Killing Phloria would achieve nothing but a trip to the resurrection chamber, leaving the Apophis empty-handed.
She, instead, had no problem hammering him with darkness spells aimed to kill. The mind link with Orsat and Ernas’ Full Guard allowed the Griffon Knight to perfectly harmonize with her partner and her spells to never miss their target.
“Remember the plan!” The Red Griffon said. “The goal is to take out Verhen and kill as many members of the Council as we can.”
“And you remember my deal with the True Queen!” Phloria replied. “She promised me that Lith and I would be reunited so we need to take him alive.”
Meanwhile, Lith had taken it easy after the first Ruin in order to regain his strength. He had followed Phloria with his eyes ever since her appearance on the battlefield and had noticed how the Griffon Knight kept herself on the opposite side.
“Thrud seems to have taken the bait.” Tessa said. “We baited her for Phloria and she is baiting you to leave the formation. I doubt that it’s going to be simple. Remember that she knows our plan.
“Our intentions are as obvious as hers are devious. Never drop your guard.”
“Thanks, Tessa.” Lith nodded and recalled Solus via the mind link.
His leaving would have stopped the Demons from regenerating and caused the group to lose his Flames, but that was it. Solus would provide the Light Mastery, Crank the mass and weight, and maybe the tower would have reserved a nice surprise.
“Here I am!” Solus arrived in a white bolt of lightning, Bytra moved so fast that she was just a streak on the battlefield. “Dragonspeed, Lith!”
“You too. And clench your teeth!” He said as Tessa moved the tendrils of the When All Are One array to Solus.
“Dammit, I knew it!” She said after a few seconds when her core was still blue. “This thing doesn’t work on me due to my hybrid nature. We need to find a replacement and quick!”
Then she felt the power surging inside herself. Her body was already perfect and made to host a bright violet core so the sudden mana flow caused her no discomfort. Solus already weighed tons so there was little that the vines had to do to bring her to Crank’s level.
“What were you saying?” Fyrwal said with a smug grin as she used the Hands of Menadion to pump world energy in Solus’ tower half.
“Then it’s time to go all out!” Thanks to the combined effect of the Sage Staff, two sets of Hands, and Nandi, the tower was over 60% efficiency.
Solus extended her arms toward the Golden Griffon and a seven-pointed star formed between them. The Tower Tier Annihilation burst forward, painting the day emerald as it crashed against the lost academy.
Hystar summoned a Bastion, but it wasn’t enough. The barrier was pierced and another huge hole appeared in his armor.
“Whoa! What’s this?” Crank could feel both the effects of the Staff and of the tower filling his body with new strength.
“My contribution to the array.” Solus replied.
At the same time, Lith soared in the sky with such speed that he had become a flaming red meteor.
Apep was still fighting the Griffon Knight and he was losing. Phloria had led him by the nose over her troops and the Apophis had suffered from countless darkness spells already.
By hovering over the battlefront, she made sure to change their position so to not draw away the focus of her allies for long while also exploiting the spells of her enemies.
Unlike her, Apep had no eyes behind his back and by lining them up, Phloria had already had him take many spells that had been aimed at her.
“Took you long enough!” Apep said with a snarl once Lith appeared by his side.
? “I promised you a tool, not an easy job.” Lith chided him. “Playtime is over.”
“Finally!” The Apophis roared as he unleashed his true power and charged at the Griffon.
Lith, instead, charged at Phloria, his goal to split her from her partner and get some time alone with her.
“Please, I saw this coming from a mile away.” She said with a peal of crazed laughter. “This isn’t even your plan anymore. It’s mine!”
Lith didn’t bother to reply, countering every one of her spells with his own and crossing War against Reaver. The two blades screeched and cried in pain. Adamant couldn’t feel, but the twin blades were not supposed to fight.
They had been forged on the same day, in the same Forge, with the same purpose. To help Phloria. War’s task was to kill her enemies while Revear’s was to protect her in the line of duty.
Their masters could feel the blades twisting in the attempt to avoid contact, they could hear their desperate cries, but they kept fighting nonetheless.
“Do you really think you can take me down in your pathetic state, old man?” Orsat said, the silver lightning turning red as she charged it with the fire element.
“Do you really think I lived this long with such mediocre skills, runt?” Apep replied with a serpentine smile on his face. “I was holding back, but not anymore.”
His body suddenly grew in length and width, becoming over 40 meters (130 feet) long. The snake tail wrapped around the Griffon, slamming her against the ground and literally sucking the life out of her.
“I have no need to save my strength when there’s such a hearty meal in front of me. Time to dig in!” The Abomination Touch countered her physical strength, her spells, Life Maelstrom, and even Lightning Body.
They were all forms of energy and energy was food to an Eldritch.
“Shit!” While she was falling down, Orsat managed to release half of the Life Maelstrom she had left and pass it on to Phloria.
The now Griffonless Knight had also lost her partner and her footing in one fell swoop. She had to quickly switch to a flight spell, wasting a single second that Lith exploited to tackle her.
He was far away enough from the Golden Griffon to avoid most of the effects of the Static Field array and could open a Spirit Steps to a location of his choosing. Alas, Phloria didn’t just sit and let him.
She activated the Give and Take ability from Reaver to boost her prowess and coupled it with the silver lightning to pincer him between a knee and elbow strike.
The former hit Lith in the guts, knocking the air out of him, while the latter struck the back of his head, making him dizzy.
He lost his grip as they tumbled on the ground and Phloria kicked him away, sending him through a Warp Steps that brought them to another location.
“I told you that this is my plan, jackass.” A location where Lith had no allies and he had no idea where he was. “I have all the spells at the ready I need to fuck up whatever you have prepared!”
Lith cursed under his breath as he used Life Vision to make sure to have not fallen into a trap. According to his Tiamat eyes, there was no one around for a kilometer.
