"Okay." There were only a few things Lith wouldn’t discuss in front of her and Solus was certain she didn’t want to hear about them either. She Warped away without asking questions. "I need an explanation and not about Creation Magic." Lith activated the tower’s powers and moved himself and Menadion inside the Bleed. The place was now empty. The three tanks filled with a liquid sparkling with prismatic light were the only proof that the place had been used. "I sacrificed ten Awakened. Each one of them had a powerful violet core and life force. Yet I got only three tanks for it. Why?" Lith didn’t like Forbidden Magic but if it meant protecting Solus and punishing those who had tried to use his mother’s life to blackmail him, he didn’t mind dirtying his hands. "What did you expect? One tank per person?" Ripha scoffed, obtaining a nod in reply. "Dream on. Forbidden Magic is wasteful by nature. A 3:1 exchange is already a small miracle. And not the kind I’d brag about." "What do you mean, a miracle?" He asked. "This isn’t just energy." Menadion knocked on the tanks. "The Bleed has converted the life force and mana of those scumbags into Epphy’s. If something happens to her, even if her core cracks, it will be able to accept this mana because it bears her energy signature." "Are you telling me that the Bleed didn’t just steal the essence of those ten Awakened but it converted it into a replica of Solus’?" "You got that right." Menadion nodded. "The refinement and transformation process consumed a lot of energy. The conversion rate would have been much worse if not for the tower, your presence, and the mana geyser." "My presence?" Lith echoed. "Thanks to your bond with Epphy, the tower has no need to fuel her and can focus solely on the transformation process." Menadion replied. "On top of that, the Bleed can also use your life force and mana as a template to catalyze the process since the same blood and mana flow through your and Epphy’s veins." "I see." Lith moved them back into the Forge. "Thank you for your explanation." "No, thank you." Menadion said after a few seconds of awkward silence. "Thank you for bloodying your hands for my daughter’s sake. For sharing my greatest shame without judging or resenting me for it. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎 "Thank you for letting me call Epphy with her old name when she’s not with us." "Don’t mention it, Ripha." Menadion tried to give Lith a bow but he stopped her. "I too have a daughter and would do the same for Elysia." "As a father, do you think Threin resents me for creating the Bleed? For keeping me and Epphy away from him all this time?" She asked, her hands trembling a little. "He probably does." Lith answered after pondering the question for a while. "But I’m also certain he would resent you more if you didn’t." "I hope you are right." Menadion waited until she regained her composure. Then, a snap of her fingers Warped her and Lith back home where Kamila was waiting for him. Seeing his wife and the barely visible baby bump allowed him to forget about the conversation with Menadion and put a smile on his face. "Judging by your smile, you finally succeeded in the final exercise." Kamila welcomed Lith with a kiss. "Judging by your smell, it wasn’t as easy as you hoped." "No, it wasn’t." Lith chuckled seeing her wrinkle her nose. "I’ll explain everything to you after taking a bath." ’Why not during?’ Kamila said with a sultry voice through a mind link. ’Deal.’ After a hot, steamy, long bath Lith shared the recent news about Meln with the rest of his family. "Solus and I have finally completed Creation Magic." He said. "Once we master it, completing Void Magic as well should be much easier. Everything we learn about the symmetry of light and darkness can be applied to the other elements after tweaking the basic principles a bit. "Yet there is no time for that. Once Kami’s baby bump becomes impossible to hide with loose clothes, there will be no chance of getting rid of Meln without a fight. After what happened to Mom, however, I won’t push you to do anything you don’t want to do, Kami." "What’s the plan? And keep it age-appropriate, please." She nodded at the children. "Nothing much." He shrugged. "I contact the Royals and ask them to assign me a mission but to keep the fact that I requested it a secret. This way, I have a plausible reason to stay away for a while. "If Meln is planning to attack you, even with increased security from the Royals he won’t miss such an opportunity. If he doesn’t show now, it means he has learned something from Thrud’s beatings and that he will come forward only once he has completed his preparations." "Mastering Dusk’s powers?" Solus asked. "That’s for sure." Lith nodded. "But in his shoes, I’d also aim for Dawn’s crystal. Mine is just a guess but if a single Horseman without her tower needed Sinmara to be defeated and captured, the three crystals combined could match Baba Yaga. "We are lucky Dusk wasn’t allowed to use Sunset or by now we’d know if the Horsemen’s towers can combine as well." "And Dawn always carries Sunrise with her!" Solus dropped her fork. "We have to warn Malyshka." "Yes, but there’s no rush. Dawn never gets far from Baba Yaga." Lith replied. "Luring Dawn away into a trap is far from easy and Baba Yaga is no fool. On top of that, until Meln masters Dusk’s powers, the difference in hosts gives Dawn a major advantage. "Things will change only if Meln reaches the bright violet. At that point, he might be even stronger than me." "Then there is no time to waste." Kamila replied. "Count me in. Tista, please, always stay with me. With Lith gone, you are the strongest in the family and if Meln sees you with me, he’ll think he has a chance." "You can count on me." Tista nodded. "For the record, I agree with your plan but I don’t like treating Raldarak like this. A baby isn’t supposed to be a weapon." "We’ll talk about this when life listens to you and becomes fair, Tista." Lith replied. "I don’t like doing this either but it’s the only way to make life unfair to our advantage." "Will you go easy on Kami, Mother?" Raaz looked at Salaark, making the Guardian choke on her food. "I saved her in the past and she’s fine, isn’t she?" Elina cleared her throat, stinging at Salaark’s pride. "Fine, I promise to remain relatively calm in case of attack and make her safety my uttermost priority. Happy now?" "Not really." Raaz replied. "What do you mean, relatively calm?" *** Asking for an audience with the Royals and obtaining it took Lith just a few minutes. They were happy to hear from him since the communication was usually one-way only. The Royals had to take the initiative and contact him whenever they needed something from him, even information about his personal life.