The Chaos energy was so violent that it consumed its own caster, destroying more than half of Veeza's body in its wake. Collapse and Howling Void were a deadly combo impossible to perform for anyone who wasn't a Lich or an Abomination.
Collapse prevented the enemy from escaping, even blocking dimensional magic thanks to the spatial distortion it created. Howling Void, instead, was a sure kill spell capable of piercing through mountains.
Chaos magic feasted on the light element, even that of its master. Abominations had no such problem because they had none, Liches, instead, could simply regenerate from a wound that would kill any other undead.
Even a single Howling Void was enough to turn a blood core black, but a Lich's body was just a vessel. Their real mana core was stored inside their phylactery, safe from the chaotic energies that were now ravaging Veeza.
'By the Great Mother! Since when undead can use Chaos magic?' For the first time since she had met Leegaain, Milea was scared.
Her Blink fizzled and the distance between her and her enemy only gave Milea enough time to activate the spells she had at the ready. A sphere of emerald energy capable of stopping even a Dragon's breath enveloped the Empress.
Milea then infused the barrier with her best healing spells, making it become as bright as a star. It was a makeshift defense, but it was all she had.
The Chaos magic would have made short work of any element, but pure mana was the densest and resilient of them all, buying Milea the split second she needed for the light element to flood her barrier.
Howling Void feasted on the healing spells, turning back into common darkness magic as the equilibrium was restored, but it was still a dangerous element. Milea released a couple of fireballs on herself to absorb Veeza's now darkness spell and exploit the detonation to move away.
A second Howling Void struck where the Empress had been just a second prior, making Veeza curse her bad luck. Collapse was supposed to stop her enemy movements, but Milea's own gravity field had made it possible for her to dodge.
On top of that, now that both the Lich's arms were gone, she was a sitting duck until they regenerated.
'Dammit, this couldn't go any worse.' Veeza thought while dispelling Collapse, that was now only hindering her recovery.
A single breath was all it took Milea to get back to her peak condition. Her eyes were fixated on the Lich and her mind was weaving one spell after the other, preparing a proper counter for the next Chaos spell she knew was about to come.
"Dograth's gates have been closed! I repeat, Dograth's gates have been closed." A voice in Milea's communication earpiece said, signaling that all the undead forces were now on the battlefield.
"Activate Jumpscape, now!" Milea ordered.
Despite her long life and cunning, Veeza had underestimated the resources that an ancient being like Leegaain could provide. Only half of the devices that the Empire's army had built during the day were actually dimensional arrays and even those had a different purpose from just moving troops.
The other half were mana cores detecting arrays, the effect of which had been as discreet as it had been useful. The sensing arrays had allowed Milea's generals to uncover how many and what kind of undead the enemy army was comprised of so that the generals could adjust their strategy accordingly.
Even that was just a single step of the plan. Once Milea gave the order, the dimensional and core sensing arrays grew in size, overlapping with each other until they covered the entirety of the battlefield.
The mystical runes of the eight arrays flowed into each other. Each power word found its place in the magical symphony that was unfolding until the small arrays combined into a bigger one.
The new array was bigger than the sum of its parts and it grew in power as it closed to completion, emitting a blinding light as if the sun had risen on the battlefield. The moment the magical formation was fully formed, it opened a dimensional tunnel for each one of the targets it was locked into.
Before any of the undead could react to the sudden turn of events, every single undead unit outside the area of effect of Dograth arrays was Gated away, in the middle of one of the Empire's military camps.
Not only they were in a plain that offered no shelter from the sun that would rise in a few hours, but they were also surrounded by all sides by troops armed to the teeth who unleashed a volley of spells even before their enemies appeared.
Undead knew no fear nor low morale, so they promptly reacted by adjusting their formation, and by doing so they triggered all the alchemical tools that had been buried below their feet. The human soldiers were protected by solid walls and trenches, whereas the undead were stuck on a minefield.
Spells kept exploding from every side, below as well, mowing their numbers down by the second. Most undead soldiers died before they could even spot their enemy or shed a single drop of human blood.
The human army never left their forts, unleashing spells and arrays from a safe distance. The slaughter lasted only a few minutes yet it took out a huge number of Veeza's elite troops, crippling her military force.
The human army instead had not been Warped and was now marching toward Dograth. The few enemy soldiers that had been lucky enough to not be caught by the Warping field offered little resistance and soon the Empire was sieging its lost fortresses that now had so little manpower to be barely functional.
Veeza couldn't believe her own mystical senses, yet no amount of disbelief could stop the despair flooding her mind.
Before meeting the so-called Magic Empress, the Lich had never suffered defeat, not even when she was still alive.
Yet that flimsy human had managed to destroy her vessel time and time again, until Veeza had stopped believing she had a chance to best Milea in a one on one fight. Even after giving her all, even after resorting to a double-edged exotic magic like Chaos, Veeza couldn't keep herself from feeling helpless.
Months of plans and preparations had been ruined in a single night. The empire she had fought so hard to establish was on the verge of collapsing. If Dograth fell, nothing would stop the humans' advance, especially since it was night time.
The time when undead were supposed to be at their strongest. Once the sun would soar the sky, the twin fortresses would be lost and with them all the neighboring lands.
Veeza needed time to recover from the huge blow the sudden loss of so many powerful undead caused to her army, but she was sure that Milea wouldn't give her any.
'Why hasn't she Warped the both of us as well?' The Lich thought while she cast her most powerful spells as fast as she could. 'We're outside the city arrays and if she brings me away from my phylactery, my strength will be halved…'
Her train of thoughts was derailed when six spheres, each one as big as an adult man, surrounded the Lich from every side. Each orb was of a different color, but they were all surrounded by an emerald aura.
