Liam shrank back against the Lich's malevolent gaze. The green flames of its eyes seemed to pierce right through him, take it all in and judge him unworthy. Its jaw opened and a booming voice came out.
"You should've accepted my offer. Now I'm going to make you suffer for what you've cost me."
A pulse of powerful mental compulsion hit him, commanding him to freeze in place and despair.
"Liam!"
His Spirit yelled, its voice scratching against his mind to get his attention. It broke through the fear that had begun to grip him, but the Lich's command was too powerful this time to be undone.
He stood, frozen as the Lich combined its power with that of its subordinates, forming a vast array of flaming weapons that begun to advance towards him. As he was now, he would be torn to shreds and burnt to ashes by the arsenal, without having a chance to react. He strained against the mental command, but it was futile. He just wasn't strong enough to break free.
Luckily, his Spirit had given him clarity and he summoned his Status. His Level Up had given him 7 Free Attribute Points to spend and, as much as he would've liked to put them in his physical stats, he invested them into his Willpower. Already boosted by his Class, it now reached 30 points. This proved to be just enough as he felt the Lich's control over him weaken enough for him to move.
He retreated backwards as the weapons closed on him, staying just out of range so as to not get too far from his targets. He looked for a gap to slip through, but there were too many of them and they formed an almost solid wall as they advanced. The distance between himself and the Lich was growing too much and he was forced to make a decision. With a pull on his Lifeforce as he reactivated his timed out [Spirit of Death], he charged the area he judged to have the fewest weapons.
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Black blades exploded out of him from where his Spirit was merged with his body, each meeting one of the firey weapons that tried to wound him as he passed. They curved into the shape of scythe blades under the influence of the Spirit of Death and managed to break apart almost half of the flaming armaments. The others unfortunately shattered against their opponents and he had to bear their assault on his body.
His Health dropped sharply, and he was glad he didn't feel pain as wounds were opened and cauterized all over his torso and legs. It seemed that his Spirit was stronger around his arms and he had focused a lot of his efforts towards blocking those coming for his head. It all happened in a few short moments, and then he was through.
Steams of energy were now flowing from each of the remaining [Skeletal Mages] to Ander Phyris, empowering the spells that the Lich cast. The weapons dissolved behind him as he passed them, the fires rushing back to the Lich and being coalesced into a rapidly spinning orb so hot and dence that it turned pure white. The heat radiating off it was so intense that he could feel it even through his disconnected nerves and so oppressive that moving towards it felt like pushing against a tide. He had no doubts that it had the potential to kill him, but still he kept closing the distance. He couldn't give the Lich the chance to cast many more of its spells otherwise his death would be garunteed.
With a deafening boom, the orb launched towards him. It rocketed forwards, burning up the distance between them in an instant. He barely had a chance to react, especially with the renewed mental assault attacking his mind. Luckily, it wasn't just him piloting his body. Whilst his Bound Spirit couldn't control the parts of it that were merged with his body, it could still shape the external mist to its will when he allowed it to. Black hooks shot out from his legs, digging into the stone floor and yanking him put the path of the destructive attack. It whipped past him before annihilating the parts of the entrance that got in its way and continuing on down the passageway. A few seconds later he heard it detonate, a sound that could no doubt be heard for miles around, even from the crevice they were in, but he didn't care about any of that because he was safe and alive.
Then, he heard a clatter and looked down to see that his axe had landed at his feet, with his hand still gripping it. He hadn't gotten out of the way fast enough, and his shoulder had paid the price. There wasn't even ash left where the orb had clipped him, just a gap where flesh could be. Still, he couldn't stop for more than a moment in this battle. He could already see the Lich's jaw and fingers moving as it started to cast another spell. He quickly scooped up his detached limb and resumed running towards the necromancer, reattaching it as mist surged from the gap where his shoulder should've been and solidifying into one.
His body was beyond messed up now, covered in burns and now missing parts, but none of those injuries compared to what he'd had to deal with when he had become paralyzed. He wouldn't let anything short of death stop him, and he was pretty sure that even if he died his body would keep on fighting under the control of his Spirits for a while until he truly stopped moving. He didn't want to test that though, much preferring to send the Lich back to its grave, so he kept an eye out for any other attacks heading his way as he charged towards his foe. One way or another, this battle was about to reach its crescendo.