Turning Of Tides

A little earlier. . .

Mira dashed through a wave of purple energy. Leaping upwards he heaved his axe forward, it spun violently before crashing into Orreth. The explosion of bone made it like a fragmentation grenade, the howling anger of Orreth remained as the only evidence of his existence. Until the bone fragments returned and Orreth's body was mended back together.

Mira closed the gap between himself and Orreth during this period of time however. Reaching out he tackled the skeleton to the ground. Wrestling him about Mira grappled Orreth and slammed him into the ground. Pinning the Lich onto the ground with his foot Mira grabbed Orreth's arms and ripped them free.

They wriggled as they tried to place themselves back onto the skeleton body, but Mira held on tight to not allow this to happen. Kan'na teleported in front of Orreth and crouched down, "You're a real pain you know that?"

"You'll gravely regret what is to come."

"Perhaps."

Kan'na raised a finger and several magic circles spread out like bugs. They swarmed the pieces of Orreth and spun about. Holding up a palm Kan'na studied a magic circle that constantly changed, "Your mana rejection was really troubling. With Mira pinning you down I get to study it though~"

"An incomplete circuit will give you no results.", Orreth spat.

"There's truth in those words, but it's not like I don't have all the pieces."

Floating behind her was Orothus' skull, cracks visible across its entire surface. However it was held together with mana, the runes visible to see. Kan'na crossed her arms, "Oh very interesting. Using mana to reject mana? How ironic. I thought maybe the runes communicated with something besides mana, but they speak with your own inner mana."

Originally Kan'na found it strange that Orothus was Third Stage with his mana rejection. Since mana control was one of the requirement to ascend Stages, how was it that Orothus was rejecting mana and still Third Stage? As she figured out the secret behind this rejection she finally understood. The runes engraved onto his body used his own inner mana to reject mana in general. Forming a serious barrier at the cost of him no longer having access to his own inner mana. 

Kan'na paused, "You. . . made a mistake?"

Orreth laughed, "It is my plight."

A rune, one that seemed to hold the process together, seemed different than the rest. Like it was engraved wrongly, making it seem like a different rune than it was supposed to be. Kan'na rose an eyebrow, "You were trying to absorb mana at a greater rate! You screwed up the process and ended up rejecting it instead. This isn't intentional at all."

Without access to mana he couldn't rectify his own body's mistake. Thus it turned to a curse, and as a result the Lich was forced to study an entirely different magic to make up for this curse, the Death Magic. 

Now understanding how it worked Kan'na no longer needed to study the process. Raising a palm she summoned several magic circles, "Now to get you out of here."

The magic circles shattered and nothing happened. With a frown Kan'na changed the way they were written and tried again only for the same result to happen. Looking at Orreth she narrowed her eyes. On his flaming skull a series of runes made their presence known. During the time it took for her to study the runes Orreth had used the soul of Harreth to inscribe the missing runes on his flaming skull. A mild oversight, Kan'na had believed Orreth would need his hands to inscribe an additional runes. It was clear this was not the case.

Orreth's venom laced laughter filled her ears, "A curse for me, an obstacle for you."

Kan'na shrugged, "In a way! Although the moment you were free from the curse you put it back."

Mira's arms began to shake as the limbs continued to try to return to Orreth. With a face he asked, "Do I keep holding these?"

"As long as you can Mira. Once I find a way to undo this we can finish the rest of it."

"Undo? You cannot do anything! This curse is eternal!"

Purplish energy flickered about as Harreth's rage continued to take over. Now that Orreth had completed his runes he was now back on the offensive! However despite his efforts he still could not bypass the strength of Mira! Reaching out Kan'na gripped the flaming skull of Orreth. To her surprise despite the skull being made of Harreth's soul it held a physical form. Perhaps it needed to in order for the runes to work. 

The purplish energy flared and Kan'na retracted her hands with a wince. It seems Orreth intended to struggle until the end. Slowly the purplish energy began to writher and spread across the bones. It crawled up Mira's leg and threatened to consume him. Tearing away at his legs, although he simply regenerated the damage.

