"What you need to understand is that her alliance with Orpal allows Thrud to focus solely on the offense while he focuses solely on d efending her assets.“ Feela said.
"She just needs to send a few Awakened each ti to open Spirit Gates and allow her allies to reach any point in any city despite the a rrays. The undead work as a leash for both the people that have yet t o surrender to her rule and for the Croum."
"What a cunning woman." Lith hated Thmd for allying herself with ln, yet he had to recognize the brilliance of her plan. "It must have b een Thrud's or Night's idea because ln isn't smart enough to c o up with sothing like this."
"Indeed." Feela nodded. "That's why the Council has been secretly a ttacking and eradicating the branches of the Undead Courts this w hole ti. By weakening the Dead King, the leash on the Kingdom g rows loose.
"We prefer not ssing directly with Thrud because we don't want to l et her know that we are aware of her plans. We know from Dawn's l oyalists that her alliance with ln is shaky at best.
"Our strategy is to tip the balance of power in Thrud's favor. This way, t he Undead King will feel his position threatened and do sothing s tupid that will split them further apart, weakening both our enemies
"Once we get rid of him, Thrud‘s asly forces will no longer be able t o keep the Royal army and the Mage Association at bay, especially w ith a few of us disguised among their mbers.
"This way, the Mad Queen will fall discreetly, the secret of Awakening w ill remain as such, and the history written by the winners will c arefully gloss over the bizarre magic used by the usurper.
"The mory of the attack will die with its witness and beco n othing but a fairy tale in the span of a couple of generations.
Everybody wins."
"l like your plan, yet l don't see what could you possibly need for."
Lith said. "As Tista said, many of you are stronger than and so far, y ou didn't bother asking my opinion about anything."
"My next words will reply to all your remaining questions.“ A huge grin a ppeared on the Behemoth‘s face.
"We know that you hate the Undead King for his relentless attacks a gainst you during the past few years. You should be glad to know t hat you have been summoned here to enact the ?nal part of our p lan. Killing ln Narchat."
"What?" Lith's group said in unison.
"We are aware of the restriction that Baba Yaga put on Night." After ?nishing explaining the situation to lnxialot, Raagu stood up as well, s howing Lith the hologram of a familiar scene from his past.
"This spell that you all can read will prevent her from attacking the Verhen household again." Baba Yaga said in the projection while using Creation Magic to put a slave spell on Night's crystal.
Then it fast—forwarded her discussion with the seven Abomination-
Hybrids that had co to the Master's rescue until the next point of i nterest.
what about I change the spell so that Night will beco unable to h arm directly or indirectly anyone who resides in Lutia?" The h ologram disappeared as soon as the Red Mother ?nished speaking.
The slave spell protected thoroughly whoever bore the Verhen last n a and extended even to those who lived in Lutia. Had Trion not c hanged his last na, he would have still been alive.
"We have kept you and your sister out of the ga because you are o ur secret weapon." Raagu said. "ln may be powerful to a fake m age, but he is still a deep blue-cored Awakened with little e xperience.
"He's nothing without Night whereas you..." A wave of her hand r evealed Lith's deep violet aura with several lighter streaks, Tista's b lue aura, and Friya's and Phloria's bright blue auras.
Their auxiliary cores had fully ford but had yet to stabilize. On top o f that, their bodies had yet to grow accustod to their new s trength. The mont they mastered their abilities their respective m entors would teach them the secret of the violet core.
Or at least that was the plan, but both Friya and Phloria wanted to d iscover it on their own. Yet if the war went on, they would have no c hoice and accept such knowledge even if it ant limiting their f uture growth.
"Also, we are not sending you alone. Your group will be our s pearhead, but we'll send four more units of the Hand of Fate to s upport you." Ragu said.
The Hand of Fate were the enforcers of the laws of the Council that w ere dispatched every ti the strength of a single Lord wasn't e nough to solve a problem or to keep con?icts between Lords from e scalating.
Its mbers were all bright blue-cored Awakened with centuries of e xperience yet no legacy who had remained stuck in such a state long e nough to have run out of ideas about how to reach the violet.
Joining the Hand of Fate corps was a way for those who couldn't b eco elders to join the political board of the Council and curry the f avor of their respective representatives in the hope they would at l east give them a hint to get out of the slump.
"I admit that you are a bit overquali?ed to be a simple mber of the Hand of Fate so I'll give you command of your unit as a sign of trust. I h eard many things about your accomplishnts as a soldier and I h ope that you'll serve the Council as well as you did the Royals." Raagu s aid.
With his violet core and his nature as a unique Divine Beast, Lith m ight have beco an elder, if only he bothered with the politics and r esponsibilities that a seat in the Council required.
"l'm ?ne with your plan, but l want my group to move independently a nd to limit its mbers to the four of us." Lith avoided saying that he s erved no one to not antagonize Raagu as long as their interests a ligned.
"Units are usually comprised of ?ve mbers. The Spear, the Highmaster, the Shield, the Tower, and the Storm." Raagu referred to t he most effective battle formation for Awakened units that Aalejah h ad developed after including dinsional mages like F riya.
"l know, but the Council already stole from the information about m y bloodline abilities. I've developed more and just like you all, I'm e ntitled to my privacy." Lith replied. "These people know what my s ister and I are capable of and they won't breach our trust."
He wanted to avoid dealing with strangers because that way he could r ely on Solus and even on Locrias, bringing the mbers of his group u p to six if necessary.
"Are you talking about the purge of Derios' undead?" Lotho's voice s ounded like a stone rubbing against tree bark yet it couldn't hide his c uriosity.
"To that and so much more." Lith spouted lies like breathing, making Tista and Solus want to puke as the Council mbers stared in awe at t he only two existing mbers of the Demon race.
"Fine. We'll allow it." Feela said.
"Well, I don't agree with any of this." Xenagrosh walked out of the s hadows where she had remained hidden until that mont. "Sending Lith alone is too dangerous. 1 volunteer as the ?fth mber."
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