Chapter 3300 Unique Fusion (Part 1) "And it's going to get much, much worse for that wooden bastard, my friends." Ripha Menadion had finished reforming her body and she had sought Baba Yaga's protection as well. "Prepare yourself, because I'm going to take this back!" "Ripha?" Silverwing and the Red Mother said in unison, almost interrupting their offense in a flabbergasted stupor. Almost. "Master Menadion?" Sinmara and Surtr froze in mid-air, incapable of believing their own eyes. "The First Ruler of the Flames?" Ayleen asked. "Where did you get that?" Only then did everyone else notice what the greedy Lich had seen at first glance. Ripha wasn't just back from the dead for apparently no reason. She was also wearing her legendary full Menadion Set in the form of the Anvil. After merging with Solus and retrieving his tower, Lith had no need for the Apprentice Set and had entrusted it to Ripha. It shrouded Menadion from head to toe, hiding her nature as a Demon. "Menadion?" Hearing that voice and seeing the old Fury in the grip of her late mentor made Bytra stumble and then trip. At her supersonic speed, it resulted in a ruinous fall that turned the Raiju into an armored meat projectile that dug through mud and rock for hundreds of meters before stopping. "Ripha?" The Fourth Ruler of the Flames was lying on her side in her Raiju form, completely helpless while surrounded by mortal enemies. Yet she couldn't avert her gaze from the petite figure wielding the painful reminder of her crimes. Bytra had prayed to meet Menadion again since the day Zoreth had rescued her, but she had never expected it would actually happen. Now that her plea had been granted, Bytra felt happiness and gut-wrenching fear. Happiness because she had the opportunity to ask her old mentor forgiveness for all the wrongs the original Bytra had inflicted upon Menadion's family. Fear because Bytra knew it was unlikely she would receive it and was willing to accept any punishment Ripha deemed appropriate. "What the fuck is happening?" Xenagrosh didn't like the situation one bit. She had already seen Solus take over Lith's body before their trip to Verendi and after learning about the tower, the idea that there was more they could achieve together wasn't a far-fetched explanation for the sudden apparition of the murderous giant. 'I knew that with how Menadion died, her becoming a wandering soul was possible, but I assumed that if she were still here, she would have come out for a long while now.' Xenagrosh thought. 'This doesn't bode well for Byt. 'Menadion just needs to say a word to make Byt the most wanted woman on Mogar and rob her of what little forgiveness she has received from Solus.' Ripha Menadion knew of the presence of her murderer and former apprentice. She was there every time Bytra had interacted with Solus. Ripha had many things to say and even more to do to the Fourth Ruler of the Flames but right now she didn't care. Rescuing Solus was her first and only priority. "That's none of your business, Lich." Menadion grunted at Ayleen. "Just be grateful for this experience because under any other circumstance, I would never help someone of your kind. Everyone, plunge your weapons in the ground, now!" With those words, Ripha raised her hammer and slammed it against the ground with all of her strength. The Eyes had collected a lot of information during the centuries and after being linked with the tower, the database had further expanded. 'So much for friendship.' She thought. 'Verhen has studied and analyzed the equipment of everyone he got in contact with. I have the base schematics of this Sky Piercer dating back to its prototype version.' The Mouth cast the spell the moment Ripha finished creating it, the Ears guided the spell from her core to the Fury, where the Hands focused and amplified it. Then, it was injected into the vigorous flow of world energy running below Menadion's feet and carried throughout the battlefield. Menadion had come close to inventing Creation Magic on her own before her demise. Later, as a wandering soul, she had the opportunity to witness Salaark's lessons and Lith's and Solus' experiments. Now, she also had access to the Library, their fused minds, and the full Apprentice Set. Ripha had little understanding of the current Master Set. Some enchantments were different from those she had Forgemastered while others were entirely missing along with the tower floors fueling them. The Apprentice Set, instead, was still exactly as she had left it. Anyone else would have called it outdated but to Ripha it was perfect. On top of that, she was linked to Lith through the black chains and he was now fused with Solus and the tower, giving Menadion access to a portion of their might. By combining the powers of the five pieces of her set, Menadion's Tier Five Creation Magic Spell, Flames of the Forge, spread along the shockwaves the hammer blow generated. It reached all those fighting under Lith's banner who had heeded the words of the First Ruler of the Flames. "What?" Fire Dragons were flabbergasted witnessing the very Origin Magma they had sparked rising from the ground in waves and assaulting their prized weapons and those of their allies. The Origin Flames coated the mystical metals and crystals, weakening the magic enchanting them. Flames of the Forge unraveled countless power cores as the aura of the affected weapons faded. Yet their power was lost solely for a split second, the process completed before the First Ruler of the Flames' allies and enemies could understand what she had done. After that moment, a bright light burst out of the newly enchanted metal, lighting half the battlefield like a small sun. "What is this?" Hundreds of voices said in unison while the rest were too stunned to speak. Suddenly, many among Lith's allies could feel the flow of mana going from their cores and into their equipment, running freely from one to another in a symphony of rising energy. Menadion didn't have the ingredients or the time to craft Blade Weapons. To make one she needed to know her client, the way they weaved their spells, their personality, and the rhythm of their mana cores. Without that, there was a limit to what the legendary First Ruler of the Flames could do yet she was still far from helpless. Flames of the Forge allowed her to re-tune the affected equipment to better suit its master. Just a nudge to a crystal here and an alteration of a mana pathway there. Just enough to make every piece of metal sing. A slash of Sky Piercer cut through a Wood Golem like it was made of mud and each bladed finger released an energy wave that cut past the Golem and into the possessed elves hiding behind the construct. Tier five Spirit Spells kept raining from the sky but the Griffons noticed that their Spirit Barriers were now empowered by their weapons, rings, and everything else they wore. The burden was shared and so was the mana reserve each power core possessed. When one of Lith's allies attacked, the energy flow of their equipment was focused on the weapon.