Like skeletal fingers frost started to cover the ground, arrows made from ice shot into all directions at once, rushing over and freezing the world at an incredible pace. Icy chains erupted from already frozen patches of sand and dragged everyone to the ground, which Ethan considered an enemy in this conflict. While the ground was quickly covered Ethan's body got covered in more and more ice, forming a rather detailed armor.

The cold wind that swept through his mind kept his thoughts focused and clear but this time he didn't allow his emotion to be tainted by some outside force. Nobody would play tricks on his mind again if he could prevent it. Tears streamed down his face before turning into small marbles of ice that slid from his face and sunk into the soft sand underneath him. His snake-like eyes lost all color and glowed in a soft white, each breath that escaped his lungs froze the air, a thin cold mist surrounded him after a while. His mind focused on the task at hand.

Bending down he took the skull amulet that belonged to James, the one that trapped him in his own past. Anger managed to pierce the cold veil in his thoughts and he flooded the amulet with mana. He knew he couldn't overwhelm the potent death energy, so he would instead try to use it. He activated another skill and felt more mana leave his body.

"[Cycle of Decay]"

His voice vibrated with power as he cracked his neck and lifted the skull to the sky, its eye sockets glowing a pale blue as he used the potent trap as a spell focus, the object perfectly attuned to moving mana around.

"I won't allow it again, all that manipulation and intrigue. Today…I fight on my terms. So fuck you system, fuck all those gods up there and fuck you Enok for showing me the past. You reminded me how shitty my life was until now. Today I make you suffer and tomorrow I finally start living."

His voice vibrated with power as he looked over the battlefield. Nora was already fighting against the undead, her tail slamming into the skeletons with abandon, breaking them apart and grinding them down to a fine dust. But with each successful attack there was a counterattack she couldn't evade, rusty weapons and a few sharp bones managed to slip under her scales, digging into the soft flesh underneath. She hissed and like a dragon breathing fire, she covered them in a concentrated breath of frost and ice.

Kra'kulgar ripped undead apart with his bare hands, slammed them into the ground with his tail or chopped their bodies apart with his jaws. He was like a machine of war, ripping and tearing everything apart that stood between him and victory. Fighting right beside him was Toran, his horns piercing skulls, his fist crushing arms and legs, his war cry echoed over the battlefield, defiance and the lust for battle all he knew at this point.

Sweeping his eyes over the desert Ethan could see that everybody was fighting for their life. The blood flowed like rivers until they touched the frozen parts of the desert, blood red ice covering large parts of the battlefield. Ethan's troops didn't slip or fall but the skeletons had a hard time standing upright during their attack on his army.

But all of that wasn't important, because Ethan had bigger plans, he wanted the head of the Wight King. Without hesitation he started to run, ice pillars formed under him, building a staircase into heaven. Jumping from the last step a few meters in the air he conjured a snowcloud to stand on. From up here he could easily see the battlefield, his [Icy Plague] had made a huge impact but he was far from finished. Too many enemy soldiers still lived and while his army was superior nobody could win against an overwhelming force, no matter how determined you are.

Holding his staff towards the enemies he used his [Eternal Chains of Frostrot] Hissing like hundreds of snakes the barbed chains exploded from the ground and quickly wrapped themselves around enemies. The ones they couldn't lock down got ripped apart by constant attacks, the meathooks on the front slamming into enemies without hesitation, only stopping once spines or heads were cracked open.

He smiled but only for a moment when a coughing fit overcame Ethan, pale blue blood dripped from his eyes and nose, his hand covered from coughing into it. The battle just began but it seems he started to use more than just mana for his spells but he didn't really care about that. The soldiers needed him on the front, he was their leader after all. He broke his promise to Nora again, no more near death experiences so he just had to make sure he stayed alive in the end.

With his brute forced control he managed to turn the battlefield in their favor, the soldiers rallied around their commanders and pushed the skeletons back, discipline returned to the ranks of the army. The Crocodiarii formed the backbone with their formations while the Brammgestir started to flank the enemy and crush the smaller groups that got separated from the main force.

He spotted the Wight King standing on the dunes and the look of shock in his face, as far as Ethan could tell with the skeletal head. It seems he didn't expect Ethan to escape, which only happened because of the system.

Taking a moment to catch his breath and letting his mana regeneration kick in properly as he tried to plan his next steps. Looking down on the battlefield it seems the army had everything well in hand for now, especially with Nora raging in the background and killing dozens of undead with her immense size and strength.

Ethan turned his attention back to the Wight King and slowly floated towards him, he tried to save his mana for their fight. He pushed his staff into his armpit to have both hands free for the next action he planned, still to him this was mostly improvisation based on unreliable information. Ethan pulled his sleeve up and revealed a pale, almost white arm, blue veins just under the skin.

Without hesitation he slammed his fingers into his skin, sharp fingernails drawing blood only moments later, his life blood escaping his body. He made a fist and let his pale blue blood drip on to the skull amulet that was already saturated with mana. "I will kill you, you stupid son of a bitch. Your skull will make an even better tool for my arsenal!"

He knew nothing of blood magic but he knew that blood was a strong catalyst in any kind of magic rituals, so he covered the amulet and withdrew his [Cycle of Decay] from the battlefield and only focused it on the Wight King instead, turning the area of effect into a single target spell. The effect was instant but sadly underwhelming. While the frost spells he started to throw at the Wight King showed some kind of effect on him. His putrid undead energy still won against Ethan's icy energy.

