Chapter 3298 Full Might (Part 1) Lith and Solus mimicked the First Ruler of the Flames to the best of their collective abilities, using the Eyes to distinguish the mana flow of the sprouts from that of the World Tree. The former still bore a trace of the Chronicler's energy signature while the latter was identical to the Yggdrasill's. It took the Eyes but a glance to achieve that and then the Ears allowed Lith and Solus to follow that mana back to the sprouts, no matter where they were hidden. Yet due to the tremendous hardness of the thick, enchanted Yggdrasill wood of the Golems, not even Double Edge's Davross alloy would have been enough to pierce so deep, if not for one detail that had gone unnoticed amid the chaos of battle. One detail that became apparent the moment the hybrid stood alone. The thundering storm inside the aura of the fusion between Lith and Solus was not over. The edges of their aura now flared of a clear white, drawing bolts of energy from their cores. Where the lightning streaked, the dull white turned white and brought the hybrid closer to the white core level. Such a vision was enough to slow down the raging war in the Fringe. Claws still struck, mystical Flames burned, wooden weapons chopped flesh, and spells rained from the sky, but curiosity restrained the frenzy of both factions enough to slow the tempo of the battle of one beat. 'First, what? Second, the fuck?' Ayleen, the Maker of All Liches expressed the sentiment of the majority of those witnessing the phenomenon as she unleashed her prized Mirror Magic spell, Mirror Hexagram, to conjure six pillars of Cursed Elements at once. With the world energy of the Fringe free from the influence of the Ygdrasill, the bright white-cored Lich wasn't limited to Spirit Spells anymore. 'What is that thing? It can't be an evolution because there was no pillar and it can't be Verhen's secret power because why the fuck didn't he use it earlier if he had it? Even if somehow he grasped the secret of the white core right here and now, his development speed makes no sense. 'It took me millennia to reach the white, then years to study my condition, and even longer to adapt my breathing technique to provide my core the massive amounts of world energy it needed to further the changes in my body. 'Even assuming that Verhen has a legacy that allows him to skip all of that, it takes months to go from the dull white to the white, and that if you practice Accumulation obsessively like a Lich. Not one damn minute! 'I don't care how much talent an individual can have, this is ridiculous! The rest of the white cores shared her objections, even those who knew about Solus' real nature. The broken form of Menadion fared slightly better as she rebuilt her shadow body from scratch and only because she had never left her daughter's side and witnessed all the past fusions. 'What in the gods' name have I done?' Ripha thought. 'How far into Forbidden Magic have I pushed myself and what's going to happen to Epphy once they go past the bright white? 'What if the fusion becomes permanent like it happens for Living Legacies? What if their minds become so intertwined that separating them leaves Epphy mentally mutilated?" Only Baba Yaga, the inventor of the Horseman technology, could fully grasp what was happening. "The perfect fusion between host, Horseman, and steed. The Asura clenched her six hands in excitement, moving the gaze of the Future face on her daughter, Dawn. 'Watch and learn, child. I gave you all the tools you need to achieve the same but reaching that state is up to you. "To you and your deranged sister.' The Red Mother bitterly sent the message to her Horseman via a mind link, reminding Dawn how much was at stake, no matter how the fight in the Fringe would end. 'I know, Mother.' Dawn shared such information with Acala who despite his shock saved his questions about Solus for later. I promise that we won't let you down. Acala and I will achieve the perfect fusion before Night and use it to rescue our brother.' 'I appreciate the sentiment, but time will tell.' Baba Yaga sighed, never stopping her relentless attack. 'Mogar's wrath, I need to win this and do it fast!' The World Tree had no time for musing, not after two units of Golems had been massacred. Two anti-Guardian spells have just been permanently removed from the board, limiting my options. 'I have only so many sprouts and making more won't do me any good. To weave Silverwing's spells takes seven bright violet cores. The sprouts had one only because they inherited the Chroniclers' mana cores. 'Without a host, every sprout I generate would draw its power from me, making it a zero-sum game. I must kill Verhen before his reinforcements reach him." From the moment the World Tree's Fringe had collapsed, the situation had grown direr by the second but the Yggdrasill had kept their main focus on killing Lith, knowing that the moment they got their roots on the tower the battle would end. With no more Chroniclers, the Yggdrasill was free to imprint the stone ring and Solus telepathic means were nothing compared to the Tree's. With the power of the full Menadion Set and the ability to cast Tower Tier Spells without consuming the accumulated energy of the arrays, the Yggdrasill was certain of their victory. Now, however, the World Tree didn't feel so confident anymore. Without the need to hold Chaos Dimension in a fixed position, Tezka the Suneater advanced with great strides, covering hundreds of meters with a few steps. His Endless Night cut the space in its wake, cleaving Wood Golems asunder like they were made of cardboard. The world energy inside the boundaries of Chaos Dimension obeyed Tezka's will, bending space and gravity so that any non-Spirit Spell wandered aimlessly without ever reaching its target. The Fylgja used the colossal dome to protect himself and his allies, giving them a space to safely regroup and heal themselves. "Our rivalry is coming to an end, withered fool!" The Suneater laughed, his sword freezing space in its wake and his spells defying the known laws of dimensional magic. Zero Gates intercepted energy and matter, depriving them of heat at the molecular level. Everything that passed through the spinning blue fissures landed on the other side as a frozen block. Living beings died while the trapped spells exploded the moment they started to shrug the Cursed Element off. The conflagrations took place far away from their intended targets and the only damage they caused was that to the landscape. Everything near Endless Night's blade would freeze in place, be it the wind, sunlight, or a Golem who had just dodged a thrust. The dimensional distortion surrounding the blade locked its victims in place for just a split second, but it was enough. Tezka's allies shot the fish before they jumped out of the barrel while the Suneater kept advancing. Most of his attacks had no specific target, striking at the heart of the enemy formations whether there was someone there or not.