Chapter 3861: Favorite Toy (Part 2)

Bytra coughed up a mouthful of blood and spat it to the side, ensuring that her acidic blood wouldn’t worsen Lith’s injuries.

She activated the power of the Maw of Bytra and conjured a Chaos Annihilation while the darkness-sealing array was still fading.

The anti-Guardian spell moved faster than Raum had ever seen and caught him by surprise. The Annihilation struck before his enchanted barriers could fully form, piercing through them like wet paper.

Once again, the Wonderer took the blow almost in full. Once again, if not for the Eyes, Solus would have thought the creature to be unscathed.

’The problem is not that we are weak.’ Solus wielded the Sage Staff and prepared for her last stand. ’That guy is just too strong. What kind of monster can outspeed Bytra, cast a Blade Spell with no equipment, and withstand that much punishment?’

The readings of the Eyes of Menadion brooked no doubt about that. Raum wielded no weapon and wore no armor, yet Pillars of Eternity was a powerful Blade Spell that carried the combined might of several power cores.

On top of that, both the Dread Flames and the Chaos Annihilation had dealt no visible damage to the Eldritch.

"Yours is a dangerous spell, sister." Raum traced lines in the air with his fingers, forming a Chaos Annihilation with blinding speed. "Is there a way to defend against it?"

He released his anti-Guardian spell with intentional delay, giving Bytra the time to conjure a Decay Bastion.

"What the heck?" The Raiju felt barely any pressure on her barrier.

Raum’s Annihilation possessed little destructive power. His goal was to expose Bytra’s countermeasures, not kill her. She was his true objective, and he needed her alive.

"Thanks, sister." The Wonderer conjured a Bastion of his own and crashed against the Fourth Ruler of the Flames in his black lightning form. "Now sleep."

The two Bastions canceled each other, leaving Bytra’s head open against Raum’s electrified touch. Her body sizzled and writhed uncontrollably as the Chaos-infused spell robbed her of her consciousness.

Then, he raised his head to meet Solus’ gaze and take note of the many spells she kept at the ready in the Safe Staff.

"Come down, little girl, or I’ll kill Verhen." The Wonderer pointed a finger brimming with Chaos energy at the unconscious Tiamat’s head. "Now that I have Bytra, I don’t need Menadion anymore.

"I can’t control her without you, and I need to be sure that I can control you through Verhen. Yet keeping a disgusting, useless sack of flesh like you alive is a bother I’d rather avoid, even if it costs me the secrets of Verhen’s power.

"So do me a favor, little girl. Struggle. Defy me. Die in a senseless fight against me. Give me a reason to break Father’s new favorite toy!"

The savage smile filled with hatred that appeared on the Eldritch’s face destroyed any will Solus had to fight.

Raum was neither bluffing nor wrong. He already captured Bytra, and unless Solus revealed the tower’s existence to him, the Wonderer had no reason to keep Lith alive if he couldn’t control Menadion.

"Father?" Solus came down with her hands raised and as many spells as the Sage Staff could contain. "Do you mean the Master?"

"No, he means me." Leegaain extended his right arm in a palm strike that Raum countered with a mirror movement.

The resulting clap sent Solus flying for over a kilometer, her body skipping off the ground like a smooth stone on the surface of a lake many times before all the momentum was dispersed.

The crater where Lith’s broken body lay turned into a flatland hundreds of meters across and dozens of meters below the ground level. Lith and Bytra survived the shockwave only thanks to the Father of all Dragons’ protection.

The defensive enchantments of their armors were too weak to shield their owners from damage of that magnitude.

"You’ve gotten strong, Azith." Leegaain looked at his bleeding palm, unsure whether to be impressed or disgusted by his son’s accomplishments. "Too bad you had to fall into an Eldritch to achieve this power."

"Father?" Raum’s voice trembled in shock. "You can’t be here. Not now. Not yet!"

Before Leegaain could even formulate a thought, the Wonderer conjured his most powerful Eldritch Blade Spell, Death Blossom. The Wonderer’s entire body overloaded with all elements in an instant and exploded in a torrent of energy beams, each the size of a train.

’This is not a Chaos spell!’ Leegaain cast a darkness-sealing array that had no effect on Death Blossom. ’This thing contains all elements but Spirit Magic and moves way too fast to intercept it.’

Most of the spell was aimed at Lith and Bytra, only a small part would have struck the Guardian. At least a hundred energy beams converged at Solus’ position while the rest scattered in every direction.

The Guardian sighed, raising a protective shield around the fallen warriors and leaving himself exposed. Death Blossom ripped his clothes and opened several shallow wounds across Leegaain’s body.

The battering downpour of destruction lasted for several seconds, and when it stopped, there was no trace left of Raum.

"Wake up, kid. We have to move." Leegaain used his breathing technique, Worldkeeper, to heal Lith and Bytra before Warping them to Solus’ position and healing her as well.

"What happened?" Lith asked. "Where are we?"

"Away from that." Leegaain jabbed his thumb over his shoulder just a split second before a massive explosion formed a mushroom cloud right where the group had stood until a moment before. "Azith triggered the self-destruction mechanism of his lab as soon as I appeared."

"Who’s Azith, and why didn’t you stop him?" Bytra didn’t feel grateful for the rescue, only angered at the Guardian. "Why did you save Lith and not Zor? Isn’t she your daughter as well?"

"Azith is another of my children, and I didn’t stop him because if I did, Lith would have died." Leegaain replied, his tone calm and polite. "I didn’t save Zoreth not because I didn’t want to, but because I couldn’t.

"The cloaking field of the lab was powerful enough to cloud her position to my senses, and I couldn’t focus on cracking it while protecting you all. In case you doubt my love for my daughter, know that she’s the only reason you are still alive, child.

"I owe you no protection. Your existence is irrelevant at best for me and dangerous at worst."

"Not to look the gifted Dragon in the mouth, but why did you save me?" As the concussion cleared, Lith injected mana into the Voidwalker armor to repair it before the armor’s enchantments collapsed. "You never had qualms about letting me die in the past."

"You are right, but also wrong." Leegaain used his breathing technique to investigate the area, finding no trace of his wayward son. "I’ve never protected you from the consequences of your actions, and I never will.

"Yet when I asked your parents for a sample of their blood, I promised your mother that I would protect you from my enemies. Azith was about to kill you only to hurt me, so here I am."

"Thanks, Mom." Lith and Solus said in unison while turning to look in Lutia’s direction.

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