A single flap of her wings altered the density of the world energy in the mine, focusing it around Friya. Before Lith could counter it, the bright blue energy of her core burst out and her body started to be torn apart inside out. 'Fuck me sideways! Nalrond, you protect her with your life, and don't worry about the crystals. I'll take care of them for you.' Lith said via the mind link as Friya's screams of agony echoed through the cave. "Now it's three against two." Ekidna whispered, yet everyone could hear her clearly. She focused on the gems that covered Lith's hands, feeling them fighting on par with her wings despite their incomplete state. The left glove missed several crystals, unbalancing the artifact's power. "Why do you keep saying two if there's only you here, Ekidna?" Morok asked to buy as much time as he could. He knew how dangerous a breakthrough was and didn't want to put Friya's life at risk for no reason. The Fomor in front of him had yet to show any sign of hostility. Quite the contrary, she seemed meek and dejected. "Because as any good slave, she never forgets about her master." A deep voice said. The man who walked from behind Ekidna seemed to be in his mid-twenties. He was about 1.83 meters (6') tall, with thick golden hair and ice-blue eyes. He had a lean, almost effeminate build that made him look even taller and handsome features. The bright violet aura he exuded made everyone feel like an ant in front of an elephant, sending a cold shiver down their spines. "Dad?" Morok's hammers fell to the ground along with his jaw from the surprise. "Who else, son?" Glemos the Tyrant pointed at the multi-colored scales that covered Morok's body and then at Ekidna's wings. "You two are the fruits of centuries of experiments. "Selective breeding, life force alterations, you have no idea how long it took me to reach this point or how desperate I was to meet you away from that ignorant, violent Drake." 'There's no time to lose.' Lith said Protector. 'While they are busy catching up, take out your amulet and call Faluel. I'll focus on covering your back and keeping Ekidna from interfering with the signal.' "Is she… my sister?" Morok stuttered each word, afraid of his father's madness as he realized that Glemos had pulled their strings all along. "Don't be stupid." Glemos laughed cruelly at the idea. "I would never mate with a disgusting Balor. I simply bred them for generations while they wore my Harmonizers until I perfected them enough to obtain this." He waved at Ekidna as if she was a showpiece instead of a person. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖 "Now follow me. Your friend Verhen has an ill reputation and I don't like being in a place where I can't use my mystical senses on him." Glemos turned around, but no one else moved. Protector moved closer to Lith, keeping his right hand wielding Boros visible as he conjured the communication amulet in his left that he kept behind the Tiamat's back. "Seriously? Do you think my eyes are for decoration or what?" Two eyes appeared on his palms, two on his shoulders, and the remaining two took the place of his human eyes. "On second thought, don't bother answering." The yellow eye shone, severing the invisible dimensional connection that linked the runes engraved on the surface of the Protector's amulet with those he had shared his rune with. Protector tapped Faluel's rune, but the piece of silver he held had no magical properties anymore. Then, a bolt of lightning came out of the yellow eye, following the trail that linked it to the amulet and using the communication device so that not a single spark strayed from Protector's body. The Skoll fell to the ground, his eyes white, as the smell of burned fur and cooked meat spread through the cave. Lith reacted instantly, using the Hands of Menadion to intercept the spell and seal Glemos' magical abilities, yet a flap of Ekidna's wings restored the elemental balance. "Nice artifact. I'll take that." The Tyrant's blue eye lit up, encasing Lith in a pillar of ice several meters thick whose temperature reached 200 degrees below zero. Lith had learned back in Jiera that his Tiamat form was weak to water and had prepared several contingency measures, but none of them could counter the gap between his deep violet core and Glemos' bright violet. The spellcasting had been near instant and Cold Grasp sapped the heat in his body so quickly that Lith fainted while he was still struggling. Solus made the Hands disappear and had her stone form overlap with the cloaking rings not to be discovered. 'I could free Lith, but then what? I have no idea how Glemos can cast so quickly and I'm no match for him.' She thought. "Odd." The Tyrant had a puzzled look as he noticed that the artifact had disappeared. "Another mystery that I have to solve. Don't worry about your friends. I'm not going to kill them straight away. They are all excellent specimens." "I'm not going to follow you." Morok acted tough, but he kept glancing at Friya who kept screaming non-stop. The body refinement had reached the bones, cracking them into bits to squeeze out the smallest of impurities. Her agony was blinding, but nothing compared to what would happen once the process reached her organs. "Please, don't act as if you have a choice." Glemos' silver eye shone, overtaking all the constructs that Nalrond had painstakingly erected and shattering them at once. Domination replaced the Rezar's energy signature with the Tyrant's so that when the shards pierced the body of their original caster, they were no different from real blades, turning Nalrond into Swiss cheese. "Remember, son, spells are energy and energy does whatever we want it to do." The hard-light shards turned into healing spells that healed the Rezar and drained his vitality. Nalrond fainted standing, refusing to leave Friya unprotected even after the last bit of strength left his body. Morok had tried the whole time to use his own Domination to stop his father's, but the spells were too fast and his willpower seemed to hit an iron wall whenever he tried to take control. He was barely in his mid-twenties whereas Glemos had spent centuries, if not millennia, honing his skills. For the first time in his life, Morok cared enough about his father to wonder how old he was. 'Think, brain. Think. What do I know about Dad?'? The word "Asshole" kept popping in his mind over and over along with unpleasant childhood memories but nothing he could use against his estranged parent. 'Thanks, brain. Very useful like always.' Morok's thoughts oozed sarcasm. 'You are welcome.' The sudden reply made him think that either the stress was driving him insane or that Tyrants had bloodline abilities aside from Domination. "Let's go." Glemos used tendrils of Spirit Magic to lift the fallen members of the group and carry them away. "I said no! You have to beat me if you want me to follow you, old man." Morok replied. "You are my son. I could never lay a hand on you." 'Maybe he's not such an asshole, after all..' The younger Tyrant inwardly sighed in relief.