Dave was getting bored. He’d seen the descending army of Ethermen as a chance to actually use some of his new power as a War Wight in a more even context. He even brought in Mel, hoping to capture some of the magic of his younger days and talk to an old friend.

It was rapidly becoming apparent that he’d wildly overestimated the enemy forces. The Ethermen were practically defenseless against Necroflame, leaving them as little more than corroded slag. He was starting to think that the one that had stalked his boss’s team was a more refined unit compared to this mass-produced garbage.

Of course, if the Ethermen had been able to use their flamethrowers and other similar weapons, it would have been a more even fight. But that opportunity went out the window as soon as Dave had summoned Mel’Zally. No cyborg cobbled together from unrefined technology could command fire better than a native of Hell.

Plus, all their weapons were mechanical, not magical. They had no inherent connection to the weapons they used. It was in stark contrast to the shrouded, whose abilities tied directly to their souls. It lent the energy they produced an inherent resistance to outside interference. Mel wouldn’t be able to stop a shrouded from producing flames because of that factor alone.

But none of that factored into his current dilemma. Dave no longer saw the point in this battle. He was losing undead needlessly by having them face the Ethermen. At some point, Dave had expected to encounter an Etherman capable of ignoring the lesser attacks he’d used. In fact, he’d thought that the mass of weaker Ethermen was a ploy to draw him out. Maybe not him in particular, but the more powerful undead.

If Dave had been in charge of the Etherman forces, that’s what he would have done. Soften up the enemy with weaker forces until they become complacent and send out their powerhouses to mop up. Then, blindside them with an equally powerful unit that would have the advantage of surprise.

It was standard practice in the Necroverse. To the point where it was a known idiom that the side that revealed their hidden unit first would lose. Of course, that often caused fights to devolve into a weird game of chicken where both sides held back until there was no point anymore.

Dave wasn’t one to follow conventional tactics by any means; he’d ignored a number of norms in his time. But this tactic actually worked most of the time. Dave was expecting it because he was also expecting the Revolution to underestimate undead. He knew from his boss that undead were uncommon in this universe and generally only appeared as completely mindless variants equivalent to a lesser-rank undead.

No doubt, they thought that the defenses Dave had raised were made by the shrouded controlling his forces. And actual tactics and strategy seemed like a foreign concept to most shrouded. They seemed to almost exclusively engage in one-on-one combat, even in larger battles. Those of equivalent power on opposite sides would pair up against each other and fight to the death.

Given all that, Dave wouldn’t have been surprised if the Revolution commander had a massive chip on his shoulder when it came to tactics. But the longer the battle went on, and the more Ethermen fell, the less he was certain of that fact.

At this point, the commander would be better off sending in their stronger units, even whatever champion-type Ethermen they had. The undead had destroyed nearly the entire force the Revolution sent. Preparing an ambush for any stronger undead that emerged was pointless if there were no weaker units to distract said stronger undead. They’d missed their window since Dave hadn’t revealed himself. But even still, nothing changed.

He’d thought it might have had something to do with the ship that Noodle had intercepted, that maybe the Revolution was more focused on dealing with Lily and Asherta. But once the massive dragon dealt with the battleship, nothing else happened.

Then, finally, the message he was waiting for came through the Death Link.

“Commander, a new rift has opened. A single ship has passed through. Its energy signature is significantly more potent than anything else we’ve seen.” A Banshee stationed to watch the flagship informed him.

“Finally,” Dave relaxed. He knew immediately that his expectations of the Revolution had been off. They’d never been going for a surprise strike. It was a possibility he’d considered, but felt unlikely. Shrouded were fond of hiding a secret ultimate ability for the last moment, something the Revolution had to be aware of. They should have expected that from the shrouded they thought was commanding the undead.

Apparently, they hadn’t expected the undead to put up such a strong resistance. If they were bringing in outside forces, that could only mean that they believed what they’d originally brought wasn’t enough. That alone gave Dave a strong impression that they’d expected the Ethermen to be enough to deal with his undead. They likely also expected their battleship to handle Lily and Asherta, only to get blindsided by Noodle.

