The beasts dodged or blocked them with earth magic while the Demons didn't budge and took the spells head-on. The shadow that comprised their body neutralized the darkness element whereas everything else simply went through them as if they were just illusions.
The moment the Demons charged at the undead's front lines, the green of their eyes moved to their hands, shapeshifting them into the weapons that the souls possessing the skeletons were more familiar with.
Be them a great ax or a kitchen knife, the emerald weapons took the undead by surprise, allowing the Demons to push the enemy's blades away long enough to break through their ranks and made their formation crumble.
Demons of the Fallen wasn't just a tier five darkness spell, it also mixed Spirit Magic to call upon the shadows that always followed Lith and to bestow upon them weapons.
The conjured blades were weak and brittle, lasting one single exchange before shattering. Yet together with the element of surprise, they gave the Demons the opportunity they needed.
Demons of the Fallen not only required to accumulate a huge amount of darkness magic and to feed it to the black eye of the Balor to be amplified, but it also required the caster to focus solely on its creations.
Solus couldn't conjure the necessary energy due to her inability to use Invigoration on her own and Lith couldn't afford to control so many creatures at once to keep them from consuming in a few bursts the Spirit Magic that comprised their bodies.
Together, however, they had no such problem. Lith took care of the main enemy while Solus focused on their army and protected the eye. Without it, Demons of the Fallen would crumble.
Only the might behind the black eye could provide the steady flow of darkness magic necessary for the skeletons to be more than a pile of bones and to protect them from darkness magic.
"Enough!" Night slashed at her own midriff with a knife-hand, cutting her body asunder.
With her other hand, she took a black prism out of her core, shaping it like her prized spear, Thorn, and lunged at Lith's heart. The two combined moves allowed her to escape from War's assault and forced Lith away.
"Now I understand how you beat my sister, but I'm different from her." Night said while crystal tendrils rescued and reattached her lower body. "I have almost no Chosen left and without the sun, the entirety of Mogar is my playground!"
Unluckily for Lith, her analysis was spot on. Even though Night's host was weaker than Acala, even though she had lost the Black Rose armor and the Thorn spear to Balkor's Chaos magic, her strength still outmatched Dawn.
Now that the Horseman had stopped goofing around, Lith found himself forced on the defense. Without Solus, he had to strategize alone. He couldn't follow the mana flow in Night's body to predict what spells she would use and the skill gap between them only made things worse.
Faluel outmatched Lith, yet even from their brief exchange, he could see that Night would probably give the Hydra a run for her money.
The spear had the range advantage and each lunge would produce a pillar of darkness bigger than Lith's body, forcing him to perform ample movements to dodge each strike and miss all the openings that Night left open to taunt him.
On top of that, the black pillars wouldn't just fade away. After missing their target, the energy mass stopped in mid-air, forming a massive sphere that just waited for Night's next command.
'Fuck me sideways! She can use Spirit Magic as well and way better than I do. Night's darkness magic is as fast as a bullet and she's leaving her spells around to strike at me from behind. If not for Full Guard, I would've already lost.' Lith thought.
"Cease this pointless struggle and surrender. Otherwise…" With a flick of Night's wrist, several of the black spheres darted toward Lith, attacking him from every side.
He stopped flapping his wings and used Spirit Magic to speed up his fall, escaping from the encirclement in the nick of time. His four eyes burned with the mana of four different elements as he unleashed the tier five version of Checkmate Spears.
Ice lances as thick as trees with emerald streaks all over appeared around Night, each one striking at her with the strength of a speeding car. She recalled the black spheres to herself, but the solid matter mixed with Spirit Magic resisted darkness magic's effects.
The kinetic energy the spears carried made them move fast and hit hard enough to crack the Horseman's crystal armor, taking away big chunks of her flesh with each hit.
At the same time, Lith charged at Night while using War's World Mirror ability to channel all the stray energy from the Horseman's spells and his own in a vertical slash that split her asunder.
"Smart and resourceful. I think I'm in love." Her two haves spoke as nothing had happened and her left arm lunged with Thorn from point-blank range, giving Lith no time to dodge.
The black pillar that originated from the spear had the destructive power of a tier four darkness spell, the kinetic energy of a meteor, and the piercing power of Thorn. It turned Lith into a black shooting star that crashed onto the ground, opening a crater several meters deep.
"No matter how much you damage my meat suit, dear husband, fixing it takes me little effort. I don't care for my host's pain and her life is meaningless to me. The only way you have to beat me is to make me run out of mana faster than you do.
"Alas, the night is my element and I'm not going to give you a single breath for free." The Horseman kept her word and resumed her attack while Lith had yet to get up.
Small bursts of red flames that were the equivalent of blood for his hybrid form came out of his eyes, mouth, and ears. He had managed to remain conscious only thanks to the combined protection of War's World Mirror ability, his boosted Skinwalker armor, and a last-ditch hard-light construct.
Together, they had taken the brunt of the damage and kept Lith's heart from being punctured. His knees wobbled, but Lith still managed to dodge Thorn and to get as much distance as he could from Night.
'Hang on. I already gave the Demons the order to take down the air sealing array first, but the undead are protecting the focal points of the formation with all their might.' Solus knew that between the lack of air and dimensional magic, the Horseman had a tremendous advantage over Lith.
He had barely a decade of battle experience whereas Night had spent centuries, if not millennia, wreaking havoc and fighting the most powerful creatures on Mogar.
Without dimensional magic, Lith couldn't use most of his tricks and he had no way to win a contest of strength against one of the most powerful relics in existence. Also, flying using only his wings wasn't easy since he had them for barely less than two years and he spent most of his time in human form.
'I'm trying everything I can, but I don't think I can stall Night for long.' Lith replied. 'Even with a bright blue core, I'm no match for her in a one-on-one fight. I've only got two aces up my sleeve left so wish me luck.'
