The good thing about tier five spells was that they worked the same way as true magic so the Nightwalker could still salvage the situation by consuming enough mana to cleanse Lith’s and repair the armor.
Just like Lith wanted.
The previous Final Sunset had served the same purpose. To force the undead to consume the mana stored in his blood core to purge the God of Nightstorm of the foreign energy signature.
“Let me guess, a Source Magic spell costs way more than two tier five spells.” Lith said. “With no breathing technique and no more thralls for a sip, you won’t last long.”
Thanks to the elemental crystals, Lith had consumed only a fraction of the mana necessary for his spells whereas the Nightwalker could only tap into his own reserves.
“True, but it’s long enough!” Ulma restored the God of Nightstorm and conjured another tier five Source Magic spell, Dark Mastery.
Earth magic manipulated the rubble, giving them shape, while air magic lifted and propelled the constructs, giving them speed. Water magic soaked the rocks, making them more flexible and easier to adjust their density.
Nightblood gave it the final kicker, increasing the destructive power and giving the spell the same appearance as a hard-darkness construct. If they actually existed, of course.
Lith recognized it as the same spell that was still troubling his Demons. Its effects resembled Light Mastery, but earth magic made it sturdier while darkness made it deadlier.
“I hope you like this.” Ulma said. “Tiennon Zavra devised this spell to kill Manohar while playing at the god of healing’s own game but I guess you’ll have to do. Let’s see if the so-called Supreme Magus can stand a chance against the opus of the Lost Magus!”
With God of Nightstorm back at full strength Lith’s physical prowess was his only advantage and Dark Mastery tipped the scales in the Nightwalker’s favor.
By combining darkness, water, and air, the elemental spheres could produce any trielemental spell that the Nightwalker could think of, regardless of the tier. The darkness-infused stone constructs defended the undead while also attacking Lith from every side.
The fight had suddenly turned into a three against one with Lith having to deal with Ulma’s swordplay, the spheres’ unrelenting spellcasting, and Dark Mastery’s physical onslaught.
The Nightwalker was no Awakened so he had kept those spells at the ready for the moment when Lith managed to reach him. Ulma knew that, without body casting, he would lack the opportunity to weave new spells.
On top of that, while the Tiamat would have been free to divide his focus between old and new spells, every iota of willpower that the Nightwalker hadn’t infused in his spells before the fight started would have gone to waste.
‘I stand corrected. Verhen is smart, but I’m no idiot either.’ Ulma thought. ‘I never expected to get to this point but luckily, I prepared for it. All the mana I have left I can devote it to these two spells. It should be enough. It must be enough!’
Yet Lith Spirit Blinked away every time he was cornered, conjured the Spirit Barrier of the armor to absorb surprise attacks, and exploited Ragnarök to harass the enemy.
No matter what elemental aspect Lith enhanced, Ulma ended up consuming mana to repair his armor and the damage on his weapon kept piling up. Even the coating from the God of Nightstorm spell couldn’t protect the Adamant from the angry blade.
The only silver lining was that Lith’s hard-light constructs couldn’t keep up with Dark Mastery. He conjured them quickly thanks to the silver crystal of the Voidwalker armor, but they moved slowly and didn’t last long.
The Nightwalker grunted in exasperation, consuming more of the energy stored inside his blood core to become even stronger. He was now ever faster than Lith, the gap in mass almost filled thanks to the Source Magic spells.
Skill became much more relevant and with Ulma never giving him a moment of respite, Lith couldn’t use Invigoration. Spirit Magic was an amazing tool, but Blinking so much and the use of the barrier cost a lot of mana.
‘Now it’s my moment!’ The Nightwalker could feel his blade coming close to breaking so he activated the bloodline abilities Nightblood and Shadowvine.
The former filled the cracks in the Adamant blade with pure darkness element, giving the weapon a destructive aura that channeled and enhanced that of Dark Mastery and God of Nightstorm.
The latter, instead, sent sparks of Ulma’s life force into the shadows of the corridor, giving them a third dimension and turning them into tendrils that lashed at Lith from his blind spot.
Full Guard warned him but four enemies at the same time were too much. He breathed Origin Flames on the tendrils, parried Ulma’s blade with Ragnarök, and conjured the Spirit Barrier to block a sudden thunderstorm.
The four elemental spheres had merged into one, unleashing frost waves and bolts of black bolts of lightning throughout the corridor, making Blinking useless.
It slowed Lith’s movements down long enough for Dark Mastery to get rid of the latest batch of hard-light constructs and join the fray. A pair of darkness-infused stone fists the size of a barrel rammed against the Spirit Barrier, pinning Lith against a wall.
Then, they spread themselves over the energy sphere, covering it like a shroud while also keeping the pressure.
‘Shit.’ Lith was now blinded and stuck, with few options, and none of them was good.
Ulma didn’t give him any respite, focusing the thunderstorm into a small hurricane that further increased the pressure against the barrier. Black bolts of lightning hit it from every side along with black ice crystals.
Lith could feel the shroud squeezing the barrier with increasing strength while projectiles the size of a spear with the momentum of a speeding car bombarded it.
‘If I Blink, I’ll carry the Dark Mastery along. I need to-‘ Ulma’s following attack shattered the barrier and cut Lith short.
His darkness-infused blade coupled with his twice-boosted strength was more than the power core of the Voidwalker armor could take. The pressure from the other two spells had already thinned the Spirit Barrier and the small crack quickly spread to the rest of the construct, making it crumble.
Lith exhaled the air he had in his lungs, emitting a burst of Origin Flames from all over his body. The coldness of the storm fought against the heat as both icicles and bolts of lightning sizzled against the flames.
Dark Mastery wrapped around Lith, smothering his inner fire with the massive amount of mana that the spell carried. Before it was too late, Lith used his black eye and the crystal to conjure Plague Storm.
A swarm of Plague Arrows erupted from his body, circling around it like a school of piranhas. Darkness fought against darkness, the Arrows pushing Dark Mastery back in waves.
Ragnarök moved non-stop, blocking the storm by channeling the water element and destroying every one of the incoming projectiles that it touched. The Nightwalker grinned and moved in for the kill.
He rode the fury of God of Nightstorm and charged at Lith. Their mass was similar and with the hurricane propelling him, Ulma managed to push Lith back against the wall and into Dark Mastery’s embrace.
