"Gods, no!" Night said, noticing that the world energy from the mana geyser was flooding the Void Demon Dragon and his missing arm was regrowing so quickly that it put the Abomination's regenerative powers to shame.

"There are no gods. Only death." A choir of dead voices came out of his mouth, followed by a burst of blue flames.

"I said get off!" The Doom Tide extinguished the blue flames and blasted the Dragon away.

Night unleashed her tier five Spirit Spell, Manastorm, conjuring a hail of emerald bullets the size of a cannonball and with the kinetic energy of a missile. The constructs pushed the Void Demon Dragon further back and bought her the time to conjure her steed.

Moonlight walked through a Spirit Blink and filled the Horseman and her equipment with new strength.

'That was close.' Meln panted.

Even though he wasn't in control of their body, he experienced Night's pain and fatigue.

'You can say that. If those flames reached our crystal, we would be dead. It's still too unstable to take that kind of damage.' The Horseman replied. 'Also, did you notice that thing has the regenerative abilities of an Abomination?'

'It was hard to miss.' Meln groaned in frustration. 'How much has Leech changed during our stay in Jiera? How many things have we missed?'

While they caught their breath, the Voidfeather Dragon struggled to contain the waves of parasitic souls flooding through the cracks in Lith's life force.

'Fuck me sideways, they arrive faster than I can purify them. I'd close the door, but without the death force, there are no blue flames. Without the blue flames, I'd be dead in a minute.'

At the same time, the voices in Derek's head were chipping away at his sanity.

'Murderer!' 'Kill her!' 'Avenge us!' 'Watch out for when Night lunges with her spear. Exploit Thorn's side tips to lock it in place. She never guards them!' 'Seed of chaos!'

The voices of the helpful souls were drowned out in the cries of the mad spirits.

'This is going exactly as I expected.' Derek panted, his body hurting as much as his mind. 'This Verhen bastard has finally come to collect his tithe. I'm losing myself in his power but it's still better than rolling over and dying like a dog.'

The fusion with the Voidfeather Dragon had restored part of Derek's memories. Not enough to go back to being Lith Verhen since the Dragon kept that part sealed to keep the Void's life force dominant and retain his regenerative abilities.

Yet it was enough for the Void to remember who Orpal was and what he had done. Enough for Derek to see his Earth father's shadow in his Mogar brother and hate him from the bottom of his heart.

The blue flames burned at his flesh just like the myriads of souls ate at his mind but he didn't care.

"Let's see who dies first, Poopie!" Derek roared, the world energy healed his wounds almost as quickly as Manastorm opened them after piercing through the wall of blue flames.

He bolted forward, only to stop midway when his prey Blinked up in the sky, farther than his own dimensional spell could bring him.

Moonlight didn't boost only Night's physical and magical prowess, it also increased the range of her spells to the level of a white-cored Awakened.

'Filthy bastard!' Derek thought. 'She wants to move the fight where I can't heal. This is a trap!'

He hurled a jet stream of blue flames but they died long before reaching the Horseman.

'Fuck me sideways!' Live Vision showed him an increasing number of runes belonging to something he knew was called "Blade Spell".

'I don't know what it is, but I know in my gut that I have to stop her at all costs!' Derek bolted up, his vision blurred as the souls slowly took over his body.

'I knew it was stupid hoping he would let us finish our spell but it was worth the shot.' Night smiled, letting go of the Shattered Moon spell and channeling those Orpal was conjuring instead.

Griffon Fetters released thick emerald chains that whipped at the Void Demon Dragon and trapped him in a vice capable of restricting the mightiest of the Divine Beasts.

The blue flames burned the chains in a matter of seconds but it was long enough for Phoenix Smash to engulf the Dragon and burn past his defenses.

He Blinked away just for Frost Soul to detonate the exit point behind him and the mana in his body to freeze, sapping his strength. With most of the blue flames cut off by the Blink, the heat produced by the mystical fire erupting from his body was overpowered by Orpal's bloodline ability.

'Excellent! The cold works now!' Night rejoiced as the water element of her crown went off, replaced by the yellow flame of the air element.

The world energy was now electrified, forming a spiderweb of lightning bolts centered around the Horseman. Thunder Soul also seeped inside the Voidwalker armor and Ragnarök, exploiting their enchantments to reach its target.

Anything that drew world energy in also absorbed the lightning, allowing it to slip past the enchanted protections and strike at the Void Demon Dragon. To not suffer the same fate, Night had to stop her equipment and Moonlight from feeding off the geyser.

She kept Thunder Soul active long enough to create an opening and then unleashed a flurry of Wailing Winds.

'Strike now!' A voice said in Derek's mind before the maelstrom of souls clouded his judgment again.

'I see it. I see the opening!' Lith's training and Derek's instinct allowed him to grasp the weakness in Night's seamless series of attacks.

Frost Soul had blocked her active spells so she had nothing at the ready. Thunder Soul had forced her to cut off her equipment from the world energy, limiting its energy reserves.

Thorn was now weaker than normal and the Wailing Winds it produced carried but a fraction of their previous destructive power. They pierced through the flaming barrier and opened gaping wounds in the Void Demon Dragon's flesh but they couldn't stop his advance.

Derek shrouded himself in blue flames to cushion the blows while counterattacking with Ragnarök. Night intercepted the blow again but this time the Void Demon Dragon followed the advice of one of the souls haunting the Horseman.

He locked the bastard sword between the tips of the winged spear, making raw strength more important than technique. With Thorn trapped, the Wailing Winds went off target and Night almost took the Dragon's flaming fist in full.

Almost.

'Fuck no!' She couldn't Blink because the Void Demon Dragon was close enough to be carried with her by the spell.

She couldn't block due to the mass gap nor could she take the blow. Derek was aiming at the black and red crystals and Night didn't know if they would resist the punch, let alone the blue flames covering it.

She activated Doom Tide again, blasting the Void Demon Dragon away and freeing her spear. Yet since it was already the third Tide in less than a minute, there wasn't much world energy in the air to empower it.