'Yes, but reviving his memories will also keep Locrias motivated and focused.' Lith said.
'How can you be so cold? That poor man is reliving his death and that of his men over and over again. On top of that, whenever you call upon him, Locrias will have just a few minutes of strife in front of him before going back to his dreams.
'That's no life, just a living nightmare.' Solus said.
'Locrias knew all of this and yet he chose to stay.' Lith replied. 'At first, I wasn't happy that my Demons aren't blindly loyal, but now I changed my mind. Those that will follow me like Locrias will have a depth of character and determination that no slave could ever have.'
'You'd better go back to Zeska, or your regiment will put a bounty on your Tiamat form for kidnapping Archmage Verhen.' Solus said after a while.
There was no point in arguing with Locrias' choice, she could only respect it as much as she respected the man.
'With my luck, I'll get a bounty anyway.' Lith returned to his human form and weaved a Warp Steps leading to the same exact spot where he had left Captain Loman Estar, his second in command.
'Locrias is right, you are a jackass.' Solus said after reading his mind and his plan.
"Major! Thank the gods you are alright." Ahria said when he stepped through the dimensional door, drawing everyone's attention.
"You had no reason to worry. I told you that Tiamat is a friend of mine."
"What about the Dragon's corpse?" Estar asked.
"He took it."
"What? Why?" It hadn't been one of the Captains speaking.
Several Warp Steps had opened and the nobles' armies from the capitol were stepping through one after another.
"Tiamat said that he was willing to split with Lith Verhen, not with Major Verhen because the army would have claimed most of my part. He also said that you didn't do anything to deserve it so he will keep it safe and send me some scraps just like the army would." Lith sounded genuinely depressed.
Even Dragon poop was a powerful ingredient, making the corpse a gold mine. Yet stealing it implied that only Tiamat could employ equipment made from such magical wonders whereas Lith Verhen had to appear empty handed.
"That's not true! We helped you against Quaron, and if not for us, the Skeletal Knights would have killed you." Eman was outraged by the Divine Beast dismissing the army as useless.
"Yeah, but that was also your duty and you fought to protect your own lives. On top of that, Tiamat gave us plenty of help by sending his Demons. Not to mention that none of us gave the Dragon a single scratch." Lith replied.
Then, after noticing that everyone was looking at him with suspicion for openly defending the Tiamat he added:
"His words, not mine. I tried to talk him into sharing at least a quarter of the body, but he wouldn't listen."
"How convenient a story for you!" Captain Pelan poked at Lith's chest in anger. "I say that you bartered your share with your friend and ignored your duty as an officer of the Kingdom. That's what I think and what I'll write in my report."
'This guy is smarter than he looks.' Solus said.
"And I'll write into mine that you disrespected my authority from the beginning, gave no contribution to the mission, and that I don't recall seeing you on the battlefield." Lith grabbed Pelan's finger, twisting it until the Captain had to grovel on the ground to keep it from breaking.
"Let's move. We have yet a work to do and a city to retake." Lith said. "Captain Ahria, make sure to collect all the equipment of the Skeletal Knights. Estar, with me. We must capture and interrogate all the nobles involved in the uprising.
"It's unlikely, but if they know where the Dragon's lair is, we- I mean, the Kingdom can still get its due."
Lith brought the nobles' armies in front of the city gates that opened without offering any resistance. After the death of their so-called hero and the revelation that Quaron was working for a Divine Beast and not for them, the citizens of Zeska had lost the will to fight.
The city was taken in a matter of minutes and Lith was free to raid the City Lord's mansion. The very same arrays that had kept the army at bay now kept her and her accomplices trapped like cornered mice.
Yet the only thing that the army officers found was a bunch of corpses. Something had killed Syrook's believers, leaving no one left to interrogate. They still retained their youthful appearance so the army managed to identify them only thanks to the help of their oldest servants.
The papers in the City Lord's private chambers revealed her involvement with the Lords of many other cities. The true surprise awaited them in the keep, where all the people that had opposed to Syrook's plan were held captive.
'I don't understand why the City Lord kept them alive.' Lith interrogated them one by one and even studied them with Invigoration to understand if the Black Dragon had experimented on them in any way.
Aside from the natural consequences of prolonged incarceration and malnutrition, however, he found nothing.
'The nobles could have riled up the people against the City Lord by revealing her treachery whereas the civil servants' help will be invaluable in uncovering the details of her dealings with the rebels.'
Yet after his questions and his spells found no answer, Lith could only shrug and move on to the next city. It was none of his business and he was eager to get back to his family in the Desert.
The rest of the mission went smoothly thanks to the fact that all the leaders of the rebellion had died as well soon after Syrook's defeat and thanks to Lith projecting in front of the various cities the events that had happened in Zeska with Light Mastery.
At first, the people refused to believe in Quaron's death and his involvement with a Divine Beast. His head on a pike dispelled the rebels' questions about the Ranger still being alive while the testimony of Zeska's Commander confirmed his involvement with Syrook.
One after the other, the cities of the Nestrar region surrendered to the Kingdom.
Lith's mission was over, he had a whole Dragon corpse in his pocket dimension, and Lutia would be guarded again, ensuring the safety of his family.
He had all reason to be happy, yet a thought kept nagging at the back of his head.
'Who the heck killed the nobles of every single city before my arrival and why did none of the City Lords dispose of their enemies? An Awakened might have bypassed the elemental sealing arrays, but to what end?
'The vaults and the treasuries were all empty so there was nothing to steal. It feels like someone is covering their tracks but Syrook is already dead and each prisoner we rescued is a loose end they didn't tie.
'I even checked them for blood cores in case they were thralls of the Undead Courts and their life forces for Thrud's slave spell, but they were clean.'
