āLong story short, if that Dragon is the father, weāre f.u.c.k.e.d!ā
Scarlett summarized the situation for Lith.
āI donāt get it. Iāve already met Thrud. I understand how pregnancy works now, but how could she being pregnant affect her equipment as well? The last time that I fought Thrud, it wasnāt this powerful.ā
Lith asked, yet everyone was at loss for words.
They had no way to know that thanks to her experiments, Thrud had altered her bloodline for good. She had used the Madness to amplify not only Tyrisās blood, but Valeronās as well.
Now she was akin to a direct descendant of the First Royals that had chosen to embrace their Griffon nature instead of turning into a human. The Arthanās equipment was a perfect replica of Saefelās and now it recognized Thrud as Valeron.
The Arthanās set had now fully unlocked its true potential, forever replacing the will of the First King with that of Thrud thanks to half of her blood belonging to Valeron.
āWe can still aim our attacks at her belly, correct?ā
Lith said, receiving only insults in reply.
āHey, the kid may be innocent but Iām not going to die just to be a gentleman. Most of those people were innocent as well but Thrud didnāt give a f.u.c.k about it. I say we return her the favor.ā
He said.
āF.u.c.k my life, heās right.ā
Scarlett bit her tongue to keep her rage in check.
āWe must save Sedra. Iām not letting another child die at the hands of a madman or cruel fate!ā
The trio charged forward, but only the Scorpicore and the Firstborn met Thrud in battle. Jakra stepped in, intercepting War with his own bastard blade, Dragonclaw.
"Are you insane my Queen? Three against one? Let me help!" He said.
"Three against two, actually." Thrud c.a.r.e.s.sed her belly as she needed but one hand to stop with Arthanās Sword the Adamant blades that extended out of Scarlettās forepaws and Vladionās Primordial Thirst.
"The runt makes no difference, but Iāll leave it to you if thatās what you want, honey." Her words made Jakra blush in embarrassment, but they didnāt make him any less fierce of a fighter.
"Walk away, little brother, this is no place for you." The Emerald Dragon said while pushing Lith back thanks to the massive gap in mass between them.
Lith had a perfectly refined body, but Jakraās real form was that of a Dragon weighing several tons with a physical prowess that not even most Awakened Beasts could compare to.
"Leave now and you have my word that no harm will come to you. My Queen is done with her project and there is no point in further bloodshed."
"Depends. Are you the ones who killed my friend Lark and Marchioness Distar?" Lith never stopped his attacks, quite the contrary. He used his words as a diversion while he circulated fusion magic and cast spells with his body.
No matter what Jakra said, the timing of the events was too suspicious. Fighting Thrud was dangerous, but if she was the one threatening everyone he loved, letting her go was even worse.
"Who?" The Emerald Dragonās honest surprise made Lithās hope to have found the sender of the Balkor cards crumble. "Iād never hurt a fellow Dragon."
"Really, then who are those guys linked to the tank?" Lith snarled as a barrage of cantrips rained on the Emerald Dragon from every side, yet Jakra didnāt even bother defending.
His Adamant armor had crystals of seven different colors grafted on its surface, making it immune to such puny spells. They were white, red, blue, orange, black, silver, and yellow.
"Those are imperfect beings, lesser Dragons." Jakra said with a spite that had nothing to do with the slave spell that the Golden Griffon had imposed on him. "Yet I wouldnāt have harmed them either. We did nothing to them. It was their masters sacrificing them for the greater good."
"What?" Lith said in surprise.
He had Solus assume her Hands form and add the mass of her stone doll form to that of his armor while never stopping his attacks and acc.u.mulating world energy.
"Do you really think that Xedros is the only one who wanted to ascend? Who do you think were those guys you fought before coming here?" Jakra replied, noticing something odd.
"The Council and the Guardians left behind so many abandoned children that all I had to do was to offer them a hand and give them hope." Thrud snarled as Vladion managed to shrug off his paternal instincts and took the kid gloves off.
"As for Lark and Distar, they were loyal servants of the Kingdom. When I find the filthy traitor who dared to kill them, Iāll make them an example that will be still sung centuries from now!"
"Our interests align, little brother." Jakra nodded at her words.
"Walk away and weāll take care of the problem for you. My Queen even plans to take revenge on Balkor for betraying her beloved country."
On the one hand, a bloody, possibly deadly fight and getting the help of two powerful beings on the other. Lith didnāt care for the undead nor for Sedra. They were already dead and avenging them would bring him no advantage.
Thrud was a problem of the Kingdom, not his own. Yet the thought of Xedros becoming a Dragon, of what might happen if the Mad Queen ever sat on the throne was hard to set aside.
"One last question. Do you know who killed my people?" Lith lunged at Jakraās head who deflected War, only for the Wyrmling to flick his wrist and exploit their combined strength to strike with doubled speed.
"No. We were too busy with this project to meddle with the Kingdomās internal affairs." Jakra grunted, needing all of his strength to deflect the blade.
āThis makes no sense.ā
He thought.
āLith is just a humanoid Wyrmling, how can he be so strong? How can he become heavier and stronger by the second?ā
"Vladion?" Two fully developed horns came out of Lithās forehead, a long tail from his back, and the second set of wings was atrophied no more.
"I swear on Raduskās life that I can find out who they are!" The Firstborn couldnāt afford the Wyrmling walking away.
The two of them were slowly overpowering Thrud. If the Emerald Dragon joined the fray, however, the tide of the battle would turn.
"Sorry, big brother. As long as Iām paid, I always follow my job through." Lith hurled a jet-stream of Origin Flames that met Jakraās halfway, causing a big explosion that pushed them away and threw Thrud off balance.
The Scorpicore and the Firstborn didnāt miss the opening, unleashing their respective best spells.
Scarlett conjured the tier five Spirit Magic-Light Mastery spell, Spirit Mastery. The hexa-elemental spell used her hard-light constructs to further enhance its speed and durability, doubling the amount of light element.
The final result was a tidal wave of emerald-golden energy as hard as Orichalc.u.m yet as fluid as water that flooded Thrud without harming Vladion.