The Mother Earth potion stimulated the mana and the auxiliary cores of the members of the Corpse so that they would absorb the surrounding world energy much faster than usual.
For the next few minutes, every time one of the fake Awakened had a moment of respite, their vitality and mana would constantly replenish as if they used a breathing technique. In theory, by taking turns to attack and defend, they were nigh-invincible.
In theory.
The members of the Corpse had those two words tattooed on some part of their bodies, as a constant reminder that when reality begged to differ, bad things happened. On top of that, the tattoo also worked as a multi-function potion.
Tyris had found samples of Hatorne's ink from the rubbles of Kandria and had reverse-engineered her methods. The tattoo had the same properties of a nutrients, of a body enhancing potion, and of a tonic at the same time.
Tyris didn't interfere directly with the affairs of the Kingdom, but she shared with her subjects all of her knowledge that they could employ.
While the Corpse stepped on the battlefield, the Red Sun couldn't wait for the battle to end. He was currently performing the worst among the three Hors.e.m.e.n and had the greatest number of casualties.
The worst thing about it was that most of the losses that his army had suffered were due to literal friendly fire. While Dawn's and Night's gifts were passive abilities, those that Dusk bestowed upon the undead required finesse and wisdom.
He was renown as the wisest of the Hors.e.m.e.n because his powers couldn't be just pointed and then shot at something. They were a double-edged sword that had to be carefully handled.
The undead using Origin Flames often forgot that, unlike normal spells, the dragon fire could hurt even their user. A timely shield or spell shoved down their mouth would make the undead burn from the inside, killing them on the spot.
Life Maelstrom was no better since the only difference between its offensive silver lightning bolts and its empowering effects lay in the dose one employed. Most undead had become so high on Maelstrom after its first use that they would unleash it all at once and burst up like overinflated balloons.
'Giving these morons the power of the Leviathan bloodline is out of the question. They would decimate my army before its effects even reach Prode.' Dusk thought with anger. 'To make matters worse, throwing pearls to swine is weakening me.
'All of my powers require world energy and everything that my steed channels into my soldiers can't be sent to me! I wish Mom had bestowed unto me a weaker but easier to use power, as she did with my sisters.'
He looked at the horizon, waiting for the sunrise and the huge blow that it would deal to the enemy morale, sealing their victory. With a wave of his hand, the Red Sun conjured a veil of silver energy that floated in mid-air in front of the battalions of undead mages.
They cast their spells through the Life Maelstrom and their power increased tenfold. The barrage of tier five spells turned into lesser versions of tier tower spells, hammering at the arrays until they cracked and so did the city walls.
Dusk's mastery over Life Maelstrom was so great that he was able to inject it even into the spells of others without making them go awry. Unlike the other Hors.e.m.e.n, he preferred to play a supporting role and counter the enemy strategy rather than match them in raw power.
The northern front needed just another push to collapse. Dusk used the mind link that he had established with his generals before starting the siege to relay his orders.
Suddenly, the space around him froze, making both him and Sunset crash onto the ground with the grace of a brick.
"Who dares?" He roared the moment he recognized the effects of Leegaain's trademark anti-Lich weapon, the tier five dimensional spell, Sealed Space.
It cut off all forms of energy flow from its area of effect and, in the case of Liches, it would also break the link with their phylactery, halving their combat strength. Tyris had spared no effort in preparing the Corpse to face even the toughest opponent.
Unfortunately for them, Life Vision showed the Corpse that despite the effects of Sealed Space Dusk's power didn't falter. It was the clear sign that the Lich had brought the phylactery with him.
Unfortunately for the Red Sun, the same couldn't be said about his army. The spell cut off all kinds of energy flow, included that of the powers Dusk shared with them.
The Corpse had no blabbermouth in its ranks so the only answer Dusk received was a volley of tier five Spirit Spells.
Two sets of Griffon Fetters created a hexa-elemental bundle of emerald chains that wrapped themselves around horse and rider, pulling them apart. Two sets of Phoenix Smash conjured blasts of emerald flames that eroded both matter and energy.
Last, but not least, Mirim's Dragon Maw split Sealed Space in half.
Now that Dusk couldn't feed upon Sunset anymore she sealed them both inside a hexa-elemental emerald cage, keeping them from dodging or blocking the incoming attacks.
Dusk cursed as the mind link with his generals broke, leaving them clueless about his current predicament, and so did the link with his steed. Sunset wasn't a sentient relic, just a tool meant to enhance his powers.
As long as it didn't receive orders from him, it would be a sitting duck capable only of using the pre-set strategies to defend against the enemies. Which against someone with half a brain capable of understanding its patterns wouldn't amount to much.
'First, I need to retrieve Sunset. Second, I must escape Sealed Space. Any other move wouldn't just compromise this battle, it would compromise my life!' Dusk's analysis was right, yet it was identical to the Corpse's.
Each set of Griffon Fetters pulled their respective victim in opposite directions while Dragon Maw made the battlefield invisible to those inside and strengthened the effects of the other Spirit Spells.
Among its many effects, Dragon Maw allowed its caster to interact with friendly spells as if they were their own. Unlike Domination, control couldn't be forcefully taken, only allowed by the original caster.
Thanks to Dragon Maw, Mirim could freely manipulate all of the active spells because the other members of the Corpse offered no resistance to her will. The four fake Awakened were akin to her limbs, casting the spells she required, while Mirim was the brain of the operation, controlling every aspect of the battlefield.
'Siska, Shad, you get rid of the steed. Lepto, Jhoa, with me. We're going to take care of the rider.' Mirim said via the mind link.
