The white crystal on the Absolution turned black as Ruination filled the hammer with Chaos energy. The enchantment split the light from the darkness, releasing the Decay produced in the form of silvery shockwaves that spread throughout the battlefield.
The eight copies of the Bytra’s hammer pulsed in unison, using the Decay to weaken the enemy lines before striking at them with the full power of a Chaos spell.
Now that the Call of the Void had faded, however, the Awakened saw the incoming attack and managed to raise the Bastion in time. The hammers bounced off the mystical shield without even cracking them.
The Chaos was suddenly dispersed and with it the mana coursing through the Absolutions that merged into one before falling onto the ground.
The Raiju snarled and recalled the hammer to her hand.
“Please, I don’t want to fight.” Theseus said while dodging multiple attacks and refusing to fight back. “Stand down and I promise you that we’ll leave peacefully.”
The answer came in the form of seven tier five Spirit spells that blew him to smithereens, leaving only his feet intact. Which was more than enough for his Meneos side.
The world energy flooded the fuming extremities along with nutrients and countless vines sprouted from them. They collected every single bit of the scattered body, rebuilding it from scratch before the dust cloud caused by the spells could even settle.
“I gave you a choice and you chose death.” The Bastet said as he shapeshifted into a 30 meters (100′) tall humanoid titan. “I won’t hold back anymore.”
Seven more Spirit Spell struck while he was still healing, yet they didn’t leave a single scratch on Theseus. The earth element of the world energy mixed with the Bastet’s life force, bestowing upon him the Mana Body bloodline ability.
The elemental flow of the world energy flooded him and countered the Spirit Magic. A regular Divine Beast would have consumed a consistent amount of life force to neutralized so many powerful spells but Theseus was different.
His Meneos side naturally drained the surrounding world energy while also healing his life force, making the bloodline ability have no cost for him. A flick of his wrist and the space tore apart as if a giant finger had slashed through it.
The Bastet jumped inside the rift that immediately closed behind him. The Awakened prepared a Silverwing Annihilation while looking around for the exit point of the dimensional opening but found none.
‘Has he run away?’ One of them asked via the mind link.
The rules of dimensional magic were simple. One exit point and one entry point were formed at the same time. Life Vision was supposed to spot them both unless one of them was too far away, like it happened for a Warp Steps.
Ripple and Tear, however, worked differently.
The Bastet’s tier five dimensional spell created one entry point and a dimensional pocket where the user could hide. Unlike normal dimensional areas, time inside the pocket flowed normally.
New tears appeared in the space and the Awakened had no way to know from which one Theseus would come out and which of them were just decoys. Tier four Chaos spells, Howling Void emerged from all of them, catching the Awakened by surprise.
The Chaos element was too quick to conjure a barrier and make short work of their armor. The lucky ones managed to partly dodge and only lost a limb while the others died on the spot.
They tried to return fire but the dimensional rifts closed before the spells reached them. New rifts opened into different positions and the onslaught of Chaos spears continued.<del>panda novel</del>
‘Don’t stand like idiots! Rat him out!’ Senara combined mind and body casting to instantly weave a Collapsed Space spell and force Theseus out.
The spell made Ripple and Tear collapse in a powerful implosion that struck only the Diving Beast who fell to the ground with a boom of thunder. Whole tufts of hair were burned to the root and the Basted now missed several chunks of flesh.
Attacking from inside the rift was safe, but keeping it open required an enormous amount of energy that he couldn’t recover while away from the ground. Theseus was still gasping for air when an Annihilation struck him.
He conjured Mana Body again while his Meneos side drained more world energy, but his body started to crumble.
Senara didn’t miss how his feet were the only part of his massive body to be still unscathed and the fact they were the point from which the regeneration always started.
‘Aim the Annihilation on his feet or make the Red Carnival fly!’ She said. ‘Once we get him off the ground, he’s as good as dead.’
Dolgus however begged to differ.
He had no intention of taking part in the fight but the Awakened didn’t know it and had attacked the Griffon as well. On top of that, even though he didn’t approve of Lith’s and Zoreth’s plan, he had sworn to protect Theseus and Solus.
He abandoned his human form, revealing his nature as a White Griffon. The Emperor Beasts and the tree-tall Faes that until a second ago had towered over him were now overshadowed by his majestic figure.
The Griffon quickly shapeshifted into a bipedal form with prehensile hands, keeping the same mass of his four-legged form and reaching a height of 30 meters (100 feet). His head, neck, and forelimbs were covered in pristine white feathers that turned pitch-black toward the end.
His leonine body was covered in glistening amber colored fur that ended in a tail whose tip was made of pure white light, shining like a star.
Even though they had been together for a while, it was only then that Lith recognized Dolgus. The two had never met, but Lith had spent four years of his life surrounded by banners depicting Tyris’ firstborn.
‘Are you related to the White Griffon academy?’ Lith asked as a silvery armor covered Dolgus and a pair of battle maces appeared in his hands.
ᴘ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ɴ ᴏᴠᴇʟ ‘I was his first Headmaster after its foundation.’ The White Griffon replied. ‘My siblings took care of the other academies. Why do you ask?’
Lith didn’t have time for talking as many attacks came in both his and Dolgus’ direction. The Griffon snarled, knowing that even with the White Wind armor he couldn’t afford to take seven Spirit Spell of that magnitude.
Every piece of his equipment was a gift from Tyris. She had given them to him as a reward for following in her footsteps and helping the people of Mogar. Their Adamant was heavily enchanted, but it still had limits.
Dolgus unleashed a stream of Life Maelstrom that empowered him, his equipment, and burst out into two more bolts of silver lightning that struck respectively Theseus and Solus.
At the same time, he used the tier five Light Mastery spell, Castle of Light, to shroud his maces into multiple layers of hard-light constructs. The perfectly balanced weapons moved non-stop, using each the momentum of the other to never slow down even after deflecting a spell.
Dolgus used one mace to strike at whoever dared come close enough and the other as a shield that blocked both magical and physical attacks.
