Chapter 3860: Favorite Toy (Part 1) ’That Chaos spell might have killed you, Bytra.’ Solus looked around with the Monocle of Menadion, scanning the area for the energy signature of their enemy. ’Thank you for risking your life for us.’ The Raiju was the only one in her original position, yet she was miraculously unscathed. ’I didn’t risk anything.’ Bytra replied. ’The guy already let me live once, and the spell was meant to maim Lith’s right wing, arm, and lung. He wants to take us ali-’ A black bolt of energy crossed dozens of kilometers in an instant and appeared behind the Fourth Ruler of the Flames’ back. Raum reformed his right hand and lunged his extended fingers at Bytra’s spine to break it like during their first encounter. ’Such is the weakness of the flesh.’ He thought. ’Once burdened with a sack of meat, even a mighty Eldritch can lose her consciousness to a heavy enough wound. Luckily for me, it takes much more than this to kill her.’ The extended Chaos claws cut through flesh and bones, decapitating Bytra with ease. ’No!’ Raum’s white eyes widened in horror. ’I’ve become too strong! I didn’t have the time to get accustomed to my new power and now my prize his lost!’ His prize turned out to be an afterimage left by the real Bytra as she moved behind Raum and lodged the Absolution in his head, squashing it like a bug. Solus struck next, unleashing a barrage of Spirit-imbued darkness spells that struck from every side. No other element could wound an Eldritch, and without Spirit Magic, the darkness element was too slow to be effective. Solus, Lith, and his Demons assumed a battle formation while keeping a safe distance from the Eldritch, not daring to come too close until they understood the nature of his powers. ’Don’t worry about me and do it!’ Bytra said. Her opponent was barely putting any effort into his attacks, yet she had to give her all to dodge the flurry of claw sweeps that threatened to tear her limbs apart. Her allies conjured a darkness-sealing array that blocked her Chaos spells and abilities, but the unknown Eldritch fared no better. Lith took a deep breath and unleashed a jet stream of Dread Flames that struck Raum with the speed of a laser and the momentum of a freight train. The Wonderer raised his hand, discovering the effects of the darkness-sealing array only when it was too late. His Chaos-based spells failed to activate, his air barrier burned into nothingness, and the wall of ice he conjured evaporated. The silvery fire drowned Raum like a raging river, inflicting him pain and wounds the likes of which he hadn’t suffered in millennia. Back then, the Dread Flames would have threatened the Eldritch’s life, but now they weren’t enough to make him flinch. If not for the change in the Eyes’ reading of Raum’s energy signature, Lith would have thought his enemy immune to the mystical flames. "Remarkable. Maybe there’s merit in keeping you alive." Raum said as he morphed into a black bolt again and darted in front of Lith. The Tiamat was huge while the fist of the Eldritch was no bigger than a man’s, yet the punch sent Lith’s head snapping back and opened a hole in the Davross-Adamant alloy of his helm. While the Tiamat was still recovering from the blow, Raum grabbed the Voidwalker armor from one of its metal spikes and tossed it down with a casual gesture. Lith found himself spinning out of control, hitting the ground with a loud boom before he could understand what had just happened. His wings broke, his ribs shattered, and a second concussion blurred his vision. "You sadden me, little brother." Raum shed small tears of Chaos. "How could you too fall for the illusion of the flesh? You could have been a predator like me, and instead you chose to be a weak prey. Shameful." Bytra moved to intercept him, but the Wonderer was too fast. By the time she reached Raum’s position, he was already bolting toward the ground like a meteor. Even the Eyes failed to follow his movements, reporting his position in dozens of places at the same time until he stopped long enough for his energy trail to disappear. ’Don’t hold anything back!’ Menadion and the other Demons had started to weave their respective Blade Spells as soon as they had been summoned. ’There’s no point having an ace up the sleeve of your funeral dress!’ Demons were Abominations, but they were weaker than Lith, and it was clear that he was weaker than the Eldritch. The only possible answer against such an overwhelming opponent was overwhelming might. Raum landed feet-first on Lith’s crumpled form. The impact made the landing crater several meters deeper, and the rib fragments pierce Lith’s lungs, sealing his breathing technique. "You’re lucky I need you alive, little brother." The Wonderer said. "I’m aware your Demons would fade upon your death, and even though you are pathetically weak, you are still one of us. "Once I’m done with Menadion, we’ll discover together what I can learn from you. What secrets your flesh hides and what powers I can help you set free." ’Fuck me sideways!’ Solus didn’t call upon her mother’s name not to disrupt Menadion’s focus. ’I know we never fought an Eldritch, we only survived encountering one. ’Yet I would have never expected that the gap in our strength would be so dramatic even after Lith reached the bright violet!’ She threw her hammer with all of her considerable strength, conjuring the Furies’ Flight enchantment. Bytra did the same, activating her Hammerfall enchantment while fully shapeshifting into her true form. ’I can barely follow his movements by reading the air currents he produces.’ Bytra thought. ’I need to go all out, or we’ll end up like Zor!’ Eighteen Davross hammers struck Raum from every side, each carrying the strength of a Divine Beast and the destructive power that only the genius of a Ruler of the Flames could bring to life. Eighteen Davross hammers disappeared into thin air, causing only ripples in the black slate that the Wonderer’s Chaos skin was. ’What?’ Solus’ and Bytra’s blood froze, afraid that their prized weapons were lost forever. The rage from losing her wife first and now one of her dearest creations drove the Fourth Ruler of the Flames mad with fury. She neighed at the top of her lungs, charging at Raum while enveloped by a storm of lightning and fire. "Well, thanks." Raum’s slap intercepted the galloping Raiju as though she were still, sending her to crash against Lith’s broken chest plate. "You’ve saved me the time to chase after you." The Demons narrowed their eyes and said nothing as they unleashed five Blade Tier spells at the Wonderer at the same time, making it impossible for him to dodge. Bytra’s attack had failed, but her intervention had bought the Demons the time they needed to complete their spells. "That’s... problematic." Raum repelled the attack with his own Blade Tier spell, Pillars of Eternity. The Eldritch’s Blade Spell swallowed the Demons’ and retraced their paths, akin to fire with gasoline. The raging bursts of energy consumed the Demons and destroyed their equipment in an instant. The darkness-sealing array faded with their bodies, restoring the Wonderer’s full might.