Solus Warped the tower back to the Desert where it was still the middle of the night, giving her all the time she needed to catch up with Nyka. They came out of the tower and walked towards the Verhen's living quarters. "Oh my! Is it hot in here or is it just you, babe?" Nok said to Tista who was still forced to keep her Wyrmling Red Demon form. "Who is this creep?" She said while trying to push away the Byk who kept rubbing his snout on her feathered body. "This is my brother, Nok. My name is Nyka, nice to meet you. Any friend of Solus is a friend of mine." She gave Tista a deep bow. "I have no words to describe how beautiful you are." Nok's hormones ravaged his brain as he smelled the closest thing to a magical beast that he encountered in months. "You are everything that I've dreamed to find in a mate, thick, strong and-" "Get your paws off me!" Tista shapeshifted back into her human form. "Nyka, it's me." "First Solus and now you, too? Why does no one ever tell me anything?" "A human?" Nok half roared in outrage and half cried in desperation. "I finally found someone who is in heat as much as I am and it's just a human woman?" "I'm not in heat!" Tista turned to a bright shade of purple as she hit the Byk's head with all of her considerable strength, making him whimper more loudly. Truth to be told, Nok was wrong, her biology was still that of a woman. Yet he was also right since she felt very lonely. "What is all this ruckus?" Elina walked inside the tent, drawn by the noise and boredom. There was little she could do at night while waiting for the return of Raaz and the kids. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦 "Mom, these are my friends Nyka, Nok, and-" "An undead has infiltrated the palace! Guards!" Elina yelled at the top of her lungs, cutting Solus short. She grabbed the first thing at hand, a chair, and used it to hit Kalla on the head until it broke. "Nice to meet you. I'm Kalla, Nyka's mother." The Wight was used to misunderstandings so she introduced herself without defending herself from the blows. "Silly me." Elina dropped the chair and took a step back. "A chair can't hurt an undead." "I beg to differ." Kalla shook her head, falling into her old pedantic habits. "That piece of furniture was heavily enchanted and every hit was quite painful-" "But this can!" Elina took a spiked mace out of her dimensional item, crafted by Lith to be as light as a feather and yet to hit as hard as a wrecking ball. Nyka reacted by impulse, baring her fangs as she grabbed Elina's wrist to keep her from hurting her mother. The Vampire also released invisible tendrils of mana that wrapped around Elina, freezing her in place. Yet Elina replied with a mean left hook to Nyka's jaw followed by a sweep of her right leg that sent the Vampire sprawling on the floor. No woman would survive becoming the Spring Maiden of Lutia without learning a thing or two about self-defense. On top of that, her clothes were actually a body-enhancing full suit of purified Orichalcum armor that made its wearer immune to tier zero Spirit Magic and turned the fists of a 60-kilograms (134 pounds) woman into war hammers. "Guards! We are being overrun by the undead!" "Mom, stop! She is my friend!" Solus stopped the mace. "Mom, since when are you such a badass?" Tista blurted out. Several soldiers armed to the teeth emerged from as many Warp Steps, led by three Phoenixes that were in a hybrid form that resembled a feathered humanoid. Only after they apprehended and hogtied the intruders like prime roast did Elina feel safe enough to answer her daughter's question. "Ever since I was left only with Arana and your father, I've had a lot of free time. After the first attack on our home, as soon as the members of the Queen's corps came for lunch I asked Locrias to teach me the basics of combat." "Lady Verhen, are you sure that's the way you want to treat your guests?" A young soldier said. "What guests and why did it take you so long?" Elina clenched the grip of her mace to contain her fury. "Your Ladyship, this is the Overlord's palace. Except for your private quarters every room is under surveillance 24/7. We were immediately notified of the arrival of intruders but we didn't react because they are Lord Verhen's friends." "They are?" Elina was flabbergasted. "That's what I have been saying from the beginning!" Solus tried and failed to untie her guests. "If you knew they were harmless, why did you do this?" "To calm Lady Elina and end the conflict." One of the Phoenixes said with a male voice. "Can we free them and take our leave or do you want us to stay?" "Oh, dear." Elina looked at Kalla who had not moved a muscle for the entire time and felt deeply ashamed of herself. Nok's whimpering and whining made her feel even worse, thinking that the guards had beaten Solus's guests into submission.? She had no idea that he was just in pain from Tista's blow to the head. Elina helped to untie the Vampire, the Wight, and the Byk, and then apologized repeatedly, giving them deep bows. "Now that I take a good look at you, I recognize you from my son's holograms. You must be Kalla, Nyka, and Nok." She said, receiving a nod in reply. "Why did no one of you ever tell me they are undead?" "Actually, only Nyka is an undead." Tista said. "Also, we didn't mention it because it didn't seem relevant. We have friends of all races." "I'm very sorry for my unreasonable reaction." Elina nodded and gave Kalla one last bow. "Please, don't worry Elina. As a hybrid, I'm used to much worse and as a mother, I can understand the ferocity with which you defended your cubs from what you perceived as a threat. In your shoes, I would have done the same." The Wight said. "I'm a bit confused, though." Elina hoped that her questions wouldn't overstep her boundaries. "If you are a bear…" "Wight." "And your son is another bear…" "Byk." Kalla corrected Elina again. "Why is Nyka the only one in human form? Can't you all shapeshift?" Elina asked. "That's because Nyka is a human Vampire that I raised from the dead with Necromancy after killing her in order to torture her more." Kalla's calm voice coupled with her eerie appearance made her words sound utterly terrifying. "You did what?" Elina dragged Nyka behind her, to protect the youth from her insane parent. "Don't worry, Elina. Mom did the right thing. Back then I was a ruthless killer for hire." Nyka said, trying to clear the misunderstanding. "Guards!" Elina pushed Nyka away and stood in front of Solus and Tista who facepalmed in unison. "I'm under the impression that our family's history is upsetting your mother, Solus.." Kalla kept mulling over what she had just said, finding nothing wrong with it.