Judging their consistent inability to properly judge the power of their opponent, Dave had to wonder if the new reinforcements would be up to the task either. But he wasn’t about to risk it. He immediately sent a message to Mel, who was tearing a path through the Ethermen outside the Cage of Bone.

He also asked her to move up and inform Lily and Asherta, just in case they hadn’t noticed.

{}

Lily had noticed the newly arriving ship even before the flaming woman flew over to tell her about it. She still appreciated Dave looking out for her, though. She kept an eye on the ship the moment it showed up, but it hadn’t budged from the moment it arrived. That made her nervous.

“I’m not sure what they’re doing,” She muttered.

“What who’s doing? The new ship?” A voice asked from behind her.

It was only then that Lily noticed the flaming woman was still there, standing alongside her on Sky’s back.

“Oh, sorry, I was talking to myself.” Lily shook her head, realizing she’d been rude. “Yes, I was referring to the new addition to the battlefield. The fact that they’ve chosen not to engage is concerning. They have to be planning their move. Lily, by the way.”

She offered her hand to shake, realizing she hadn’t even introduced herself.

The flames shaped vaguely like a woman shifted and collapsed, revealing the woman behind them. Lily was immediately stunned. She had eyes like a black void with a single spark residing in their center. But that was the least of the surprises. Even her pitch-black skin that almost matched the depths of her eyes or her blood-red hair were only mildly surprising.

No, the part that truly threw Lily off was the fact that this was the single most attractive person she’d ever seen. A heartbreakingly gorgeous face and a perfectly proportioned body, she was beautiful beyond words. Lily was not like Cat; she didn’t find women attractive. Despite that, she felt like, looking at this otherworldly woman, she could understand the idea. In fact…

Seemingly catching something in her gaze, the woman blushed beautifully. “Sorry, I forgot you’re a human. Here.”

Suddenly, the overwhelming attraction Lily had dimmed down to near nothing. It was still there in the back of her mind, but she could easily ignore it. Though she still had to acknowledge that this woman was truly beautiful even without the obviously magical effect that had been on her a moment ago.

“Sorry, again.” The dark-skinned beauty bowed her head, “I’m Mel’Zally, by the way.” She shook the hand Lily had left hanging between them. “Nice to meet you.”

“Uh,” It took a moment before Lily shook back. “Right, of course. What was that, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh, I’m a highly evolved succubus. I have a magical aura that reduces sexual inhibitions and increases attraction in all humanoid races. It’s something that is natural to me, not something I consciously do. I have to actively suppress it. Sorry.” She was still blushing and seemed genuinely embarrassed.

“O…K. That’s…nice?” Lily honestly wasn’t sure how to handle this situation.

Mel’Zally’s face shifted into a grimace. “It’s honestly pretty awful. I’ve never had any interest in using or developing my natural abilities. Being born as a walking sex magnet is pretty awful unless you really really like sex. Which I don’t. It’s actually why me and Dave are such good friends. Undead have literally zero reproductive urges. My aura only amplifies urges, so if there aren’t any there in the first place, well, zero times a hundred is still zero.”

Lily nodded along with the explanation. Immediately, she felt some sympathy for the woman. She could easily imagine how it must be to have everyone around you constantly interested in you in ways you didn’t return. In fact, she’d dealt with a similar situation in the latter part of the first school year. Her strength had led to a lot of unwanted admirers.

“That’s truly awful. No way to get rid of it?” She asked.

Mel’Zally shook her head. “Nope, I was born with it. I could have stayed in a lesser demonic form, chose not to evolve, and it would have been better. But confining myself just to make certain interactions more comfortable is a foolish choice. I did that for a long time when I was younger until I learned that the world won’t leave you alone just because you choose to leave it alone.”

Lily nodded approvingly. Hiding away wasn’t a good solution, as far as she was concerned. “So, what do you think we should do about the new arrivals?”

