"Fuck!" Zavra used the power of the Draugr Chosen to grow in size and close the gap in mass between them while he conjured the undead equivalent of Life Maelstrom from his own blood core.
Lith couldn't use his full size without losing his equipment, but he had no need for it. Usually, Full Guard's aura would be a problem since it betrayed its user and revealed the position of its caster from a distance.
Yet for someone who had worked really hard to go unnoticed, it was the worst nightmare. The blue aura coupled with Lith's roars was a beacon in the darkness of the night that revealed their position to anyone who wasn't blind, deaf, and dumb.
"My baby! You've killed my baby!" Orion's voice came out akin to the snarl of a wounded beast from the Griffon-shaped armor as he put all of his weight behind the lunge of his longsword.
'Please, both my armor and Wail have grown with me. The attack of a mere human can't-' Ignoring Orion was the first and last mistake that Zavra did that night.
His assessment of the situation was, in theory, correct.
The Royal Fortress armor was made of Davross, but due to its small size and to Blood Maelstrom empowering Zavra's Adamant armor, Orion's attack was nothing more than a mosquito bite.
Alas, each Royal Fortress armor wasn't just made of Davross. It was made of tons of highly compressed Davross that gave its wearer the same mass of an Emperor Beast and the mobility of a dragonfly thanks to Gravity Magic imbued in the metal that worked akin to Fusion Magic.
The Royal Fortress armor wasn't just an artifact, it was a Guardian's artifact.
Orion's attack pierced through the boosted Adamant and flesh alike, turning Zavra's left lung into mincemeat. Had the Lost Magus not moved his heart away from its original position, the fight would have been over.
Lith exploited the shockwave and the surprise that the massive wound created to throw War right inside the already regenerating hole in the Blood Warlock's chest. The angry blade unleashed all of its skills at the same time, making the flesh rot in its wake.
Zavra screamed in pain as the World Mirror ability highjacked his mana and Counterflow reversed the regeneration into decay. At the same time, War dug through the flesh like a mole, searching for the undead's heart.
"Dogs of the Kingdom! Two against one and fighting only by using dirty tricks. You cowards don't deserve your powers!" The Blood Warlock said.
"Cowards?" Orion roared with such a might that it overshadowed the voice of the giant. "You killed a little girl from the shadows. My little girl! If I'm a dog, then you are a cockroach that fears the light."
A violet aura erupted from Orion's body as he activated his tier five spell, Ernas Full Guard.
It was based on the same spell that Juria Ernas had used to aid Valeron in battle, but it had also been enhanced by her descendants who had made it stronger with each generation during the last millennium.
In the form that Juria Ernas had originally planned, Full Guard not only didn't have a fixed range, making its area of effect depend on the user's power and skill, but also it gave her perfect spatial awareness.
Full Guard allowed its caster to know the exact position of their enemies, of their allies, of the ongoing spells, and to Blink without the need to look. Inside the boundaries of the spell, an Ernas had the same abilities of a rare dimensional mage and they could move wherever their presence was required.
The version that Orion used, instead, covered the space around him for 20 meters (66 feet) and allowed him to imbue Orion's spells with the dimensional coordinates of everything that Full Guard perceived.
Ernas Full Guard not only turned all kinds of magic into homing spells that could pinpoint even a speck of dust without any focus on Orion's side, but also stacked the willpower infused, making them much harder to Dominate.
Alas, Orion didn't know Spirit Magic and couldn't bypass the arrays that protected the capital, but he had the next best thing.
The Royal Fortress armor used holograms to project an interface to its user, listing all the spells imbued in the armor, the number of times they could be used, and even which ones were not available due to the presence of arrays.
Orion controlled the interface with his mind, fighting with the same ability of an Awakened violet-cored individual that could cast their spells while moving.
The only things that the Royal Fortress armor couldn't provide him were Spirit Magic and breathing techniques.
Orion and Lith attacked at the same time from opposite sides, forcing Zavra to focus on the much more dangerous grieving father. He blocked Orion's sword with his staff and used the Banshee's scream to get rid of Lith.
The power of the undead bloodline generated a powerful shockwave that would have burst Lith's eardrums if not for the Adamant of the Scalewalker armor protecting him. The vibrations of the attack sent Lith flying and reverberated through his bones, making it hard for him to control his body.
Yet it didn't affect his mind and unlike Orion, Lith was a true Awakened.
He and Solus unleashed their tier five twin Spirit Spell, Primordial Roar, that they had reverse-engineered after watching Scarlett the Scorpicore use it several times. An hexa-elemetal spell was still too much for either of them to use it on their own, but now they were together.
Usually, Solus would have used most of her focus to study the opponent, their equipment, and their spells. She would have also studied their ally to grasp the secrets of Orion's strength.
Now, however, her pain and grief matched Lith's, reinforcing each other in a constant loop that had turned them into bloodthirsty monsters. They barely cared for covering the Primordial Roar with flames to hide its Spirit Magic nature.
The mix of cold and vibrations slowed down Zavra's movements while the ice and earth aspects of the spell conjured spikes that pierced through his body while darkness at it inside out.
The Blood Warlock had to call upon the powers of Night's prism to survive, conjuring a thick layer of darkness magic to save his hide. Yet the sight of the magical relic only furthered Lith's rage, making him summon the Demons of the Darkness.
He didn't call them himself, but used War to do it. His bond with the blade allowed Lith to continuously flood it with power, making the Demons burst out of the angry blade that was still digging through Zavra's flesh in search of his heart.
The Demons spread like a disease, clawing and biting at their enemy while War's skills kept the regenerative abilities that the Lost Magus borrowed from the Ghoul from working.
Seeing Lith's spell filled Orion with awe and snapped him out of his frenzy.
'How could he conjure such a powerful attack despite the arrays blocking most of the elements?' He thought. 'How can he possibly fly without magic? Can Lith really have once again upgraded his armor?'
His scientific curiosity lasted for less than a second before grief took over his mind once again. Yet this time Orion's fury was cold.
