Outside the tower, a series of blinding white arcs and multiple streams of toxic green bombarded it all over, the knights and dragons behind them determined to bring the structure down by any means.
One of the dragons, a Third Grade one, grew tired of the slow pace at which their attacks wore down the tower and advanced, the ground trembling with every step.
It left deep grooves in the flattened and hardened ground as it rushed forward with the intent to bring it down with its bare hands… or in this case, claws.
Less than five meters away from the target of its hate, the dragon slowed to halt as the gate the Adepts used to enter the tower opened and a barely visible ripple spread out.
It encompassed everything in a one kilometer radius and wrapped invisible chains around every intangible facet of every living thing unlucky enough to be caught dead in the radius.
Even the dragon, with its ability to resist magic in all its forms much better than most, faltered in its charge and took slow cautious steps back, a deep seated chill climbing up its thorny spine.
All around the tower, the various knights and other dragons had stopped attacking. They watched the gate with bated breath as it opened and a man—no, not a man—a monster in a purple robe walked out, a woman in green trailing him.
Wearing a large smile as his multiple eyes blinked and whirled around eagerly, the purple robed adept exited the tower and strolled forward as though he were in his own backyard.
Sanazaar followed him with the same confident stride, the number nor potency of their opponents not phasing them in the slightest. Purple eye guy spoke first while Sanazar, through her obscured visage, fixed her eyes on the dragons.
"Hehehe… tiny insects. Did you have fun chasing down those weaker than you? That must make you guys feel powerful eh? You don't have to answer me. I already know. My name is Violeteye… and you'll be facing me now."
Before his voice even landed, Lord Violeteye underwent a sudden transformation, his form twisting, shifting and enlarging until he stood seven meters tall, his dark purple skin and the eyes all over his form looking about and blinking animatedly.
Accompanying this change, the invincible shackles chaining the thoughts and courage of the dragons, and the power and breathing of even the Third Grade knights grew tighter, the effects becoming more pronounced as result.
The air shook as the giant let out a deep roar of challenge and charged forward, the eardrums of many witcher knights in range popping and the ground experiencing another series of tremors.
Not to be outdone, the leaf green mist around Sanazaar's face extended to cover her body and ballooned. It dissipated a moment later and she took to this sky with her fleshy green wings and long, serpentine body.
Just like her partner, she was a bloodline Adept, one who could transform into a Flying Venom Dragon, one of the many many offshoots of the Emerald Dragons. Like their name suggested, their main racial advantage, apart from the ones all dragons enjoyed, was their potent venom.
In exchange for the powerful defensive scales their brethren the green dragons possessed, they had gained venom three times more poisonous and five times as corrosive.
And they were covered head to toe in it, their smooth scaleless skins and the presence of such potent toxins covering them in patches making them look like dragons that had been skinned and dipped in toxic sludge.
Such was Sanazar's appearance as she roared and pounced on one of the Second Grade dragons.
The dragon had just dodged a purple beam and unknowing positioned itself perfectly to receive the Third Grade Adept's bite. She barreled into it with her much larger and lithe form and coiled her limbs around it.
He roared and struggled, the two of them spinning about in the air as though in some weird mating dance. Pungent grey smoke rose from their forced contact, globules of corrosive venom flying off into the witcher knight army below like hail.
Their tumble eventually brought them to the ground and turned them into grinders, their massive entwined bodies reducing some knights to paste and even unluckier ones to dark green puddles.
Eventually though, Sanazar won, the sharp, venom coated teeth lining her maw making it past the tough scales guarding her prey's neck and taking the chunk of flesh out.
It still struggled, the enduring physique of dragons having that reputation for a reason.
Aware of this and the battlefield at large, the dragon adept went for the obvious solution to that problem—take away the physique. After chewing, and swallowing the bitten chunk of her prey, she went for another bite, then another…
Even a dragon couldn't survive having significant portions of their body being removed, much less by an enemy that deposited venom with every "removal." Such was the fate of the young dragon.
It wasn't dead, but it couldn't move or call for help either.
However, it didn't need to. One of the third grade dragons tangling with the Purple-Eyed Giant broke away from their ineffective attempt to gang up on the latter and roared at Sanazar, flapping its two pairs of wings and breaking the sound barrier.
The dragon adept met him head on and a blast erupted from their collison, the shockwave blowing the nearby knights and the remains of any dead away.
Meanwhile, Lord Violeteye stood in the air above the tower with his massive body and excited eyes, thick purple beams lancing out of each exposed one.
None of the dragons dared to get close to him. Neither did they take the purple attacks head on, a tactic that was uncharacteristic of their kind.
They just engaged in this aerial cat and mouse with him until that third grade broke off from their group and shot away. Taking advantage of that brief lapse in concentration, Violeteye directed the beams going towards the now empty space towards the nearest dragon.
Ysondre and Kalyk tried their best to defend against the attacks they dreaded so much. The dragon trying to maneuver out of the way and the knight flaring his runic shield to the fullest and turning into a mini-sun.
