Hundreds of green, spectral skulls screamed through the air, their jaws snapping with the hunger of the void.

They swarmed like locusts, aiming not just for Damien, but for the gap in the wall behind him, the Queen's chamber.

"Annoying," Damien spat.

Standing his ground, he spun his sword, the blade coating itself in the thick, black smoke of the Voss family magic.

"Shadow Art: Thousand Needles."

He thrust his hand forward. The shadows cast by the balcony railing suddenly elongated, turning into a barrage of razor-sharp spikes that intercepted the skulls mid-air.

POP! POP! POP!

The skulls exploded on impact, releasing clouds of corrosive green gas.

"Isabelle! Fire!" Damien shouted, jumping back to avoid the acid mist.

"On it!"

Isabelle, standing at the threshold of the shattered window, clapped her hands. A wave of crimson Hellfire rolled out, instantly incinerating the gas.

The clash of demon fire and necrosis magic created a smell like burning sulfur and rotten meat.

"Hehe… good reflexes," Charron's dry voice floated up from the courtyard.

The Demon General was hovering again. His tattered robes were mending themselves, knitting together with visible threads of green mana.

"But can you stop the ocean with a bucket?"

Charron raised his dragon-spine staff high. The ruby at its tip pulsed with a sickening, rhythmic light.

"Awaken."

RUMBLE.

The ground of the Elven Capital shook.

Damien watched in horror as the earth in the garden districts cracked open. But the destruction went far beyond the terrain.

It was the bodies.

The ones the Twilight Inquisitors had killed. The Elven guards who had died in the initial bombardment. Even the ancient bones of beasts buried deep beneath the World Tree's roots.

They all stood up.

Flesh knitted back onto bone. Eyes glowed with the same sickly green light as Charron's staff.

"No way…" Lyra's voice came over the wind, trembling. She was perched on the high spire, looking down at the city.

"Damien! The whole lower district… it's moving! There are thousands of them!"

"A Necromancer," Damien gritted his teeth.

"Of course the 12th General is a Necromancer. Stupid Author!"

In the novel, Charron was a late-game raid boss who drowned entire kingdoms in zombies. Damien hadn't expected to fight him solo at level 12.

This isn't a duel anymore. It's a siege.

"Kill them," Charron commanded lazily, pointing his staff at the World Tree.

ROAR!

The undead horde surged forward. It was a tidal wave of rotting flesh and bone, scrambling up the roots of the World Tree, climbing the vines, clawing their way toward the Queen.

"Leona!" Damien yelled into his communication stone. "Status!"

"Busy!" Leona's voice roared back, accompanied by the sound of heavy metal smashing bone.

"The front gate is swarmed! I'm holding them, but there are too many! They don't feel pain!"

"Just hold the line! Don't let them flank us!"

Damien looked at Charron. The Lich was floating higher, gathering mana for another massive spell. He was ignoring Damien, focusing entirely on breaking the tree.

He knows I can't protect the Queen and fight him at the same time. He's forcing me to play defense.

"Smart bastard," Damien muttered. His Dual-Core was humming, the golden aura burning his skin. He had about ten minutes before the backlash started to tear his muscles apart.

"Isabelle."

"Yes, Young Master?" Isabelle was pale, her hands trembling as she maintained the fire barrier. The sheer amount of death mana in the air was making her demon blood boil.

"I'm going to clear the sky," Damien said, his eyes flashing gold and black. "You keep the floor clean. If a single zombie gets into that room…"

"They won't," Isabelle promised, her eyes narrowing. "I'll burn them to ash."

"Good."

Damien crouched. The golden aura intensified, concentrating around his legs.

BOOM!

He launched himself into the air, shattering the gargoyle he was standing on. He shot straight up, intercepting Charron's ascent.

"You again?" Charron sighed, bored. He waved his hand, summoning a bone shield.

"Me again."

Bypassing the shield entirely, Damien used Shadow Step in mid-air, teleporting behind the Lich.

"Dual-Art: Golden Hammer."

He clasped his hands together, wreathed in the heavy, crushing aura of the Golden Dragon, and swung them down like a sledgehammer.

CRACK!

He smashed Charron out of the sky. The Lich plummeted, crashing through the branches of the World Tree and slamming into the main plaza below.

Damien landed gracefully on a lower branch, panting.

Physical attacks work. But he heals too fast. I need to destroy his core. But where is it?

"System! Where is his phylactery?"

[Scan Failed. Target is shielded by high-tier divinity.]

