Drosil had spent the days since the Queen's murder locked in restless experimentation, not sparing a single moment to rest his eyes or mind as he buried himself in his studies. With his Divine Eyes, he was able to progress in days what would've normally taken him months if he'd stuck to his old method. His usual reluctance to rely on his gifts was tossed aside in his need to come up with some plan to kill the Advisor, or to at least whittle her down so that someone else could do it. While he did wish the honor could be his, it honestly didn't matter as long as she didn't live beyond this battle. He could interrogate her soul afterward if need be, given enough time and privacy.

On the day of battle, Drosil had stayed at the camp, to engrossed in final preparations to bother in joining the procession. He did assure them that he would be there as soon as he was done and that his presence would not be missed. Sinking down to a cross-legged position in his tent, Drosil let out a low hiss of pain as looked upon the magical circle that surrounded him. Under normal circumstances, it would only be used for scrying and, if the user was skilled enough, telepathic communications between individuals on a certain magical frequency. If Drosil knew anything about strategy, this would be the perfect measure to watch over a battle and keep abreast of the situation. But this circle had gone through several augmentations, as Drosil had spliced in runes for Conjuring, teleportation, sending, and his own special circle that he had developed in those sleepless days of experimentation. With a low sigh, Drosil took a moment to converse with Shadar, the two having one final confirmation of the plan before he began. Once they were both in agreement, Drosil slowly placed a hand down on the ground before him, catching a glimpse of the heavily bandaged limb. 

[i][color=Darkblue]Don't worry about it, Drosil. If this works, you won't have to worry about it, and if it doesn't, you won't have to live with it.[/color][/i]

With a low breath, he began to chant in a low, dead language, beguiling darkness and shadow to his beck and call. If any were within the camp still, they would notice their shadows begin to undulate and twitch violently, as if trying to escape their two-dimensional bonds. In the tent, the light from the magical circle was consumed by blackness as the lines and runes changed color from shining white to an empty black, seeming to hungrily draw in all of the light in the small area that it could. Within this darkness, 7 figures could be felt in the room with Drosil, their ethereal bodies becoming solid as his magic brought them through the veil of their world and this one. Not only that but the Northern Phoenix's taint also infected them, alighting their bodies with its chilling flames and illuminating them all, humanoid shadows bursting with this inner fire and shining purple lights for eyes, before 6 of them disappeared. The last one, which was noticeably bigger than the rest, walked over to Drosil, who only looked up at it with slight apprehension. A conversation took place between the two in the dead language of the dark, and soon, a deal was struck. 

The shadow Spirit seemed to shiver with excitement and glee as it drew it's arm back, the elongated limb shifting into a razor sharp blade. Watching it descend upon him, Drosil thought about everything that could possibly go wrong with this plan, death being the least terrifying of them all. But he knew that this was the only way he'd have a chance to stand up to the Advisor with any chance of taking her on. As such, he didn't even flinch as the blade pierced his heart, the coppery scent of blood filling the small area of the tent as pain exploded throughout his body. His consciousness began to fade, and the last thing he could properly remember was a single thought.

[i][color=Darkblue]I wonder . . . if the Masked approves of my actions? If he approves of . . . me?[/color][/i]
[hr]
At the Battlefield
[hr]

As the armies clashed into one another with a thunderous roar, the screams of pain, agony, and rage filling the air, H'kela's back line became illuminated by 6 bright flashes of light. Startled soldiers tried to shield their eyes, only to find said limbs ripped from their sides. As chaos began to ascend through the back ranks of the H'kelan army, the Shadow spirits would fly through the army, tearing at the enemy forces with sadistic glee. Their limbs were sharper than any blade, and their bodies were much agiler then any man. Within minutes of their arrival, dozens upon dozens of H'kela's men had been slain at their hand, the only thing stopping them from cutting down more was the fact that they were barely being restrained by Drosil. Left to its own devices, A shadow spirit seeks to kill it's prey in a way that maximizes the pain and fear that they feed on. With their speed and natural resistances to mundane weaponry, it would take some time to take down a single one of them if they had no way of dealing with these monsters, either in the form of magic or overwhelming force.

