A Hippogriff was not as fast and strong as a Behemoth but Solus was no Lith either. Her deep violet aura gave Shasa a clear measure of her strength. The gap between Solus and the Hippogriff was small, the combination of Life Maelstrom and toxin-enhanced potions made him superior both physically and magically. Solus perceived every movement of the incoming mace through the Full Guard enchantment of her armor but her body failed to keep up with the attack. She knew from the moment she had seen the Hippogriff that Life Maelstrom would have been a huge factor in their fight. It was the reason she had prepared the tier five Spirit Spell, Griffon Fetters, while keeping Shasa in check. Emerald chains erupted from her body and wrapped themselves around the Hippogriff, restricting his movements. Menadion and Solus attacked at the same time, the First Ruler of the Flames deflecting the spiked mace with her hammer and Solus lunging with the Sage Staff to make up for the short reach of her arms. Menadion’s Fury kept moving in an arch aimed at Shasa’s head that forced him to intercept the hammer with his shield, leaving himself exposed. The Sage Staff hit him like a truck, bending his armor and smashing his ribcage before sending him to crash into the wall behind Kugoh’s desk. Experience more tales on freewebnovel Solus pressed forward, conjuring a wall of hard-light shields and weapons. The former intercepted Shasa’s spells aimed at Lith while the latter forced him to retreat into a corner of the room. The Hippogriff shrieked in fury and desperation, alerting Kugoh that their plan had been foiled. Shasa’s shield was the only thing stopping Menadion’s Fury from smashing his head and his mace was locked in combat with Solus’ Fury. The sheer violence of each clash and block numbed his arms until he could barely raise them anymore. The Hippogriff conjured several tier five Battle Mage spells like Elemental Armaments and Personal Army that gave him respectively soldier- and weapons-shaped ice constructs, but they were no match for Solus’ Light Mastery. ’This woman is no weakling. She can fight and fight well at that. Why has she done nothing until now?’ Only then did Shasa notice that Menadion had yet to conjure a single spell. ’What’s their endgame? What am I missing?’ Meanwhile, Kugoh broke past Lith’s guard and retracted his battle claws. From so up close he could use his knees, elbows, claws, horns, fangs, and tail. The longer reach of the battle claws was nothing compared with the versatility of using his entire body. The Behemoth boosted his water and air fusion the most, weaving a seamless flurry of strikes with his many limbs that left Lith no opportunity to counterattack. Kugoh added fire and earth fusion solely at the moment of impact to increase the hardness and strength of his blows. Lith read all of Kugoh’s movements with Full Guard and even anticipated them with the Ears of Menadion but just like Solus, his body couldn’t keep up with his senses. Kugoh was pouring every drop of Life Maelstrom and every bit of his abundant battle experience into the assault. Lith mirrored the Behemoth’s movements and elemental flow, going tail against tail, claw against claw, and joint against joint. Yet he was always half a step late and his movements too amateurish compared to his opponent. Lith had trained long and hard, but had always focused the most on his swordsmanship. Hand-to-hand combat was something he kept as a last resort when magic and Ragnarök failed him. Feela had been a great teacher and an even better sparring partner. It was only thanks to her that it took Kugoh over thirty strikes to land one clean blow. Yet it had been a matter of "when" since the beginning, never of "if". And once the first blow staggered Lith’s movements and squeezed the air out of his lungs, more and more poured through the increasing cracks of his defense. Adamant-coated blows crashed into the Davross alloy of the Voidwalker armor, each resounding with a boom of thunder. Shasa expected Solus to turn around and help Lith while Kugoh expected Shasa to finish the weak woman and put an end to the fight. Both were wrong. An emerald barrier expanded from the Voidwalker armor, shoving Kugoh back and giving Lith space. The Behemoth never stopped his attacks and the power of his blows cracked the emerald dome as soon as it formed. "That’s enough." Lith spat out saliva mixed with blood. "I’m done." "Too little and too late, kid." Kugoh scoffed while shattering the barrier and pressing on Lith again. "The time for talks is over, now you-" A burst of Void Flames erupted from Lith’s body and crashed into the Behemoth’s like a wave. The black fire of death clashed with the silver lightning of life and they cancelled each other. Kugoh suddenly felt weak and heavy. The air seemed to have become as dense as molten lead, making his movements comically slow. Lith blocked the incoming knife hand with ease and answered with a front kick that sent Kugoh flying like he weighed nothing. "What?" The Behemoth was shocked and his surprise only grew when Ragnarök appeared in Lith’s hand with a blaze of emerald flames. Silvery fire wreathed the Tiamat’s body as his seven eyes burned with mana. ’Good gods!’ Kugoh suddenly remembered Jika’s words after his failed assassination attempt. ’No flames, no blood-crazed blade, no Spirit Blinks or shadow monsters popping out like mushrooms. ’I was so conceited that I failed to notice Verhen hasn’t used any of his most famous weapons during our fight. That’s what he meant when he said that he’s done. He’s done holding back! But why did he do it? ’To study my fighting technique? To lull me in a sense of false security before plunging me into despair? It makes no sense, we’ve just met. Why should he hate me this much?’ Once again, Kugoh was wrong. Lith indeed hated the Behemoth’s guts but that wasn’t the reason for his actions. Nor did he care about experiencing Chyrsha’s pain or learning the best techniques of a true master of martial arts. Those were all added bones he was happy to reap. Lith’s real objective from the start had been to get used to his new body and equipment. To learn how to harmonize the use of the various pieces of the Menadion Set during a real fight. He had conjured spells solely through the Mouth and fueled them with the Hands. Lith had learned how to filter the background noise from the readings of the Ears and Eyes of Menadion until they perceived solely the opponent in front of him. Then, he had used their combined inputs to read, anticipate, and learn from his opponent in real time. It was also the reason Solus and Menadion hadn’t disposed of Shasa earlier. They were trying to limit the interferences and not burden Lith’s mental strength further. Or rather, that was the main reason. Lith burned with hatred and rage for Chyrsha’s fate and needed to vent those feelings, or they would have consumed him. Willpower and discipline could restrain his wrath, but he didn’t want his family to see him like that once he returned.