"Useless system! I want a refund!" he yelled, forgetting that this time the system hadn't charged him.

Below him, Charron rose from the crater again. His head was twisted at an unnatural angle, but he simply snapped it back into place with a wet crack.

"You possess the aura of a dragon," Charron observed, his voice sounding amused.

"And the shadow of a rat. Interesting mixture. But meaningless."

He slammed his staff into the ground.

"Bone Prison."

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! CRUNCH!

Massive, sharp ribs erupted from the plaza floor, shooting upward hundreds of feet, aiming to impale Damien on the branch.

Damien jumped, dodging one spike, then another. He was dancing in the air, a blur of gold and black.

But while he was distracted, the undead horde was climbing.

"Young Master! Above you!" Lyra shouted.

Damien looked up. A flock of Undead Gargoyles, corrupted statues from the city's architecture, were diving toward the Queen's balcony.

And unfortunately, at this time, he was too far away.

Thankfully, at the last moment, before they could get there, a familiar voice rang out.

"I got them!"

WHOOSH!

From the balcony, a massive gravitational field expanded. Isabelle stepped out, her horns fully visible, her face twisted in concentration.

"Gravity… Down!"

The flock of gargoyles instantly lost their buoyancy. They smashed into the side of the World Tree, shattering into gravel.

"Good girl," Damien grinned.

But his smile faded instantly.

"Arghhhhhh!"

A scream tore from the Queen's chamber. A pulse of Life Mana so pure it was visible as a white ripple exploded outward.

Instantly, with its appearance, the situation on the battlefield changed!

As it washed over the undead, zombies hissed, their skin burning. Even Charron flinched, shielding his eyes.

"The child…" Charron hissed, his amusement vanishing. "It is coming."

The Lich looked at Damien. For the first time, there was urgency in his hollow eyes.

"Playtime is over."

Charron raised his staff. The green gem shattered.

"Summoning Art: Bone Dragon."

The earth of the plaza exploded. A massive, skeletal claw the size of a carriage burst from the ground. Then a skull. Then wings made of tattered shadow.

A 5th Order Undead Dragon crawled out of the earth, roaring a soundless scream that shattered windows across the city.

Damien felt the pressure. It was suffocating.

A 5th Order summon? On top of a 7th Order Lich? That's cheating!

The Bone Dragon looked up. Ignoring Damien, the beast locked its gaze onto the balcony. At Isabelle. At the Queen.

It opened its mouth, green fire gathering in its throat.

"Oh, shit," Damien cursed.

He looked at his DP. 500. He looked at the Dragon. He looked at the distance between him and the balcony.

I can't block that breath. Not with my current strength.

"System!" Damien screamed in his mind. "Spend it! All of it! Give me a skill that can stop a dragon!"

[Processing…]

[500 DP accepted.]

[Editing Skill: Gravity Manipulation (Shared).]

[Temporary Upgrade: Singularity.]

"Isabelle!" Damien shouted, his voice amplified by aura. "Catch!"

He threw his hand out, channeling raw System energy through their contract bond—a power not of her blood, but of his own making.

Isabelle's eyes widened as she felt the surge.

"Use it!" Damien roared. "Crush that lizard!"

The Bone Dragon fired. A beam of green necrosis flame shot toward the balcony.

Isabelle screamed, thrusting both hands forward.

"Gravity… SINGULARITY!"

VOOOOOOOM.

A black sphere, no larger than a marble, appeared in the path of the dragon fire.

The green fire hit the sphere… and vanished. Sucked in.

The sphere expanded. It pulled the air. It pulled the light. It pulled the Dragon's head.

CRACK!

The Bone Dragon's neck snapped forward, dragged by an infinite mass. The breath weapon exploded inside its own throat.

BOOM!

The dragon's head was blown apart from the inside. The massive skeletal body collapsed, crashing against the base of the World Tree.

Isabelle collapsed, unconscious, drained of every drop of mana.

Damien landed on the balcony, catching her before she hit the floor. He was panting, his vision swimming.

[DP: 0.]

[Mana: 10%.]

[Aura: 10%.]

He looked down at the plaza.

Charron was still standing there. He looked at his destroyed Bone Dragon. Then he looked up at Damien.

The Lich began to clap.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

"Impressive," Charron said. "Truly. You killed my pet."

He began to float upward, rising toward the balcony level.

"But now… you're out of tricks."

Charron raised a finger. A simple, condensed bullet of green magic formed at the tip.

"Die."

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