[hr] 
In the battle against the Advisor
[hr]

As the Advisor approached Christopher's wounded form, an explosion of blinding light flashed into existence before her, bringing with it an intense jet of black and bluish-white flames barreling down upon her. As they passed over the ground, earth froze over in a cruel layer of invasive black ice, twisting and stabbing it's way deeper and deeper into the earth in order to further spread out the damage.

The source of the flames was the outstretch hand of a very different looking Drosil Maeneld. The right side of his body wasn't that of a human, instead, it looked like a shifting, twitching mass of shadows and darkness, reaching all the way up to his face, which was split down the middle. The left side of his face was grimaced in a look of intense concentration and focus, but on his right side, skin stained black with a violet and gold swirl to his eyes, only sadistic glee and murderous intent were present. His right arm, ending now in a deadly array of claws, soon ceased spouting flames as Drosil leaped back a short ways. Instead, it shifted its form into a razor sharp, single-edged blade, briefly exposing the bloodstone wand of domination that he had inserted into his arm earlier that day, the violet magic being helping to ease the strain on his mind as he tried to keep his soul from being over-taken by the Shadow Spirit. Luckily for him, the Northern Phoenix seemed to still be at least somewhat aware of its situation inside of him, helping to keep the dark presence from infecting the rest of him. Taking a breath to steady himself, he took a moment to study his surroundings, seeing that the Advisor had gone to town on a good number of his compatriots. Luckily, they all seemed to be at least somewhat alive, though he wasn't sure how much longer that'd be the case for most of them.

[color=Darkblue]"There goes the hope that she would be a poor fighter on her own. . . "[/color] He muttered from his left side, turning his attention quickly back to the advisor while holding his blade at the ready, his right side paying extra attention to the whip. [color=Darkblue]"Hello, Ms. Advisor, I see you've been having a rather rough time of it. I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to kill you now, then interrogate you for everything you know in the slowest, most painful way I can think off. I'd say no hard feelings, but that would be quite the lie."[/color]

With that being said, Drosil wasted little time, using his newly augmented body to blitz forward in a black blur, his blade arm lashing out with the intent of taking the woman's head.

With the burst that came with Drosil's sudden arrival, the Advisor's attempt to finally finish off Christopher was once again ruined. He yelped as he was nearly caught by the black ice as well, leaning against it even as he was still pinned against the ground, but the Advisor simply took one quick leap back, spinning her whip in front of her to keep flames back. When she landed she slid ever slightly, clouds of dirt curling upwards along her path before she came to a stop.

Very slowly she reached up towards where her own jaw hung freely. Lightly she touched the edge of it, and then began to reach farther upwards; the jaw was pulled along, following at a distance. Eventually, she reached up to the side of her face, lightly tapping there. Her jaw hung loosely, but it was certainly better than it had been a moment before.

She finished just in time for Drosil to rush her again, and just before she reached him her arm shot up, using the handle of her whip to keep him from grabbing her. With a surprising amount of force, she pushed back, sending him staggering back a few steps as she once again returned to her full height.

[b]"Trying to blend Light and Shadow together? Foolish. Only two individuals have been able to do that, and one of them had the fortune of being created for it. Quit wasting my time. Stand down and get out of my way."

"Careful, Drosil!"[/b] Christopher shouted from the ground. He couldn't see them, stuck the wrong way, but his left arm had finally healed enough so that he could use it, and slowly he was pulling the katana from his own body. [b]"She's fucking crazy!"[/b]

As Drosil was rebuffed from the advisor, he put up surprisingly little resistance. As he backed away, the summoner made a slight flourish of a spin, ending the motion with the shadow blade coming up in front of his face before he lowered it once more. 