None of this helped. The beams treated their defenses like air and pierced the both of them, delivering and administering their effects in an instant.
Ysondre faltered and he began to dip and spin, his flight becoming as though he'd gotten intoxicated. Kalyk too lost his forcefield and fell off his partner, right into the waiting hands of Violeteye.
All the eyes on the purple giant brightened as he grabbed the knight with his meaty hands. Gripping the stunned enemy on the torso and legs, he pulled, producing a shower of gore that watered the ground and the knights standing below.
"Kalyk!" A dragon knight yelled.
The dragons shared a look, understanding passing between them in that short moment. They unleashed united roars that were both mournful and enraged and charged forward.
In the far distance, another roar rang out and joined theirs. Willis and Aufreyr were finally joining the battle, the Holy Knight pushing past the oppressive suggestion he'd been suffering since the start of everything.
Aufreyr beat his massive wings and accelerated towards the tower, the massive energy dome that sprang up around it and his brethren enraging and pushing him to fly faster.
Within the energy shield, the density of elementium quickly rose, and the atmosphere within it shifted to one Adepts were most used to; that of Lethon.
Every Adept who advanced to First Grade back there, regardless of where they advanced next, would always be tied to the plane on a level that went deeper than just physical.
It was the only place in existence they could perfectly feel at home and exhibit 100 hundred percent of their prowess at any time. In other planes, they had to adjust to the differing laws there in order to regain some of their power.
That is… unless they could bring the aura of Lethon wherever they went with them.
Violeteye, Sanazaar, and every other Adept in the dome's radius felt the changes in an instant. It was as though a heavy weight that they'd gotten used to had just melted off their shoulders.
Their strength increased, spirit moved about freely, and they even healed faster.
Another loud bellow conveying how he very much loved this development exploded from Violeteye's enlarged mouth. The eyes on his body blinked once and the purple in them brightened before exploding, thick energy beams of the same color erupting of his form.
Sanazar's reactions were more muted, though the effects were the most significant. The dragon she currently tangled with was of the Third Grade, and the only reason she hadn't sunk her toxic fangs into it was because of the pesky knight seated on its back.
His overall strength might be nothing compared to her own or his dragon partner, but his attacks were definitely up to par. She'd rather not take them head on even though they wouldn't kill her.
Their little game of flying about and dodging each other's attacks came to close when the aura of Lethon hit both of them. The dragon was fine, its resistances working to take the brunt as expected.
It was the knight who faltered, the sudden change in laws affecting his runic energy output. The robe of light he wore flickered mid slash and the attack Sanazar was watching for never came as his sword dimmed.
She beat her fleshy, venom covered wings and collided with the dragon, unleashing a stream of dirty green onto the knight. She kicked and beat her wings again, launching herself off the enraged dragon as a melting puddle ate into its back.
Unable to bear the pain, the dragon flew about in frantic motions to try and get rid of the clingy attack, all under the hungry dragon adept's watchful eye.
Sanazar coiled her body for another attack when an absolutely stifling gaze locked on to her. She twisted her serpentine green neck to look at the source and found a golden slash the size of a building arcing towards the dome in her direction.
She couldn't move, scream or shout… but she didn't need to.
A faint but visible enough person appeared in the golden slash's path and cut off the tether it had formed to her. Her breathing returned to normal as Lord Sarubo's projection pointed a finger at the attack and unleashed one of his own.
Numerous, pale white bones leapt from the appendage and slammed into the rapidly approaching attack, eating away at it until the size of a normal crescent slash. It arrived in front of the projection and just… went through it, hitting the ground below and achieving nothing.
Reaching the place he'd dreaded this whole time, Willis stared at the most likely source of his fear, the dome the latter hid behind, and how his men were being slaughtered like cattle.
He let out a battle cry that was part dragon roar and slashed his beautiful and ornate sword down, a smaller version of his golden attack slicing through the projection and hitting the tower below.
Nothing he did worked. Not the dragon breath attacks from Aufreyr and not even the divinity he infused into the slashes. He could only watch on as Sarubo moved his finger about at the battle below and shot beam after grey beam.
Any knight below Third grade turned to dust as soon as these beams brushed past them, the dragons themselves not faring any better. Any part of them that got hit would rapidly age and wither, leading to repeated tremors as most of them crashed down hard.
With only one card left to play, Willis roared and shifted, becoming a massive green dragon with finer scales and larger than any nearby.
Sarubo didn't waste any time and peppered him with the beams as well, the effect on him less pronounced due to his grade.
Under the sustained and relentless assault, Willis and his partner Aufreyr crashed after a few minutes, the Holy knight in particular restrained by bone-white chains that dug past his scales into his flesh.
Everyone on both sides watched with bated breath and wondered how the projection was going to finish the leader of the knights off, but nothing of the sort happened.
He remained where he'd stood in the air and turned his head and singled out one of the many clouds dotting the sky. This one was particularly large.
"How long are you going to sit there and watch? Don't tell me dragons have learned how to ambush their prey?"