2462 Much Worse (Part 2)

They came as close as they could before blowing themselves up as well.

Feeling her power core threatened, the cursed glaive released the tier five spell, Frozen Night. Black snow appeared from the merging of water and darkness magic, smothering the flames and allegedly countering the darkness and heat that animated the Origin Demons.

Alas, their armors were white as well, but not from the ice. The spell froze the silvery parts of the metal but was repelled whenever it met the streaks. The light of the flames reflected on the impossible armor, producing a golden glimpse.

"Gold-veined white marble?" Stargazer said in astonishment. "Sure, it's hard and magic resistant, but it can't be used to forge weapons, let alone mix it with metals. It's impossible!"

"So says you." Valia was back, this time her Adamant equipment was fully coated in gold-veined white marble, resisting both the Davross' edge and the might of the spells. "As I said, my master is worse than the Golden Griffon, remember?"

The black tides coming from the stumps were turning white, each Demon became more difficult to banish with each passing second and the time before their return decreased as the colossus stepped toward the center of the mana geyser.

When the creature stood above the ground below which the tower was hidden, the link between the artifact and its masters could no longer be hindered by the Distortion Field array.

Another pillar of golden light emerged from the ground and reached for the sky. For the second time in a single day, the ground quaked and the clouds swirled around the column of energy generated by the hybrid.

Black tendrils of darkness emerged from the amputated limbs still laying on the ground where the Ragin Sun had carried them while gold-veined white tendrils erupted from the forearms of the colossus, reaching for each other.

"It's healing!" Windfell's host was finally whole again and the cursed scimitar yelled his warning. He ordered his flesh puppet to gulp nutrients non-stop in preparation for the battle. "We must kill Verhen before he recovers completely. Come to me!"

Stargazer and Knightfall had earlier had no trouble dealing with hundreds of Demons of the Darkness. They had cut through the Demons' ranks like a scythe felling ripe wheat, without ever slowing their advance.

Now, however, they were dealing with thousands of Origin Demons who not only kept coming back, but also whose equipment made them harder to kill by the second and who would also detonate when fatally wounded.

The living legacies had taken no step forward since the colossus had unleashed their army of flaming shadows. The three cursed weapons had been slowly pushed back, the distance with their enemy only increasing.

Stargazer and Knightfall disengaged as quickly as they could while also taking as little damage as possible but that was hard against an enemy who wasn't afraid of death.

The Demons' might was fueled by the geyser that in turn fed the hybrid formed by Lith and Solus. The constant flow of world energy gave the Demons substance while a spark of life force ignited the mana the souls were imbued with into Origin Flames.

Usually, releasing so much life force would have had catastrophic effects on Lith's cracked essence, but that wasn't the case anymore. Whenever he fused with Solus, their life forces would merge as well.

Their respective cracks would be carried over to the hybrid, but the tower's primary directive more than made up for it. Menadion's first and foremost order was to preserve her daughter and heal any injury Solus may have suffered, no matter the form she would take.

Now that Solus and Lith were one, the tower was mending their combined life force. The power of the mana geyser flowed through them, plugging the cracks in their essence to keep it from spilling and slowly stitching their edges.

It was what Dawn had perceived during her fight against the hybrid in the Odi's underground lab. It was the reason no matter how many powerful spells the colossus conjured, they kept getting stronger over time.

By plugging the cracks in Lith's life force, the tower allowed him to truly go all-out without the risk of inflicting more damage on himself. Ever since he had saved Protector, Lith had always instinctively held back to protect his damaged life force.

Now, however, he could finally employ his full might, the true power of his Tiamat form. Yet that was just the first step of the ever-increasing might of the hybrid. After the fusion, their mana cores were perfectly harmonized.

Lith's core had reached the bright violet thanks to the synergy with Solus' and obtained a life force capable of harnessing that strength. Flooded by the sudden influx of nourishment, Solus' had recovered up to the bright blue.

It gave her more power, granting her the ability to fuel all of Lith's spells and boost them with her own mana. Also, it meant that the tower regained more floors. That part of the energy that was no longer needed by her life support system could be now employed to restore the tower core.

The hybrid's body held three cores whose power was shared and amplified in an endless loop. Lith's newfound strength healed Solus faster which in turn restored the tower faster.

Which each repaired floor the artifact also recovered a part of its power core and became capable of processing more world energy. World energy that would further strengthen Lith, starting the cycle anew.

The three living legacies reunited close enough to the mana geyser to feed from its energy but far enough to escape the incoming horde of Origin Demons for the time necessary to cast Silverwing's Annihilation.

There was a reason those three had been chosen for the mission. Not only were they capable of countering all kinds of spells and bloodline abilities, but they could also use Silverwing's anti-Guardian spells at their full might.

Each one of them had their own power core plus the mana core of a bright violet Awakened, making them more powerful than six Council Elders.

On top of that, between the Yggdrasill wood's ability to store and combine spells and the Evil Eyes sucking up the world energy to fuel them, the staff had the equivalent of an extra mana core of its own.

"This victory leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth." Windfell sighed. "I never had to use the Annihilation to kill a mere Divine Beast."

"Shut up and focus!" Knightfall said. "Until that thing is standing, I'm not going to count my chickens before they hatch."

The black and white tendrils had found each other, reattaching the severed arms to the stumps. Black flames cauterized the edges of the wounds while what looked like gold-veined white scabs formed around the forearms.

No more Origin Demons would come out, but that was hardly good news. Thousands of flaming shadows clad in white and gold were swarming the cursed objects from every direction.

"Now, before it's too late!" At Stargazer's mark, they stopped amplifying the Annihilation and shot it at the colossus' head. "I don't know nor care how Verhen can summon so many Demons or where their equipment comes from.

"If he dies, they die and whatever his secret is will be part of our prize!"