[color=Darkblue]"Well, if it's been done before, it can be done again, and I'll likely do it better as well. All progress is made on the backs of one's predecessors, is it not?"[/color] His mouth broke into a bit of a smug, if slightly manic, grin as he gave an almost casual response to the Advisor, completely ignoring her frustration. [color=Darkblue]"Though, if we're being specific here, it's a blend of Icenfire from a Northern Phoenix and the Shadow form of a Shadow Spirit. Not nearly as conceptual, or redundant, as blending two things that are always pretty melded already. You know, the whole 'What is light without darkness, and darkness without light' debate? One simply cannot exist without the other, if for nothing else than then the sake of comparison. It's quite an interesting subject, now that I think about, I'll be sure to have you tell me all about it later, but first, you're just going have to die now."[/color]

As Drosil had been rattling on, his blade arm once again spilt apart into a mass of shadow tendrils before reforming into a hand, though this one was very dangerous looking claws. With a quick snap of his fingers, his staff had been summoned from his tent to his hands. The crystalline surface burst into Icenfire momentarily before dying down to show a much more weaponized instrument of magic. The crystal now featured a dark blue coloration that was melded with streaks of black, both spiraling up the length of the staff up to the tip, where the orb had been replaced with a black crystalline blade, making the staff look much more like a slightly undersized pole-arm. As he came to the conclusion of his speech, he'd point the staff at the Advisor, speaking a phrase in the arcane language to cause a magic circle to burst into being before him. From the circle came a mass of raven-like shadows, the entire flock of them, spreading out around the Advisor in a form of shadowy tornado, their forms quickly melding into each other.

Drosil then rushed into the area that they covered, which grew by the minute until it eventually encompassed the entire clearing, launching a barrage of Icenfire-imbued shadows straight at her. Each one was primed to explode into a 3-foot ball of floating Icenfire either when they got within 2 feet of the target or made contact with a solid object.

The Advisor had simply rolled her eyes as Drosil went on and on, especially towards the end. However, as it became more and more apparent that he wasn't going to stop, and wasn't going to obey, she tensed ever slightly as her eyes narrowed. Slowly, she prepared her whip, drawing it over ever slightly, coiling it up some in preparation for what was to inevitably to come next.

And as he prepared his attack, summoning his staff, she only had to say a few words: [b]"You are a ridiculous fool to think it's so simple, and it shows in everything you do. Your betrayal will be remembered."[/b]

Both hands flung out, fingertips briefly extending. For a moment nothing happened, and then suddenly arms of men and women that had been buried beneath the rubble from the longlasting and dangerous battle began to thrust upwards. Slowly but surely, the corpses of H'kelans, Guratans, and Barceans alike began to emerge from the ground, and this happened all over the battlefield in places, people who had slain one another beginning to rise from their piles.

Those that were away from the battle going on in the center of all out war rose up in particularly thick numbers against those five Shadows, and began to swarm them. In sheer number they attacked from all sides, the puppet-like dead often throwing themselves at them literally, covering them, striking at them. Those that were hacked at simply rose again, and even those taken to bits would continue on.

In the battle with the Advisor, though, they rose as the tornado tore forwards. As it approached her, the Advisor simply straightened slightly, before snapping the whip upwards in a swing; the tornado parted, darkness flinging briefly to either side even as she rushed forwards, entering the enlarging vortex.

The bodies were up by that point, and those that weren't launched began throwing themselves at the shadows that were set to attack her. Upon contact the Icenfire would erupt, but the Advisor navigated her way to Drosil easily. Rather than striking with her whip, however, the first thing that went out was her foot, sharp heel driving directly towards his throat.

[color=Darkblue]"What betrayal? I was never on your side to begin with, and only said yes because I planned to take you what you know and use it to benefit Cyril or Kori in some way. Only difference now being that I'm going to take it from your wretched soul directly"[/color] Drosil paid little heed to the hordes of undead, turning any that got in his way into chilled piles of ash as his Augmented Icenfire flared to life with every strike of his staff blade, freezing and devouring their desiccated flesh and dry bones in moments. 

