Chapter 3426 Skull and Maw (Part 3) Yet instead of using the World Maw spell to stall for time and further tilt the scales of the battle in the Fylgja's favor, the Guardian focused his mind and the spell in a single point, compressing World Maw to the extreme. The Guardian Tier Spell turned into a swirling multi-colored bolt of energy that engulfed Chaos Dimension. The pressure it exerted was so great that it bent the dimensional distortion, compromising its structural integrity. "Cunning son of a bitch!" Tezka could have withstood the blast by shrinking Chaos Dimension and condensing it around his body, but that would have meant leaving Vastor completely exposed. He was forced to choose between letting both of them be severely injured or saving himself and losing his ally. No matter what he did, Roghar would escape the entrapment and face a weakened enemy. It was the reason Tezka created a third option. He kept Chaos Dimension's size but altered its structure, forming a dimensional passage in the straight line connecting him to the Master. Tezka took on and dispersed most of the World Maw and Warped away only the section that would have actually hit him. From Roghar's perspective, his strategy was a resounding success. Only people observing the fight from a distance like Xenagrosh and the other Jiera Guardians realized its failure. If watched from above, the World Maw looked split right in the middle like a sea of multi-colored flames A Warp Steps hidden behind several layers of Chaos Dimension warped away a section of World Maw without a single speck of energy reaching either Tezka or the Master. Roghar kept the spell active for several seconds, draining Tezka's focus and mana. The Fenrir was a Guardian and even with Mana Body still active his wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye and his mana core endlessly drew upon the world energy. When Roghar dispelled the World Maw, his body was back to its peak condition whereas the Suncater was a panting mess. "Too bad you brought that human with you, Tezka the Suncater." The Fenrir sighed as he unleashed his Guardian Tier Spirit Spell, Searing Destruction. "If you didn't have to protect that weakling, you might have forced me to take out my weapon like you did with Salaark. "The ending, however, would have been no different from your match with her. You would have just delayed the inevitable for a bit." The Fenrir emitted an emerald sphere from his forefinger that reached Chaos Dimension and tore it to shreds. Spirit Magic used no world energy and was comprised solely of the caster's mana. Chaos Dimension had no effect on Searing Destruction except for altering his gravity and curvature but Roghar could correct both with his willpower and infuse more mana in it by the second. As Scaring Destruction pierced through, Tezka and his spell were pushed back, digging a several meters-deep furrow in the ground. "I know that compared to a Guardian I'm weak." Vastor replied while raising his Grimbark staff and conjuring the spells he had stored within. "But so what? Compared to who I was just a few years back, I'm a demigod. "Laugh at me all you want. You've reached the peak of your strength while I'm still exploring mine!" A seven-pointed array resembling the Big Dipper appeared in front of him, releasing Silverwing's Annihilation. Unlike Vastor's version of the spell, the original was comprised of all seven elements, including Spirit Magic. It was something that usually required seven bright violet-cored Awakened or one white core to conjure. Vastor's mana core was unable to produce so much power alone and his black core couldn't produce both the light and the Spirit elements. It would have been an impossible feat if not for Grimbark and the Skull of Bytra. The Yggdrasill staff allowed him to accumulate and mix different energies while the Skull harmonized them in a single spell without rejection. The Yggdrasill wood couldn't store incomplete spells but by storing powerful spells of each element and then splitting them into their basic runes, Vastor could reassemble them into the Annihilation thanks to the Skull. "Order and Chaos!" Roghar was taken by surprise and the darkness-sealing array he had prepared was now completely useless. The Eldritches' greatest weak point was that Chaos was still darkness magic. A single spell that any fourth-year student of one of the six great academies could learn took away the Abominations' best weapon. The darkness-sealing array was supposed to neutralize Vastor's Chaos Annihilation and Tezka's Chaos Dimension at the same time. The human would waste his mana for nothing and the Fylgja would die, unable to react under the pressure of Searing Destruction. Silverwing's Annihilation, instead, was comprised of pure mana split into its original components and unaffected by elemental-sealing arrays. Even worse, it had the power to harm a Guardian if not properly defended against. Roghar cursed at the Master and conjured a powerful Spirit Barrier. The Annihilation failed to inflict harm but succeeded in its intent. With the Guardian's focus split, Tezka managed to retreat near Vastor and escape the jaws of defeat. "You wanted my sword, you mangy mutt? There it is!" Endless Night came out of Tezka's omni pocket, its hilt fitting his palm like an extension of his being. With a single fluid movement, Tezka compressed Chaos Dimension around the blade and swung it in a diagonal slash, releasing his Blade Tier Spell, Cosmic Devourer. "What? How is this possible?" Fenagar and Zagran jumped up from their thrones while trying to solve the mystery with Soul Vision. Blade Tier Spells were powerful, but they also required a long time to be cast, whereas Tezka had conjured Cosmic Devourer instantly. "The Maw of Bytra!" Roghar cursed out loud, enlightening his peers. "The bastard wasn't going easy on me. He was waiting for his Blade Tier Spell to be weaved by the Maw while he cast powerful spells non-stop to cover its aura. "All of this was just a set-up!" "Why do you think we wear two helms?" Vastor's tone remained that of a professor explaining difficult concepts to a puzzled student. "It's to keep the Maw's spells invisible. It's also the reason I'm talking so much. "The more you waste your energy listening to me, the more I can throw you off your game." "What he said." Tezka said with a wolfish smile on his snout. "And more!" While defending from Silverwing's Annihilation and fighting to keep his Searing Destruction from being split asunder by Cosmic Devourer, Roghar failed to notice a human-sized dimensional corridor that Tezka had left behind. The scale of the spells in play and the size of the combatants made such a small Warp Steps invisible to normal and mystical senses. Any fluctuation would have alerted Roghar but the Warp Steps was fixed in both energy and position, blending in with the background. "I hope you haven't forgotten about us, you bastard!" Xenagrosh further raised the ante by hurling a jet of Immortal Flames the size of a skyscraper. Abthot was right by her side, draining the soil of its nutrients to feed the Shadow Dragon and ensure that producing such a volume of emerald fire would pose no threat to her still-wounded life force.