"I'm sorry, Dad, but I can't do it. They may be monsters to you, but to me they are precious people who need me. I've come too far to turn my back on them like that." Xenagrosh sighed.

"Thanks for your help, Dad. I promise you that I'll use what you've taught me today to make you proud. I'll find a way to redeem my race in your eyes. I hope that the next time you see me, I'll be whole again."

She turned the communication amulet off before Warping to random locations to make herself untraceable, unaware that there was no need to. Leegaain considered it his parting gift to his daughter since the next time they met they were bound to be enemies.

"I've got bad news and terrible news. Which do you want to hear first?" He said after activating his mind link with his fellow Guardians.

"The bad news." Tyris replied.

"I know why the Master knows us so well and who has helped them with Arthan's Madness. My daughter Zoreth is among his hybrid Eldritchs."

"My condolences, old friend." Said Salaark. "If I meet her on the battlefield, I'll try to give her a painless death."

"The terrible news is that among her peers there's even Bytra, the 4th Ruler of the Flames. Zoreth was wielding one of her weapons."

"f.u.c.k me sideways!" Said both Guardians in unison.

"The inventor of modern runes? The same Bytra who taught us how to unlock the true potential of Davross?" Tyris asked.

She had always believed that Bytra had disappeared due to the tragic consequences of her never-ending quest to find Menadion's legacy and beat the Mother of Forgemastering at her own game.

No Guardian would have ever thought that Bytra's pa.s.sion could have turned into an obsession, leading her to become an Abomination.

"Yes, and that's not all. Just like the anomaly, the Master's experiments have allowed my daughter to tap again into her draconic nature even though she discarded it centuries ago, back when she was still a normal hybrid.

"Not only is this supposed to be impossible, but also if the same happened to all the other Eldritchs, there's no telling what kind of bloodlines we might have to face. As you know all too well, some Eldritchs pre-date even us Guardians."

Only silence followed Leegaain's words. Some of the Fallen Races had obtained great powers before devolving into madness. The idea of such powerful creatures combining their might with the wisdom of millennia and with the Chaos energy that only Abominations could wield, made them worry.

***

Solus Tower, eight hours later.

Despite the fact that the mana geyser and his tower were supposed to enhance his recovery speed, when Lith woke up he felt as if someone had stopped time the moment he had closed his eyes and then buried him under several steamrollers.

'Guess I would've been out cold a full day if this had happened in any other place.' He thought while yawning like a bear ready to go in hibernation for winter.

The first thing he did was check his pocket watch. Luckily there was still plenty of time to snack and go back to the Ernas mansion. The second thing he did was to investigate the source of all the noise he heard.

The moment he tried to focus his attention, Lith could almost feel as if something inside of his head clicked. He could now distinguish all the voices and the smells despite the several closed doors that stood between him and his guests.

'It seems that Solus invited Tista and Nyka at the tower.' He thought.

Pain aside, one of the last things he remembered before losing his consciousness was taking the Skinwalker armor off to more easily get rid of the impurities. So Lith made sure to be presentable before opening the door of his room.

"Big sister, how nice of you to visit. Yet when I was bedridden you didn't show up." He said.

"Not everyone has a magical tower that moves freely through s.p.a.ce." She replied with fake rage before hugging him.

"I was too far from the nearest Gate and too busy clearing a couple of dungeons to return. Especially after hearing from Solus that you simply needed rest and that you would pick me up later."

"Why dungeons?" Lith asked.

"I need real battle experience and I prefer fighting known monsters instead of putting my head inside the dragon's lair like you always do. I always go alone, so that I can practice both fake and true magic according to the circ.u.mstances.

"Spotting things from a distance with Life Vision almost makes things too easy. Almost." She shuddered at the memory of a couple of her recent near-death experiences. Tista had learned the hard way that monsters could be Awakened as well.

"Hi, sweetie." Nyka said, and judging from the red content of her gla.s.s, she was being literal rather than flirty. "G.o.ds, you smell delicious."

"Thanks, I guess. What's all the ruckus?"

"Solus wants to beat the c.r.a.p out of me. She says that it's the best way to temper my body and fill it with impurities, to delay my next breakthrough as long as possible." Tista replied.

Solus then brought Lith up to speed about her most recent discoveries about the body and mana core refinement process.

"Excellent news! This will allow us to greatly improve Phloria's survival chances. By the way, how do you feel, Solus?" Lith asked.

"The quality of my nourishment has greatly improved but even though I used Acc.u.mulation during the last few hours, it's too soon for my own breakthrough. I really hope that something will happen the moment I graduate from deep to pure green." Solus said.

"Excellent news my a.s.s!" Tista said, interrupting their daydreaming about the content of the second floor of the tower.

"I'm not a fan of pain. To add insult to my future injuries, I'm will not even be allowed to use Invigoration after getting beaten since it would rejuvenate my body and make most of the imperfections that light magic leaves disappear."

"You can always use darkness fusion." Lith shrugged. "Also, I think that it's better to be prepared than dying the moment you experience a breakthrough during our absence."

After eating enough food so to stave-off his hunger, Lith and the girls practiced together Silverwing's Hexagram. After seeing the Wargs use it as a learning tool for Awakened while they were under Tezka's influence, Lith had applied the same method to both groups he supervised.

Solus's friends and the Emperor Beasts living inside the Trawn woods that he had Awakened would regularly practice the array. It served as both a means of defense and to learns the finesse of manipulating different elements.

Usually, it required one person for each element and there were only four people in the tower, but with Lith's level of mastery, managing two elements at once was an easy job.

The exercise required that the Awakened ones practicing the spell would cycle the control of all elements while keeping their mana output at the same level. For Tista it was an opportunity to learn by imitation how Lith handled his mana flow.

Solus was at Lith's level in terms of control over the elements and magical knowledge, but she appreciated the training to build teamwork. She hoped one day to be capable of leaving the tower and experience the world together with her friends.