Village of Lutia.
Soon the kids felt reassured rather than intimidated by the familiar environment and they started to challenge each other with feats that their respective steeds had to perform.
The magical beasts rolled their eyes but they were also happy to see their human friends back to their old selves.
Lith was bored out of his skull and green with envy. Rena and Senton were really happy together, but all of their lovey-dovey routines reminded Lith of his condition as single.
'Back when I was a Ranger, I would have met with Kami after a big mission. I would have told her everything and she would have worried about me while I showed her the hologram of the fight as if its outcome had yet to be determined.
'I wonder what she is doing.' He inwardly sighed as the couple planned to go on a vacation alone and leave the children with their grandparents.
Having an Awakened in the family made them feel confident already but a Guardian that could bring them to their kids at any moment really took a burden off their chest.
"Hello, Professor Vastor. How are you doing?" Less than ten minutes had passed and Lith was already sick and tired of being the third wheel.
He had taken out his communication amulet to break the isolation with the excuse of getting updated about the situation in the north.
"I'm green with envy!" Vastor replied.
'That makes the two of us.' Lith thought.
"I wish I was already back home like you but things got complicated. There's no rebellion here but winter lasted too long. Food, wood, coal, you name it, they lack it. People are this close to rioting and it makes my work much more difficult."
"What are you doing exactly?" Lith asked.
"Classified, especially on a non-secure line. Let's just say that someone exploited the situation for their own ends." Vastor replied.
'Either someone experimented with Forbidden Magic and tried to disguise their victims among those of the winter or the Undead Courts stole the corpses to raise soldiers to fill the ranks of their army. Whatever it is, it's not good.' Lith thought.
"I can't believe that Manohar and I are among the few Archmages that have yet to complete their mission. Maybe I'm getting old or maybe the idea of marrying again threw me off my game.
"I never thought that Zinya would propose to me and now I'm scared to death at the idea of screwing things up again." Vastor would have gladly fought a Dragon as well instead of facing the terror of the unknown.
Lith was glad that the poor man had no idea that their conversation wasn't private. Rena, Senton, and even the kids had stopped their conversations to listen to Vastor's story.
"I'm sure that everything will be fine." Lith shushed Leria who wanted to chime in. "What were you saying about Manohar?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to burden you with my problems." Vastor said, thinking that Lith had changed to topic because he found it annoying. "Manohar's situation is similar to that you faced."
"Rebellious cities?"
"No, only nobles. The odd thing is that at the time of the crimes, the culprits have a rock-solid alibi, yet there's no doubt about their guilt." Vastor replied.
"Okay, you lost me." Lith said and Rena nodded.
"I wish I could tell you more, but the line isn't secure and you are back to being a civilian." Vastor shrugged. "The only thing that I can tell you is that Manohar doesn't seem to mind being forced to spend so much time working in the field.
"On top of that, there are rumors about him being a regular customer of the red-light district."
"Are we still talking about the same Manohar who throws a tantrum whenever he has to get out of his lab and that rejected countless marriage proposals?" Lith was flabbergasted.
"In the flesh. Now I got to go. Say hi to Kamila for-" Vastor realized his blunder and hung up the call.
The group reached the outskirts of Lutia a few minutes later.
Magicos were leveling the ground before workers could lay the foundations of the houses. Whenever they lost control of their spells, they would raise a cloud of dirt that the wind would scatter everywhere, making the neighbors curse their ancestors.
"Big bro, what's the difference between a small and a regular city?" Aran asked. To him, Lutia was big enough.
"It's a matter of size and population. Only once Lutia grows so big that it will need nobles to administer it and a military trained city guard will it be considered a proper city." Lith replied.
"But you are a noble, Uncle." Leria said.
"In name only. These lands don't belong to me and I don't meddle with the city's affairs. It would take me too much time." Lith said.
Zekell's workshop was now split into three different single-floor buildings adjacent to each other. He had moved in a two-story house on the other side of the road to have his family nearby without the customers bothering them or mistaking them for clerks.
Once he had owned only a small smithy beside his house, but between the money that he made by smelting magical metals for Lith and the constant need for supplies that the city's growth required, he had been forced to expand his business.
Zekell now the owner of a state-of-the-art smithy that he had entrusted to Senton, a goldsmith where he worked to keep himself busy, and of a shop from which he sold Lith's creations like chessboards, strollers, and underwear.
"About time." Zekell grunted.
He was a short man in his mid-forties, about 1.62 meters (5'4") tall, with grey short hair and a finely trimmed short beard. During his youth, he had tried to grow them both but after one burn too many Zekell had resigned to the fact that long hair and high temperatures didn't mix.
He wore a white shirt stained with sweat despite the chilly air of the morning, a canvas apron over loose brown working pants, and an adjustable glasses-like contraption on his head that allowed his old eyes to perform the finest incision on any metal.
Despite his age, he had muscular arms and legs that barely fitted his loose clothes. Only his belly betrayed the lack of exercise and the love for warm food and cold beer.
"Look who has finally remembered that they have a job! Get changed before going to the smithy. You don't want to ruin your fancy clothes."
"Nice to see you too, Dad. I just came by to make sure you were okay. I'm still on vacation." Senton replied.
"Vacation! Who do you think you are? A noble?" Zekell snarled.
"I've never taken a day off in twenty-six years!" Senton snarled back.
"Grandpa, can Dad stay with us in the Desert, please? I'm still scared at night." Leria asked with her big puppy eyes.
"Of course, pumpkin." Zekell's face and tone changed completely when she entered the goldsmith. "It's just that your Dad doesn't call nor visit. He took all my beloved grandchildren away from me and grandpa feels so lonely."
