"At your command, my Queen. Glory to Arthan!" The Golden Griffon opened the scales of its armor, allowing the army to leave in force from multiple points without offering an easy target. At the same time, it drained the surrounding world energy, making the gravity arrays falter and reducing the power of elemental magic to one-tenth of its effectiveness. The army mages left their arrays behind but promptly retreated behind their Awakened colleagues. The lost academy was bent, but not broken. The damage had started to repair the moment after it was dealt and with the Divine Beasts incoming, even the Awakened had to switch to a defensive position. Invigoration was off the table and the enemies were all boosted by both Life Maelstrom and the academy, making up for the ambush. Nandi, Fyrwal, and Solus, however, had come early to the battlefield and gained control of the world energy. They manipulated its flow, trying to negate Hystar's influence and fighting him for dominance. "Let's see if you've learned your lesson!" Hystar said as golden tendrils moved out of the academy and toward Bytra. "They sure did, sweet child!" Apep the Apophis Chaos Warped in front of the Unwavering Loyalty array. There was no life force that could be manipulated, his body was comprised solely of Chaos and his black core was plagued by an insatiable hunger. It devoured the golden tendrils, using them as straws to suck at the nectar held by the academy's power core. "Damn undead!" The Headmaster tried and failed to retract the energy. The only way he found to stop the bleeding was to turn off the array entirely. "Give it back!" The Apophis unleashed a volley of Howling Void spells, each the size of a train car. Between their speed and the academy being on all fours, Hystar took the full brunt of the damage and the shockwaves reached even the inner chambers where the students were kept. "Hey, fucker, pick on someone your own size!" Xoola the Fenrir used Doom Tide to completely drain the world energy and make the black spears fade. She charged at Apep with her body shining with golden light from her Mana Body bloodline ability and black from the mass of darkness she had infused herself with. Her speed caught the Mogar's Serpent by surprise and his Chaos Blink failed as well. Xoola rammed at him, bringing the Apophis away without suffering a scratch from the prolonged contact. Mana Body made her impervious and the darkness countered the Chaos while also consuming Apep's energy reserves. "Nice trick. I've got no Spirit Magic and with darkness magic sealed, I'm a sitting duck." He nodded. "Or am I?" His limbs grew in size and length, turning into dozen meters-long spears, swords, spikes, and anything he needed the moment Xoola switched from ranged to close-quarters combat. Then, she and other Divine Beasts released their own Doom Tide, filling the air with world energy again. Hystar exploited that moment to suck the world energy in and unleash a volley of Tower Tier spells against anyone who had come too close for comfort. "Things are still a mess." Now that Thrud had regained her cool, she was studying the situation from the Throne Room. "We can still win, but to do that we must break the When All Are One array." The members of Lith's group could all produce eight Cursed Flames at the same time. They moved as fast as bullets, ignored most protections, and traveled for hundreds of meters before losing cohesion. Friya's Dimensional Ruler replicated the effects of the Static Field arrays, but much worse. Her allies among the humans and the Awakened could freely use dimensional magic whereas Thrud's soldiers found themselves trapped the moment they got too close. The Hyperion's Mana Body shielded them all, making them immune even to spells infused with Life Maelstrom unless one would get close enough. Close enough to be squashed by the Titania's fists or array. The Hydra weaved spells non-stop, using the Hands to recharge the power cores of their weapons and prepare a second volley of Ruin. Then, there were the Demons. They were everywhere, fighting with no fear of death and unlike Thrud's soldiers, it would only take one breath from Lith to resurrect them immediately. "Smart. Very smart." The Mad Queen drummed her fingers on the armrest. "This is all a ruse. They have set for me a single path of victory. "If I make Verhen leave the array, the Demons will stop resurrecting and no more Blade Spells or Cursed Flames. They put a flaw in their plan for me to find it. Either I send Phloria Ernas out and use her to 'lure' Verhen away or I lose. "Or so they think. There is more than one way to skin a cat, but I feel generous today and I'm willing to play along. I'm really curious to see if Verhen will surprise me again or if he'll just entertain me. "General Ernas!" "Yes, My Queen?" Phloria appeared out of one of the internal Gates, kneeling. "Time to take your boyfriend out and bring him to our side. You know what to do." Thrud replied. "It will be my pleasure. Who do I take as my ride?" Phloria said with the happy smile of a girl in love. "Ufyl has seven heads but so far, he has disappointed me. Rimo is no better either. Take Orsat with you. Between her Life Maelstrom and her physical prowess, you two can take Verhen down." The Mad Queen pondered. "I'm excited. It's my first time being a Griffon Knight." Phloria gave Thrud a salute while clicking her heels and Warped out with the Red Griffon. Only when the Mad Queen saw Phloria flying toward the battlefield did a cruel smile appear on her face. *** Phloria had wasted no time, conjuring one spell after the other the moment the ambush had started. She combined fake and true magic with body casting to weave three spells at the same time. Orsat had charged herself and Phloria with Life Maelstrom, turning them into an unstoppable war machine. The Red Griffon had conjured several hard-light constructs of every size and shape that, after being imbued with silver lightning, could withstand most tier five spells. The Red Griffon used them to protect her partner so that Phloria was free to keep triple casting and unleash a relentless volley of spells from her sword. At the same time, Orsat blasted through the enemy lines like a living battering ram. The unparalleled physical strength of the Griffon was also boosted by both fusion magic and Life Maelstrom, granting her the ability to overpower anyone in a handful of seconds. Whenever they got surrounded, Orsat used her Red Lightning Body bloodline ability to turn them both into living plasma and escape the encirclement. Together they wiped out hundreds of Demons and Omnislash cut deep through the enemy formation. "Dammit!" Apep the Apophis had turned Xoola into mincemeat for a while now and was chasing the Griffon Knight to the best of his abilities. The Griffon was strong, but not strong enough to be a threat to him. The problem was that he needed Phloria alive.