It was just a way of stalling for time, but it allowed him to notice that something was wrong.
Every time he cast the spell, more and more ice shards would miss their target.
"What the heck?" Lith blurted, a crazy idea was taking form in his mind.
Suddenly, he dashed outside the Town square, going shoulder to shoulder with Phillard.
"What are you doing here? This is no place for hatchlings!" The Kroxy was panting heavily, his body covered in injuries. The creatures were capable of spitting a toxic substance that was seeping through his wounds, slowly sapping his strength.
To make things worse, they were also capable of storing and compressing their life force in the forehead, shooting it out like a laser. Doing it made them weaker and shortened their lifespan, but with each strike, their enemy was more and more debilitated. Soon a new wave of undead would come and Phillard would be too weak to stop them.
The creatures had no survival instinct, they were just obeying a single order: kill.
"For conquest!" Lith heard one of the creatures say right before jumping on Phillard and self-detonating, using the last of its darkness magic to cripple the enemy.
"For revenge!" Another said, shooting a beam of darkness magic before turning to smoke.
"For Balkor!" The undead chanted together before rushing in for the finishing strike.
Lith touched Phillard, removing the toxin while healing his wounds and filling him with life force at the same time. He could give him only two Invigoration breaths worth of energy, but it was all that it needed.
"I take back everything I said, but now take cover!" Between the arrays weakening them and the Kroxy's renewed strength, the undead were no match for him again. Lith kept close to him, using air magic to deflect the toxic spits and earth magic to shield Phillard from the darkness rays from time to time.
His real aim was studying the fight up close.
Meanwhile, the rest of his group was worried to death. Friya could use force to prevent Quylla from helping Lith, but Yurial could only talk Phloria out of it. She was way taller and stronger than him. If he ticked her off, Phloria was likely to send him flying.
"If he needs our help, he'll ask for it." Yurial tried to block her line of sight to the battlefield with his body.
"If you go out there, you'll only become a burden to him."
"Are you saying I should just stay here like a damsel in distress?" She roared.
"We all are. In distress, I mean. Not damsels." Yurial shrugged. "Worst case scenario, Lith will Blink here and Friya will take us away."
Phloria snorted. Suddenly death wasn't so scary anymore.
- "What meaning can life possibly have if I have to spend it alone? I can't back off every time I'm not sure of winning. Not when that crazy head is fighting for us all."–
Lith was actually fighting for himself. With the contingency plan already in motion, he was certain to be able to leave anytime he wanted. The god of death was the strongest fake mage he had ever met.
Even by fighting his proxies, Lith had already learned a lot about Necromancy's true potential and was now eager to see if his idea about Balkor's plan was correct.
Phloria's feelings were clouding her judgment, but at the same time, they were helping her to realize that the only thing she had to fear was fear itself. Yurial noticed her inner conflict, so he played his last card.
"Look, sometimes the most difficult thing to do is doing nothing. We are just children caught up in a war we didn't even know about, while Lith is… Lith. If you remain here and something bad happens, you can Blink in and out and take him to safety.
If you go there, well, we'll have to save both of you before getting out of here." Phloria nodded, moving her hand away from the hilt of her sword while flexing her fingers. She had to be ready to step in.
***
"By the Great Mother." Scarlett blurted out after finally uncovering the last piece of the puzzle. She quickly explained everything to those present, leaving them in awe.
"This god of death is too dangerous." Protector said. "We need to end this battle fast!"
"My thought exactly." Scarlett nodded. "We must resolve everything before he can suspect that we are aware of his endgame."
"How do you plan to do it exactly?" Linjos asked. "I mean without revealing our hand."
"It's actually quite simple." Scarlett grinned. "Balkor is not the only one that can think outside of the box."
***
Meanwhile, Lith needed only a final test to prove his theory. He asked Phillard to let through one undead at a time and the Kroxy delivered. Lith used one of the basic forms Phloria had taught him, easily killing the enemy with a few strikes.
He used the same form, again and again, noticing how the next one would manage to dodge his strikes and ignore his feints, gaining the upper hand until he added a new set of movements.
"Son of a b*tch!" He yelled after destroying the tenth undead in a row. He pretended to use one of his rings, cutting it to pieces with air magic before bombarding it with darkness magic from his free hand.
"Phillard, stop! There's something you need to know!"
***
"Oh gods no!" Scarlett's enhanced hearing had allowed her to listen to Lith swearing, moving her surveillance mirror just in time to see the results of his latest experiment.
"Kalla, go! Before the cub ruins everything!"
Kalla nodded, disappearing in the shadows.
"I told you that Scourge was not to be underestimated." Her voice faded away along with her body.
"What scourge is she talking about? The undead?" Linjos had been talking with the Professors, so he was unaware of the latest events.
"Wish I knew the answer." Scarlett replied, pondering about what Lith's real nature could possibly be.