Chapter 1415 - The Final Step (Part 1) (1/2)
The souls that Lith had summoned didn't belong to long-dead people like usual. They were the spirits of those that Xedros had sacrificed to turn himself into a Dragon. They didn't get to possess any corpse but their own.
It boosted their strength and fury beyond what Lith had ever accomplished before. As the darkness that animated the souls eroded the bodies, it also empowered them, restoring a part of their original powers.
At that moment, despite being covered in wounds, Scarlett found the strength to curse at Lith via their mind link that she had never broken.
'What have you done? You don't produce undead, but lesser Abominations. Without a body, no healing can bring Sedra back!'
'I didn't do anything. The souls acted of their own will. Besides, do you really think I could conjure the Demons of Darkness from someone alive? You've seen the Hydra shade. The body may still be here, but Sedra was already dead before our arrival.' Lith replied.
Scarlett averted her eyes from Xedros for a second, recognizing in the Sedra Demon the techniques and spells that she had taught him. The Golden Dragon didn't miss the opening and clapped his hands while she was in mid-air, squashing her like a bug.
The Adamant armor and the Scorpicore's physical prowess allowed her to survive so Xedros hurled a jet-stream of bright violet Origin Flames that hit her full on.
'I'm so sorry.' Scarlett wept as her fury and will to fight abandoned her.
'I've failed you, Sedra. I've failed all of you.' She looked at the Demons of the Fallen, grieving their death even though she didn't know them. 'You were just lost children no one cared about. Innocents who accepted help from the wrong people out of despair.
'Your pleas for help always fell on deaf ears because people like me were always too busy to listen. Coming here was pointless. Even if we win, the only lives we can save are our own.'
Scarlett suddenly felt calm. Her eyes stopped crying and revenge became nothing but a childish tantrum to her.
'Please, forgive me, lesser Dragons. I can't bring you back, but at least I can make sure that what happened to you will never happen to someone else.' Scarlett stared at Xedros as determination replaced rage and Mogar heed her call.
The golden pillar that surrounded the Scorpicore turned white as Scarlett evolved once more. Her appearance became that of her proto-Guardian form, but her height at the wither was now 30 meters (100 feet) and her mass was the real deal.
Mogar gave Scarlett everything she needed, from the flesh and blood to the mana necessary to sustain her new majestic body.
'Come forth, my child. Come forth, Sekhmet, the Guardian of Children.' Mogar said while looking Baba Yaga in the eyes and reminding her of the role that she had refused millennia ago.
The Red Mother wept, moved by Scarlett's personal sacrifice and by the regret for not being brave enough to take the mantle of Guardian.
In her new form, Scarlett felt rage no more, just pity for the dead children and for Xedros, who had stooped so low as to kill his own offspring just to achieve such a measly power.
”I feel sorry for you, Xedros. You were Leegaain's direct offspring, one of the most powerful Light Masters that Mogar has ever seen, and the progenitor of a powerful bloodline, yet nothing was ever enough for you.” She said.
”Instead of entrusting your dreams and knowledge to your children so that they might rise where you couldn't, you clipped their wings. You hoarded everything you could because you couldn't stand the thought of being surpassed.