Chapter 1818: Shadow War (Part 2) "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 time 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 Meln, yet he had to recognize the brilliance of her plan. "It must have b een Thrud's or Night's idea because Meln isn't smart enough to c ome up with something 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 time. By weakening the Dead King, the leash on the Kingdom g rows loose. "We prefer not messing 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 Meln 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 something s tupid that will split them further apart, weakening both our enemies "Once we get rid of him, Thrud‘s measly 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 members. "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 memory of the attack will die with its witness and become 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 me for." Lith said. "As Tista said, many of you are stronger than me 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 Meln 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 come to the Master's rescue until the next point of i nterest. what about I change the spell so that Night will become 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 ame and extended even to those who lived in Lutia. Had Trion not c hanged his last name, he would have still been alive. "We have kept you and your sister out of the game because you are o ur secret weapon." Raagu said. "Meln 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 formed but had yet to stabilize. On top o f that, their bodies had yet to grow accustomed to their new s trength. The moment 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 meant 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 time 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 members 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 ecome 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. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚 "I admit that you are a bit overquali?ed to be a simple member 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 accomplishments 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 become 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 members 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 members. 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 dimensional mages like F riya. "l know, but the Council already stole from me 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 members 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 members stared in awe at t he only two existing members 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 moment. "Sending Lith alone is too dangerous. 1 volunteer as the ?fth member."