Chapter 3000 Hidden Thorn (Part 2) 3000 Hidden Thorn (Part 2) Maergron had kept his minions hidden from mystical senses under the cover of the abundant world energy of the inner garden and ready to ambush the invaders. Half of the undead's bodies were intact while the other half was comprised of the Redcap's vines. This way, their blood cores would constantly gain new strength by feeding on the vines while the vines sapped the world energy of the Garden. It created a loop that granted unlimited power to the blood cores and allowed the vines to tap into the Garden without overloading. With no more delay, Maergron could control the undead with his mind and pass them his spells at a moment's notice. At the same time, he tapped into the starred sky above the temple to borrow the elemental energies and shape them into spells of untold power. Air and water magic conjured a frozen tornado from above the Shadow Dragon while fire and earth shook the ground with a quake that swamped her in magma. The undead and vines carried the Redcap's energy signature and were immune to the natural disasters. As for Bytra, Maergron sent half of his troops against her and exploited her apparent weakness. The trail of lightning made her path predictable so he cast an air-sealing array and set several tier five spells that would activate upon her passage. Zoreth shook as the cold storm pushed her down and quenched her inner fire. Air blades the size of a tank cut deep into her Bookwyrm armor, piercing through her scales. The thick Adamant and its enchantments were nothing compared to the power accumulated over time by the Garden. Xenagrosh's wounds reached the bones and crippled her arms while the quake took away her footing and burned her flesh. "Nice try and thank you for the snack!" The combined assault of spells and defensive arrays would have killed the Shadow Dragon if not for her troll side healing her wounds the moment they started to open. The chunks of flesh reattached themselves without the need of a healing spell. The blood gushing from her wounds weakened the incoming spells and dissolved the undead upon contact. Her Eldritch side, instead, fed upon the abundant surrounding world energy, giving Xenagrosh the nourishment she needed to not be hindered by the regeneration process. A sweep of her Sky Piercer claw shredded the magical formations and tore the elemental energy of the spells from Maergron's mana, forcing the Redcap to consume part of the Garden's power to keep from disappearing. The undead, or rather, the snack, further fueled Xenagrosh's onslaught. A blood core was a powerful mass of life force and darkness magic kept in perfect balance and Zoreth needed but a touch to feed upon them both. Her troll half was the bane of undead because it could endlessly absorb darkness to counter the Decay element while her Eldritch half was the bane of the living, needing the light of life force to quench the Chaos element. The Shadow Dragon's clawed hand harvested dozens of undead at a time, dropping them in her mouth like popcorn. Their numbers meant nothing. Their physical strength meant nothing. The moment they touched her, the red light of undead in their eyes flickered and the vines that animated their bodies wilted. Those who chased after the Raiju met no better fate. With the circuit complete, Bytra moved faster and faster until she was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 'I could never move that quickly. Sure, she can't alter her direction as quickly as I do, but if she were to target someone or something else, I could never stop her.' Strider thought as his jaw fell to the floor. The Raiju's path was predictable but the shockwave she left in her wake at every lap pushed the undead away with the violence of a storm. Those who stood in front of Bytra were turned into cinders by the plasma blade that she cast in front of her which also reduced the air resistance and created a slipstream effect. The spells placed by Maergron triggered upon her passage but when they unleashed their effects she wasn't there anymore. By the time she returned to the same spot, the plasma blade would cut through what was left of the spells and undead, leaving her unscathed. The air-sealing arrays failed because the circuit wasn't a spell but a bloodline ability and was based on world energy, not mana. The Ears could read the flow of world energy, not control it. That was what the Hands were for. "The Hands of Menadion!" Maergron stared in horror at Sky Piercer, mistaking it for another piece of the legendary set. "Wait, where is the other glove? How could that stupid beast lose one?" Greed and outrage clouded his vision as he pictured what he could do were he to collect the Hands as well. Pharek had never used them in person but had seen them in action and had shared with his shadow disciple his theories about them. "I won't just stand here and watch." Solus lifted the Fury, bringing it close to the Decay Bastion. "They told us to wait." Lith grabbed her shoulder, afraid that she could mess with the battle between gods that was taking place in front of their eyes. The Tiamat and the Hand of Fate had remained silent in respectful awe until that moment. Pharek had worked on his defensive system for hundreds of years and it was more powerful than most of those used to defend ancient noble households like the Ernas. Maergron had spent the five months after the death of his master wisely, giving the arrays his own spin and adding an army of lesser undead whose power rivaled that of elder greater undead. Even from the safety of the tunnel, the battle was terrifying and it was hard to tell who was winning. Lith trusted Zoreth and the strength of the Master's hybrids but had no idea how he and Solus would fare. "No, they told us to not get in their way and that's what I'm going to do." Solus used the Davross of her hammer to amplify her powers and the elemental crystals to bind together air and earth, conjuring the tier four Void Magic array, Rumbling Storm. It covered Bytra's path, splitting the ground into its conductive and insulant components. The former was pushed to the surface, amplifying the Raiju's bloodline ability while the latter was compressed below, keeping the electrical charges from dissipating. At the same time, thunderous clouds formed on the upper end of the array, near the stone ceiling. Bytra saw the lightning storm brewing above her head and stirred it, adding the power of natural lightning to those conjured by her magic. Her speed increased to the point that the shockwaves she produced ripped the undead to shreds and her figure blurred in a ring of light that grew tighter as one layer of defensive arrays crumbled after the other. 'It's sad thinking about what we could achieve together if not for our differences.' Both women thought in unison while inwardly complimenting the other for her skill. "You know, what, Solus? I love it when you're always right." Lith shapeshifted into his Abomination form, letting it resonate with the world energy and the two Eldritches.