2263 Burn it Down (Part 1)

Only when the mass of shadows started to split, growing arms, legs, heads, and wings did Thrud understand what was happening.

"How many Demons of the Darkness has he conjured?"

"256, now 512 and counting." Ufyl replied as his Dragon Eyes allowed him to quickly estimate the enemy numbers as the blackness spread. "One thousand, two thousand, the fuckers grow geometrically in number! If it keeps like this, they-

"Never mind. Thank the gods it stopped at three thousand."

"What the fuck are you sighing in relief for?" Xoola said. "That's still 3,000 soldiers for free and it gets worse. Look!"

Even with the help of his Golems and the geyser, there were only so many souls that Lith could conjure at the same time. Yet he didn't plan to start attacking until quality matched quantity.

What the Fenrir was staring at in horror was the number of eyes of the Demons going from one to six in the span of a few seconds.

In the blink of an eye, the sky in front of Phogia had become filled with 3,000 immortal creatures, each one with the power of the violet core and the bloodline abilities of a Tiamat.

"Phase three is a go!" Lith's voice sounded like the wind howling out from an abyss that somehow had learned how to speak, yet it was clear as it resounded throughout the air and reached the allied army.

"What the heck is he doing?" Thrud slammed on the armrest of her throne, shattering it in frustration.

"I don't know!" Phloria had no advice to offer, feeling as baffled as her liege.

"If we don't step in now, there will be no way to stop Verhen later." Xoola said via the communication amulet.

"And what exactly can you do against a whole army of Demons who can use Spirit Magic and have a mana core as strong as yours?" The Mad Queen said with a snort. "Wait for an opening. If there isn't any, just hold your position.

"If you get killed, it will take days for you to reform."

Lith had just finished yelling when he took a deep breath, and with him the Demons. At his feet, Trouble and Raptor were inhaling as well, the silver of their Adamant skin covered by a thick layer of blackness.

Velagros and Valia had become Demons right after their death, gaining the opportunity to retain their original body. Necromancy kept the corpses perfectly preserved and Lith would take them out of his dimensional pocket before every battle.

It granted the two former members of the Queen's Corps to be always reborn straight into Demons of the Fallen, without the need to find a host body. Trion and Velagros weren't so lucky so they had to make do with the Golems.

Merging a Demon with the constructs granted the souls a physical body and to use the power core in addition to the black core they were reborn with. Also, it gave the Golems a brain and the full scope of Lith's bloodline abilities.

Velagros was the oldest of his Demons so Lith had entrusted him with Trouble. The Balor had a humanoid body and Lith hoped that the three elemental crystals that replaced its Evil Eyes might synergize with the Velagros' Tiamat Eyes.

'Great Mother almighty, Verhen was right.' The former Captain of the Queen's Corps thought as the Balor's body welcomed the six eyes as if they were its own. Circulating their power was second nature to it.

'A Balor is still an evolved human and even though I'm dead, in my Demon form I'm one as well. If only I could understand what the heck is happening.' The three elemental crystals sparked with power, splitting their energy between the corresponding pairs of allegedly opposite elements.

The red crystal fed the fire and air eyes, the black crystal the light and darkness eyes, and the blue crystal fueled the water and the earth eyes. Velagros could see many things through his newfound mana organs, but failed to make sense of them.

A black light spread through the scales that covered Lith's body, starting from his face and then moving down his neck, lungs, and heart. Then, his face mask opened, revealing a maw filled with white fangs and black-violet flames.

The mouths of the 3,000 Demons followed their master's lead and opened in unison.

Their combined light painted the area surrounding Phogia purple while the sheer number of the Demons blotted the sun out of the sky.

Thrud had yet to finish issuing her order when Lith and his Demons breathed a burst of Void Flames. They were all aimed at the same point a few dozen meters in front of the Tiamat, where they coalesced into a sphere.

The Thousand Flames had the same energy signature which allowed them to stack up their power without encountering any resistance. The moment the last drop of Void Flames reached the sphere, it burst forward too fast to be followed even by the Dragon Eyes.

The pillar of black-violet flames struck at the arrays protecting Phogia in a single point, forcing the defensive forces stationed there to use the spells they had prepared to resist the invasion just to keep the barrier from crumbling.

Even though the protective barrier held, the heat the Thousand Flames carried was enough to make the air inside Phogia scorching. The people on the city walls collapsed on the ground, their lungs burning with each breath they took, their skin covered in blisters.

The Awakened couldn't use their breathing technique to recover their strength so they had to use whatever mana they had left just to lower the temperature around them.

Outside the city, the grass caught fire wherever the sparks of Void Flames reflected by the barrier fell.

The biggest bits of Cursed Flames caused the rock to melt and the ground to turn into blazing lava.

The allied forces came out unscathed only thanks to the barriers stopping the rebound and the elemental sealing arrays neutralizing the flames as soon as they formed.

"Phase four is a go!" Lith roared as flaming black armors enveloped the Demons and red blades appeared in their hands.

While Lith controlled the Void Flames, Solus had used the Mouth of Menadion to cast the Blade Tier spell, Ruin, and then split its power into hard-light constructs that she had used to equip the Demons.

The black army swarmed the sky, reaching the city while the effects of the Thousand Flames were still laying waste to Phogia.

"What about now? Verhen is alone." Xoola asked.

"No way." Ufyl grabbed her to keep her still. "He's alone, yes, but he's packing several Spirit Spells of ridiculous power. Your Doom Tide can't do anything about them and the moment he spots us, we're dead."

Lith didn't move from the geyser, channeling new power and the spells to the Demons who used the Tower Tier Spirit magic to slaughter anyone standing in their path.

The condensed power of the Blade Tier spell could temporarily match purified Orichalcum equipment. The Demons healed from any wound they sustained in a matter of seconds, their power never decreasing.

The allied forces moved along with the Demons, taking down the city walls with ease since Thrud's Awakened were too busy saving their own lives.