Supreme Magus

Kigan left Zinya's shadow and stood 33 meters (108') tall, using his armored wings and tail feathers to deflect the incoming spells and physical attacks.

"Griffons?" He said in amazement while looking at the eight violet-cored Divine Beasts surrounding him. "What kind of grudge can Griffons have with a puny human to put so much effort into killing her?"

"Kigan the Bloodstained?" Zastaf the Blue Griffon said in amazement while spreading a cold aura that lowered the temperature by two hundred degrees. "What kind of debt of gratitude can lead someone like you to protect humans instead of bathing in their blood?"

The air surrounding the area of the ambush became so cold that it was impossible for a human to breathe, no matter if Awakened or not. If not for their enchanted armors Kamila and Zinya would have already lost consciousness.

"As for your question, you wouldn't understand even if I answered you!" Zastaf infused himself and his mace, Frostbringer, with another bolt of silver lightning and so did the other Griffons.

Their attack was as well-coordinated as it was sudden, taking the Dark Phoenix by surprise. If not for Bytra's Adamant Bloodkin armor and the Maw, Kigan would have already been beaten to a pulp.

Phoenixes were among the best Divine Beasts fighters, but their most effective tactics required them to take advantage of their superior agility and aerial maneuverability. As a bodyguard, Kigan couldn't dodge or take one step back without Zinya getting killed.

The Griffons didn't even attack him, all their blows were aimed at the women behind the Dark Phoenix and he had to put himself in harm's way to protect them.

'Gods, Jirni was right.' Kamila thought while conjuring the Spirit Barrier of her Voidfeather armor and all the air magic she could muster just to weaken the shockwaves produced by the clashes and not be blown away. 'It really was Griffons. But why?'

To be precise, Jirni's list contained several bloodlines as potential instigators. From the ruthless and reproductively aggressive Fae to a few of Baba Yaga's Firstborns like Ilthin.

She had taken into account anyone who'd benefit from mixing their bloodline with Lith's and also had the connections and resources to kill Kamila covertly. Griffons were near the top of the list but not at the top due to Lith's amicable relationship with Tyris.

'Seven hundred years!' Just the number drove Zastaf mad with rage. 'For over seven hundred years the Griffon bloodline has declined while all the other Divine Beasts prospered! Ever since the accursed Valeron the First died, Mother refused to take another companion.

'Almost no new species of Griffons have been born since her marriage with that idiot. Our numbers dwindle, our influence falters, yet Mother still clings to the memory of a dead man! This our first chance to change her mind and we are not going to miss it.'

Tyris had expressed interest in Lith since he was just a student at the White Griffon academy but back then those were just words and no one had taken them seriously. Over time, however, the First Guardian had met the young Awakened more often than the Royals.

More often than her own children.

Griffons had started to pay attention to Lith out of curiosity without expecting much from him.

After the three Guardians vowed to protect his offspring, however, after the powers of the Tiamat had been confirmed as the first perfect fusion between Guardian bloodlines, some of the youngest and angriest among Tyris' direct offspring had decided to take action.

Verhen adopting Valeron the Second, a member of their own bloodline and another successful fusion, and Tyris babysitting Lith's children regularly had just steeled the Griffons' resolve.

The events in Jiera had only confirmed Zastaf's assumption and led him and his accomplices to keep pursuing their plan. Tyris had broken her vow of non-interference and faced the lost city to protect Valeron the Second and Verhen.

She lived in his house, prepared his meals, and spent days on end with him. It would take just a little push to move her from the nursery to the bedchamber.

'It's amazing how things lined up so perfectly.' Zastaf dodged a burst of Origin Flames and struck Kigan in the head. 'Verhen is going to fail his attack on the World Tree, losing his wife and his best friend in a single day.

'Mother will empathize with his grief and grow closer to him until nature takes its course. At that point, either Verhen becomes a Guardian or Mother teaches him the secret of the white core as she did with Valeron the First, the result will be the same.

'The Griffon bloodline will thrive again and by mixing with the Tiamat's blood, we'll gain the power and birthright to occupy the other two great countries. The blood of all three, if not four, Guardians of Garlen will flow inside our veins and our potential will be endless!'

There was no certainty that the relationship between Tyris and Lith would become romantic, but it was a risk that Zastaf was willing to take. Even a small chance was better than the certainty that the Griffon bloodline would stagnate for another seven hundred years if not millennia.

'About time!' Without body casting, Kigan relied on the Maw of Bytra to cast spells.

The artifact was faster than any kind of spellcasting but when facing eight opponents alone, faster didn't make the cut.

The Dark Phoenix unleashed the tier five Chaos spell, Howling Hunger, that conjured a pillar of Chaos the size of a train wagon. It pierced through a Griffon's chest and absorbed her vitality, feeding it to Kigan.

He desperately needed to replenish his dwindling stamina.

Killing an Eldritch hard and killing an Eldritch hybrid was even harder. They could regenerate vital organs with ease, feed on all forms of energy, and resisted all elements but darkness but they were not immortal.

The Griffons healed their fallen comrade before death could claim her prize and when the Maw unleashed more Chaos spells, the Griffons were ready for them. The seven remaining Griffons stacked their hard-light constructs to erect a barrier that stopped the Howling Hungers by reverting them to simple darkness magic.

Kigan cursed his bad luck.

'Griffons are the worst enemy I could face. Their Light Mastery is a natural counter to Chaos Magic and they are physically much stronger than me even without Life Maelstrom! My only advantage against them is my twin cores and magical resistance.

'I could deal with one or two, maybe three Griffons at the same time, but eight? Heck, I can't deal with seven of them, not when they can cast Silverwing's Annihilation! In their shoes, it's what I would do.' The Dark Phoenix had no Life Vision but no doubt about his enemy's intentions either.

And he was right.

The Griffons hadn't expected to face an Eldritch-hybrid but knowing Lith's endless reserve of tricks, they had come prepared for the worst. Otherwise they would have never sent eight of them to deal with one insignificant human woman.

With every blow the Griffons landed, they weaved more runes with their bodies and the Annihilation neared completion.

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