As the Advisor launched herself at him, Drosil didn't even flinch as her heel plunged itself into his throat, the blackened blood that oozed out letting off wisps of shadows as they drizzled down his neck. What might surprise his adversary, however, was that the sharp heel didn't go that deep into his throat, as the shadow that melded with the right side of his body spreading out to protect his throat from her attack. As she struck at him, Drosil only smiled, his right eye a violet and gold malestrom of glee and murderous intent as he swiftly grabbed hold of her ankle. With a sudden jerk, the mage swung her through the air and into the ground beside him, before taking to roughly spinning her around across the ground. All the while, he charged magic into his staff, waiting for the right moment to unleash the spell he had prepared.

Meanwhile, the undead within and without the twister of living shadow would find themselves besieged by the terrors Drosil had brought forth, for he wasn't the only thing that had been augmented. As the Shadow spirits found themselves being targeted by more and more undead, the Icenfire that rested within their own twisted bodies came to life, spreading through their claws, fangs, and blades in order to properly end beings they now fought. With their lack of regard for their own lives, the undead found themselves easily affected by the Icenfire, and through it's invasive cold and freezing, their bones became brittle and their muscles stiff as the black and blue-ish white flames slowed and weakened them enough for the shadow spirits to continue to sow chaos, though they now numbered two fewer, as the initial swarming of the undead had taken the monsters their toll. However, now that they had reason to use their own reserves of Icenfire and new toys to play with, they fought with even more ferocity then before. A tactic that they began using to better protect themselves from the hordes was to leap into the body of armored H'kelan soldier through their mouths, puppeting their dead, or dying, bodies while gaining an extra-layer of protection against the many multitudes of foes they had to contend with.

Those undead that rose with the twister, or tried to pass through it, found themselves to be placed in dire straights as well. Those who tried to pass through found themselves explosively rebuffed, Icenfire tearing through their old bodies like tissue paper. Christopher and the others, however, had little to fear from the twister, as it passed over and around him harmlessly, as per Drosil's orders. Those within that tried to assault Drosil while he fought the Advisor, however, would find themselves to be assaulted by the orbs from before, for these were, in fact, Shadow-infused Will-o-Wisps. Drosil had originally been planning on saving the surprise for later on in the fight at the right moment, but right now, taking care of the undead was a priority. Flying through the air with surprising speed, they'd spread the Icenfire from body to body with merely a touch, leaving the dual-colored flames to do the rest as the hordes were first slowed, then immobilized, before finally dispersing into frozen piles of ash.

The Advisor was hit the ground heavily, and then was flung along it; however, with the spinning she twirled around, hand snapping up to break Drosil's hold so that she could tumble away. As she moved she began swinging her legs and arms around as her body twisted, before she then ended up sliding back with her hands and feet upon the ground, body coiled like a spring. Both hands tensed against the ground, before they suddenly punctured stone with ease, sending small cracks branching out a short distance-

And then, suddenly, black erupted from the ground beneath Drosil in long spikes. It mattered not that the Shadow he had taken into him had been able to protect against her heel; the spikes were something else entirely, melting through and impaling him through his knees and elbows, forcing his body to twist awkwardly.

Even as this happened, Christopher had finally relaxed after realizing that the tornado wasn't going to rip him to pieces. He had returned to removing the sword, and with one final grunt of pain he pulled the blade away, before throwing it to the side. He quickly pushed himself up, before whirling around to see what was happening, and when he did he only had one thing to say:

[b]"Oh, fuck me."[/b]

And then he was rushing forwards again. The Advisor was approaching Drosil at a quick walking pace, so focused on the impaled Divineborn to not notice the other one charging her. When she did, it was just as Christopher shoulder tackled her, sending her shrieking even as Christopher tumbled with her.

[b]"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE TO YOURSELF, DROSIL?! YOU LOOK LIKE SHIT!"[/b]

[color=Darkblue]"I really don't think now's a good time to go into the details, Christopher, though I do agree that the aesthetic is less then pleasing to the eye."[/color] Drosil spoke in remarkably even tones as he hung suspended slightly above the ground, all of his joints locked up by the tendrils of darkness. [i][color=Darkblue]If I could feel pain right now,I bet this would be extremely painful. Not looking forward to experiencing this later.[/color][/i] Taking a moment to compose himself, Drosil caused the right half of his body to melt back into shadow, allowing him to reposition himself somewhat, though his left leg and arm were still very much impaled. However, he paid little heed to it at the moment as he grabbed his staff with his now freed hand, pointing it towards where Christopher was now grappling with the Advisor. He spoke a few words in the arcane, adding a little to the spell here and there in order to leave Christopher mostly unharmed.