Kan'na formed several magic circles to cross her palms. Hovering them around Orreth's head she focused. A bead of sweat dripping down her head. There was a way to unravel the runes, this was not something beyond her power. The problem was the constant rejection of mana. She was incapable of writing any runes because the body would just refuse it. 

Orreth was capable of writing the runes on Mira because they were physical. Once their existence was made mana would do the rest, much like how the scrolls Kan'na made worked. A sort of automatic activation. Since the current runes on Orreth reject mana, this automatic activation wouldn't trigger since there wasn't any mana to activate it. She couldn't manually inject it with mana either.

"Tsk! Fine, we play it your way!"

She didn't have enough time to experiment! There still was a war going on! Since Orreth rejected mana, she would have to use other means!

Mana swirled behind her, utilizing the ambient mana to form a magic circle with her own personal language. The language of mana itself, her creation! As it swirled Orreth's rage seemed to pause for a second as Orothus' curiosity overtook the rage, "You're. . . no magus."

"The World calls me a Sage."

"So it would seem."

The magic circle completed and space began to twist. She couldn't teleport via the usual methods. So she took a bit of inspiration from Givale's magic! The ability to control space! This magic circle was designed to create a hole through space acting as a form of portal. It spun and its physical appearance hurt the eyes to look at. Pointing at it Kan'na commanded, "Mira! Throw him in there!"

"Okay!", Mira responded.

Happy to finally let go he placed one of the arms with his other hand and gripped Orreth by the neck. Flinging the Lich and his arms through the swirling bit of space he watched as they got swirled into space and vanished. The space portal snapped shut, as if Orreth was thrown into another dimension.

Kan'na put a hand to her ear, Finally! I have teleported the Lich and Dulluhan outside of the Territory! They made it difficult for me, but it's done. Once they're handled I can grab the rest!"

Without the restoration of the Territory, the rest would come quickly! In terms of power Akiol's side outmatched the undead excluding the Undead King himself! Lifting herself back to her feet Kan'na inspected her hands. Her palms were slightly burnt but it was nothing too severe. Exhaling she turned to Mira, "Okay, we finish off those two and we pick off the rest!"

Mira nodded in response. Kan'na raised a finger and two magic circles appeared, one for each of them. Just as she was about to activate them she frowned. Looking towards the hole she was maintaining she spotted Orreth hovering by it. By the looks of it they managed to repair their arms, with what method she was unsure about. 

However what was important was Orreth's actions. As he tried to step in through the hole his body touched the magic circles maintaining it. They instantly shattered and the hole in the Territory snapped shut. Kan'na watched as her newly created magic circles fizzled out. 

She tilted her head, "What? Why would they do that?"

Closing the hole didn't do much to her currently. Since anyone inside the Territory could leave as per the rules, closing the hole only trapped Orreth outside. Additionally now that she knew how the Territory worked she could reopen another hole by abusing the same tactics as before.

She looked towards the undead castle, an action driven by her instinct. There had to be a purpose to this, so what exactly-

A beam shot into the sky at the undead castle, it connected with the Territory and the sky darkened. The barrier of the Territory fizzled out, and new rules became known.

First, the two rules of "none shall enter" and "the undead will rise again" were revoked. 

Second, two new rules took its place. The first rule added was "the undead grow stronger". A simplistic rule, but it seemed to have taken the tenacity of the undead and turned it into a direct power increase instead. Still Kan'na couldn't fathom why, they had willingly given up the sole thing keeping them from losing the war!

The second rule was "all fallen shall become undead". This one was strange, because it held similarities to "the undead will rise again". The wording was different though, what was this?

Kan'na turned and watched several Guild players get cut down by the sudden power increase. It threw many off guard and because of it several players fell. Once they died their bodies rapidly rotted and they rose back to their feet, turning their attention towards their fellow guildmates they began to attack mercilessly.

Yielya's voice immediately called out, "Prioritize your safety! They're utilizing our corpses! Respawns do not make your bodies disappear!"

This. . . was an undead breakout? 

"You dare! You think my kingdom will fall to this?!", a harrowing voice rang out.

The Undead King's presence became known, and a chilling feeling spread out across the battlefield!

< Lord of the Soulless claims to take your life! >

< Warning! The Undead King is making his move! It is recommended to flee! >

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