The succubus laughed at that. “Oh, you’re asking the wrong person. The other reason I’m friends with Dave is that I have absolutely no interest in tactics or battle strategy. I’m a magically enhanced force of devastation, not a thinker.”

“Hmm,” Lily didn’t respond, merely looking back toward the ship in its stationary position overhead. It was a small ship, only a bit larger than the smallest of the other etherships present. Despite that, the overall design just radiated threat. It was a highly-refined combat vessel; Lily didn’t doubt it.

Suddenly, one of the glowing lines on the vessel grew brighter.

“Asherta, stop.” Lily got a bad feeling the moment the change happened. The half-dragon was still attacking another ethership, as Lily had seen no reason for them to stop while the enemy wasn’t doing anything. Her voice reached her teammate through a cloud Lily had placed by Asherta’s scaly snout.

She was a second too late. A beam of light, far faster than any attack Lily had seen so far, crashed into Asherta’s scales. It had bent several times as it traveled, hitting her not from above but from the side. The blow knocked her off the ship’s shield and sent her flying.

Instantly, Lily wrapped herself, Sky, Mel’Zally, and Asherta in a dense defensive cloud. It was only a fraction of a second later that another beam crashed into the cloud around Asherta. And then another, and another. Lily strained to keep up her defense. The amount of energy in every beam was many times greater than the barrage that had been raining down on them the whole time they’d been fighting. Her cloud couldn’t disperse the energy fast enough and was starting to burn up.

She still managed to keep up by continually restoring the cloud, until a second beam joined in. Then a third. And a fourth. Finally, a fifth came and Lily couldn’t keep up. The ship’s attacks were burning through her clouds faster than she could make them. It was consuming all her focus to simply mitigate the attacks.

All of this happened in mere moments, the attacks rapidly escalating to match her defenses. Asherta had barely recovered from the first hit before she started taking more. Worse, Lily couldn’t do anything to counterattack while she was consumed with mitigating the attacks. If she didn’t focus entirely on protecting Ashderta, she’d start taking five full beams every quarter second, rather than the sliver of damage from one beam that was slipping through right now.

Luckily, Lily wasn’t alone. Both Sky and Mel’Zally were more than ready to help. Sky flapped her wings and turned into a streak of light, bringing them on top of Asherta. This close, Lily’s ability to defend her teammate increased astronomically. It was always easier to create materials closer to herself.

At the same time, Mel’Zally cupped a hand and whispered a phrase in a language that sounded somehow both guttural and savage while also being elegant and melodic. In a flash, Lily’s cloud was surrounded in a red barrier with a faceted surface, like an expertly cut gem.

The next few beams that landed hit a face of the gemlike shield, which absorbed the white beams only to fire them back at the ship as streaks of red. The converted beams seemed slightly slower but more potent for it. Lily wasn’t surprised when her aura senses showed the ship’s own transparent shield taking the hits with no apparent difficulty.

Asherta, injured from the attacks, dropped onto Sky’s back as soon as she was able to, shrinking from her draconic form down to her human one. It didn’t heal her injuries, only making them more apparent. Even through her Mithril scales, she had taken several severe burns. They’d penetrated her skin, in some cases all the way to the bone. Asherta’s natural healing abilities were limited compared to Erik or Caeden, whose shrouds could actively help. All she had was the naturally increased regeneration that came from infusing her shroud.

A second barrage returned by the red barrier was all it took for the enemy vessel to notice the change and stop firing. Lily had barely a moment to relax and stop focusing entirely on her defensive cloud before the ship opened fire again. Another glowing line lit up and started firing a cascade of small purplish-black energy bolts less than a foot long. They were slow and seemingly unstable, sparking and wavering as they flew.

Lily got Sky to move, trying to dodge the slow attacks. But the bolts homed in, following along behind. They also seemed to pick up speed over time, and eventually they started impacting the shield Mel’Zally had made. Instead of being absorbed and shot back, these attacks sunk into the red barrier and seemingly started eating away at it.

For completely different reasons, both Lily and Mel’Zally said the exact same thing.

“We need to get to the ground.”