Chapter 3704: No Debates, Only Retribution (Part 1) "By your command!" Five seven-eyed Demons and the Golems replied. "I have a thing for those who attack innocent children." Menadion snarled, clapping her Fury on the palm of her hand. "Can I show them?" "Please, my liege." Locrias and Varegrave were fellow parents, and it pained their hearts to leave the Awakened alive. Like Menadion, they had witnessed the whole fight and just like her, they had been helpless spectators. A quick trip to the Mansion had partially recharged the Golems and given the Demons of the Darkness all the power they needed. "Not yet." Lith shook his head. "I need to send a message." "You already stabbed me! You promised you wouldn’t kill me!" Cailm said as Ragnarök’s tip came dangerously close. "I only said that I wouldn’t kill you right then, and I didn’t." Lith stabbed the Orthrus’ wound open again. "I said I had to send a message. Not that you would be the only one. Now squirm." He warped the entire group above another mana geyser, leaving them alone. "Cailm, you dumb cur!" Hesaria used the Fenrir-equivalent insult to lizards for Dragons. "You had us walk into a trap!" "I did warn you about it, didn’t I?" The Orthrus clenched his stomach, the pain felt even worse than before after those few seconds of sweet relief. "That’s why you took your time and brought your minions along, stupid lizard!" "I’m not her minion." More than one Awakened said while groaning in pain. There were Fae among them, but the damage inflicted upon their life force stopped them from regenerating. "Point taken." The Basilisk gestured to the others to shut up. "What do we do now?" "I’m open to suggestions." Cailm replied. "Now you are in my same situation. Show me how brilliant the offspring of Leegaain can be, lizard." "Anyone?" Hesaria raised her open palm up, gesturing to the other Awakened that they could talk. "No clue." A Lesser Griffon said. "But I think Cailm is onto something. Why must we ask for permission to speak? Maybe we really are your minions." "You’re not helping, Tyrgar!" Hesaria replied. "Now, unless someone has something useful to say, be quiet and let me think while I bleed." A few painful seconds later, she found the answer. "A Healing spell. We need a Healing spell that won’t put strain on our cores. Does anyone have a spell-holding ring with a Healing spell?" "I did. It’s the only thing Verhen took away." Cailm replied. "Mee too." "Same." Said a few Awakened. "Good thinking. I’ll start bringing one with me, if I survive this." Tyrgar said. Cursing Lith for his cunning and the Orthrus for not warning her about such an important detail, Hesaria looked at her situation from every possible angle. It took her a couple of minutes and as many near-fainting episodes to find a solution. "Listen to me, Cailm." She rolled on her side to face the Orthrus while tapping on a precise rune on her communication amulet. "We have only one shot at this." "Got it." He nodded. Luckily for Hesaria, Lith had gathered the stabbed Awakened before Warping them, so she only needed to roll a bit to share her idea with one of her allies, who in turn passed the message to the others. "All together, now!" The Basilisk pressed the rune without waiting for confirmation. She was running out of blood, and with it, of time. Nothing happened, so she pressed the rune again and again, followed by Cailm and the rest of the Awakened. A few seconds later, an emerald Warp Steps opened right beside Hesaria. "This better be important." A goddess of war of old walked through the dimensional corridor, her long hair braided into a tress that reached the small of her back. "I was in the middle of-" Day turned into night as a shadow eclipsed the sun. The goddess of war felt the presence before seeing it, and turned around too fast for the eyes to see. The figure coming at her was black and shrouded in electrum-colored lightning, resembling a living thundercloud. Except thunderclouds weren’t supposed to wield swords. Even though they had yet to clash, the goddess of war’s rich battle experience told her she couldn’t stop or dodge the blow. She pivoted on her left foot so as to sweep her supple right leg in a kick to the blade’s fuller while also slapping it away with her right feathered wing and both her battle claws. The blade was fast and heavy, but the gap in skill between the goddess and the living thundercloud allowed her to deflect the blow safely. "Lith?" The goddess of war said in shock after noticing the seven eyes glaring at her in hatred. "Feela." There was no surprise in the Tiamat’s voice, only a cold accusation. "I thought better of you." "What’s the meaning of this?" Feela the Behemoth, the Beast Representative, stepped back to escape the onslaught. "Have you gone insane?" She sounded honestly surprised and confused. Feela’s aura also showed Lith she had come without preparing any spell, which was a mistake an expert like her would never make. "What in the Great Mother’s name is this?" Yet what stopped Lith’s hand was the appearance of Raagu and Lotho. Trouble had taken the Human Representative by surprise, but the many arrays engraved on her robe had saved her life. Raptor had stabbed deep into the Plant Representative trunk, but the difference in size and skill allowed the Treant to swat the Golem away like a fly. ’Were Feela alone, I could believe she was part of the conspiracy, but the whole Council? It would be ridiculous.’ Lith took a step back and hung Ragnarök on his hip without sheathing it or dispelling the magic coursing through his body. "I’d say thanks, but I don’t see why I should be grateful to someone who just ambushed me." Raagu released Trouble from her arrays as a peace gesture. "I hope you have a good explanation for this, Verhen." "I was about to say the same thing." Lith stared at the three representatives. "Since I’m the one who attacked first, I’ll explain my side of the story." Lith extended three tendrils of Spirit Magic to create a mind link while retaining a safe distance. Also, he kept the five Demons of the Darkness hidden and ready to strike if the expression of the Representatives revealed that one or more of them knew about the attempt on Valeron’s life. Much to his surprise and Lith’s paranoia’s chagrin, the sheer disbelief on the Council Representatives’ faces was genuine. Lith had never thought a huge tree could look dumbfounded like a kid trying to understand quantum physics, but Lotho proved him wrong. "How?" Feela was the first to recover from the revelation. "And by that I mean, how did you learn about Valeron? How could you stoop so low to attack an innocent baby? Most importantly, how dare you involve *me* in this madness?" The Behemoth turned to the agonizing Emperor Beasts, obtaining only moans and groans of pain in reply. "Well put." Raagu grunted while staring at her fellow humans. "Maybe if we stop them from dying, they’ll answer our questions." Lotho rolled his eyes. "Let’s heal them just enough to keep them alive, but not enough for them to escape."