He lifted the little girl from Abominus's back and hugged her tight.
Locrias had saved as many of his fellow soldiers as he could before helping Solus.
Now that Lith was too busy facing the Black Dragon to share any more mana, Locrias could feel his energy slipping away with each exchange and regretted not having taken care of the enemy leader sooner.
Even as a soldier, Quaron had ranked higher than Locrias did back in his prime and now that he was a Harbinger, the Ranger had become stronger than a regular Awakened human.
'The bastard is stronger and faster than I ever was.' Locrias thought. 'If not for my new inhuman body, he would have already turned me into mincemeat. To make matters worse, Quaron keeps spitting those odd flames.
'Every time they even graze me, I can feel my consciousness fading. I need help!'
Lith had a natural connection with his conjured Demons but he was too far away for a mind link. As for Solus, she had none so she just assumed that as long as Locrias held his ground everything would be fine.
'I have barely a couple of spells left in me and I can't risk Quaron Blinking them.' She thought. 'As soon as I get back to the tower, I need to craft some magic holding rings for myself.'
Solus called upon the Sage Staff's power core, using the elemental energy that the colored crystals and the Evil Eyes conjured to activate its enchantments instead of feeding her body.
She hadn't done it before because it would further shorten the time she could keep her physical form, but now she had no other choice.
Thanks to Life Vision, Quaron saw the power accumulating in the Staff and reacted by taking a deep breath. The moment Solus activated the Distorted Field ability, the Staff released six small spheres of Gravity Magic while Quaron hurled a river of Origin Flames at Locrias.
He dodged them on instinct only to realize that Quaron had them aligned so that Locrias would cover Solus's sight until it was too late. Locrias inwardly cursed and flapped his wings with fury.
His body was as lithe as a feather and stronger than a bull, allowing him to reach Solus before the flames and to attempt to pull her in the air with him to not break her focus.
Unfortunately, she weighed more than he could handle. Locrias' attempt to lift Solus on the go had the same result as a car crashing against a wall.
He didn't lose consciousness on impact only because there was no brain in his head that could suffer a concussion and she barely managed to block the Flames by having the spheres surround her.
By working in unison, they trapped the Origin Flames in a compressed gravity field where they couldn't burn anything but themselves until they went out.
"How can a woman be so short and yet weigh so much?" Locrias asked.
"Shut up and get out of my way!" Solus snarled.
Due to Locrias' meddling, Quaron had managed to get close to her while the Distorted Field was still busy dealing with the Flames.
"Calm down and listen to me." Locrias blocked a lunge of the glaive but the impact almost ripped the blade out of his hands. "I can take him on my own. I just need you to give me a boost. I'm running on fumes."
"That's a bloodline ability that I don't have." Solus's voice was full of frustration. "That's why I was trying to help you with a spell that you ruined!"
"Good to know." Quaron replied with a smirk while slashing horizontally with his glaive.
He could see with Life Vision that neither of them had enough energy to be a threat but if they were somehow able to combine their resources, he would have found himself in a tough position.
Now that he was finally sure that their inability wasn't just a trap, Quaron squeezed the last drops of strength he had left in a final burst.
The curved blade pushed Locrias' sword away and then traced a small circle in the air, returning to its original position without losing momentum. Quaron shifted his weight, turning the slash into a lunge and piercing Locrias' chest.
He made sure to remain in Solus's blind spot by always keeping the Demon between them. This way, Locrias's energy signature blinded her mana sense and she couldn't aim her spells.
Quaron charged forward, using the impaled Demon as both a shield and a battering ram while also hurling a burst of Origin Flames. All three of them were dangerously low on mana, but only one of them had access to an ability that didn't require any.
Locrias' shadow faded away right after the impact, leaving only the remains of the Skeletal Knight and the stolen armor to take the brunt of the flames. Without his burden, Quaron became even faster and aimed at Solus's head.
'I have no strength left or spell ready and there's no time to rearrange the Distorted Field. I don't want to find out what happens when my body gets destroyed but Lith still wears my stone ring and I can't get back inside from this distance.' Solus feared that the death of her body would force her to rebuild it from scratch.
She had waited twelve years to be human again and the thought of losing it after a few weeks scared her to death.
Much to her surprise, her body sidestepped the attack while keeping War glued to the glaive to control its movements. Her right hand holding the staff performed a riposte that caught Quaron by surprise, crushing his nose and making it hard for him to breathe.
'I bet that he can't spew fire with his mouth full of blood.' Locrias' voice said in her head. 'Don't let him recover and use your magic. I'll take care of the fight.'
'What? How? Most importantly, why didn't you do it sooner?' She replied.
'Demons are just shadows. the moment I understood that I had lost, I moved into yours and left my body behind as a decoy. As for your last question, yes, I could have done it since I know by instinct everything that I'm capable of in this form.
'Yet after over a month of isolation during which I couldn't speak, touch, or be heard, even pain is a pleasant change and I wanted to savor every single sensation my new body could offer.'
Solus knew the feeling very well so she telepathically nodded and focused on the fight. Now that she didn't have to worry about hurting Locrias anymore, she could use the Distorted Field to its fullest.
The six spheres arranged themselves in a circle around the fighters, each one releasing small bursts of energy that could alter the gravity in a small area. On the one hand, it limited their effectiveness but on the other hand, it also got rid of most of gravity magic's side effects.
Solus was very proud of her idea.. Usually, conjuring and controlling six elements at the same time while also keeping them perfectly balanced was a demanding task, but the Sage Staff had been devised exactly for that purpose in order to feed her mana core.
