'Vastor is right.'Orion sent his thoughts amid a coughing fit. Even if somehow Solus is still alive after being struck by three Annihilations, there's nothing we can do to save her. Tessa and Fyrwal knew about the tower and how hard killing Solus was but they were out of strength. If the World Tree's spells hit them, Solus might survive but the Hydra and the Titania would die.

'I know. Time to go.' Lith nodded and the five Awakened used the link of the When All Are One array to instantly cast a Warp Steps that would carry them to a safe distance. When the Steps appeared, four Blinked through it and one Blinked forward.

Lith could still see Solus' light shining amid the blinding radiance of the Annihilations. He could still feel her presence approaching as the stone fragment rode the shockwave of the anti-Guardian spells.

'What the 'Before Vastor could finish the thought, Lith closed the Warp Steps and unleashed his Blade Tier Spell, Ruin.

'You can't help her, but I can.' He thought. As long as Solus lives, I'll never leave her side!" Without the When All Are One array, Lith lost the six extra heads, the Titania's regenerative abilities, Vastor's core, and Orion's protection but he still retained the Life Maelstrom they had bestowed upon him.

On top of that, now he could use the full scope of the Menadion Set without the risk of exposing its existence.

Wreathed in silvery flames, Ruin drained what energy was left inside Lith's equipment, turning it into an inert mass of metal. Only Ragnarök endured and only because its quasi-willpower refused to surrender.

Lith combined the power of the four pieces of the Menadion Set and Life Maelstrom to enhance Ruin to the extreme. The silvery lightning increased the Blade Spell's

destructive power tenfold, the Eyes spotted Solus' fragment in the storm, and the Ears allowed Lith to read the mana currents.

Once the Blade Spell was unleashed, Lith used it not to clash with the Annihilations but to cut through them. He focused Ruin's mana flow into a thin beam and sent it through the weak spots of the energy wave standing between him and Solus.

The Hands constantly injected Ruin with new power while Lith's talons planted in the ground gave his body the strength to withstand his own spell. Abomination Touch drained life force and world energy from the Fringe, using it to close his wounds as fast as they opened.

The mere pressure of the Annihilations was enough to make Lith's eyes, nose, and cars bleed. Sparks of wild energy that deviated from the Ears' calculations were blocked by

the Spirit Barrier of the Mouth since the Voidwalker armor was depowered.

Lith couldn't block or dodge the sparks without risking losing control of Ruin and the thin safe area it created. Most of the wild energy bounced off the barrier but the stronger ones pierced through it and Lith's flesh.

Darkness fusion stopped the pain and light fusion the bleeding. The fragments of the broken armor remained on the ground and the open wounds exposed to more

punishment.

Lith endured it all, refusing to move from his position. The Eyes showed him the roots of the World Tree spreading all around the predicted area of impact, waiting for the fragments of the tower to fall in order to imprint one.

You have your plan, fucker, and I have mine.' He thought as the remaining power of the Annihilations faded out and the rock carrying Solus' essence emerged from the storm. The Master Ears had allowed her to identify and ride the weakest energy currents of the anti-Guardian spells and come out with as little damage as possible but she had been hurt nonetheless.

The rock fragment was full of cracks and the Bleed depleted. Solus had barely the strength left to remain conscious and keep steering the fragment she inhabited. Without a host, she couldn't process the world energy properly and there was no source of life force to heal the wounds she had suffered. The tower's self-repair spells couldn't keep up with the destruction caused by the Annihilations and the energy gained from Ghar'mar's death had already been consumed.

That and the anti-Guardian spells blinding Solus' mystical senses were the reasons she didn't expect to find Lith right in front of her.

'Gods, no! I have to stop!' The attempt made her drift in and out of consciousness with no consequence for her trajectory.

The tower fragment reached the Tiamat, piercing through his exposed chest like a bullet. His scales bent and cracked before giving way. The rough edges of the stone cut through his skin and shattered his ribs before rupturing his left lung.

Then, the stone bullet punctured Lith's heart and finally stopped.

A fountain of blood several meters high gushed out of the hole in his chest and the Tiamat's knees bent as his eyes rolled back.

Meanwhile, the World Tree used their breathing technique, Root Cause, to give sentience to every flower and blade of grass and use them as their eyes and ears. As soon as a tower fragment touched the ground, the Yggdrasill detected its exact position. The nearest root to the point of impact emerged from below and wrapped itself around the stone debris, injecting it with a spark of the World Tree's mana.

The imprint process started and failed. Another energy signature had already claimed Menadion's tower.

The last beat of Lith's heart had also carried a spark of his mana and life force, imprinting the stone fragment. As soon as their bond had been restored, a mind fusion had filled the gap in their shared mind since the moment they had been separated. They witnessed each other's pain and hardships. They felt guilty for leaving the other alone in their moment of need. They also felt anger toward the one who had separated them, forcing them to struggle alone against what they would have easily overcome together.

Among the many horrible memories of Solus' imprisonment, one struck Lith the hardest. It regarded the torture she had endured after her second failed escape attempt. Back then, the World Tree had forced the name Elphyn Menadion upon her.

To Lith, it was as if the Yggdrasill had spat upon the seventeen years they had spent together. As if the Tree had desecrated every good and bad moment the two of them

had shared.

"Her name..." Lith's knees were still bent and his body leaned backward from the impact, yet he was still standing. It was as though gravity itself refused to touch him. "Is..." The gushing blood turned into stone and went back where it belonged. The tower fragment reshaped itself into a beating heart while collecting the real heart's fragments and sewing them together at its core.

"Solus!" The Tiamat straightened himself up and unfurled his wings, digging his talons deep into the ground as what looked like a sandstorm enveloped him.

A bright violet aura surged from his body, reaching for the sky in a light pillar that called

forth lightning.

"They have once again fused but that's of little consequence.' The World Tree thought as Soul Vision showed them Lith's life force and mana increase by the second.