1965 Light in the Dark (Part 1)

'I'm sorry!' Solus thought as the Awakened forces exploited the lack of teamwork between Bytra and her to surround them. 'Don't worry about me and save yourself. As long as Lith doesn't die, I can't either. I will just lose my human body again.'

She tried to make it sound casual but the fear in her voice betrayed her.

Solus had no idea if the second time it would take her less to recover or if she would have to wait another fifteen years. On top of that, she wasn't even sure about what would happen to the tower and what it contained.

If the magical building regressed to its single floor status, there was no telling what would happen to the materials stored in the Crucible, the mines, and the Greenhouse.

More than the material loss, however, what scared her was the thought of losing the life that she had barely started to enjoy.

'Just lose my human body my ass.' Bytra replied. 'I know how it feels being reduced to a mass of living energy. To be incapable of eating, smelling, and even touching the people you love without killing them.

'You are no Lich, Elphyn. I don't know what Ripha did to you but I'm certain that if you take any more attacks, you'll fall into a slumber again. I don't care what happens to me. Even if you can't stand my touch, I can still protect you with my body.'

A tier five Spirit Spell came onto them and the Raiju shielded Solus while conjuring from her horn an electromagnetic field to disperse the impact. The powerful magic got rid of the makeshift barrier and blasted away Bytra's left side and the Adamant armor she wore.

It would have been a fatal wound even for an Awakened, but an Eldritch was a tough nut to crack. Bytra's body began to heal the moment the emerald energy ceased to vaporize her flesh.

Yet she could still feel the pain from the wounds.

She still bled, drenching Solus in bits of black flesh and blood. More and more spells came down, but Bytra stood still, using every enchantment her equipment had and weaving every spell she knew just to buy Solus one more second.

With each new wound she sustained, her maimed body recovered but it came at a price. The hunger grew within her until the Raiju looked at the woman she had been protecting like prey, drooling from her snout.

Along with the hunger also came the guilt for her actions when she had killed Menadion and Bytra almost lost her mind to a fit of blood madness.

'You have done enough, go!' Solus said, and her voice reminded the Raiju of who she was and what she was fighting for.

She channeled her hunger into Chaos and her guilt into determination as she faced her fate.

"Bytra!" Xenagrosh yelled in outrage, feeling her wife's pain.

"Don't worry, once I bring you to my lab, I'll make sure to put you in adjacent cages." Assali the Lich said. "I won't let such fascinating specimens die and my experiments proved that company makes them live longer."

Most undead couldn't come out during the day, which had crippled the attack strength of the Council. Liches, however, had no such problem. Once Ozak had promised them both a share of the Mouth and the opportunity to capture the hybrids, they had accepted to help him.

Not only Liches were among the most powerful undead, but they also had no fear of Chaos or death. Their phylacteries were safely stored away from the battlefield so they could fight to their heart content without taking any risks.

One Lich wasn't much for Zoreth, but seven of them to cast Silverwing's spells and each one with an army of lesser undead under their command was another story. The forgetful and socially awkward Liches were terrifying existences once they put their mind to something.

They fought with the precision of machines and the cold blood of a gamer who could try even the most reckless tactic without fear. For Liches defeat didn't mean death, just to wait for the respawn countdown to end.

They used body casting to weave their personal tier five Spirit Spells and true magic to cast the Bastion and Annihilation. Zoreth, instead, was alone and could only conjure one of them at a time.

'If I only use Corrupted Bastion, I'll never win but if I use the Chaos Annihilation, they'll shrug it off and rip me to shreds.' She thought while hurling a jet stream of Origin Flames that was countered in kind by a squad of Firebirds.

They flew away immediately after releasing the Origin Flames from their wings while Zoreth was stuck in place so she was the only one suffering from the explosion.

"Elphyn!" Even in his panic Lith, didn't forget to keep Solus' cover.

He had already regained enough energy with his breathing technique and was about to rush towards her when a colossal figure tackled him.

"You had your fun, kid, but now it's over." The creature resembled a huge man 20 meters (66') tall with a stone skin and a hole for a face. Half of his head was an open maw with multiple eyes that blinked amid rows of razor-sharp fangs.

The cavity in the middle of his face seemed to host his eyes, mouth, and nose at the same time since Lith could smell the fetid breath coming from it.

"Get off me!" The Tiamat tried to stab the creature with Double Edge but they were too close and the enemy just needed one hand to lock his wrist in an iron grip.

"You wish." The hole deformed into a vertical grin as a bolt of black lightning coursed through the body of the giant and entered Lith's, ravaging it.

'I recognize this fucker from Faluel's lessons.' He thought while the Corrupted Lightning disabled his fusion magic and reduced the gap in physical prowess between them. 'He's a Jotunn and I bet that he's an evolved human as well.'

The Tiamat had noticed the eyes inside the mouth glowing black while the stone giant activated his bloodline ability in a fashion that reminded Lith of his own.

Jotunns were indeed evolved humans as well who had reached a physical prowess akin to Emperor Beasts and gained mana organs. Just like the Tyrants, they found their condition lacking and disguised themselves as beasts in order to study them.

Their Corrupted Lightning worked similarly to Life Maelstrom, but it was much weaker. The black lightning empowered the Jotunn less than its silver equivalent and couldn't be shared with allies or equipment.

Its only offensive value lay in the ability to disrupt physical skills like body casting and Fusion Magic. On top of that, no matter how much a mage focused, any spell they kept at the ready would be lost as well. In Lith's case, it even disabled his eyes. 

Corrupted Lightning also dealt damage to its victims, but no more than a tier three spell.

Rkar'r the Jotun had joined the mission hoping to capture the Tiamat and extract the secrets of his perfect bloodline abilities. The Council didn't even have to mention the Mouth that he was already in.

The Jotun neared his mouth to Lith's face, to seal off those dangerous eyes with one bite.