The blade let out a brief flash of light, immediately followed by a surge of Icenfire taring across the ground towards the two. Upon impact, it would explode into pillar of flames, the bottom of which would be surrounded by twisting spires of black ice shooting up from the ground. As the attack went off, if Christopher was still in the danger zone, he'd feel himself being wrapped in the shadows and lifted up and out of the pillar, though he'd still feel the sting of the black ice along his flesh, not to mention that the fall, while not high, would still be a little rough upon impact given his momentum. The pillar continued to rage around the Advisor, with any hope freezing her in place and eating away at her mortal body until all that was left was another ash pile. 

However, given how Drosil doubted that'd be the case, he set about attempting to free himself by alighting his body with Icenfire, hoping the spires were susceptible enough to the flames for him to be able to break them and pull his crippled limbs free. If he succeeded, he'd immediately fall to the ground, wincing out of relfex more than anything as he saw the gaping holes in his joints. The Shadow spirit spread tendrils of it's body around his left arm and leg, smaller tendrils sticking into his arm in order to connect with the many nerves that controlled the muscles. Soon, he'd be standing up again, though his wounds continued to bleed profusely. Even with his augmentations, Drosil was going to have to back out sooner rather then later, something which proved fairly frustrating. He stuck around, staff at the ready, needing to see what the Advisor had up her sleeve this time.

[b]"OH FUCK EVERYTHING YOU'RE ALL A LOT OF COCKSUCKERS-"[/b]

As Drosil repaired himself and stood, Christopher landed facedown on the ground heavily next to him, arms out with a heavy, [b]"Ooof!"[/b] Groaning, he slowly picked himself up, reaching behind his head to forcibly crack his neck as he rose, giving it a very brisk shake afterwards to clear what he could.

[b]"You really couldn't think of any other way to make that, I don't know, easier on me?"[/b] Spitting some blood to the side, it was clear the question was rhetoric as he stared forwards, towards the pillar of Icenfire. He was waiting, and he didn't have to wait long, as the Advisor suddenly surged forward from it.

With bits and pieces of Icenfire still clinging to her clothing, her hands came over as she finally came to a stop, ripping away bits of her sleeves and the like as necessary. With the Icenfire cleared from her, she began to walk forwards again, and Christopher briefly glanced towards Drosil.

[b]"You're looking even more fucked. How much do you have left in you?"[/b]

[color=Darkblue]"Let m answer that question with a question of my own: Could you regrow your limbs and/or lower body in a timely manner after they've been simultaneously frozen to the core and burned to ashes?"[/color] Drosil responded, though this was followed by a curse as he noticed the Advisor seemed rather unfazed by his attack. At Christopher's question, Drosil merely pointed at the woman, speaking a quick word in the Arcane before launching off a barrage of augmented Will O'Wisps at her. These where a distraction more than anything, however, as hidden among them were two slightly different orbs of light, ones that were slightly separate from the physical realm. One orb would fly straight towards the Spires of Ice, the other towards the still blasting pillar of Icenfire that raged behind the woman. After that, Darkness began to creep over Drosil as he finally answered Christopher.

[color=Darkblue]"That's about it from me, but you'll have back up if you can hold her off for a little while, hopefully my last little spell will help you accomplish that."[/color] before the young man could ask what that meant, Drosil was consumed by Darkness, which then seemed to form a sort of hardened shell around him, one that arced with jets of Icenfire and violet energy.
[hr]

With the Advisor, the Will O'Wisps would swirl around the Advisor as they approached, making an intense inferno around her in an attempt to box her in, as well as further keeping her attention off the other two orbs that Drosil had snuck into the attack. If she missed the orbs and they made their way to the pillar and spires respectively, then a slight pinging sound began to resonate within the area the twirling vortex operated. Any Will O'Wisps that remained from the inferno or from assaulting her undead hordes were sucked into the pillar of Icenfire. This would be followed by a sudden down pour of Icenfire from above as the top of the pillar came down with a mighty roar, quickly forming itself into a vaguely Serpentine form, complete with a hissing snake head that sought to incinerate the Advisor with it's flaming form. 

