The sound of clashing arms, explosions of magic, and the screams of the dying echoed through the cavern. The elves had seen us coming and sallied out to meet us along the shores of the underground lake. The smooth waters now reflected the flashes of magic and rippled from explosions.

Vito and Raven had both disappeared as the fighting headed deep behind enemy lines. Raven to hunt down valuable targets and Vito to clash with the priest.

Maxwell was as near to the front as he could get buffing our troops with his music. I could see his nodes floating in the surrounding air. The area affected by him was clear, as my troops were holding their ground and even pushing back in other places. Unfortunately, that was not the case across the entire front. The elves were no slouches and they had warriors on par with my undead if not slightly stronger.

I stood with my two necromancers. Our job was protecting and healing my army, which was a big job for three casters. That was the other major advantage the elves held. They had dozens of priests and other magic users. A litany of spells pummeled our magical defenses even as we had to balance healing our forces. Although, the barriers I raised would stop even the elves’ most powerful attacks dead. Admittedly none of them were holy, their priests used some kind of darkness or blood magic which wasn’t great at breaking barriers. Blood magic might be weak to death magic, but that didn’t mean that death magic was weak to blood magic.

From my rise, I saw Othniel cast out a ball of purple lightning that slammed into the elven left flank along the water. His eldritch power was mighty. Then, the life thieves floated over the water flanking the elves. I couldn’t see Ehud with them but knew the affliction ghost was there some place causing havoc.

What had kept us ahead of their magical prowess was the twenty-five eldritch death elementals. They poured power into my spells as quickly as I could form them. I was working in conjunction with Tola and Izban on every spell, and even working together, with my mastery of the magic, we still struggled to harness the raw power pouring out from the elemental zombies.

With power at my command like I’ve never had, I was able to cast regeneration spells on my entire army that not just repaired damage but would bring the fallen back into service. We would win the battle, but at this rate it was going to be a Pyrrhic victory. While that was acceptable, this being an undead army, I wanted better.

“Tola, Izban, be careful not to disrupt the blood magic in his next spell,” I ordered as I pulled a red crystal out of my bag and crushed it.

The spell I wove together was complex. The two necromancers focused on protecting the blood magic inside of the spell as I wove it together. Blood mana was the only one I could provide myself, but other trace types of magic were going in the spell as well.

As I approached finishing, I noticed the protective dome of death magic over my army was beginning to crack. I didn’t let myself get distracted, the spell could backfire at this point.

When the dome began to fail, I slammed Mercy into the stone I was standing on. The black skull with a spiked crown at the top pulsed with power and a wave of energy spread out over the battle.

I sagged slightly, leaning on Mercy. It was not the power of the spell, but the concentration it took to cast it that left me drained. The dome shattered, times up. Already magical attacks hammered down. A flight of arrows clearly targeted at me arched over the field. Pointing with a clenched fist, I released one of my stored spells. Kinetic force wave hammered out, scattering the volley.

Some of the arrows hit me, my precognition warning me they would, so the pain did not surprise me.

Eldritch power crackled around me. Death magic from the two necromancers supported the structure of my next spell. It was complex, but powerful.

An eldritch arrow from E’lon broke a bloodred barrier over the center of the elven formation, a volley of black arrows a moment behind. The meter-and-a-half long arrows punched through the elves’ rear rank.

I winced as an explosion tore into my ranged battalion in response. The crackling purple light around me was drawing attention. More magical attacks soared towards us. Jair, who had initially advanced with Othniel, fell back to provide cover with his own barriers as Izban quit helping me and did the same.

The eldritch power flowed through me and was me. The ecstasy of wielding that much power is intoxicating, but I didn’t lose sight of the goal. The time it took to harness and build this spell was long, but like I said, I didn’t want a Pyrrhic victory. In that time, my forces were taking a hammering, but the regeneration that had been applied earlier was keeping them going.

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I sensed as much as saw a weakening in the defenses of the elves, chaos was unfolding in their flanks and rear. Dead elves were rising, and not from any spell we’d cast, not directly anyway. The spell before this one gave every weapon in my army a very special magical poison. Now anyone they killed would rise again as a zombie, a zombie that could create more.

A bolt of crackling red lightning snapped over the top of the field and slammed into me. It tried to anyway, colliding with the swirling magic around me. The eldritch power overwhelmed and absorbed it. I felt a ripple in my control but disrupting a Lich casting his own eldritch magic is not so easily done. On top of that there’d been corruption-based lightning. Did those foolish elves really think that would trump eldritch power? Even if it had been holy based magic, it would not have been enough to stop me at this point.

