3005 Poisoned Well (Part 1)

Xenagrosh alone would have been enough to kill Maergron already if only she didn't have to preserve the Ears. A full-powered burst of Origin Flames would have likely destroyed the artifact along with the Redcap and so would most of her best spells.

She could feel Bytra's eyes on her, begging the Shadow Dragon not to ruin the mission.

'I can't give Solus her mother's back. I can't undo what my original self did in the past. What I can do is protect Menadion's legacy and help her daughter retrieve what's left of it.' The Raiju wasn't as strong as the Shadow Dragon but her most powerful abilities were still too dangerous.

Chaos spells and plasma blades would destroy the Ears beyond repair and she couldn't allow it.

'I must not make that bastard feel cornered until I find a way to safely kill him. Otherwise he might reveal the existence of the Ears to bargain for his life or destroy it out of spite. A cornered prey is the most unpredictable one.' Bytra, Lith, and Solus thought in unison.

Rhuta let the Fetters fade. He had already wasted too much mana to repair the spell over and over and it was now clear that as long as the Redcap moved that quickly, it was a wild goose chase.

"Useless as always, Rhuta Ailius. I guess your nickname as the Pinkie of the Hand of Fate is well-deserved." Maergron mocked him, hitting the Awakened's pride where he knew would hurt the most.

'How does he know my full name and even the nickname those assholes of my old unit gave me?' Outrage and surprise made him lose focus in the middle of a spell, forcing him to weave it from scratch.

'We've stopped using our names the moment we realized our mark could listen to us.'

Lith entered the fray right when Strider had purged the mana poisoning from his core and was getting up.'Gods, I can't believe that such a small wound could hurt that much.' He thought while releasing another bolt of thunder from his tail but this time with no flash. 'What kind of poison can affect an Awakened?'

He was aware of the mana poisoning but without knowing of the Ears' existence and how it worked, it was hard to believe that a thin strand of mana had reached his core.

The Zouwu assumed it had been carried by an alchemical vector that worked akin to Balkor's poison.

'I don't care if you believe me or not.' Lith replied while sharing via the mind link what he had learned about the throne while sitting on the sidelines. 'I have a plan, but I can't do it alone. Are you in?'

'With pleasure.' The Zouwu analyzed the various steps of the plan, making a few suggestions based on his real abilities and the experience from his clash with Maergron. 'Do you think you can keep up with him?'

'No. I wouldn't need you otherwise.' Lith unsheathed Ragnarök and swelled his human form just enough to eclipse Strider who kept himself one step behind.

At Lith's signal, Bytra and Zoreth jumped back, leaving the Redcap flabbergasted.

The Ears perceived both the Zouwu and the Tiamat but there was something weird about their charge. The mana flow around them was blurred as if the next attack could come from every side.

And that wasn't even the worst part.

'Another Davross weapon?' Maergron inwardly griped. 'Does it grow on trees now or what? Shooting the claws is off the table until I understand if this guy is strong enough to cut them.'

Lith was in his human form and without his Magus robe and extra eyes, there was nothing peculiar about him. There were no images available to the public of his weapon and a black-haired Awakened with black armor was as rare as a three-leaf clover.

Maergron felt like he had seen Lith somewhere in the past, but with an entire murder squad of the Hand of Fate and two Eldritches knocking on his door, the Fae had more pressing matters to focus on.

When Lith lounged with his blade, the Redcap deflected it by intercepting Ragnarök's tip and pushing it aside with his considerable strength. He could have just dodged, but the contact was necessary to overcome the cloaking device Lith wore and poison his mana flow.

'What the fuck?' Even with the lever effect and the might borrowed from the Titania, Maergron could barely deviate the angry blade and the readings of the Ears were far from reassuring.

The Redcap lunged with his left hand, aiming at the auxiliary core in Lith's left shoulder. Just like he had predicted.

The left membranous and feathered wings came out at the same time. The flesh, bones, and the metal covering them took the brunt of the damage, trapping Killer Wasp in their flexed muscles.

With one arm locked with Ragnarök and the other stuck, Maergron tried to pull his left hand free and Lith used his momentum to lunge at the Redcap with the Adamant-coated bone spike at the end of his tail.

At the same time, Strider circled around the Tiamat and the Redcap, cutting off his head, arms, and legs in quick succession while Lith's tail pierced through the chest.

"Nice try, but it's not enough." Having no way to avoid the blows, Maergron had disconnected the vines keeping the various parts of his body together before Strider's blades hit.

As most plant folk, his humanoid appearance was a choice. Thanks to the warning of the Ears, he could reshape himself to lessen or nullify damage. His armor could also split, allowing the different limbs to move independently.

"Are you trapping me or is it me who's trapping you?" The vines on his chest had opened and closed around Lith's tail, blocking him in an awkward position.

Maergron twisted his left arm just enough to loosen the grip on the claws and shoot them at once at Lith, hoping that at least one of them would hit an auxiliary core.

The now-free right hand shot one claw at a time at Strider, forcing him to move along a path that put him in collision course with the tier five Spirit spell, Death Bind.

Maergron knew how the Zouwu's bloodline ability worked and as soon as the Ears had perceived the forming of the supercharged spot in the ground where Strider would land, the Redcap had aimed his spell there.

An emerald spider net with a spinning energy drill at the heart and head level appeared right where Strider was supposed to be. It was supposed to kill the Zouwu slowly enough to give the Titania the illusion she could save him so that she would be next.

The death of his captain would trigger a fit of rage in Unanna that would make the Naga break formation. In one move, Maergron would get rid of more than half of the Hand of Fate and gain the blood he needed to fuel his abilities until the end of the fight.

Except none of that happened.

Strider let the first electric field fade the moment it was formed and created a second one.Changing his course in mid-air and at that speed cost him quite a bit of mana and mental focus, but it was worth it.