The spell had been so fast that the Red Sun had failed to see it and so powerful that it sent Dusk flying off his horse and onto the ground with his Davross helmet cracked.

Lepto and Jhoa kept their hands respectively on Mirim's left and right shoulder, channeling their energy into her and tripling her offensive capabilities.

The Lord Commander had fallen like a brick to let the Mother Earth potion take effect and mend all of her wounds. At the same time, she had used spirit tendrils to reattach the severed limbs and reduce the toll that the healing process would take on her stamina.

The nutrients potion of her tattoo did the rest, bringing her back to her feet by the time that Dusk had freed his horse.

'Either we finish this quickly or we lose. Come to me, now!' She said via the mind link.

Dusk stood up and watched the members of the Corpse assume an odd formation. What worried him the most, however, was that they were somehow recovering their strength while his own neared rock bottom.

He cast the tier five Gravity Spirit Spell, World Crusher, to finish them off before the energy gap became unsurmountable. It was a hexa-elemental spell born from his centuries of experience combined with those of his Lich host.

An emerald sphere that resembled Mogar seen from space now trapped the members of the Corpse at its core. The six elements produced a gravity one hundred times stronger than normal that affected only the space inside the sphere.

To make matters worse, fire burned the air to one thousand degrees that alternated with cold waves of -200°C (-328°F), air pressure reached 100 atmospheres. Light and earth made the sphere diamond-hard and darkness filled it with poison.

After a few seconds, before the Horseman exhausted his mana and World Crusher faded away, he had the spell implode on itself. Dusk combined gravity magic with the other six elements to produce an explosion that made the entire city of Prode quake.

"Victory is- Oh shit!" Dusk raised his fist in the air in a triumphant gesture only to turn it into the retreat command.

Four of the members of the Corpse occupied the four corners of a six-pointed star while Mirim was at its center. Silverwing's Bastion was meant for seven people, but five were enough to block World Crusher.

The First Magus had conceived Bastion to withstand a Guardian's spell. Compared to that, Dusk's creation was nothing much. The five fake Awakened had used the formation to neutralize the elements while also conjuring a small sphere that had taken all the damage in their stead.

Once cast, Bastion required little concentration, allowing the Mother Earth potion to work so that the longer Dusk used World Crusher, the weaker he would get while they would grow stronger.

The moment the final shockwave from World Crusher disappeared, the Corpse rearranged their formation into five of the seven stars of the Big Dipper, activating Silverwing's Annihilation.

It lacked two Awakened to manifest its true power, but again, it didn't matter. Not anymore. They didn't use it right off the bat because its energy signature was impossible to miss.

While still at his full strength, Dusk would have had an easy time disrupting their formation and killing them in one fell swoop. Casting such a spell required focus that they couldn't use to defend themselves, and assembling together would have just offered him a bigger target.

Now, however, they had moved far away enough and the Red Sun was too weak to exploit the opening that using Annihilation created.

A rainbow-colored hail of beams erupted from each one of the members of the Corpse, destroying everything they touched. A few undead tried to shield their leader, but their sacrifice didn't buy him any time, it just filled the air with ashes.

Dusk's armor cracked and so did the body underneath it. The pressure from the hepta-elemental attack was too much even for his equipment that started to shatter from its extremities.

Roaring in outrage, Dusk sucked the life out of all the undead in his proximity and used it to conjure a blood-red wall of pure energy. It lasted less than one second, but enough for him to Spirit Blink away from the city arrays and then Warp himself to safety.

Sunrise came, killing all the enemies that still stood in front of Prode waiting for the miracle that had been promised to them. Daybreak turned the undead into ashes as it moved forward like a tidal wave of light, sparing none.

Only after returning to the safety of the city walls did the Corpse allowed themselves to fall to their knees and puke their guts out from overexertion. They had compensated for the lack of two people with their own energy, making Bastion first and Annihilation later squeezed everything they had.

It would have been impossible if not for the Mother Earth potion, but even that had its limits. Just like Invigoration, every time it replenished their strength, Mother Earth lost part of its effectiveness until it had none.

"We won." Mirim said once she washed her mouth of the bile filling it. "Go back home. No celebrating, drinking, nor sex, go to sleep immediately. We're in no condition to fight ad we don't know what will happen next."

***

City of Valeron, right now.

The lack of Royal Fortress armor forced the Royals and their War Council to sit together in the War Room under the protection of the only two Guards they had left. The Royal couple was the last line of defense, a secret weapon that had to be kept as such.

King Meron wore the Saefel's Armor while Queen Sylpha held the Sword of Saefel. One would protect while the other would attack, leaving them free to adapt their strategy according to the circumstances.

Together with the Royals, there were their most trusted advisors, their Archons, and Kamila. Jirni had brought her along to keep her safe during the Kingdom's darkest hour since Balkor.

Sylpha kept receiving updates about the situation, making the sound of the notifications that popped on her amulet the only noise in the room. No one was in the mood to talk or joke. They only wanted to know whether the Kingdom would live or burn.

Vastor's quick victory over Night brought many smiles upon their faces and when the Corpse repelled Dusk as well, the people in the War Room stopped holding their breath. Yet no one talked.

News of Manohar's battle kept coming and they weren't good. If Belius fell, the Griffon Kingdom and the Empire would suffer a two-pronged attack that would weaken both countries at the same time.

"Does any of you mind some music?" Kamila asked.

She knew that Lith was far away playing detective, yet she couldn't stop staring at his contact rune on her amulet, afraid that it might disappear at any moment.

"Quite the contrary. We could use a distraction." Sylpha said, making everyone against it shut up.

Kamila took what looked like a big egg with a flat bottom out of the inner pocket of her uniform. She pressed a small button making the top of the egg open and play what clearly was a love song.