I cackled, my voice echoing out across the cavern. I was so intrinsically tied to the spell that it amplified my voice. “Nice try, now let me show you real power.”

I pointed Mercy, and the maelstrom of eldritch and death magic condensed between the tips of the crown. Since this was both eldritch and death magic, I pushed it further than I had ever before. The ball of power suspended between the tips of the crown glowed so brightly that it made everything else shine. With a thought, I fired.

The condensed power punched through the weakening barriers above the elves like a bullet through tissue paper. My target dodged, and the marble-sized bead of power slammed into the stone behind where the commander of the elves had been standing and erupted.

The stone was vaporized, along with two clerics who couldn’t move fast enough. Wisps of purple and black magic flooded into the air forming clouds before a storm of eldritch lightning hammered down. The clouds expanded, and before long, it covered half the elven army.

Abimelech pulled my troops back as the clouds expanded toward the front line. The lightning would harm them and the elves equally. The bolts of power fell over and over again until it became hard to even see through the spell.

Unlike casting the zombie plagues spell, this one had not left me drained. I was exhilarated. I was already building a new spell, utilizing power from the elemental zombies by draining them. Tola and Izban joined in, recognizing the spell I was building. I debated about trying to use some of my second tier death energy, but decided against it. The last thing I wanted was to blow myself up if I used it wrong.

The storm of eldritch power faded and left behind a field of dead and burned bodies. The zombies that had been created in the area by the ranged attacks from my army were also dead, I resolved to fix that problem. The moment the eldritch lightning storm dissipated a spell made of pure death magic landed like a large blackboard that exploded into vapor.

As my forces rushed forward into the miasma, ordered by Abimelech, the still intact bodies of the elves rose to life. I exerted control even as the spell began to piece together the bodies that were too broken to be of use into undead monstrosities. The order was simple: kill all the elves.

With the elves’ center broken, Othniel overwhelming the left flank, and a new horde of zombies stirring to life, the battle turned into a massacre as the elves broke and ran. I don’t know if they tried to surrender, and I don’t know if I would’ve let them. Abimelech ordered my troops to give case, I saw no reason for them not to, casting a spell to make them faster.

In the distance I heard Maxwell’s music change, speeding up everything around him.

The thirteen exterreri raced past me, heading for their masters. The Dread Thirteen would reap a terrible toll.

I gave a mental command and Shadow came to me. “You two, stay back with the elemental zombies and,” I smiled, “have fun with what you can make with that pile of bodies. But don’t use them all up, we need to feed the rituals.”

“Of course, my lord,” Tola acknowledged.

I caught up with Maxwell, who was still atop Snappy. “What do you think of our first battle?”

“I think I need a band,” Maxwell grumbled. “I guess it’s technically called an orchestra but that’s stupid.”

“I think you need one as well. You’re going to be terrifying when you can buff an entire army.”

“Oh, it doesn’t just increase my range,” Maxwell assured me, “it will also amplify the power of my songs.”

We were approaching the outskirts of the city. Abimelech had reformed my army. We had taken losses, but not as many as I’d thought. The zombies created both by the zombie plague and by raise undead spell during the fight were still swarming in front of us. Screams radiated from the city.

“Abimelech,” I said. “We need to stop the slaughter of the civilians. Just because I don’t want them running, doesn’t mean I want them dead.”

One of Raven’s primary objectives had been to infiltrate the city, and using explosives from Vito, collapse the tunnels on the other side. They wouldn’t be collapsed enough that they couldn’t be reopened, but they would stop anyone from fleeing quickly.

“I will take the Dread Thirteen forward to take control,” Abimelech said. “None of the other officers can do so, and even we are not suited for it.”

“I understand, bringing them within range of me and I can take over,” I agreed.

Abimelech was just starting to move forward when Vito was suddenly there among us. “I can do that. I didn’t realize you do not want the civilians killed, my apologies.” Vito closed his eyes, made a face, and opened them again.

“All the uncontrolled zombies are now under my control and are coming this way,” Vito said. An explosion of magic deeper within the city grabbed his attention. “Well, that bastard will not stay down,” he snarled. Just like that, he was gone again.

“Where is Raven?” Maxwell asked. “I didn’t see her during the fight, nor the mayor and his succubus. I feel like they would’ve been noticeable on the battlefield.”

“Damn her,” I snarled. “I told her to leave them alone if they weren’t in the battle.” I knew where she had to be. “Abi,” I said.

“We are already coming,” Abimelech assured me, spurring her mount forward to match my pace as I was already charging into the city.

“Hey!” I heard Maxwell exclaim behind me.

I glanced around briefly to see Othniel pluck the barred off Snappy and toss him on his mount behind him. Snappy was going to be too slow.