Meanwhile, the spires of Black Ice drew in the shadows that formed the twister, the threards of shadow breaking and reconfiguring the solid matter until it formed a bestial, humanoid body made out of the magic and ice, glowing purple eyes filled with Malice bearing down on the Advisor as it stepped forward with slow, thundering steps, clawed fists raised in the air in preparation to crush her relatively small frame.

[b]"No. Uh, no, that's a definite no. If I'm fast enough to hold it to myself maybe I can put myself together and you're going, okay, that's alright, that's fucking okay."[/b] Quickly he stepped back and away, just to get a little distance from the Will o' Wisps; after all, what Drosil decided didn't seem to be too great of a fate, and there was also the fact that Drosil was... changing, for lack of a better term.

The Advisor, meanwhile, continued her approach unfazed. She was glaring more intently than before, and her movements were even more violent. Out her whip flashed, actively disrupting the Wisps around her, sending them exploding even as she whipped her weapon away; each time something was struck with the whip, black screamed out, suddenly erupting into existence. Then the orbs were targeted, sent crashing down to explode as well. When the serpent fell upon her, it too was dealt with swiftly and brutally; the whip lashed upwards and bisected it straight down the middle, both halves falling away.

Suddenly, she drew the whip in even as the... thing that had once been Drosil launched itself at her. The whip suddenly solidified into something not unlike a short sword, which she used to block the blows from the fists. She stood strong, even as the ground underneath her cracked and gave a little under the blow.

[b]"Quit wasting my TIME."[/b] And then, suddenly, with great strength she forced her arm upwards, sending both of the thing's arms upward, before suddenly slashing upwards with the sword; immediately it transformed back into the whip, and in a long blow sliced the creature from thigh all the way up to the shoulder, black erupting and screeching along it.

As the serpent and golem were hastily destroyed in the Advisor's rage, Christopher would feel a slight chill crawl up his spine from the blackened shell that Drosil had retreated into. The cocoon of hardened darkness fell away as a figure seemed to slowly rise from the ground. The black carapace of the familiar, yet unfamiliar figure inside seemed to absorb all light, as if he was a stain upon the fabric of reality. In his hand was a greatsword, the blade of which seemed to have been formed entirely out of Icenfire, the mystical blue-white flames trapped within a seemingly thin layer of glowing crystal.

The figure stood much taller than Drosil had, rising up to a total of 8 feet in height, his frame extremely bulky, even if one didn't take into account the armor that covered his frame. From the eyeholes of his helmeted head burned a pair of white eyes that radiated such an intense feeling of emotional hatred that they were practically glowing.

[b]". . . Move."[/b]

Shadar, as his voice betrayed him to be, spoke with a deep, echoing baritone of a voice, one that seemed to come from the air itself. This was the only warning that Christopher was given before the armored giant made a sudden upswing with his blade, dragging the tip along the ground, a glowing line of magical energy forming where the blade touched the earth. The line would flash once before transforming into a ground-rending wave of Icenfire that was sent rocketing towards The Advisor like an imposing wall, the attack momentarily blocking her vision.

As she was going to react to it, however, the sound of an explosion sounded from the other sign of the rushing flame, followed by another one to her side, this one accompanied by a visible flash as Shadar used the propulsion force of compressed Icenfire to launch his large frame in her direction, swinging his blade through the air in a slashing arc as he attempted to cut the foul woman in half.

Shadar barely seemed fazed by the Advisor's attack, rising up from the ground once again to launch another wave of Icenfire at her, hoping the closer distance and lack of shielding would enable him to actually damage her this time. Luckily for Christopher, the wave was more focused this time, barely missing him as he fell down. The boy was given little time to ruminate on it, however, as Shadar quickly grabbed him with one hand and launched himself away from the Advisor with a blast of Icenfire, skidding to a halt some distance away.

