Supreme Magus

The Book of Knowledge had developed Numbing Hail to deal with human armies, powerful Awakened, and Divine Beasts alike. He considered the Engine no different from a Tiamat wearing a thick suit of armor and had no doubt Numbing Hail would work.

Yet he had failed to take into account that Lith was never alone, and this time he had an undead army at his fingertips.

'Now!' Several stone doors opened along the Engine's surface as Lith focused to free the Engine's joints from arrow constructs and break the hold of the plant folks on its legs.

Fifty seven-eyed Demons armed to the teeth jumped out of the openings, breathing bursts of Origin Flames that burned at Numbing Hail and the enemies clinging to the tower.

Lith had received fifty suits of Adamant equipment taken from Thrud's defeated army as a reward for his contribution in the War of the Griffon. He had refined them in the Spark for a long time, and now he was putting them to good use.

The Demons of Darkness had two weak points when facing a powerful opponent. They had no equipment, making them easy prey for skilled blade masters, and every wound they took and every spell they cast would diminish their strength.

The Adamant-Davross alloy suits of armor and weapons solved the former issue, and adding the Demons to the tower's list of apprentices solved the latter.

The Demons' attacks now had the same reach as their enemies' and enjoyed the same degree of protection, if not better. On top of that, a Demon couldn't die. With the tower fueling them with endless energy, the Demons would recover their strength without the need for spells or nutrients.

Lith could conjure way more than fifty Demons, but with the short time he had to prepare and the limited amount of Adamant stored in the Crucible, he preferred quality over quantity.

A seven-eyed Demon was a force to be reckoned with, and with only fifty of them, the Engine retained its full power while providing the Demons with a constant flow of world energy.

The Golems Raptor and Trouble came after, leading ten-man units like Lith would, thanks to the memory crystals embedded in their chests. Valia, Trion, and Varegrave led the remaining units while Menadion and Locrias flew to the opposite sides of the battlefield.

"That's your big move?" Uragar sneered. "A handful of undead?"

Lith's reply came in the form of thundering hooves. The trajectory he had provided to the Dread Knights included the path with enough space of maneuver for the undead cavalry to turn around without breaking formation and strike at the scattered Upyrs from the back.

"No, you don't!" The Book of Knowledge changed the target of his tier five Spirit Spell, Sundered Earth, from the Engine to the cavalry. Life Maelstrom also boosted the physical and mystical senses of Book and host, allowing him to react before it was too late.

Or rather, to try.

Lith unleashed another Annihilation at the same time as Uragar released his spell.

"Shit!" Uragar activated his best defensive enchantments and wrapped himself with the Sundered Earth.

It was a purely offensive spell, but it would still lessen the blow.

The Annihilation scattered the Sundered Earth to the wind, pierced through the elemental and Spirit Barrier, and reached its target with almost no delay. The Book of Knowledge's host shielded his master with his body right before being vaporized.

The anti-Guardian spell then attacked the living legacy, burning its hardcover and tearing its pages apart.

'Shit, shit, shit!' If not for the many countermeasures and his maker's ingenuity, Uragar would have died that day. 'This is the fourth Annihilation already. How many does Verhen have?'

The ancient Forgemaster had crafted the Book of Knowledge from Davross, not paper, giving it unparalleled regenerative properties and the ability to disperse mana by channeling the water element through its pages.

The Dread Knights' cavalry hit its marks unimpeded, turning what was left of the Upyrs' battle formation into a chaotic scramble for survival.

"Send the reinforcements into the wall, now!" Lith yelled via the communication array, and the Dawn King complied.

"How are we supposed to get past this thing?" One of the generals asked while pointing at the Yurial Guard. "It protects us, but it also traps us inside the Fortress."

"Verhen said to go into the wall, so stop talking and start walking!" Bahz snarled.

The confused troops stepped forward, discovering that while the Yurial Guard was an impregnable fortress to those outside, it let those inside pass through the enchanted metal as if it were just a thin veil of water.

The Upyrs were still trying to break past the shield with their spells and bloodline abilities when long spears rippled out of its surface and impaled them in a disciplined charge.

The undead returning to the battlefield had healed their wounds and regained their strength. They were still groggy from the daytime, but while their formation was flawless, their enemies were scattered and isolated.

'Time for the finishing blow.' The Engine performed delicate movements with Ragnarök that weaved complex strings of runes upon his passage.

"A Blade Spell!" Orpal warned his army. "Leech is preparing a Blade Spell! Stop him!"

As if mocking his order, Yurial Guard released the energy it had stolen from the Upyrs. Six elemental beams of energy erupted from the elemental crystals studded on the colossal shield's surface, making space for new spells to absorb.

The beams reached the corresponding elemental crystals on the Engine's armor and replenished its energy reserves.

'One slot of the Cannon Vault is fully recharged.' Solus reported. 'It only needs our Spirit Magic to become another Annihilation. A second slot is only half full.'

'It should be enough.' Lith nodded.

'Are you sure you don't want to use Extinction instead of Ruin?' Solus asked. 'Extinction is already stored, whereas Ruin you have to cast from scratch.'

'I'm sure.' Lith replied. 'I'd rather show Meln as little as possible of our strength and keep the rest for when we meet him in person. Extinction is wasted on a clone, and I don't want to give him the time to prepare a countermeasure.'

The Upyrs were too busy defending themselves from the undead's pincer attack to obey Orpal's orders.

"Stop him?" Menadion scoffed, letting her voice thunder across the battlefield. "What do you think we are here for?"

Without giving Orpal the time to answer, she unleashed her Blade Tier Spell, Unstoppable Hammer, from her Fury.

Menadion could Forgemaster equipment that allowed even people she had just met to cast Blade Spells, doing it for herself had been a piece of cake.

Unstoppable Hammer conjured a wide beam of highly compressed hepta-elemental energy. It had incredible destructive power but poor maneuverability. Any deviation from its original trajectory required bending the beam, disrupting the precise elemental symmetry of the spell.

Just like a hammer blow, Unstoppable Hammer was fast and devastating, but the slightest alteration from its original course would greatly compromise the final result.

The Upyrs scattered, each running in a different direction to avoid being smitten.

"And when she says 'we', she's talking about me!" Locrias released his Blade Spell, Unbreakable Anvil, from the opposite side of the room.