"You're mine!" Gremlik went for the kill, unleashing another tier five spell, Silent Reaper.
A small sized tornado appeared around Kalla, surrounding her from every side. Its edges spun slowly, cutting everything they touched into a fine dust. Flying magic was useless and Erlik was still blocking dimensional magic, leaving her no way out.
"Lith!" Phloria yelled while kicking the ghoul who had engaged her away. The potion she had previously ingested allowed her to fight on par with the undead, but she couldn't defend herself and Kalla at the same time.
The creature snarled, using his venomous nails to slash at her still extended leg in riposte. A ghoul's bite and hands were their best weapons. They secreted a paralyzing toxin that made their victims helpless and seasoned their flesh.
Yet the ghoul's nails only hit the Orichalcum of her armor. The undead was about to purse Phloria when an invisible force pulled him away.
"Don't get close to him, no matter what!" Pala the Nightwalker yelled to warn his ally. The ghoul noticed that even though Nightwalkers were close combat specialist, his fellow undead was keeping her distance.
Her shadow body was covered with hideous scars that even her blood core was having trouble mending.
"Get over here!" Lith's spirit magic had completely tied the ghoul up, whereas the Nightwalker had used the air fusion she had carried over from her Thorn nature to break free from the human's hold before it was too late.
Four huge limbs came out of Lith's back, each one ending with what resembled a shadow maw.
The ghoul was a veteran fighter, so he knew the basic powers all Awakened had. Megon recognized immediately Spirit Magic, and acted accordingly. He used earth fusion to boost his defense and free himself from the invisible grip.
Then, instead of following Pala's advice, he bolted toward Lith as fast as an arrow.
Megon the ghoul wasn't afraid of darkness magic and sneered at the Nightwalker's cowardice.
'How can she have survived this long without learning how to deal with such measly spells?' Megon thought while covering his body with a thick layer of darkness element.
It would protect him from Lith's Death Call and give him the opportunity to exploit a ghoul's uncanny regenerative abilities to break through the enemy's offense. As long as his heart was intact, Megon's body would always fully regenerate with minimum strain on his blood core.
Plague Bringer, the twin katars he wielded, were akin to extensions of his arms. Not only they could regenerate as fast as their owner, but they also were able to channel the ghoul's venom through their blade.
One scratch was enough to put an end to most fights.
"Megon, you idiot!" Pala said, managing to turn pale despite the fact that turning into a Nightwalker had blackened her skin.
Only when the limbs from Death Call formed a cocoon to hide the fight from prying eyes instead of attacking him did Megon realize his mistake. Lith's grin grew larger, revealing the blue flames burning inside his throat.
Nightwalkers regenerative abilities weren't as powerful as those of a ghoul, yet leaving even a scratch on them when their blood core was full to the brim was quite a feat. Yet Pala's wounds were still open and her Thorn body was almost charred.
Megon suffered the same fate when a jet of Origin Flames engulfed him. The cleansing fire ate through the layer of darkness magic protecting the ghoul, feasting upon both the ghoul and his weapons.
Megon wanted to run away, but that would have meant to leave his back exposed and go through the thick layer of darkness the cocoon Death Call had formed without any protection.
'If Pala survived, then so can I! I didn't live this long just to get killed by a brat.' Megon had no idea of what Origin Flames were, so he believed that his undead constitution could take another few blows.
Usually, those who met even a lesser dragon wouldn't survive the encounter and there was no way to distinguish them from a normal fire until one felt their sting. The ghoul could feel that something was wrong.
The flames weren't just damaging his body, but directly attacking his life force as well. The Origin Flames wore down the energy stored inside the ghoul's blood core, sapping his strength as if he had been thrown into a volcano.
'That's why Pala didn't heal! Why didn't I dodge those stupid flames in the first place?' Megon thought while lunging at Lith's left eye and right leg at the same time.
One of the advantages of his dual-wielding style was the ability to pierce through the enemy defenses since he could perform twice the attacks. Wounds weren't a problem for ghouls so they could devote solely on the offensive.
Much to his surprise, Ruin shrunk to the size of a short blade and deflected the first katar, matching both its speed and precision. The second blade, instead, kept clashing against Lith's left hand, dealing no damage whatsoever.
'No matter how good his armor and earth fusion are, Plague Bringer is capable of piercing through the strongest metals. I only need a wound the size of a pinhole to turn the tides.' He thought.
Yet a breath worth of time passed and nothing happened. Lith's lungs were filled with air again and blue flames crept out of his teeth and engulfed the ghoul again.
Megon stored his weapons inside his dimensional amulet, leaving his hands free to perform the necessary hand signs and Blink away to safety. Neither Lith's nor Solus mystical senses could perceive the exact position of a ghoul's heart.
It could be freely moved and it was a physical organ that even lacked a heartbeat that could betray its current location. Lith was in a rush to finish his fight. If the Nightwalker attacked Phloria, causing Kalla's demise, Erlik's triumph would be inevitable.
His left hand moved like a snake, grabbing Megon's arm to keep him from getting away. Then, he unleashed the tier five spell Setting Sun from his right hand that was now placed on the enemy's chest.
It was a mix of fire and darkness magic, so that the regular flames would cover the effects of Origin Flame while the darkness element would kill the ghoul for good. Instead of shaping the black flames into a sphere around himself, Lith focused the entirety of the spell in a single pillar of energy.
The sudden burst of Setting Sun engulfed Megon, pierced through the dark cocoon hiding the two warriors, and converged on Pala's position. Megon wore one of the best armor money could buy on the Jiera continent, but it wasn't enough.
The armor's pseudo core had spent a good chunk of its energy to withstand the Origin Flames, leaving it not enough juice to take the full force of a tier five spell from point-blank range.
The beam of black fire was akin to a raging river. It exerted such a pressure that Megon's right arm was ripped off its joint, remaining in Lith's hand, while the rest of the ghoul went crashing against his ally.
Pala was far away enough to realize what was happening and Blink, but her exit point was as clear as day to Lith's Life Vision. He split the beam in two, with one half pinning the ghoul to the ground while the other half followed the Nightwalker's movements.