[b]"If you have a plan, smartass, then now would be the fucking time to state it![/b]

The Advisor had defended herself with her whip, rapidly spinning it in front of her to disperse the Icenfire around her; briefly it clung to the weapon, but soon it was overcome by the black and subdued entirely. She had turned towards the two of them after Shadar had moved them, tensing and clearly preparing to advance-

Christopher, meanwhile, quickly shook his head, as if clearing it of cobwebs, before he looked towards the Advisor. [b]"Okay, so that.... crap, whatever it is you're doing with the ice and fire, isn't working, and there's no telling how many times you and your brother have nearly killed me already. Fucking refrain a little, please. There are two of us, one of her, so we use that to our advantage. And you don't stagger nearly as quickly as I do, so..."[/b]

Slowly, he cracked his neck, and then his knuckles, electricity sparking along the gauntlets in small amounts. [b]"I'll go in first, get her attention, and you take advantage of the opening hopefully before I get killed. Er, please. For fuck's sake."[/b]

[b]"Huh, didn't think that was even an option with your little divine blessing. Fine, we'll do this your way and see how it goes, and don't worry, I'll be more careful.[/b] Shadar stepped back from Christopher, waiting for him to make his move, whatever that may be. As he did so, his blade shifted slightly, the Icenfire focusing itself along the edge's of the blade, leaving only pitch black crystal behind.

[b]"Alright, let's go."[/b] As he said that he suddenly shot forwards, moving slightly at an angle towards the right as he did so; it forced the Advisor to turn some as she prepared her whip, and as soon as she finished her turn towards him he suddenly shot straight at her once again. The whip lashed out, and though he stopped taking steps he continued to move forwards as he slid along the ground, both arms up to defend himself from the whip as it slashed by.

Suddenly, it coiled back around him, wrapping around tightly, and he yelled as he suddenly felt himself being lifted off his feet. Around the air she threw him, swinging him to the side, up, and then finally back down; he it the ground with enough force that it crumbled beneath him, shards of rock jutting up into the air as the next noise of pain was drowned out. Even as the dust settled the Advisor began to pull her whip back towards herself, in preparation for what was next...

But Christopher came with it. He had both arms wrapped around it, and he was being cut deeply along his chest thanks to it. Still though, he kept his grip, and actually coiled his arms within the weapon; where the weapon met gauntlet the metal shrieked, and where it met flesh red flowed.

[b]"HURRY UP ALREADY!"[/b]

Shadar needed no prompting, charging forward as soon as he saw when an opening would present itself, his body seeming to burst into frenzied life as shadowy tendrils seemed to burst from his skin, violet energies crackling along the surface of his armor. Using the added power of Lilith's Domination magic, something that had also been passed over to Shadar during the transferral process, the giant hoped to trick the Advisor as he drew near. What she would hopefully see was him attempting to cut her down with an overhead strike, but in reality, he'd be going in for a strike from below, hoping to open the woman up from bottom to top. Any defenses she tried to put up at the last minute would hopefully be weak enough for the concentrated power of his Greatsword to cut through, though he wasn't so confident after everything he'd seen this woman do. Still, he gave this strike everything he had, hoping for the best while preparing himself for the absolute worst.

Against the Advisor, the Domination magic was utterly useless, but the woman was still stuck in a bad situation all around. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes widened as she saw Shadar rapidly approaching, and she gave one more useless tug before she snarled. She had only one other option, and that was to leap forwards as the monstrous looking Divineborn swung upwards at her. The tip of the blade met the mark, carving up her back a few inches deep as her body twisted in the air, and she shrieked.

When she landed, she staggered, twisting around as she tried to find some way to stand to lessen the pain. Not really finding such a stance, in a rage she suddenly yanked the whip back, the slack working for her; Christopher yelped as the coils suddenly slid along his arms, carving deeply into both elbows as the whip was yanked away. He staggered and then fell backwards, the bone in his arms above his gauntlets barely keeping his arms attached. The Advisor, meanwhile, whirled on Shadar with a deadly glare in her eye.

