2343 Vastor's Worth (Part 1)
Thrud tried to counter Sylpha's Domination with the powers of the Arthan Sword, but they were nullified and overpowered by the modern spells of the Saefel Sword. Before she could do anything, the Mad Queen fell victim to her own spell.
The storm of emerald lightning bypassed Arthan's Armor by drenching Thrud in water.
Every single drop that seeped inside the Davross switched to the earth and darkness elements of Spirit Magic, turning itself into darkness-infused stone spikes that pierced through her body.
Light constantly healed Thrud's wounds, sapping her stamina, while the fire aspect turned part of the rain into steam that burned her throat and lungs. Fueled by Sylpha's will and reinforced by her mana, Rainstorm turned the Arthan Armor into a pressure cooker inside which Thrud was trapped.
"Curse you, Fake Queen!" Thrud had her armor open for a split second to get rid of the steam and relieve the pressure that was boiling her alive as she turned into her real form, that of a Golden Griffon 30 meters (100 feet) tall.
The Arthan Armor grew in size with her, covering Thrud while she used Life Maelstrom to boost her regenerative abilities and then shapeshifted into a humanoid Griffon who could wield the Sword of Arthan after it had adjusted its size as well.
"Cry like the child you are!" Sylpha rebuked while weaving her own spells and conjuring Life Maelstrom from her armor. "I may not share a single drop of Valeron's blood, but I'm more similar to him than any Madness will ever turn you into.
"He was just a man, with no bloodline but his own just like me! He built his legend whereas you stole it."
Thrud activated her bloodline ability, Phantom Echo, to create a double of every spell she cast.
Also, she activated Light Raider. The bloodline ability turned the light element from Thrud's spells into magical runes that she could freely rearrange to form arrays, Light Mastery spells, and more.
She achieved that by mixing the light element of the world energy with her life force, binding it to her will.
The runes of light now shrouded the two Queens, forming healing spells for Thrud, hard-light shields to block Sylpha's attacks, and Tower Tier spells of all elements.
To convert light into another element, the runes produced by Light Rider simply had to sacrifice themselves to conjure what they needed from the remaining part of the world energy they came from.
"Nice try, but it's not enough!" Sylpha had no bloodline ability aside from Domination, yet she refused to back down.
'What was the King thinking when he had me activate the White Griffon?' Marth thought as his battle went from downhill to losing. 'If the other five academies converged on my position, we'd have a chance but as it is, this fight is hopeless.
'Nothing I do works whereas I have no defense against Hystar's attacks!'
Marth had activated Full Guard first, using the dimensional awareness that the spell bestowed upon him to quickly get used to his new body and better follow the enemy's movements.
Yet that was the only one of his strategies that had worked so far.
The Headmaster was a fake mage and even with the academy boosting his spells to Tower Tier, they were still regular spells that belonged to the magical specializations he knew.
The White Griffon also possessed several arrays that he could use akin to true magic to both attack and defend but that wasn't enough.
Hystar mixed Spirit Spells with his swordplay and every one of them reached its target. Elemental sealing arrays were useless, only the White Griffon's shield could block them but it came at the cost of shifting his defense from the sword.
Regular barrier arrays were no match for Tower Tier Spirit spells, let alone for Silverwing's.
Hystar used the Annihilations from his students to coat his sword and overpower Marth's and the Bastions to coat every part of his body that was about to be hit by a spell against which he had failed to defend.
After Manohar's death, Marth had rejuvenated his body and trained like a madman until it had returned to the peak of his youth in order to avenge his fallen friend. It brought his swordplay above and beyond that of a brute like Hystar.
The Cursed Headmaster had been stuck in his academy form for 700 years and Thrud had rarely allowed him to turn into the Golden Knight. Even then, no enemy had been capable of forcing him to use his weapons.
Hystar was a poor swordsman due to his lack of training, but his magic shot down Marth every time he managed to create an opening. Also, the power core of the Golden Griffon was imbued with Decay that Hystar unleashed from point-blank range.
The Cursed Element was quick, incredibly destructive, and Marth had no defense against it. A light sealing array could block it, but Hystar neutralized it with his own magical formations.
On top of that, being the one taking most of the damage, Marth needed healing magic to cure and protect his precious students.
'The students and Professors aren't just the fuel for my spells, they are the people I've sworn to protect at every cost. Even if the Great Mother has turned her back on them, I won't. Also, inside the Golden Griffon there's the bastard who killed Manohar.
'On the day of his death, I swore to kill Meln and this is my opportunity to do it!' The Headmaster's heart was in the right place, but his academy seemed to lack the strength of his convictions.
Hystar blocked a lunge with his shield, bashing Marth's blade to the side as the Golden Griffon launched an all-out attack. A barrage of Spirit and Decay spells struck at the exposed White Griffon.
Thrown out of balance by the Tower Tier spells, Marth took the attack on his neck in full. Were his body made of flesh and blood, it would have been lethal but the White Griffon was comprised of magic and stone.
Marth felt great pain and fell to his knees but he was still alive. A situation that Hystar's descending sword was about to correct.
At the same time, on the battlefield, Vastor stared at the charge of Thrud's seven Divine Beasts in defiance, refusing to move.
"Lith, Tista, Faluel, stay close to me." He suddenly released a pillar of black energy. "Xenagrosh, Kigan, Nandi to me!"
The two Eldritches produced a similar pillar, Warping out of the blue right beside the Master in a way that neither Life Vision nor Dragon Eyes could predict.
"On it!" They said in unison as the Phoenix and the Dragon took a deep breath while the Minotaur clapped his hands in a boom of thunder.
The bio-crystals over his body released the world energy they had accumulated, creating a density so great that Solus' tower became fully operational. Violet light erupted in-between Zoreth's scales and Kigan's feathers.
It moved from their mouth to their neck, then to their chest, and respectively to her lungs and his heart. Xenagrosh hurled a blast of bright violet Origin Flames while Kigan released another with a flap of his wings.
