"I'll explain it to you like the Overlord did to me. Elemental magic can be divided into three branches. The elements of creation…" And then the god of death explained to Scarlett the basics of magic just like Lith had done for Aran and Leria just a few years ago.
***
City of Verlam, capital of the Essagor Grand Duchy.
Lith was usually right in his predictions, but this was one of the exceptions to the rule.
After failing to kill him inside the Verhen Mansion, the Undead Courts had indeed shifted their target, but they had no intention of attacking his wife or the rest of his family in Lutia.
Kamila was already under heavy protection due to the bounty on her head. The Queen's Corps, the Corpse, the magical beasts, and the golems followed her every time she went out of the house, making any attempt on her life suicidal at best.
Only thralls could attack her during the day and during the night, when the undead's strength was at its peak, she stayed home with her daughter. No one wanted to live another Day of the Black Sun nor were they stupid enough to challenge a Guardian.
Raaz, Elina, and the others lived under similar conditions as well.
Sure, no Guardian followed them unless they babysat Elysia, but after her birth had established the advent of the Demon bloodline, many Dragons and Phoenixes liked to visit those they now considered as members of their extended family.
Surin received lots of guests and so did Valeron the Second. The sheer number of Divine Beasts hanging around the Verhens and teaching Aran and Leria magic during the day made even the thought of attacking them pure madness.
At night, the visitors would go away but the Verhens would move to the Mansion to sleep and the place had already proven to be impregnable.
The Undead Courts had no idea how a kill team comprised of twelve elite elders could disappear without a single survivor or even making a peep. For this reason, they had no intention to make a second attempt before understanding what had happened.
So, they had shifted their focus to a much easier target.
Zinya Vastor was Kamila's only living relative about whom she cared. Killing Crefas and Kima Retta implied infiltrating a Kingdom's prison just to make Kamila a favor.
Zinya, instead, was not only just a normal human woman with no powers or protector whatsoever, but she had also never gotten used to the noble society's strict rules and she kept moving around without a personal detail.
As the Archduchess of the land and the wife of an Archmage, the Queen's Corps protected her, but Zinya never bothered giving them her daily schedule nor did she bring around guards from the Vastor household.
She was the perfect target for the perfect plan.
Once the Undead Courts kidnapped her, she would be the perfect hostage. If Verhen followed their instructions to save her, he would fall into a deadly trap. If he didn't, they would simply kill Zinya and plant the seed of destruction in his marriage.
Best case scenario, Kamila Verhen would leave him and bring Elysia with her, taking the Guardians off the equation. Yet the undead hadn't lived that long by being forgetful and sloppy. n-/-/(-)-)-.-1-(n
There was no member of the Undead Courts who had forgotten about Thrud's failed attempts at kidnapping Zinya. Her existence had been a mystery to the Mad Queen and the Courts had never bothered to solve it. Until that moment.
Daytime and unknown variables were the perfect recipe for disaster. On top of that, the story of Dimensional Magus Tezka giving her a bow during the Royal Gala for Lith's birthday had spread far and wide.
Whatever power Zinya had or protected her from the shadows, wasn't something that the Undead Courts wanted to add to their already long list of sworn enemies. It was the reason why instead of taking action in person they had hired a powerful mercenary.
Finjorn the Leviathan was a self-Awakened Divine Beast over 300 years old who had recently achieved the deep violet core. He had a dire need for the necessary resources to upgrade his equipment and an opportunity to put his newfound prowess to the test.
The Undead Courts had hired him via a middleman, giving the Leviathan a substantial down payment along with his mark's name.
Of course, they had glossed over Thrud's fear of the "mere human woman" and had made sure that even if the Leviathan was captured and interrogated, he would know nothing that could lead back to the Undead Courts.
nulli'Gods if I love humans.' Finjorn slithered through the skies, his form shrunk into the form of a common bird. nulli'So rich of resources and so poor of intellect. They make the perfect target for a rip-off deal.
nulli'I always manage to get paid way more than any job deserves. With the reward I'm getting, I should be fighting the Corpse, not a bunch of weak fake mages. Luckily for me, I know where Tyris' private squad is deployed or I would have been forced to turn down the job.
nulli'Sure, I'm a Divine Beast, but with my deep violet core I don't feel confident fighting even one bright violet-cored human, let alone risking to piss off Tyris over such a trivial matter.' The Leviathan thought, sure to have conned the stupid human instigator.
Finjorn was a well-renowned assassin who left no witnesses in his wake and had never failed a job. Doom Tide meant to strip the surroundings of world energy, making fake mages helpless and even negating most bloodline abilities.
Elemental Flow, instead, allowed him to cast several arrays in advance and have them move according to his needs.
The problem with magical formations was that keeping them at the ready took a huge toll on the mage's mind but once unleashed, they were as mana expensive as any other spell.
A single array was capable of turning the tide of any battle but their coordinates were fixed and their effects couldn't be changed. All flaws of which Elemental Flow would get rid.
Finjorn's strategy was cunning in its simplicity. He would study the target from a distance with Life Vision and arrays, using the collected data to find the best way to deal with the protection detail.
Doom Tide was usually enough to kill anyone from up close when attacking from a distance wasn't an option. If the enemy would survive the blast or have an annoying bloodline ability like Life Maelstrom, Elemental Flow would do the rest.
Finjorn would dive in with Spirit Arrays already cast that would work even in the absence of world energy and that would affect only his enemies. At that point, victory was assured.
Even if the mark Spirit Blinked, the magical formations would follow them and if the target tried to get close to the Leviathan, he could always turn the arrays on and off at will or change the effects of the arrays to suit close-quarters combat.
As any capital city of the Kingdom, Verlam was protected by dimensional and air sealing arrays so Finjorn made sure to take everything he needed out of his dimensional amulet before crossing the city borders.