[b][i]"That worked better than I thought, and somehow, I'm regretting that. I'm regretting it a lot."[/i][/b] Shadar thought as he decided to take a more defensive stance, feeling that he was in for some major hurt in a few moments. He briefly considered trying to launch another wave at her, but with the whip in her hands, that was a useless endeavor, as was a charge if his last attempt was anything to go by. With nothing else to do, Shadar simply dug in his heels and clenched his teeth in preparation for whatever shit the Advisor was about to send his way. He couldn't help, however, but make one comment to the bitch while he had the chance.

[b]"You know, I thought you'd be a bit tougher than this. So far, I'm not even working up a sweat."[/b]

A smart move? No, not even close, but if Shadar was anything it was a snarky ass, and he'd keep that up to the very end.

The Advisor didn't react to the taunt verbally, instead choosing to act. Forwards she rushed, covering the distance between the two of them in a flash. The whip flashed up, but rather than striking him with a swing her hand went straight forwards as she leaped upwards some, driving the handle deep into his throat. It was with enough force to knock him off of his feet despite his eight, and as she landed she lashed out once again. The whip coiled around him, lengthening as it did so; it wrapped around his torso, and over his limbs, immobilizing him.

He landed on the ground, and when he did so her foot came down onto his stomach, pinning him down even further. Her grip tight, she drew the handle of the whip back in a violent movement; all around him it began to tighten. Quickly the force built, and soon enough the carapace that covered him began to crack with loud, disgusting noises, the bone beneath being to crack and crumble beneath as well.

Before she released him, she once more brought him up with a swing, before sending him back down against the ground hard. Only then the whip uncoiled from around him, leaving him there broken as she turned back towards Christopher, who was struggling to get up without the use of his arms.

Throughout the battlefield, the shades met their end as well; though they froze and burnt many corpses, the larger numbers of the risen bodies eventually won out, chopping them down with any weapons they could pick up, broken or not. The corpses then turned on any of the united forces nearby, the forces balking from them.

Shadar barely had any time to react as the Advisor charged him, her initial blow smacking into his faceplate instead of his throat as he tried to cover up his more vulnerable areas, though the effect remained the same. The force of the blow was even enough to crack it, drawing a pained growl from the giant as he tumbled down to the ground, one that turned into a bellowing roar of pain as she began to compress him with her whip, the force behind it quickly making short work of his protection. Rivulets of blood sprang up between the cracks that formed in his armor, spilling out onto the ground to form a widening pool of red around him. Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, the woman suddenly heaved him up into the air, only to bring him slamming down into the ground with an agonizing crash, shards of his fractured carapace driving themselves deep into his body from the force of the impact. 

Shadar barely noticed the whip uncoil from around him, his entire body burning with intense pain. He did manage, through sheer force of will, to turn his head slightly, the broken faceplate falling away as the mandibles that held them in place fell limp. He saw the powerful mage make her way to Christopher, and while he held no particular live for the boy, he sure as hell didn't want to see him get killed in whatever brutal way that she was about to murder him. Broken as his body was, bones cracked and blood draining out of him like a river, he urged his body to move past the blinding pain, the shadow spirit tied to his body forming the needed connection and forcing the body into a standing position, sword in hand. But before he could even think to take a step, the magic that held the spirit to him wore off, the darkness fading into nothingness and leaving him to crumple to the ground like a puppet with no strings, unable to support his massive weight and likely worsening his injuries even further as he continued to defiantly will his body to move. He gained mere centimeters before his body gave out, leaving only his hazy mind to witness the coming events, dancing upon the edge of consciousness with an uncertain step.

In that moment, all he could think of was how utterly useless the Divines were if, for all their power, they could allow one of their own to get this twisted or for their children to suffer this way. While his mouth couldn't bear to speak the words, his lungs currently being pierced by both armor and bone, in his mind he laid upon each and every single curse he knew upon every Divine and upon everything about this damnable world. He let every bit of rage and spite he had sink into these cursed words, hoping beyond hope that they'd have some effect, that they'd spur the worthless gods of this world into some form of action against this woman.