2321 The Monster You Create (Part 1)

'I have your Life Maelstrom and my own reserve is full. Even if Verhen pulls some dirty trick out of his ass, I have everything I need to turn him into mincemeat in a split second.'

Xondar shapeshifted his hand into a hybrid form ending with razor-sharp talons and had his Adamant weapon coat them. The Garuda used air magic to float a centimeter above the ground and darkness magic to cancel his presence.

He closed in slowly until all he needed to strike was one move.

'I wonder why Verhen is conjuring clouds. His Demons get stronger with sunlight, not without.' He mistook the storm for Lith's doing and the small pebbles bouncing around for the Golden Griffon stomping the ground.

Xondar had been a ruthless and methodical predator even when he was still a Lesser Garuda. Evolution had made him much deadlier.

In a single step as quick as lightning he covered the dozens of meters separating him from Lith. He twisted his arm, wrist, and knife hand as it struck Lith's back, extending his Adamant-coated talons in a makeshift yet effective drill.

Lith weighed tons, but so did the Garuda. His armor was sturdy and heavy, but not only did Xondar have equipment of the same quality, but he had also attacked from a blind spot.

His arm entered from Lith's back and came out from the chest, piercing through Adamant, Dragon bones, and Lith's body in one fluid movement. A dark liquid gushed everywhere, covering the grass around Phloria's body.

The Garuda's open hand held Lith's black heart which he squashed while clenching his fist in victory.

"Isn't this romantic? Dying in the same way as your girlfriend must have healed your broken heart. At least until I broke it for real." Xondar said with a laugh while a Life Maelstrom-infused hard-light cube and a Sealed Space surrounded Lith's still-standing corpse.

Thrud had given precise instructions to make sure that Solus' ring had no way to escape her minions without having to explain them the reason.

"It was fun knowing you, Verhen. We finally settled our score even though I have to admit that I'd have preferred a fair f-" Xondar's voice died when Lith's head turned around to watch him in the eyes.

No neck was supposed to turn a full 180 degrees nor the eyes to be fully white already. Tears were still streaming down his cheeks, but they were pitch-black.

"You have taken Phloria away from me and now you want Solus as well?" His voice was cold. "You are no Thrud, but you're good enough to send her a message for me."

Xondar tried to pull his arm free, but it was stuck. He struck at Lith with his free hand, but from such a close distance, it was an awkward punch that the Tiamat had no problem blocking.

'What kind of muscles can he have in his chest so strong that-' Only then did the Garuda notice that the blood on his arm was also black.

At first, he had dismissed it as an oddity of the Tiamat bloodline, but now the blood was slithering back into place, wrapping around his arm and seeping under his armor.

"My message is simple. You take from me, I kill everything and everyone you have." Lith embraced Xondar, locking him into place while War rose through the air.

The grieving blade wailed its pain and impaled them both.

"Not so funny when it's you who has a hole in the chest, isn't it?" Lith said while blood gurgled from Xondar's mouth. "Don't worry. We'll both heal, which means I get to kill you over and over."

The Void ate at the Garuda from the inside while War crushed his heart and used its abilities to keep Xondar from escaping. The construct and the Sealed Space that were meant to trap Lith now trapped the Garuda as well and Iata couldn't afford to drop either or he would escape.

Xondar's body disappeared inside Lith's. The Void devoured him whole to recover the strength and mana consumed during the failed attempt to rescue Phloria. Yet that was only the beginning.

"Thanks for the meal." Lith stood up slowly and took War out of his chest that was now healed. "Thanks for all three of them."

The angry blade was bursting with the blackness of Chaos and silver bolts of lightning crackled from its pommel to the tip.

Lith shapeshifted from his Abomination into his Tiamat form before its endless hunger could feed upon the Life Maelstrom he had stolen from the Garuda. Everything that Iata had given Xondar and that was stored inside his mana organ now belonged to Lith.

He used his Spirit Eye to bend the silver lightning to his will and his yellow eye to boost it. At the same time, he had Double Edge fuse with War to increase its mass and power.

'According to Solus, Life Maelstrom is comprised of air element and life force so my yellow eye should have some sort of interaction with it.' He thought as a single lunge of War shattered the spells encasing him.

'Fuck, Xondar is gone and somehow Verhen is overcharged. Yet he's still alone and there's four of us.' Iata signaled the others to attack while she called for reinforcements.

With the advantage from Life Maelstrom down the gutter, they needed three more people to cast Silverwing's spells and keep Lith from using his Blade Magic.

Ophius the Quetzalcoatl whipped at Lith with his tail.

The offspring of Fenagar lacked limbs, but the length of their bodies made up for it. His armor was equipped with blades all along its surface so that he could cut through his prey after wrapping around them.

Also, at the end of Ophius' tail, there was a heavy mace that could be further stretched by a chain into a morning star. War burst with silver and black light, cutting through the Adamant in a single slash.

The mace, the chain, and the end of the Quetzalcoatl's' tail were cut asunder at the same time, spurting a fountain of blood.

'Retreat and heal!' Iata ordered him as she took point and conjured several hard-light constructs to both attack and defend. 'Ufyl, what are you doing? We need you?'

The Seven Headed Dragon was staring at the small corpse that Lith stood to defend, his eyes wet with tears.

'I'm with you.' Ufyl snapped out of his grief and used his polearm to keep Lith away.

He took a deep breath, unleashing a burst of Origin Flames boosted by Life Maelstrom.

Lith sidestepped the spearhead and blocked the Flames with his bare off-hand. The Mana Aura he had stolen bought him enough time to take over a third bloodline ability as well before it could deal him any damage.

Then, he threw it back along with a jet stream of his own.

The two Origin Flames merged into Primordial Flames, painting the forest white with the blinding explosion that followed.

'Good gods, what was that?' Ufyl thought. 'If not for Dregham's Mana Body and the constructs, we would be dead now.'

'Stay behind me!' Ophius used the Elemental Flow bloodline ability to encase Lith in a full set of elemental sealing arrays, leaving him only Spirit Magic.