The white fire coming from within and without the Fringe advanced in every direction like a tidal wave, forcing the Tree's forces to retreat until they reached the first layer of arrays untouched by Orulm's spells.

The Primordial Flames consumed the ruined arrays faster than the World Tree could weave the necessary spells to restore them. The missing runes made the self-repair protocols fail and the energy leaked out of the magic circles before it could reach its intended target.

The layers of magical formations damaged by the Break-infused spells collapsed, creating a safe space inside the Fringe that expanded as the Primordial Flames devoured every bit of the World Tree's mana.

"Fall back!" Az'mar, the temporary leader of the Chroniclers, had the Librarians and regular elves take cover behind the massive Wood Golems.

Unless the World Tree Awakened them, elves were stuck to the bright blue. Even from behind the cover of the protective arrays, the heat wave released by the roaring Primordial Flames was beyond what a non-Awakened elf could survive.

The offensive of the Firestarters squadron pushed the magical formations to their limits and blackened the external layer of the wooden constructs.

"Converge and connect!" Upon Az'mar's command, the Golems formed groups of seven. Tendrils sprouted from their arms that intertwined with each other, forming a perfect circle whose surface was covered in runes of power.

Thanks to the Yggdrasil wood comprising the Golems and the world energy they absorbed from the Fringe, they completed a second volley of Silverwing's Annihilation just a few seconds after Orulm had neutralized the first.

The anti-Guardian spells broke through the Primordial Flames and smothered them into embers before moving on to the offensive.

"Shieldbearers, now!" Golden Dragons in human form Blinked in front of the Firestarters who in turn manipulated the Origin Flames to keep them from harming their brethren.

There was no time to regroup and conjure enough Silverwing's Bastions to cover for the Fire Dragons. Gentor and his children raised their arms and wrapped their wings around their bodies as they activated their bloodline ability, Golden Radiance.

The mana coursing through their bodies fused with their scales, flesh, and blood, making them incapable of wielding even chore magic tricks. At the same time, however, the frozen mana made the Golden Dragons resistant to spells as if they were truly made out of gold.

The barrage of Annihilations was reflected and scattered in all directions, but even though the elemental effects could do the Golden Dragons no harm, the kinetic energy they carried had no such problem.

On top of that, by solidifying their own mana, the Wyrms had become incapable of circulating the elements to use fusion magic or heal themselves. Wings snapped like twigs, scales were ripped off, and bones broke.

The Golden Dragons stepped back as a second line of Wyrms infused with Life Maelstrom took their place. It still wasn't enough to stop the Annihilations but it bought time for the first line of Golden Dragons to recover with Invigoration while the third line prepared to take point.

Like water hitting a reef, the power of the anti-Guardian spells was scattered by the Golden Dragons and consumed by the Origin Flames until the Annihilations faded out.

The World Tree cursed, noticing that no Wyrm had died. Many Golden Dragons were severely injured but they would recover faster than the now-drained elves.

"Phase three!" Tezka and his equipment grew in size, reaching 50 meters (166') of height.

Enough to be bigger than the Golems but not so much to dilute his powers and offer an easy target. He cast his Eldritch Tier spell, Chaos Dimension, exactly in the middle of the dimensional rift.

The space enveloped by Chaos Dimension was under Tezka's absolute control and would prevent the passage to the outside world from closing as long as the spell remained active.

It also protected the bridgehead to the Fringe from further spells from the Yggdrasill or the Golems and guaranteed a safe retreat path in case the mission failed. Many birds with one stone and a single flaw.

The Suneater couldn't move away much from Chaos Dimension without the risk that his connection with the spell might be severed. Teska's spell made the safe area impregnable but at the same time prevented him from joining the offensive teams.

Unluckily for the elves, however, their first line of defense was right in front of the Suneater.

A simple swing of the colossal Endless Night cut asunder the first row of Wood Golems and a dozen-meters deep trench in the ground. It severed the roots of the World Tree it found, feeding their power to the Suneater and preventing the Golems from recharging.

Then, Tezka unleashed a volley of tier three Chaos spell, Howling Void, that lay waste to everything in their path. The barrage of spells forced the elven forces to retreat deeper into the Fringe and left the invaders free to advance.

"Press forward! Don't give them time to recover." Surtr and Sinmara entered next, already in their true forms.

The Phoenix of Darkness stood in front of the Dragon of Light, her black aura eclipsing his brilliance. The twins moved in unison, their limbs and cores in perfect synch.

They had been born together, lived together, and worked together long enough to know the other like an extension of their own being. Surtr conjured his Blade Tier Spell, Nebula Storm, while Sinmara weaved her Devouring Shadow.

Surtr passed his Blade Spell to Sinmara who did the same. They used Domination to add their respective energy signature, circulate, and amplify the Blade spell of the other, merging them into Twilight Blast.

Surtr's light was engulfed in Sinmara's darkness and together they generated a grey-scaled barrage of energy beams that pierced through the Yggdrasill's defensive arrays.

The combined Blade Spell wasn't enough to destroy the second layer of magical formations due to the backup power converging from the rest of the Fringe, but Twilight Blast still managed to cripple several Wood Golems and kill many of the elves standing behind them.

The first blood belonged to the invaders but Tezka found no joy in it.

'More and more of our forces are pouring in but there is still no sign of the forming of a new Fringe. If it keeps up like this when we lose momentum and the advantage of surprise Orulm bought us, the tides of the battle will turn quickly.' He thought.

Now that the entry point was secure, Lith's group entered the Fringe and so did Silverwing and Baba Yaga with their towers.

"Unleash the Liches!" The Red Mother used a gravity spell to distort light and zoom in on the many fragments of Yggdrasill wood and the wounded elves just a few steps past the defensive arrays.

"Mine! I call dibs on everything!" Inxialot, the King of Liches alternated sprints with Blinks to run ahead of his competition.

"Mine!" What looked like a withered tree with twig-thick limbs said. "I'm a Fae. Yggdrasill wood is mine by birthright and so are the elves!"

"Mine!" A skeletal Naga said. "I saw them first!"

"Mine! Mine! Mine!" A rumbling, tumbling wave of bones and metal chanted as it fearlessly charged past the safe area cleared by the collective efforts of Dragons and Eldritches.