While Menia's attack ate at him from the inside, Tark the Lindwurm hurled a blast of Origin Flames mixed with the corrosive breath typical of his species that eroded both Vladion's blood core and equipment.

'Once I get out of here, I'll find all those who called me "worm" in the past and melt them with my acid flames. Not even "true Dragons" have such power. I'm not just one of Leegaain's failures anymore, I'm the first of a new species that's better than the original!' He thought as he hurled Flames non-stop.

'Solus, analysis.' Lith said.

'Something is off as fuck.' She said, trying to make sense of the scene in front of them. 'Yes, they are Awakened. Yes, they are similar to a Guardian's bloodline, but everything else is fucked up.

'No one has a core above deep blue and their body refining has been forcefully brought on par with their cores in a sloppy but efficient way. My guess is that those who already had a blue core died of Awakening, leaving those with a bright cyan as the only survivors.'

'Is that good news or bad news?' Lith asked.

'Bad. Due to their mass, they are still stronger than you, and even though they are magically weaker, it's not by much. On top of that, they might have a breakthrough at any moment now.' Solus replied.

'Lith, I'll take care of the Altered Sphinx. Life Maelstrom is a hassle to face if you don't know what you're doing so I'll leave the Drake to you.' Scarlett said via their mind link after the Eyes gave her a status report identical to Solus's.

Like his companions, the Sphinx was overeager to get rid of the "lesser" part of his species. Kunia breathed a jet-stream of deep blue Origin Flames at Lith just because he could.

There was no strategy behind it, he just wanted to lose himself in the power of the Dragon bloodline and in the ecstasy that Ambrosia gave him.

'Seriously? What kind of a moron is he?' Lith replied in kind and his violet-blue Origin Flames made short work of the opponent's, carrying with them the power of the explosion that conflicting Flames caused.

Kunia screamed in pain as he snapped out of his delusion of invincibility. The Origin Flames ate at his body and mana at the same time while the explosion ripped several of his scales off.

Lith didn't leave the Drake any time to recover and unleashed both of the Final Sunsets from his spell-holding ring, drowning him in a sea of black flames. Kunia's Orichalcum armor had already been weakened by the Origin Flames so he didn't hesitate to sacrifice it to save his life.

He overcharged the pseudo core of the armor to cause a powerful explosion that spread outward from his skin, dealing him no damage and blasting all of Lith's attack away.

"Cool spell, bro. Do you do it like this?" His Dragon eyes allowed him to understand tier five spells after seeing them once. Drunk on his newfound powers, Kunia unleashed five Final Sunsets, one for each one of his left hand's fingers.

"Indeed. Can you copy this as well?" Lith didn't falter and activated the penta-elemental tier four Spirit Spell, Piercing Explosion.

An emerald ray as thick as an arm pushed the Final Sunsets that Lith failed to dodge away thanks to its light and earth aspects while using water to cool down the flames that came too close for comfort.

Piercing Explosion's tip spun on itself at high speed like a power drill thanks to the air aspect, having no problem getting through the Drake's thick scales, bones, and muscles. Then, once it reached the middle of his body, it exploded while releasing the darkness aspect.

The Drake died on the spot, with no lungs left to use Invigoration nor a heart to pump blood through his veiled eyes.

Lith panted heavily but refused to use Invigoration. He looked at the others with Life Vision, to assess if they needed his help and if the energy that he had left would have been enough.

'Fuck me sideways. Some Dragons are really capable of learning spells on the fly. Luckily, even if the Altered Drake survived, he had no way to copy Piercing Explosion unless someone had taught him how to weave Spirit Magic spells.' Lith thought.

Meanwhile, Scarlett was toying with her opponent on purpose. The more time she stalled, the more information the advanced mode of the Eyes would collect. She had no time to read it during the battle, but the Scorpicore could always do it later.

'Vladion can fend for himself. We need all the knowledge we can get to understand the nature of our real enemy.' She thought, eager to avenge Mirim in the cruelest and most painful way.

"Stop running, you coward!" Zogh the Sphinx said in outrage as the Scorpicore easily dodged all of her attacks and refused to fight back. No matter how much Life Maelstrom the lesser Griffon used, it wasn't enough.

The physical gap between bright blue and deep violet was big, but that between deep blue and bright violet was simply enormous. Scarlett was smarter, more experienced, and careful whereas her opponent was high on Ambrosia.

To make matters worse for Zogh, she had no idea how to use properly the powers that she had gained from Awakening. A few days weren't enough to even scratch the surface of the many skills that only Awakened had.

"I hate you!" The Sphinx yelled as she used Life Maelstrom directly on her body and core, making them both evolve to the mid-blue level.

"Are you insane? Stop it!" Scarlett blurted out in surprise as the Eyes of Menadion warned her that they had yet a long way to go with the scan.

"Then you stop dodging!" The Sphinx said, diving on her like a bird of prey, with the claws of her four limbs aimed at Scarlett's head and chest.

"Your wish is my command." A wave of the Scorpicore's paw activated the tier five Spirit Spell, Amber Prison.

An emerald construct intercepted Zogh in mid-air, encasing her inside what looked like a giant precious gemstone made of Spirit Magic. Zogh's claws were powerless against it and so were her enchanted knives and even Life Maelstrom.

Scarlett had faced enough Griffons to devise a spell capable of circulating the silver energy so that instead of harming her spell, Life Maelstrom actually enhanced Amber Prison to a hardness between Adamant and Davross.

"You tricked me!" The Sphinx yelled.

"No, you did this all by yourself. Now either tell me who sent you or shut up. I'm done with your madness." The Scorpicore said.

"But I'm not done with you!" Zogh consumed all the Life Maelstrom she had left, triggering a second breakthrough and reaching the bright blue core.

Unfortunately for the Sphinx, the only thing that had kept her body together after the previous forced breakthrough was the silver energy coursing through her being that amplified Zogh's physical prowess.

Now that the pressure of the core had become even greater and she had no Life Maelstrom left, the Sphinx exploded like a gruesome firecracker, painting Amber Prison red.

'Analysis at 20%.' The Eyes mercilessly said.