Chapter 3695: Hit and Run (Part 2) "Not bad, Verhen. Not bad." Cailm the Orthrus tutted. "But not good enough!" The golden armor of the Mana Body bloodline ability shielded the Lesser Fenrir from harm. The Emperor Beast was in his humanoid form, using twin short blades to deflect Ragnarök’s following attacks and his twin heads for deadly bites. One aimed at Lith’s neck and the other at Valeron. Cailm didn’t care about killing Lith, he was out for the blood of Thrud’s Heir. Yet he was fine with the Tiamat dying in the process. Lith pulled the left side of his body aside to dodge the first bite and literally rammed into the second. His curved horns intercepted the open maw before it reached his neck, while the crown of bone spikes on his head closed it shut. It would have been a deadly blow, if not for Mana Body. Thanks to his bloodline ability, Cailm only gagged from the horn harmlessly pushing up one of his palates. "I bet you wish your Tiamat bloodline had a bloodline ability as useful as mine instead of silly flames for the barbecue." The Orthrus clung to Lith with all his free limbs, his snaked tail coiling along the Tiamat’s. The charge of the Lesser Fenrir slowed Lith and gave the Warp Steps the time to close. "About that." Lith hurled a burst of Void Flames from point-blank range, using what he had learned from Valtak to ensure they wouldn’t hurt him or Valeron. The cursed flames ate at the Mana Body and Cailm’s flesh, the pain forcing him to release his hold. ’Fuck me sideways!’ Yet it wasn’t enough. The Orthrus killing intent was genuine, but he was in no rush to win. His main goal was to delay Lith’s escape, and he had succeeded. ’Excellent work, Cailm!’ Jissha the Roc activated her Living Thunder bloodline ability, transforming her enormous feathered body into a crackling mass of electricity. She charged at both the Tiamat and the Orthrus, knowing that Mana Body would protect Cailm from the damage. Lith moved the baby boy from his left arm to his left feather wing, wrapping it around Valeron like a blanket. Then, he activated darkness fusion for himself and did the only thing he could: clench his teeth. The Void Flames were focused on Cailm and dealt little damage to Jissha. Living Thunder, however, slipped through the cracks in the Mana Body created by the cursed flames and gave the Orthrus quite a shock. Lith took it much worse, but he still managed to trade blows in the brief moment the Roc phased through him. The Blight Flames born together with their darkness counterpart, erupted from the feathered wings in two different forms. The wing enveloping the baby boy released the cursed flames in a perfect sphere focused around him, burning away every iota of Living Thunder before it could harm Valeron. At the same time, Lith’s right wing stabbed at the Roc. It focused the Blight Flames into a blade that cut through her ethereal body. Jissha shrieked in pain as her flesh and blood burned even in their energy form, her organs burning. The Blight Flames forced the Roc back into her physical form, and she plummeted due to the wounds, but she was still alive. One of her comrades caught her on the fly and treated her with Invigoration while Lith was still convulsing from the shock. "Die, you traitor! Die with Thrud’s bastard you love so much!" Cailm had never let go of his prey, and now redoubled his efforts to kill Lith. The Orthrus could cast spells twice as fast as a normal Awakened thanks to his twin heads, and the ambush had given Cailm the time to prepare many of them. Even with Mana Body active, he already had several spells at his fingertips. The twin heads bit down while a barrage of tier five spells erupted from the Lesser Fenrir’s hide. Lith was paralyzed, but the Voidwalker armor and the Mouth of Menadion were not. Each produced a Spirit Barrier from their enchantments, and together they blocked everything. The resulting shockwaves forced Cailm to release his grip and further aggravated his wounds. Lith exploited the opening to suddenly expand the Spirit Barriers and shove the Lesser Fenris away, clearing his path. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮 ’Sorry, Cailm. Today is not your lucky day.’ Aragath the Jormungandr closed the distance with the Tiamat and unleashed his Doom Tide Bloodline ability. Lith had no time to react or world energy to Blink away. His numb body slowed him down, and the Doom Tide left him no time to weave a more complex Spirit Spell. The blue sphere expanded faster than a bullet for over 250 meters (820’) around the Jormungandr, trampling on everything and everyone on its path. The Orthrus yelped, rushing to reinforce his Mana Body while conjuring his armor’s Spirit Barrier to save his life. The barrier shattered, and Cailm’s body broke, but once again one of the other Awakened was ready to take care of their injured companion before death claimed them. ’I knew it from the start of this fight.’ Lith sighed in resignation as the two already weakened Spirit Barriers protecting him crumbled in quick succession. ’There’s almost no way to survive a well-staged ambush. Let alone one with such numerical advantage.’ The Doom Tide washed over the Tiamat, the Bahamut, and the trees below them, turning the entire area into a flat wasteland. It also blinded all kinds of mystical senses, so no one noticed when Ragnarök pierced through Aragath’s heart. No one but Aragath himself and the one holding the angry blade. ’Almost.’ Lith drove Ragnarök deep, unleashing all of its enchantments plus a searing wave of Origin Flames. The angry blade nullified the Adamant armor’s protective and healing enchantments, twisted the Jormungandr’s mana flow against him, and opened a path for the bright violet flames to incinerate the internal organs without encountering any resistance. Aragath understood what had happened when his life was already slipping away, and the last thing he saw were Lith’s cold seven eyes. Trouble and Raptor had emerged from the pocket dimension before the Spirit Barriers collapsed. They had shielded Lith and Valeron with their metal bodies and the Spirit Barriers generated by their power cores. It still wasn’t enough, but the Golems had bought their master the time he needed to reform the broken barriers from their fragments, saving him precious mana. Four Spirit Barriers, Ragnarök’s World Mirror ability, two Golems, and Lith’s Spirit Domination were more than enough. Lith kicked the Jormungandr’s corpse away and hurled a blast of Origin Flames at it. Just enough to create a thin layer that kept the remaining Awakened from noticing their comrade was already dead. Lith bolted away and smirked in seeing that his ruse had succeeded. The enemy followed the rescue protocol as he had predicted, so only six of the twelve remaining Awakened still followed Lith. Of the other six, two were tending to the injured Cailm and Jissha, while the third was about to discover Aragath was beyond any cure. ’With only six of them, I don’t have to worry about Silverwing’s Annihilation for a while.’ Lith thought. ’Only for a while, though.’ He was badly wounded, whereas ten of his enemies were in perfect condition, and two more would soon make a full recovery.