Assimilation, Lith's breathing technique, was nothing more than a way to absorb Mogar's mana, cleanse it of the planet's will, and add it to his mana core. Awakened were by definition people capable of breaking the world energy into its six components, remove the planet's energy signature, and replace it with their own.
Only then could the elemental energy be turned into an Awakened's mana and used to develop their magical potential.
"This, instead, is Erlik." Leannan pointed at the towering figured walking in the middle of the small army of undead.
"By the gods!" Friya blurted out. The Grendel was disgusting, whereas the Draugr was domineering.
He was over 6 meters (20') tall, to the point that even the massive Grendel looked like a baby in comparison. His appearance was that of a dead tree come to life after being possessed by an evil spirit.
His bark was swollen, blackened, and hideous to look at. His whole body kept rotting and regenerating in an eternal cycle, leaking a dirty white substance from its cracks that resembled pus.
The liquid was undead as well and wriggled like worms while searching for another crack to get back inside the Draugr's corpse. Erlik had been a Treant in life, so he was much bigger and stronger than a Treantling.
In death, all of the leaves forming his hair and goatee had turned yellow with brown spots, giving him a sickly look. His eyes shone with the red light of undeath and even if what those present were looking at was just a copy, the mages felt a terrible strength hidden behind even the simplest movement he made.
'This doesn't bode well.' Lith thought. 'Usually big enemies are slow, but evolved beings are unnaturally fast. The life force of a Treant plus the boost of undeath could give him enough power to kill most opponents with one hit.'
Lith had no idea what powers a Titania had, but the Sovereign of Laruel paled in comparison with the wooden titan.
"Whatever happens, leave Erlik to me." Leannan continued. "I've already assembled my army to take care of the invading undead and soon we'll receive help from the other city-states.
"I'm not going to take any risks. We'll attack only once all our allies are assembled…"
"I see you're fashionably late, like it suits the star of our event." Erlik's voice cut her short. "I was thinking about waiting for you while sitting on your throne, but then I would have missed your terrified expression when you realize no one is going to help you."
Erlik's voice didn't sound like anything Lith had ever heard before. It wasn't something that he would have expected from any living being. It sounded as if two rocks were being grated together and were rebuking each other.
Undeath distorted all words the Draugr Treant spoke, as if two people were talking at the same time, trying to eclipse the other.
"I like flair, but my act would have cost me precious time. I'm anything but a practical guy." Erlik said.
Leannan ignored him and activated her dimensional amulet, receiving several calls at the same time. Yet no matter who the source was, the words were all the same:
"Every time we try to Warp to Laruel, we end up in a random location."
It wasn't just the reinforcements from the other plant cities, Leannan's elite soldiers who had been patrolling the city were in the same situation. At least they could still fly to the Sapling, but it would take them time.
"I must congratulate you, Leannan. I never thought that you would figure out my plan." Erlik's eyes moved left and right along with his head, as if he was trying to listen to several voices at the same time.
"You even managed to convince the other Sovereigns to help you. A commendable effort. Too bad that in the end, it didn't matter."
"We'll see about that!" Leannan extended her left arm and tendrils of wood erupted from all sides, aiming at Erlik's followers.
"A futile attempt." Erlik raised both his arms while a grimace of focus appeared on his face. His red eyes burned like torches as the ground quaked again and the tendrils stopped.
"Is it? Are you sure?" Leannan said. A cruel grin twisted what had been a beautiful face into the mask of a bloodthirsty warrior.
The tattoos on her arms and shoulders ignited with a blue flame that covered Leannan from head to toe. The tendrils resumed their charge, squashing the undead on the frontlines.
They tried to activate their blood cores to recover from the wounds, but the wood absorbed them. Under Leannan's guide, the Sapling broke the undead down into nutrients and fed upon them before they could even yelp in surprise.
"Guess you didn't see this coming." The Sovereign said while more and more tendrils of wood rained down on Erlik's army like a flock of birds preying on hapless worms.
"You bastard!" Erlik was furious, yet he was yelling at the Sapling rather than at Leannan, which rose several unpleasant questions.
The Draugr tapped into his undead tissues planted under Laruel, forcing a connection with the ancient tree akin to that of his opponent. He managed to stop the onslaught before losing more soldiers, but suddenly he didn't feel so confident anymore.
"What are you waiting for? Kill them and then kill her!" Erlik was outraged at his allies more than he was at his enemies.
'How can a vicious seasoned warrior like Gremlik get cold feet just because Leannan is here? He's well aware that I'm incapable of accessing the Sapling's mind from the outside and that as long as she's alive, I can't fully bond with this old bastard.' Erlik thought.
'If Erlik thinks that I'm going to immolate myself to win this battle, the rot must have reached his brain.' Gremlik thought. 'Even if we win, I'd just be his second in command.
'I'd achieve only as much power as he's willing to bestow upon me and it would take him but a thought to kill me. Yet he's right about one thing. If we don't win, we're all dead.'
The Dryad led the charge without transforming into his Grendel form. Gremlik was a powerful magician and as long as he kept his plant side's regenerative powers, he could afford to sustain some damage to test the waters.
One of the Grendels' greatest secrets, was how heavy was the strain that their battle form inflicted upon their blood cores. A Grendel's characteristic bloodthirsty fighting style was also due to the perpetual hunger that wore them out once they assumed such form.
"Now!" Leannan yelled.
All the Fae who were part of her personal guard came out from the room, emerging from the walls they had been merged with until that moment.
Erlik's followers found themselves surrounded by every side as a rain of tier five spells fell upon them, reducing their numbers. Most of the infected that were still at the thrall stage died on the spot.
Their sires preferred to protect themselves and those they had already turned into their kin rather than waste their energy on half-baked warriors.
"Did you really think that after discovering your plan I wouldn't take countermeasures?" Usually, mocking an undead was pointless. Their passions were muffled by the lack of light element, so things like fear or morale were unknown to them.
Yet the Draugr and the Grendel were respectively creatures of envy and fury.
