2787 Returning the Favor (Part 1)
Lith had rearranged the organic materials that comprised the Voidwalker armor so that it would fit his new body and that as the Spark refined the materials, they would have the space to grow.
On the other hand, however, the scales and bones were now thinner than before, offering a lesser degree of protection until the size of the body parts of the dead Dragon reached that of the living Tiamat.
Lith had needed to add more Adamant to coat the exposed surface of the now-stretched suit of armor. It was a subpar result by Lith's standards, but he lacked the Adamant necessary to craft a full metal Voidwalker armor for a bright violet-cored Divine Beast.
To make up for it, Lith had replaced the violet crystals with elemental crystals.
The idea was to move the previous violet crystals back into the mines where the tower would refine them into white 24/7 and leave the Spark to focus its energy solely on the Dragon's remains.
A black crystal was now on the back of the right hand of the armor and a white one was on the left. The right and left pauldrons were now adorned respectively with a red and a blue crystal.
A yellow crystal was embossed on the right tight and an orange one on the left. In the middle of the chest, rested an emerald crystal that collected the energy from the others before circulating it back to the rest of the armor.
The crystals' pattern on the Voidwalker armor followed that of Ragnark, allowing the different elemental energies to flow from one into another and be reinforced by the Spirit Crystal.
"A remarkable piece." Fyrwal studied how the crystals would now fuel elemental spells imbued in the armor, lessening the strain on Lith's mana and core. "But it's kind of wasted on Adamant.
"Davross would work much better and I'm not even sure if the Voidwalker armor can endure the strain that this kind of power produces."
"I don't have much of a choice." Lith shrugged. "The enhanced magical abilities should compensate for the lack of physical durability. This is the best I can do right now, unless you know a way for me to get my hands on a shitload of legendary metal."
"Actually, I do." Fyrwal looked at him with sparkles in her eyes as she turned from Lith to her daughter non-stop.
"I was joking." Lith said, looking her straight in the eyes.
"I wasn't." Fyrwal replied, matching his gaze and intensity.
"Time for the tour of the moon we promised you." Solus stepped in before the situation got even worse. "We can use some rest after so much work."
"One moment, Epphy. I-" At that moment, something clicked inside Fyrwal's head.
'The baby has seven streaks and Elphyn is over 800 years old.' She thought.n.)-/.---).(-1(-n
"If my daughter is too young for you, I'm willing to-"
"Come on, Mom." Faluel dragged the Elder Hydra by the arm before she could finish the sentence. "I've prepared a feast for our picnic and believe it or not, my liver in not on the menu."
***
City of Derios, outside the Warp Gate leading to the local branch of the Dawn Court, the following day.
Lith had rested the whole night to reset the effects of Invigoration and be at the peak of his strength during the raid. It was high noon and even though the air was chilly due to the last glimpses of winter, the sky was clear.
You've attacked my home when you were at your strongest and I was supposed to be at my weakest. It's only fair for me to return the favor.'Lith had little problem finding the magic circle forming the Gate.
Upha the Vampire had been kind enough to draw Lith a map with the position of the engraved runes. Tista had gone checking if the undead was telling the truth before Lith killed him.
To circumvent the dimensional sealing arrays of the important cities of the Kingdom, the Undead Courts resorted to old-fashioned permanent Gates. Ancient Warp Gates would permanently fuse two specific points in space, whereas modern ones could connect to multiple locations via dimensional corridors.
It made modern Gates more versatile, but also susceptible to being jammed by preventing the magical device from locking on to the coordinates of its twin on the other side.
Ancient Warp Gates had no such problem. There was no corridor to create, just a door to open. At the same time, however, this kind of dimensional transportation was a security nightmare.
They bore no imprint and the runes were physically carved in stone or metal, waiting for the mana necessary to activate them. Anyone who knew the location of the runes and had access to a suitable energy source could open the Gate at will.
It was one of the many reasons ancient Warp Gates had been discarded in favor of modern ones. The Courts couldn't lay traps on the outside or a traveller might step on them by chance and their gruesome death would trigger an investigation.
The undead could only secure their side of the Gate by placing enough guards and arrays to neutralize an invading force. No matter the numbers, only two people could pass through the Gate at a time, creating a natural choke point that gave the defenders an insurmountable advantage.
At least in theory. 1
Lith checked the area with life-sensing and array-sensing spells, making sure to not miss anything. Then he placed his hand on the main rune of the ancient Gate and opened his emerald eye.
Usually, that kind of device needed a specific mana crystal to work but Lith had no need for that.
Between Spirit Magic and his Tiamat Fear, it took him a few seconds to find the right frequency to activate the Gate, flooding it with world energy corrupted by his own energy signature.
He lit the dimensional runes up until the last one.
"Solus, get ready to open the passage for me. Enter only after I've dealt the first blow.'He said via their mind link.
Solus nodded as she came out of the stone ring.
She was wearing a new model of Voidwalker armor over the Hands of Menadion and wielded the renewed Sage Staff. She needed both to draw in as much world energy as possible so that her human body would last for the whole duration of the fight.
While she took his place, Lith combined his flight spell with fusion magic to reach the sky above the clouds in a few flaps of his wings. There, he activated gravity fusion, increasing his own weight until he couldn't fly anymore.
Lith then changed the direction of the gravitational pull and of his flight spell, using his wings to further accelerate as he dived down toward the closed Gate. He put an air blade in front of himself to generate a slipstream effect and reduce air friction.
The moment despite his precautions his armor burst into flames, he activated the tier three Light Mastery spell, Sunburst, to generate two pillars of light and fire from his feet.
The spell acted as a jet engine, turning him into a living missile.