Lith's seven eyes burned with mana and determination . The punch was unbelievably fast, but telegraphed . He dodged before Treius's arm even started to move and conjured at the same time an air cushion .
The moving fist produced shockwaves in the air which Lith surfed like a wave thanks to the air cushion . The maneuver made him avoid the blow with ease . Treius reacted by twisting his hips and aiming the next punch were Lith was supposed to land .
A sudden jolt of agony made him miss the target by almost five meters (16') . A second and a third one forced him to fall on his knees, his stomach twisted in a knot .
'I cut off all my pain receptors, why do I still feel it then?' Treius saw the Gatekeeper appear in Lith's hands amid blazing emerald flames . He knew no blade could hurt him, but nonetheless he felt fear .
'I don't know . ' The Black Star replied, experiencing terror for the second time in its life .
Lith didn't only cleave the Kadurians' life force, but he had also enveloped it into a bubble made of spirit magic . The moment he had completed his harvest, he had brought the black spheres near the dragon .
The Black Star predatory nature had done the rest . The butchered energy had been mixed together with the healthy one and was now crippling Treius's dragon form . To work properly, a body needed a precise set of instructions that were provided by the life force .
Even if the Black Star was adapting the human life force to match the dragon form, all the damage Lith had inflicted on it was still there . The corrupted energy was a living torture for its host, stopping the organs it flowed through .
Limbs would fall limp, organs would stop working . The Black Star didn't realize the gravity of the situation until the illness spread to Treius's brain and heart . The failure of such organs would bring more than damages it could easily heal .
The dragon's eyes rolled over, leaving only the sclera visible . He couldn't breathe or even think . Treius fell to the ground while Lith darted toward the mighty creature now reduced to a fish in a barrel .
The Black Star had no choice but to withdraw its powers . Treius gasped back to life, feeling weak and sluggish . He saw Lith approaching with his blade ready at hand, brimming with power .
He used air and earth fusion to dodge, but without the cursed object's help, he was back at square one . His body never had the time to adapt to the new core nor he wore his uncle's magical protections .
Without enough vigor, such a huge body was just a bigger target . Lith's first slash chopped off one of the giant feet, making Treius fall backward . Lith vertically wall ran on the stump while the opponent's body was still in mid air .
Treius had no time to cast a spell, so he tried to claw the enemy away . His hands flew off with a spurt of blood yet not a drop touched Lith who was already above the chest area .
Treius screamed in terror while Lith roared with anger, releasing from his mouth another jet of blue flames that entered the dragon's maw . Treius's head burst into flames, his eyes popped like balloons . Lith decapitated him anyway, just to be safe .
When the Black Star emerged from the dragon's mutilated body, the forgemastering circle was already active .
The runes from the Repentance spell flew inside the cursed object . Lith had no more words but the chant until its very end . At the seventh rune, the cursed object rather than a crystal star resembled a bunch of glass shards glued together .
"Stop! I beg of you! You have seen what I'm capable of . Imagine if I had a suitable host instead of a pampered idiot . You have no reason to kill me . You know how to paralyze me, take your time and think carefully about what you're doing . "
Treius's body reverted to his natural appearance, yet the head kept burning until only ashes remained . When the twelfth and final rune crashed into the Black Star, its fragments imploded emitting a thud sound .
The black clouds inside and outside Kaduria disappeared . The tribulation was over . The light phase and the shadow phase were no more, only the real sun shone high above Lith's head .
Then, the ruins of Kaduria emitted a blinding light that took the form of countless shooting stars of different sizes . Most plunged into Mogar, returning to the planet the energy that had been stolen over the centuries .
The rest flew toward the horizon, disappearing with the speed of light .
Lith used Invigoration to mend his wounds and recover the energies spent during the battle . The rage was gone, only the abyss remained . It made him feel emptier than ever .
"I hope you have watched me carefully, Yurial . " Lith spoke to himself . If not even a nutjob like Redan had turned into a ghost long enough to say goodbye, someone like Yurial was bound to be at peace, wherever he was .
"I told you countless times, Wardens are not useless and neither were you . It's all a matter of timing your decisions . If you had asked Quylla out instead of admiring her from afar you would still be alive, you damn moron . " Lith said with a sigh .
"What I'm trying to say is: thank you . Today you saved my life . "
'Lith still thinks about Yurial whenever he casts an array . ' Solus thought . 'I wish they had more time together . I wish I could hug Lith tight and tell him that everything will be alright . '
Lith walked outside the barrier and after a lot of thinking, he called Lieutenant Kamila Yehval, his handler . He gave her a full and meticulously doctored version of the events in Kaduria .
Kamila had a hard time believing him . She asked him to go back inside and gave him precise instructions on how to take scans of his surroundings with the army's amulet .
"It's amazing!" It was the only thing she managed to say once she received all the data . She put him on hold before contacting their superiors . Even the smallest events regarding a lost city had to be reported up to the top of the chain of command, let alone its recovery .
It was an unprecedented event .
"Our Commanding Officers want to hear it directly from you . You are expected to meet them tomorrow at noon at the Headquarters . Aside from that, you are on leave for the next three days . "
"A three days leave? I was in the field for only two days . " The news surprised Lith .
"I know, but orders are orders . Return to Belius as soon as you can and enjoy your vacation . "
After turning off his military communication amulet, Lith took out his civilian one and called his potential date .
"Hi, Kamila . "
"Hi, Lith . Wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon . " She replied with a giggle . Her tone was different from before . She sounded more relaxed .
"Me neither . That pain in the ass of my handler just gave me three days of leave out of the blue . Can you believe it?"
"Really? Three days?" She chuckled . "What will you do with so much free time?"
"Depends . Are you free for dinner tonight?"
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I hereby commotion changing his name from “Lith” to “Rizzith”