‘Cunning son of a bitch!’ Ulma gave the signal to all the reserve troops at once in a last-ditch effort that he knew was bound to fail. ‘I expected the Spirit Blink but not the combination with Collapsed Space.
‘The sudden burst of speed has thrown off the timing of my traps!’ The arrays triggered when Lith had already flown past them and more undead jumped out of hidden compartments just to hit empty air.
Those who appeared in front of Lith too early, he simply Blinked past them, leaving behind more Collapsed Spaces for free kills. The multi layered trap fell apart like a house of cards hit by a sneeze, dealing no damage to its intended victim and crippling Ulma’s troops.
“You really are an annoying bastard! No wonder you survived this long.” The Nightwalker sent his herd away and combined the Battle Mage tier five spells, God of Air and God of Water.
Then, he enhanced the resulting God of Storm spell with his bloodline ability, Nightblood. The ice armor coursing with thunder that covered him from head to toe turned black and so did the four elemental spheres that orbited around the Nightwalker.
To compensate for their lack of a second elemental affinity, Baba Yaga had made sure that no matter what kind of spell her Nightwalkers conjured or equipment they used, they would be able to infuse anything with the darkness element.
This way, the resistance to darkness of their bodies would be shared with their equipment and their spells could be manipulated freely with true magic thanks to the added darkness component.
The God of Nightstorm spell bestowed upon Ulma the extra mass and protection from the ice, an air barrier that softened the impact with the charging Tiamat, and a darkness aura that chipped away at the enemy’s strength.
Despite all that, the Davross of Ragnarök easily pierced through the layer of black ice covering the Nightwalker’s powerful Adamant blade. The clash produced a silvery noise and sent the undead slamming against the wall at his back like a ragdoll.
‘What the fuck is that spell? Wasn’t Zavra just some kind of mage sniper?’ Lith heard the boom and saw the enchanted wall cave upon impact but Life Vision showed him that Ulma had suffered little damage.
The water and air had cushioned the undead while the darkness element had dispersed part of the kinetic energy during both the clash and the crash.
“What’s with that surprised face, Verhen? Did you believe yourself to be the only Magus on Mogar?” The Nightwalker consumed part of the power stored by his blood core to reduce the gap in mass and strength with Lith.
“To be the only one privy to an exclusive branch of magic? Well, you are wrong! The Undead Courts have been blessed by countless geniuses over the centuries and you’re about to face the might of our latest addition.
“Behold the might of Source Magic, a discipline worthy of the title of Magus and entrusted solely to a selected elite of the Undead Courts.”
Ulma jumped off the wall, billowing wings of black ice coming out of his back. He moved faster than Lith believed possible, performing a series of feints and attacks that Lith managed to counter only thanks to his superior speed.
Air fusion made him faster and the air crystal in the Voidwalker armor further enhanced his speed. By charging the different pieces of the armor with different charges, the crystal exploited the magnetic repulsion and attraction to support every of Lith’s moves.
Might faced skill to a standstill, the outcome leaving both opponents flabbergasted.
‘This makes no sense.’ Lith thought. ‘I’m a bright violet-cored Awakened Divine Beast and Ragnarök is made of Davross. I should have cut through this knock-off Horseman like a hot knife through butter.’
‘This makes no sense.’ Ulma thought. ‘I’m a centuries old undead whose blood core has long since surpassed the violet. My armor is infused with two of the most powerful Battle Mage spells and my bloodline ability.
‘Aside from the Davross of Verhen’s blade, he has nothing over me. He’s a twenty years old runt with less battle experience than my little finger. After taking two Source Magic spells and with my darkness aura weakening him, I should be able to easily overpower him.’
Lith stepped back to escape the black aura and body cast more spells, goading his opponent into attempting to weave more spells. Unlike a true mage, a fake mage would consume mana upon starting the chant.
Lith only had to interrupt the spellcasting to weaken the Nightwalker’s core and throw his mana into the gutter. The problem was that Ulma knew all that as well so he didn’t fall for the trap, sticking close to Lith to at least disrupt his focus.
Or rather, he didn’t fall for that particular trap.
“Out of curiosity, is the genius you mentioned earlier Meln? Because that would be surprising.” As Lith moved, the red and the black crystals on the Voidwalker armor lit up.
He used his corresponding eyes to tap into the runes he had recorded inside the memory crystals to complete his tier five spell, Final Eclipse, in the span of three exchanges. It was the time he needed to conjure the non-elemental runes with body casting.
“Who, that pompous, whiny bitch?” Ulma combined the four elemental spheres of the God of Nightstorm so that the water countered the heat and the darkness neutralized itself.
“Without Night’s help, the only thing that moron can discover is his own ass, and only if someone draws him a map!”
“Glad that we finally have some common ground.” Lith grinned as the blue and yellow crystal on his armor lit up, conjuring the tier five War Mage spell, Corona Discharge.
It was one of Nana’s favorite spells and Lith liked to think that his late magic teacher would be happy knowing that every time he cast it, Lith would think of her.
Corona Discharge conjured a wave of water that robbed the corridor of the residual humidity and then crashed against the Nightwalker. The God of Nightstorm assimilated part of it to repair the armor, mixing Lith’s energy signature with Ulma.
This way, when a storm of lightning bolts erupted from Lith’s body, the armor offered minimal resistance. Undead didn’t have seizures and the air element did little damage to them, even less to a Nightwalker.
The darkness element imbued in their bodies increased their resistance to all elements, making them a tough nut to crack.
‘Either Verhen is dumber than he looks or I’m missing something.’ Ulma understood what had happened one second too late.
The water of Corona Discharge had also grounded the lightning bolts of his own armor and what was left of them had been tainted by Lith’s energy signature as well. The only part of the God of Nightstorm that still obeyed Ulma’s will was darkness element, everything else was a tug of war.
The various pieces of the armor’s joints would fuse together, slowing him down while part of the electricity would switch into ferromagnetic rods, grounding the bolts of lightning produced by the elemental spheres before they could reach Lith.