"I'm a Divine Beast!" Syrook roared in outrage at that blatant lack of respect, turning the gales surrounding him into a windstorm. "I'm the descendant of one of the six gods of magic, not a pathetic animal that crawls in the mud!"
"Dude, spouting bullshit as part of your act is fine, but when you start to believe it, then you need help." Lith used the air currents slamming against his face to fix his bed hair.
"Were you acquainted with Xedros? I can see a striking resemblance between you two."
"How dare you compare me to a filthy lizard?" They had yet to throw a single blow yet the Black Dragon's ego had already taken a huge hit.
For some reason, the human Spellbreaker was unaffected by his aura of terror and seemed to treat the whole thing as a joke.
'Seem is the keyword here.' Syrook thought. 'The bastard is stalling for time to cast several spells. I can see it with Life Vision, just like I can see that he's an Awakened. The only thing I don't understand is what he is.
'His life force looks human but it's far from it.'
"What's wrong with being a lizard?" Lith shrugged. "I heard that even the Father of all Dragons started off as-"
"Don't you dare say one more word!" The Black Dragon was both shocked and enraged hearing one of the most shameful secrets of his family coming out of the mouth of a pathetic worm. "Let's see how long you can last against me and my champion!"
Syrook landed near the fallen Ranger who just needed to touch one of the scales to obtain the mana necessary to repair the damages in his armor. The creature was so tall that his head reached past the walls. Even the people on the battlements had to look up.
Meanwhile, Lith jumped outside the area of effect of the city arrays to respond in kind to the threat.
"Emperor Beast and Divine Beast are just names." Lith activated the Scalewalker armor, having it cover him from head to toe while reverting it to its original form that resembled a Tiamat. "Guess what, Quaron isn't the only one who can call for backup."
'Don't!' Solus said the moment he shared his new plan with her. 'Everything but this!'
Yet he did.
Lith wrapped himself with the two sets of wings of the Scalewalker before opening them at the same time in a majestic flap. The purpose of the move wasn't to show off his equipment so much as to conceal himself from all kinds of senses while he came out of it and Warped away.
The moment the four wings fully spread an enormous crack appeared in the air above the military camp. Instead of just opening the exit point, Lith shaped it as if the space itself had been pierced, even conjuring the hologram of a nebula as background.
Two enormous hands covered in black scales emerged from the crack, forcing it open with brute strength. The creature had long curved horns on its head and seven eyes, each of a different color.
With one final push and a savage roar, the creature ripped the space enough to pass.
To all those present it seemed like the second titan had emerged from the space across the stars or maybe even from a different dimension.
Lith had watched enough Kaiju movies to know how to make an entrance.
The army mages started to weep uncontrollably, throwing discipline into the gutter and using their communication amulets to say goodbye to the people they loved. The creature seemed to be on their side, yet they doubted to survive the clash between the Divine Beasts.
The citizens of Zeska, instead, could feel the aura of terror of the second god piercing through their hearts and filling them with despair.
"Allow me to introduce you to my friend here, Tiamat. The Father of all Demons." Solus said while using air magic to imitate Lith's voice from inside the armor and Spirit Magic to move it.
Her petite body ill-fitted the Scalewalker and to make matters worse, she sucked at swordplay, let alone dual wielding.
'Luckily, Lith left me a script.' She said while holding the Sage staff in the right hand and War in the left.
"You heard Verhen. Open the gates!" The Tiamat ordered and the city guards complied.
"Don't!" Syrook's voice snapped them out of their stupor. "Who are you and why have I never heard about your kin? Are you one of Father's failures? A lesser Dragon?"
Like most Divine Beasts, the Black Dragon treated the Awakened Council with contempt. In their eyes, those who didn't carry the pure blood of a Guardian were a bunch of weaklings that needed numbers to make up for their weakness.
He had heard the rumors about a hybrid, but that kind of gossip was of no interest to Syrook. He had even ignored the return of his older sister, Zoreth, so he knew nothing about Lith.
"Are we here to fight or to exchange contact runes?" The Tiamat said with a sneer while never stopping to weave spells.
"An amazing display of confidence for someone younger, smaller, and weaker than me." Lith's ruse couldn't work on someone with Life Vision, but Syrook's interest had been piqued.
His violet core gave him an edge against Lith's deep violet and he was eager to see if his newfound brethren was worthy of becoming one of his followers or his next meal. Either would do.
The Black Dragon took a deep breath and a violet light seeped from between his scales, starting from the chest and quickly rising up his neck until it came out of his mouth in the form of a pillar of fire the size of a train.
'What the heck did he just do?' Lith thought while unleashing a deep violet burst of Origin Flames.
He might have easily dodged Syrook's breath, but studying how other Divine Beasts used their bloodline abilities was his best shot at discovering and mastering his own.
The two streams of fire met halfway, each trying to overpower the other before exploding with such brilliance to paint the area violet for kilometers.
"A second sun twice in as many days is too much." One of the guards said as his mind spiraled into insanity. "Fuck the rebellion, I just want to live!"
He tried to open the city gates, not caring about who would win anymore. He just wanted for that horror to end. The other guards tried either to help him or to stop him, making the fight quickly spread throughout the city along with mass hysteria.
Since Quaron was still behind the emerald barrier and Solus had no energy to waste, she enacted the most important part of Lith's plan.
She took his communication amulet out of the pocket dimension and called the Royals.
"Here is Spellbreaker Lith Verhen. My mission succeeded and I took the traitor down." She also sent them the recording of the fight between Lith and Quaron. "The problem is that he was the pawn of a Black Dragon.
"We need reinforcements, now!" She moved the amulet so that the blue gemstone at its center would also transmit the images of the clash between Origin Flames.
