'Fuck me sideways! She never said she wouldn't use Domination.' Lith thought while taking War out of his pocket dimension and using it to block the following attack just in the nick of time.

"Good choice." Faluel swung her blade again, aiming at his head.

Lith had given up on dodging. Faluel's footwork was beyond him and the moment his blade got away from his body he would be finished. He could only focus on defense and wait for an opening.

The blades clashed so hard that Lith couldn't believe Faluel's weapon was made of just air. Electrical arcs sparked on contact that would have sent Lith into a seizure if not for War neutralizing them with its World Mirror ability.

Lith released all the spells from his magic holding rings, but it took only a flash of Faluel's eyes to neutralize them all.

"Excellent move. Making me waste my mana will slow me down, but if you keep defending there is no victory. You must also attack." Faluel lunged while Lith was still shocked from seeing so many spells countered at the same time.

He flew back, but Faluel's sword turned into a trident that simply extended faster than he moved. Lith tried to dodge, but the weapon followed him as if it was a living creature.

'That was a bad move. Sending her weapon so far from her body will slow her reaction time.' Lith thought, pushing the trident aside while also using his own Domination and War's World Mirror ability to dispel the air element.

Unfortunately, all Faluel had to do, was to replace the lost element with water. The Spirit Magic core of the spell was untouched, allowing her to switch to an ice spear in a split-second.

Before Lith could realize the implications of that move, Faluel was already in front of him again. Each strike of her spear released a cold pulse equivalent to a tier two spell that made him painful to breathe while the cold stiffened his muscles, slowing down Lith's reaction time.

"As long as you have enough mana, first magic can easily replace low tier spells so don't focus only on the blade. On top of that, by mixing Spirit Magic with the elements a Forgemaster can imitate the effects of all their creations." She said.

Faluel then split her spear into two smaller fragments and kicked Lith in the guts while he tried to predict what kind of weapons she would conjure next.

Lith didn't get fooled by her trick and intercepted Faluel's foot with his knee, but between the strength of her kick and him being in mid-air due to the flight spell, the impact sent him crashing against one of the walls.

Meanwhile, the two fragments had formed a bow and an arrow while water had been replaced by earth. The hardest element had been turned into a weapon that could exploit the strength of the Hydra in full.

"Oh, crap." That was all Lith managed to say when a small meteor crashed against War, making him create a small crater in the wall.

Lith spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling his hands numb from the impact. Faluel didn't give him a single second of rest, making it impossible for him to cast spells. Without Solus to help him, even with Faluel restricting her abilities, the match was already over.

"Get over here!" The mass of Spirit Magic had returned between her hands the moment after the impact, leaving the earth projectile behind and replacing it with fire and lightning.

Two whips cracked at him, the fiery one wrapped around War while the lightning whip caught his hip and injected electricity inside his body. Faluel was about to drag him back to close-quarter combat, but she stopped when she saw his raised hands.

"I yield." Lith used his own blood to sheathe War and put it away inside his pocket dimension.

"How did you do that? Was that really just first magic?" Phloria had no idea what she had just witnessed, but she had never seen the elements seamlessly flow into each other like that.

"Indeed." Faluel nodded. "My goal was to show you that splitting magic into branches, or specialization as you call them, is an excellent tool to focus on one aspect at a time, but it makes mages forget about the bigger picture."

"Isn't this what you call Battle Magic?" Faluel's whips turned into blades, hammers, and then spears.

"Isn't this what you call Knight Magic?" The weapons turned into solid tower shields, infused with the power of the elements.

"Isn't this what you call Warden Magic?" The shields shattered, instantly forming a small array big enough to affect the Hydra and her students.

"My point is that most of your hardships come from splitting your knowledge into small boxes and treating them as if they are different things. First magic is the source of all spells, no matter how you call them. There are no specializations, just magic."

Seeing the boundaries that they all had taken for granted during all those years shatter in front of their eyes, gave everyone enlightenment. In any other circumstances, Faluel's words would sound like gibberish, but now they had the means and knowledge necessary to understand them.

Even Lith cursed at his own foolishness for falling once again in the comfortable trap that habit was. He had seen Faluel cast the array so fast thanks to Spirit Magic and that alone opened countless possibilities.

"I could give you all the answers you look for, but then you'd become incapable of tapping into your true potential. No matter the destination, it's the journey that teaches you how to overcome any obstacle you might meet in the future.

"Obtaining things without effort is akin to wear blinkers. It limits your perspective and makes you incapable of thinking with your own head. It's the teaching method Tyris always used with the Kingdom. The method my father used with me and now I'm using it with you." Faluel helped Lith to stand up and healed his injuries.

Lith was still in a daze, seeing all the things he had learned so far in a new light, yet his first instinct was to embrace Faluel.

"Thank you for treating me like family." He said, amazed by how someone so powerful could also be that wise and soothing.

Soon the others joined the embrace, thanking the Hydra for the marvels she shared with them.

***

City of Valeron, Capital of the Griffon Kingdom, Underground Castle.

Queen Sylpha Griffon was a woman of average stature, 1.62 meters (5'4") tall with a slender build and despite being over fifty years old, it was hard thinking her a day past thirty.

Her long black hair was held up in a chignon, yet it still revealed her uncanny gift for the mystical arts, with all the six shades of colors marking her as blessed by all the gods of magic.

With her square chin and sharp features, she couldn't be considered beautiful, yet the aura of confidence and power she exuded coupled with her perfect manners made her quite a charming woman.

That day, she wore a light combat suit made out of Adamant yet as soft as silk thanks to the Skinwalker armor technique that the Royal Forgemasters had learned from Orion's bargain with Lith.