"You may turn down my offer, but your offspring might show better judgment. If anyone messes with my Blood, with a child at that, there would be no place on Mogar where they could hide from me." Salaark looked at Lith as if he was insane for asking such a dumb question.

"And I would help you." Tyris put a hand on Salaark's shoulder to calm her down.

"And so would I." Leegaain rushed to say before his children beat him to a pulp.

'This is great.' Lith's thoughts oozed sarcasm. 'The best way I have to keep any woman I care about safe is to have a baby with her. F.u.c.k me sideways.'

"Are you certain about the Spirit Duel?" Leegaain asked Qisal. "Lith is young and not even a full member of the Council whereas you provoked him on purpose."

"How despicable of you!" The Wyvern pointed his finger at Leegaain with a fury that made Orpal's look like a firefly in comparison. "You hid him from us for years, you showered him with gifts along with your-"

No matter how angry he was, Qisal wasn't suicidal so he bit his own tongue before it was too late. Offending Salaark wouldn't lead to a Spirit Duel so much as to close casket funeral.

"Your spouse and now that he has slandered an entire bloodline you stand by his side instead of with the victim? If I had any doubts before, now I'm certain of it. I demand a Spirit Duel!"

Salaark giggled and Leegaain shuddered at the word "spouse". They had several flings in the past yet they all had ended due to Salaark being bossy and Leegaain being a couch potato.

There were many embarrassing anecdotes about their relationship that the Father of all Dragons wanted to stay forgotten.

"When are you going to take me to a nice place, darling?" Salaark whispered in his ear while she hugged him from behind and pressed his full b.r.e.a.s.ts against his back.

"You heard the man! Let's get this duel started." Leegaain broke free from her embrace, feigning to be too busy to answer her question.

Yet everyone had already made their mind. Between Qisal's words, the intimacy between the two, and the existence of a possible successful mixed breed, the whole Council could easily see through their façade.

There was clearly something going on between the two Guardians.

"What did I tell you about not speaking unless questioned?" Faluel rushed to Lith's side who avoided saying "he started it" only because it sounded childish even to him.

"What the heck is a Spirit Duel?" He asked instead.

"The way the Council handles all kinds of disputes among its members that don't require someone to die. When there are fewer free turfs available than applicants, they get assigned to the winner of a Spirit Duel." The Hydra said.

"I meant what are the rules?"

"For humans, they are pretty simple, but for us beasts, not so much." She sighed. "No equipment is allowed, otherwise those that inherited a powerful magical legacy or who practice Forgemastering would have an unfair advantage.

"No spells are allowed either, except for those born out or infused with Spirit Magic, hence the name of the ritual. It's the only way to ensure that the fight wouldn't last days due to Spirit Magic's cost.

"Since both parties have access to Invigoration, a single misstep is enough to heal all wounds and recover their mana. Using normal spells would mean to drag things over and cause meaningless destruction whereas this way it's a battle of wits."

"Does that mean I can't use Fusion Magic or Origin Flames?" Lith asked.

"You can use them both because they are considered to be a part of your body, like your claws. Beasts compete physically as well, making size relevant to the challenge." Faluel replied. "Think carefully about your next moves.

"Your opponent is a natural at flying, is much bigger than you, has thicker scales, and his tail is not useless like yours. You are going to start on your back foot and you'll be forced to focus on defense until you find an edge."

"Do you have any useful advice?" Lith noticed that Xedros seemed to be coaching Qisal just like Faluel was doing for him.

"Only one. Don't use even a spark of Domination. Otherwise some of the old monsters here will understand what happened and I will have to kill you." The Hydra replied.

"I meant to win!" Lith snarled.

"Sorry but no. One of my children would have the same problems facing a Wyvern but you belong to an unknown bloodline so I've got no idea what your abilities are."

"Neither do I." Lith sighed.

"Don't worry too much. This isn't a fight to the death. Worst case scenario, you'll get your a.s.s whooped. Live and learn to kick a.s.s another day, I say."

Lith had to give her all of his items, remaining stark n.a.k.e.d. The more he thought about Faluel's words, the more he realized how screwed up he was.

"The time has come. Please, follow us." Leegaain opened several Warp Gates at once, allowing all those present to reach what looked like an underground arena.

Lith remembered that place. It was where he had fought the Meneos and it reminded him of the Roman Colosseum. The arena had an elliptical shape that was several hundreds of meters long and about half as wide.

The Father of all Dragons looked at Lith and nodded whereas when he looked at Qisal, he flicked his middle finger at the Wyvern's forehead.

"You have one minute to cast your spells. Starting from now. No cheating." Leegaain said before hitting the unruly youth and making all the spells he had weaved until that moment disappear.

Qisal inwardly cursed as he had to start everything from scratch.

Lith took several deep breaths but not to use Invigoration so much as to calm down and ponder his course of action with a clear head.

'No Solus, no Full Guard, no equipment. For the first time in a long while, I'm against a stronger opponent. Instead of matching his fury, I must force Qisal to play by my rules or I'm f.u.c.k.e.d.' He thought while looking at the Wyvern's mighty build.

While standing on his hind legs, Qisal was over four (13'2") meters tall, with his long neck taking a quarter of his height and ending into a long reptile snout as big as a barrel.

His tail was about 1.34 meters (4.4 feet) long, ending with a thick bone spike that resembled the sting of a giant wasp. Two golden membranous wings extended from his forelegs, connecting his little fingers to his h.i.p.s.

The wings were a few shades paler compared to the scales that covered Qisal's upper body and that offered the Wyvern's skin protection on par with a heavy steel armor.

Compared to him, Lith was smaller than a child and as much as helpless. With his small thin scales and barely over 2 meters (7') tall hybrid form, he didn't pose much of a threat.

To make matters worse, his second set of wings was still atrophied, his horns were small, and his tail didn't even reach a full meter (3.2 feet) of length.