"The World Tree is focusing on closing the most direct routes leading outside while we are following a path with the most intersections. I'm keeping our options open while also making it hard for the Yggdrasill to guess where we are going."

'Epphy?' Menadion liked what she heard but didn't trust the elf.

'She's telling the truth, Mom.' Solus confirmed after probing Spare Parts' mind. 'Also, I go with Solus, now.'

'And I'm Ghar'mar Riverflow, not Spare Parts!

"Tell that to someone who- dammit!' Menadion was forced to a halt.

In their current condition, the World Tree couldn't Warp their Puppets at a moving target and control the space-compressing array at the same time. Dimensional magic required a lot of focus and the slightest mistake would have terrible consequences. Shutting the array off to perform the mental calculations required by a mass Blink slowly was also out of the question. Without the space compression, Menadion would have been free to Warp to Lith's coordinates.

She had no clue what her position inside the Yggdrasill was but all Demons shared a telepathic connection between them and with the Tiamat. The only reason Ripha had not alerted Lith of her presence was not to distract him.

What the Tree could do was to make the Puppets scattered throughout its trunk converge to the prison floor. Doors opened in the walls, ceiling, and between rooms, creating a straight line between the Puppets and their prey.

When Menadion reached the next intersection, she found a small platoon of Puppets blocking all paths.

The corridors' entrances were shrinking by the second and even a brief skirmish would slow Menadion enough for the Yggdrasill to trap her for good.

She flapped her wings with all her might, hoping that speed and shockwaves would clear her way. The Puppets used their roots to anchor themselves to the floor and merged their head- and arms-whips to form an inescapable net.

The First Ruler of the Flames found herself trapped in slithering vines that tightened their grip by the second and pulled her to the ground. Menadion could have escaped by shapeshifting but that would have meant leaving Spare Parts behind.

'Without her, I don't know where to go. I need her to save Epphy. Even worse, if the Tree has no Chroniclers left, nothing stops the Yggdrasill from imprinting her the moment her current host dies!' Menadion rearranged her shadow form and armor into a soft sphere to cushion the blow for the elf.

The impact still took the wind out of the Librarian's lungs and put Menadion on her back foot. She used her strength to untangle herself and Spare Parts from the nets just in

time for the corridors to close, leaving her no place to run.

***

Griffon Kingdom, outside the Royal Palace.

The thousand year old Roe hired to kill Kamila the moment she stepped out of the palace hadn't been informed of the Eldritches. He hadn't expected Kigan's intervention or the human woman to survive.

'Brilliant! That's why they asked me to charge at the mark with a specific angle. They anticipated I would fail to kill the woman and prepared a Spirit Steps right outside the space-compressing arrays of the palace.' He thought.

'I would feel cheated if they hadn't paid me in advance. My job is done here. Time to leave. Ughaz the Roc had received a full suit of Adamant armor for his trouble.

For a creature of his size, finding the raw materials was already hard, let alone pay a Forgemaster to turn them into a masterpiece. It was the reason Ughaz had accepted the job no questions asked.

Having a masterpiece delivered to his door was too good to be true.

And it was.

"Tell us where you sent Lady Verhen now or prepare to die!" Seven Royal Guards surrounded the Roc from every direction, their armors coursing with silver lightning. Ughaz also hadn't expected the security of the palace to be so tight. He had slowed down only because of the impact with Kigan yet that split second had been enough for the humans to catch up.

The Roc charged at the closest Royal Guard at his top speed just to be brought down by a single swing of the Guard's Davross halberd.

The other six struck in unison, pinning the giant bird to the ground.

"Last chance. Where is she?" The captain of the Royal Guards asked.

"I don't know!" Ughaz screamed as the captain's halberd cut a bloody wound on his neck. "Then I don't need you alive. The captain raised the blade above his head, giving the Emperor Beast one more second to speak before beheading him.

"Shouldn't we have taken him alive for interrogation?" A Royal Guard asked.

"It would have been pointless. The Emperor Beast knew nothing" The captain shrugged. "You don't need time to tell the truth, only to make up a lie. Believe me, the Roc died

trying.

"Now sound the alarm or when Supreme Magus Verhen discovers we have let his wife get killed, he will wage war against the Kingdom."

***

Ughaz's death alarmed the many Awakened tasked with watching over the borders of the palace's defensive magical formations and Warp Kamila with a long-distance transportation array the moment she left their protection.

The most worried among them was Kor, the Awakened human near the Gardens of Saefel who had transported her away.

"There's no way the Royal Guards found the bird that fast without help.' Kor thought. T bet everything I have that whoever paid me for the job also alerted the security to get us killed. If I'm right, I'm next.

And the worst part is I have nothing to offer in exchange for mercy. I have no idea who hired me but no one is going to believe me!'

He Warped away, eager to reach the safety of his secret lab, and so did the other Awakened surrounding the Royal Palace. They felt safer since they had done nothing wrong and could feign ignorance of what had just happened.

They were wrong.

Kor was the first to die in an ambush right outside his allegedly secret lab and the others quickly followed. None of the Awakened had met the instigator, they had been hired by middlemen or through common acquaintances.

Yet by interrogating them all, a pattern might have emerged.

After all, it was almost impossible to hide anything from a Guardian, especially at the heart of their dominion. Even though it was Tyris' turn to look after Elysia and she would stay in the Blood Desert all day, she could still discover too many things upon her return The instigator took care of tying up the loose ends while the others finished the job, making sure that nothing that could lead to him remained before leaving the Griffon

Kingdom.

It was the only way to escape Tyris' notice and eventually her wrath.

***

Luckily for the captain and the Griffon Kingdom, Kamila was still alive.

Unluckily for them, the welcome committee on the other side of the Spirit Steps was

eager to correct the situation.

Kamila and Zinya had yet to stop spinning in mid-air when a hail of heavy blows rained on them from every direction.