2302 Glimmer of Hope (Part 2)

'Please, kill me. I don't want to hurt you.' The Raiju cried non-stop, her muzzle twisting due to her inner conflict yet the horn never stopped.

'And I don't want to hurt you either!' Solus said. 'This is not you, Bytra. Fight it!'

She actually had no way to damage the Raiju from that position, but such a cynical statement would have only compromised Bytra's focus.

'Maybe you can't but I can. Never again!' Bytra felt the Adamant of the Voidwalker give way to her horn and then the piercing through Solus' flesh.

The smell of blood and the sight of the wound gave the Raiju a fit of blood madness that the Unwavering Loyalty array tried to suppress whereas Bytra fanned its flames.

The shock put her two cores at odds as they rejected each other, undoing Vastor's hard work.

'Bytra, no!' Solus could feel the energy inside the Raiju going haywire, her body bloating and contracting in the effort to repress the wild energies.

Solus managed to slip away from the horn, but she couldn't abandon Bytra.

At the same time, Lith was taking quite a beating. Even with the Life Maelstrom boosting him, the gap in experience between him and Zoreth was enormous. The silver lightning put them physically and magically on par, but it wasn't enough.

The Shadow Dragon's every limb was a lethal weapon that she used with surgical precision and ruthless cunning. She fought with her weapon, fists, legs, tail, and fangs whereas Lith had trouble even coordinating War with his tail while flying.

'On the ground I could use my wings to fight back, but in the air, I'm an infant compared to her.' He inwardly cursed as a huge fist slipped past his guard and left a huge dent in his armor.

It also knocked the air out of him, neutralizing the burst of Origin Flames he kept at the ready.

'From below! The left hook is a feint that will turn into an uppercut! Sky Piercer is going to extend the ring and index finger, keeping the middle to stab after shifting your guard!' Zoreth said via the mind link.

If not for the Shadow Dragon explaining her attacks before her body threw them, Lith would have already died 100 times.

"I would love to stay here and witness your death, but sadly I have more important things to do. Glory to Arthan!" Hystar started to walk away as soon as Lith and Solus seemed to be about to die.

A corned or Lith's mind wondered why the academy was in the middle of nowhere and what might be so important to ignore them. Then, the answer to his second question dawned on him.

In the grand scheme of Thrud's plans, his death was of little relevance. Either she didn't consider him a threat or she was keeping him alive to entrust Valeron the Second to him in case of her defeat.

"Everything is set. Are you ready, Theseus?" Nandi asked.

"I am." The Bastet nodded. "Start with Bytra. She's about to blow!"

The Minotaur used the world energy he had collected to open a Warp Steps just big enough for the Raiju to fit.

Static Field didn't seal elemental magic, it just made dimensional spells require insane amounts of mana to overcome the array's interference.

The Minotaur had simply gathered enough power to counter Static Field. Theseus's vines bolted inside the dimensional door, dragging the Raiju near her companions and away from the Golden Griffon.

The Warp closed shut, cutting the golden tendrils of the Unwavering Loyalty array.

"Solus is safe, Bytra! You can save yourself now. We'll keep you still." Theseus bound her with his vines until she couldn't move a muscle.

Only then did the Raiju stop overloading her cores on purpose. Usually it wouldn't have been enough to save her life, but between the Bastet's mastery over life forces and the slave array's healing properties, soon Bytra was stable again.

"Ready?" Nandi asked.

"Ready!" Theseus unleashed a second volley of vines through the portal that Nandi opened.

This time it was much bigger since Zoreth was a Divine Beast, but the further the Golden Griffon went, the more world energy the Minotaur could muster and the weaker the effects of Static Field.

"Insolent fool!" Zoreth unleashed a burst of Origin Flames from all over her body, burning the vines and freeing herself before Theseus could immobilize her.

It was the reason he replied with a blast of Origin Flames of his own as he punched her in the face.

Two against one created an opening in her seamless defense that Lith exploited to stab her again. Counter Flow fought the effects of the Unwavering Loyalty array and the Tiamat pushed Zoreth past the Steps.

"Excellent thinking, guys." After the dimensional passage closed and cut off the golden tendrils, Zoreth could feel the influence of the slave spell weakening. "Keep me still, please."

She conjured the Chaos from her black core and flooded her body with it. It devoured the foreign energy of the Unwavering Loyalty array until no trace of its runes remained in her life force.

Then, she conjured the Decay from her troll core, using it to heal the wounds left by the Chaos. By combining the Cursed Elements Zoreth had achieved the same effects of the passing of several weeks in just a few seconds, cleansing every lingering trace of the slave array.

"Take your sword out, little brother, and stab Bytra now." Zoreth said after both diagnostic spells and Invigoration confirmed her full recovery.

"Where? She's no troll and I don't want to kill her." Lith asked.

"Struck it in that big ass of hers. It'll be painful but far from lethal." The Shadow Dragon replied.

"You heard her. If you have to, take it on your wife." Lith said while taking War out of Double Edge and plunging it into Bytra's side.

"Lith, no!" Solus had just reached them by flight. "She risked her life to protect me. How could you do that and how could you guys let him?"

"It's for her own good. Look closely." Zoreth pointed at the bleeding gluteus. "Lith, mind link us, please."

While War suppressed the effects of the slave array, the Shadow Dragon instructed Bytra about how to remove the runes infecting her life force. The Raiju's conditions were still critical so they needed to take things nice and slowly.

First Zoreth fed Bytra with the Decay from her troll core.

The Cursed Light both sated the Chaos' hunger while also giving the Goblin side the energy to recover. Once the two cores and life forces were perfectly balanced again, the Raiju could safely use the Chaos on herself again.

Her Abomination side devoured the runes left on it by the slave array. What remained on the goblin side wasn't enough to control her anymore, restoring her free will. Lith used War's Counter Flow ability to exploit the weakened state of the residual slave spell to shatter it.

The runes would still be there for at least a week but in their broken and smudged state, the precise series of instructions required to control a living being was reduced to a bunch of meaningless words.