Origin Flames, also known as dragon fire or phoenix flames, were a peculiar type of flames that only a few living beings could employ. Unlike normal fire, Origin Flames didn't require the expense of mana to ignite the world energy, but only a spark of life force.
Born from life, they were capable of destroying anything, no matter if they were physical or magical in nature. They were purifying flames capable of restoring the natural balance. Magical beasts considered them a manifestation of Mogar's will to clear any past mistake whereas its targets just called them "death".
The hybrid only had a part of Tezka's memories, but it was enough for him to be aware of the danger they posed. He Blinked away to safety as he used a water spell to extinguish the flames.
Chaos Dimension had no means to defend itself. The blue fire spread along its lines of power, making the array crumble less than a few seconds after its creation. Meanwhile, Solus's form had turned into a full arm protector, which covered Lith's right arm and shoulder.
Her rage was as hot as Lith's was cold. Mana endlessly flowed from the green gemstone on the back of the hand to the yellow one engraved on the shoulder pad, like a raging river about to breach its banks.
There were no words that could express her fury, nor lift the weight she felt oppressing her soul. Only crushing Tezka's skull with their hand could give her peace of mind.
Lith had turned into his hybrid form and was floating in mid air without a spell thanks to his wings.
'Even though he's a hybrid like me, he has no vitals just like pure Abominations. The only way I can kill him is by making him exhaust all of his energy. Black cores cannot be replenished without feeding on life force or world energy. How strong is he, Solus?'
Lith hoped that his voice would snap her out of her frenzy.
'A bit stronger than you, but weaker than us.' She snarled.
Solus had always been a gentle soul. Seeing the wargs caring for each other had given her hope. Hope that not every living being was bound to just be what someone or something had turned them into.
If even a female warg could learn to love her cubs, then maybe she too could allow herself to fall in love and wish for a better future. Solus couldn't help but see herself in them, in their willingness to sacrifice their lives for their pack mates.
The same humans that would consider her just a thing to possess, saw the wargs as nothing but mindless beasts, but they had feelings, just like her.
Discovering that everything had just been a ruse, witnessing the Abomination forcing a mother to commit suicide to not injure her own child was more than she could bear. Solus wasn't Lith, she strived to live her life, not to just avoid death.
Tezka had just torn apart all of her hope and dreams right in front of her face, set them ablaze, and then took a dump on them to put out the flames.
"You are really handsome, brother." Tezka said while watching the mana Lith exuded with gluttonous eyes. By assimilating Lith's power, Tezka was certain he would be able to challenge his other self.
"I wonder why you feel the need to hide under a human shell despite the fact that you even possess a Living Legacy. I'll take good care of it for you."
It. The word struck at Solus like a poisoned needle. The hybrid somehow knew she was alive yet he had called her an 'it'. Solus almost snapped because of it, but feeling that Lith was as outraged as she was, calmed her down.
The hybrid charged forward, using Endless Night's ability, Nightmaze, to cut the space in front of himself and open several exit points throughout the cave at the same time.
It created a permanent dimensional crossroad that would make Life Vision useless in predicting the direction of the next attack.
A hail of black quills as big as spears erupted from a Gate on Lith's right. He conjured a stone wall to block them, but each one of them was imbued with both air and Chaos magic.
They pierced through the barrier like it was made of paper, taking Lith by surprise. The sudden turn of events forced him to stand still and deflect them with the Gatekeeper, leaving his back and sides exposed.
Just like Tezka had planned.
He emerged from a portal at Lith's back side, thrusting Endless Night toward Lith's leg, the only part of his body he couldn't move without his defenses crumbling.
Endless Night wasn't a common sword, nor had it been created with normal means. Its bite would create a link between Tezka and his prey, allowing him to feed even in the heat of the battle.
The hybrid was just about to strike when Solus reacted with her tier five spell, Tower Defence. The whole cave came alive, turning into an extension of her will. The ground at Lith's feet opened up, letting him take cover as the quills flew past him and ran into their own master.
The magic they were imbued with was Tezka's, so it couldn't harm him. The physical aspect of the quills', however, was another story entirely. The clash stopped the hybrid in his tracks, knocking him off balance.
The damage he sustained was negligible, but his opening was lost. Cursing his bad luck, Tezka dove back inside the closest Gate, ready to switch to plan B while walking into Solus's trap instead.
Endless Night opened several dimensional doors at once, making their user's path unpredictable, but the sword's ability had one weak point. All the Gates were static, making them exploitable once the element of surprise was lost.
Solus had countless stone spikes infused with darkness magic rain inside each of the dimensional doors. Tezka was already at the dimensional crossroad when he understood he had no way to escape the attack.
'Impressive! He analyzed Nightmaze and turned it against me with just a glance. Too bad he underestimated how powerful an Eldritch is.' Tezka grinned while he rushed towards one of the exits.
The quills covering his body would allow him to tank the stone spikes and suffer minimal injuries. Unfortunately, Tezka hadn't gotten a single thing right.
Lith already had his hands full keeping Life Vision active to predict his enemy's strategies, deflecting the incoming attacks, all the while he cast and kept active several spells at once. He had noticed nothing.
Solus, on the other hand (AN pun intended), had long since learned to quiet her emotions to look at every battle like it was just a chessboard. In the past, her weak core didn't allow her to take part in the battle, only provide Lith intel.
Even now she barely had a couple of decent attacks in her, so she had to make them count. A deep green core didn't give her much juice, so what her spells lacked in power she had to make up with planning and accuracy.
She knew that she didn't have enough power to pierce the hybrid's skin, but that was what the previous attack with his own quills had been for. They had cracked her enemy's armor enough that Tower Defence's stone spikes had an easy time piercing through it and stopping Tezka in his tracks.
The damage combined with the surprise effect paralyzed him long enough for the spikes coming from the other Gates to reach him and stab him from every side.
