Chapter 3700: One Last Time (Part 1) Lith aimed to conserve as much strength as he could while dealing the most damage. He wasn’t aiming to achieve mutual destruction, but to kill and live to kill again. Something that reminded Zakra of Ryleh the Oberon. "Humans are a weird species." Her mentor had told Zakra one day at the end of a furious spar. "They are weak and have short lives, but they fight like no other race can. Do you know what kind of man is the most dangerous?" "The one who has nothing to lose." Zakra scoffed, quoting the old adage. "Wrong." Ryleh shook his head. "That’s the second most dangerous kind of man you’ll ever meet. They have no hope left and seek death, so they are not afraid to turn their lives into weapons, but that means they are just fireworks. "They have one shot and then they are gone forever." "Then what’s the first?" She had asked, genuinely curious. "The man who has everything to lose." Ryleh replied. "They have many reasons to live, and each one of them keeps his will steady and his mind clear. The more things a man has to protect, the stronger he becomes." "That’s stupid." The Titania had replied in disbelief. "You are free not to believe me." The Oberon shrugged. "Just be careful when you meet one." "Zakra, do you need cover fire to retreat and recover?" Uryn yelled, snapping the Titania out of her reverie. The blue flames had burned the mind link, and there had been no time or opportunity to establish it again. Lith’s spells were a constant threat, and Uryn feared that relieving the pressure on the Tiamat even by one bit might allow him to use Invigoration. "I’m fine. Sorry!" She yelled back and launched herself on her prey. Gamra the Sphinx and Kidha the Manticore were having a hard time without her. Even in his weakened state and two against one, Lith retained the mass advantage of an adult Divine Beast. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚 He was in human form like Gamra and Kidha, but their blows were light on his sword, whereas Lith’s knocked the Sphinx back and sent Kidha flying every time they clashed. A Manticore was huge compared to a man, but a hamster to a Divine Beast. Worst of all, Lith’s armor also had the mass advantage. The Voidwalker armor deflected most hits while taking little damage. When Ragnarök struck, instead, it inflicted deep wounds that were hard to heal. Even the Titania had to be wary of the angry blade. She could recover from spells, punches, and mystical flames in seconds, but Ragnarök’s cuts left wild energy behind that hindered her regeneration abilities. Zakra started her blade storm again, her ten weapons raining on Lith from every side to force him to pick his poison. "Now!" Uryn yelled, and as the golden lightning allowed the angry blade to deflect multiple hits at the same time, the Awakened on the backline struck. Swordsmanship was all about footwork and, to put his weight behind the parries, Lith couldn’t jump around. Not with ten blades aimed at his vitals, each carrying the same might as a Griffon. Lith cursed, recalling Trouble and Raptor and unleashing a few spells from the Mouth. The Golems deflected Gamra’s and Kidha’s blades away while Ragnarök and Lith’s extra limbs dealt with the Titania. The Mouth blocked three of the seven spells, leaving four free to strike. The Ears predicted the trajectory of the four spells and Zakra’s blades, leaving Lith with a heavy choice. He could either let the spells hit Valeron and block all the blades, or block two spells, three blades, and take the rest. Lith conjured the Spirit Barriers of both the Voidwalker armor and the Ears, sacrificing them to absorb the brunt of the damage. The water element allowed Ragnarök’s Davross to neutralize two spells before switching to the air element again to keep up with the Titania. One spell pierced his right wing, and the other pierced through his thigh, slowing him down further. His left foot slipped on his own blood, and his guard faltered. Lith blocked the blades aimed at his neck and heart, but was one beat too slow to block the one impaling his left side. Zakra pulled the tendril back before Ragnarök could sever it and take her blade away, but made sure to twist her weapon on its way out. It created a gaping wound from which blackish-red blood gushed out. Lith fell to one knee, his blood spraying over the still-crying infant. The two looked at each other for one brief moment before Lith cauterized the wound with his inner fire and stood up again. The blood brought back painful memories to Valeron’s mind. He remembered the day when his father had said goodbye to him with a smile on his face. Back then, Valeron had been too small and naïve to understand what Jormun meant, but now he did. It had happened the same day when Lith had pierced Jormun’s chest and put an end to his life. Lith’s memories overlapped with Valeron’s, and the baby suddenly noticed something strange. In Lith’s memories, Jormun smiled while asking his Brood Brother to take care of his son. Lith, the one who had mortally wounded the Emerald Dragon, looked in pain instead. There was a sadness in his eyes and resolve when he had accepted. While Lith took his vow, Jormun the Emerald Dragon had smiled at Lith just like he had done a few minutes later to his son. Still baffled by the revelation, Valeron stopped yelling through the Dragon Scales and started listening. Even amid the pain from his wounds, the man who had murdered his father wasn’t afraid of death. Lith was only afraid of what would happen to the little boy were he to fail to save Valeron. So, as Lith straightened himself, Valeron cried one last time. "Gods, if that mongrel is annoying!" Zakra sneered over the baby’s desperate wails. "Why do you humans keep those little shits with you? We Fae just drop them!" No answer came, but she wasn’t expecting any. The Titania started another series of attacks as soon as her weapons reached their respective starting points in the blade formation. Lith parried the first, deflected the second, and much to Zakra’s surprise, blocked the third as well. He needed his wings and tail to block up to the sixth strike, and when the seventh blade came, Ragnarök was back in guard position. ’What?’ The Titania was flabbergasted as the angry blade blocked the last four strikes and those from Gamra and Kidha without help from the Golems, leaving them free to focus on Cailm and Jissha. ’This must be a fluke or some swan song effect.’ The next blade storm started right after the previous failed, connecting the twenty blows into an almost seamless flow. This time, Lith parried two strikes, deflected two, and while his tail and wings dealt with one blade each, he went for a counterattack. ’Verhen should be exhausted!’ Zakra refused to believe what she was seeing as she wasted the eighth strike to defend herself and countered the counterattack with the final two. ’His arm should be dead as a doornail! I’m much stronger than him!’