirit spell hit the Drake, but his skin was so dense that the bullets shattered into colored sparkles without dealing him any damage.