Smiling Ethan increased his output, not caring for himself, burning not only mana as soon as it regenerated but also his health. Taking a deep breath he called out with his power infused voice.

"NORA!"

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. They had closed their telepathic connection while fighting but she reacted when he called out to her over the battlefield. Their thoughts combined again and she knew instantly what he wanted from her. Breaking away from her fight she slithered over to him, picking up speed before slamming head first into the Wight King, the unexpected attack threw him to the side, his focus still on Ethan the entire time. The moment she collided with the undead monster Ethan jumped on her head and cast his magic.

Her whole head was enveloped in ice, forming a massive helmet with a giant spike directly over her nose, making her look like a rhino. When she caught up to the Wight King again, the spike slammed into him and finally penetrated the outer layer of his body. His entire body was enveloped in some form of bone armor which seemed to be incredibly tough but with their combined effort they managed to crack it.

Ethan ran down from her head and without hesitation he slammed his staff into the already broken armor, after a very long time using [Elemental Infusion] on his weapon. The king was pushed away again after their combined attack. The moment the undead king flew away was Ethan cue to jump back on Nora's head, freezing his feet to the ice helmet.

After their successful attack Nora was more cautious, keeping her distance while Ethan coughed more blood and wiped his mouth, his eye blinking a few times to get the blood out of them. He's very tough but I think we can beat him. If we could just freeze his body.

She sent him a mental nod and moved around the King in a circle, her body moving silently over the sand as she kept an eye on the monster. Her body shivered when he finally spoke.

"Every attack you throw at me is useless little wizard, I don't know how you escaped my curse but it's of no concern to me, in the end you will die and I will claim the final victory. Then I can finally cut off that parasite my lord asked me to help."

"Something we agree on, James is truly a parasite." he said, his voice as cold as the arctic.

Ethan tapped his staff three times on Nora's scales and cast a new spell, chains erupting around the Wight King, wrapping around his entire body but before they could do any real damage he snapped them apart like tissue paper, his eternal ice not very eternal right now in the face of a powerful foe

Nora, we attack him both. Use your ice breath, I try a spear like with the fire giant, if I do it right it could penetrate his already weakened armor.

In silent understanding Nora rapidly closed the distance between herself and the Wight King and without hesitation she slammed her tail against the undead. Slithering away from him after each attack, her eyes never leaving him while she circled around the King. Confident that the King wouldn't attack, she started to spray him with her ice breath.

Ethan slammed his staff onto the helmet and froze it in place before clapping his hands together, when he pulled them apart something was slowly growing in the middle, right between his palms. A tip emerged, sharper, harder and more durable. A complex pattern appeared on the forming blade itself, runes made for speed and control, for durability and force.

He coughed again, his HP dwindling quickly but he couldn't stop now. While he managed to sway the battlefield he couldn't let the Wight King cast anything or all the hard work was for nothing.

While working on the spear required his absolute concentration so he couldn't defend himself from the King's attacks, relying on Nora for it completely. Sadly the king started to attack with abandon.

The moment Nora moved away he started his assault on her with beams of necrotic energy, as fast as lighting they slamming into her scales making them dry up and fall out, leaving big gaps and exposed flesh in their wake, vulnerable for the next attack. He threw burning skulls that exploded into bone shrapnel, the shrapnel covered in green flames that lingered for a long time and ate away on flesh and scales.

Nora endured but even she had a limit that would soon be reached when his attacks continued like this. With an exhausted gasp Ethan finished the spear, he was barely managing to stay on his feet but he did it. The spear floated over his hand like it was searching for something. The runes for attraction and undeath were all over the spear tip so with a mental command Ethan sent it away, more arrow than spear as it flew towards the King at an incredible speed.

We need to move, that spear will explode the moment it penetrates his body. Before that I want to be gone. Ethan looked more than pale, a ghost of a man and Nora felt his conscious flicker from the exhaustion. She moved as quickly as her body could manage after all those attacks and managed to reach the far side of the battlefield.

Nora hissed at the army, the sounds she made sounded fearful and urgent, she hoped the army would understand her warning to flee as far as they could. She dropped Ethan to the ground and wrapped around him into a tight knot.

A second passed… Then another… Both of them thought it might not work with the Wight King being their toughest opponent so far but then all the air was sucked towards the position the King was in.

An implosion pulled everything in, from corpses to piles of bones, even the ice and sand that covered the desert got sucked into the vortex that was the Wight King. The sound was earsplitting but suddenly it was gone again.

Silence fell over the battlefield for a second only for a massive explosion of frost and ice to erupt from the King's body, the spear had struck his rib cage and managed to wedge itself between them. The explosion pushed the mass of bones, flesh, sand and ice away from him again.

Nora felt the earth shake and the impacts of hundred tiny projectiles hitting her scales. When she unwrapped herself from the tight coil she turned her head to the position of the King.

There was only a frozen crater filled with sharp ice spikes, bones and a fine blood mist. The army was still alive but shell shocked from the explosion. Ethan climbed over Nora and fell to the ground, resting against her body while watching the battlefield.

Ethan shuddered and spoke three simple words.

"He isn't dead…"

In the middle of a crater a deep laugh started to swell in volume.

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