10/6 10:46 (Autumn, Day, Sud Midrar, Undead Dungeon)
The Lich stood up, its large and imposing four meters tall body possessing comparable physical abilities of the previous "Giant Zombies" even while being only a mass of bones and a Magic-specialized Monster at that, its necklace gleaming slightly because of its movement.The long staff ended in a great, ivory skull with identically bright flames in its own sockets, its mouth opening wide in a silent screech, a shockwave emanating from the staff washing over the four of them while at the same time the Lich itself Casted a second different Spell."[Famine]."
Luna's Familiars vanished in an instant because of the Spell the staff automatically Casted, the Spell [Banishment], the same combination of Spells it would have used to deal with the Elemental if needed.
[Famine] was a relatively direct, even if complicated, Curse-Attribute Spell that forces upon all of its Targets the Status Alteration "Hunger" in a way similar to "Presence: Charm" and similar Skills because of the fact that Curse Elementals and Fire Elementals are the two that damage their Vessels the most and fastest and this Spell would accelerate said degrading.
[Banishment], instead, was a No-Attribute Spell composed of three different yet linked effects: the first is the fraying of the bonds of Vessels and body-less Entities; the second was the creation of a Zone with increased Dimensional Walls to negate any possible Summoning from Enemies surrounding this throne room; and finally, the third was an ever-increasing Rejection force upon all body-less Entities within the previously created zone.
Luna's Familiars returned to within her while additionally sealing her ability to Summon them again but the most dangerous thing was the other Spell as demonstrated by both Mafel and Sabel dropping to their ground in pain, hunger assaulting their bodies.
Amber didn't wait an instant, sending forth a wave of fire, using it as a distraction before launching herself at it with drawn sword while Luna instead was manually feeding their Mates by enveloping them with her Aura.
"Hunger", after all, was a very dangerous Status Alteration to endure especially considering how it would worsen with time passing and even at its lowest function it would increase the Energy requirements of Arts, Spells and any other action while also weakening the Being.
Amber was still suffering its Effects but had a strong enough Existence as a C-Ranked Demon Phoenix to fight for a while but this was not a sustainable effort as she would degrade more and more with passing time.
Or at least that would have been the case if Luna didn't Cast the Spell [Burning Grasp] on her Mate without waiting a second, even if at minimum possible power and landing only thanks to Amber allowing it to, as for Phoenix specifically the act of using their "Fire-Attribute Absorption" Innate Skill is equivalent to feeding and the Status Alteration "Hunger" is lowered by that and only that.
Luna however had no need to consider her own "Hunger" and so was free to support Mafel and Sabel, thanks to the combination of the facts that as a Lunarian the act of feeding, drinking and breathing were considered one and the same; because she had a Nullification towards all Status Alterations by her Unique Skill; and, finally and most importantly, because when she was still Scarlet she figured out how to actively evade that specific Alteration without bothering to actually eat.
After all while she could drink and eat sweets without any issues, she hated the act of eating itself to the point that even her mostly mindless previous Ghoul self did this process automatically.
Amber's sword fell upon the Lich without any hesitation only to be stopped by a Barrier-covered shield made entirely out of the same Bonesteel, a Metal made out of a combination of iron and bones, as its armor.
No, not one Barrier, the Demonic-blooded one noted but multiple Barriers generated by the Skill "Multilayered Barrier" as she confirmed with a wave of fire released from her body that was Nullified before ever reaching its target.
In an instant the blonde kicked forward, launching herself away from the incoming swing of the Lich's staff covered in Curse-Attribute Mana, fireballs flying forward with a beat of her wings while a minuscule amount of "Burning" Alteration was constantly being applied and subsequently Absorbed by her to fight against the "Hunger" Alteration and refuel her Reserves.
She quickly glanced at her Mates only to find them close together, Luna sharing her blood with the other two's mouth by a kiss while her Aura surrounded to three as a defensive measure, seeing her fingers indicating the same place from multiple directions.
She obeyed the suggestion without hesitation, her Unique Arma flashing out as a flying slash went forward while simultaneously sending fireballs from multiple directions to try and hit it despite its Barriers and shield both being moved in the way by her skeletal opponent.
The Floor Boss moved the shield to block the slash as it was the only attack able to actually deal damage to it, thing that was correct even after it shielded the attack based upon her blade only to become false as Amber used her Unique Skill to grant the ability to ignore a layer of Resistance entirely to one of her fireballs.
This meant that the Fire-Attribute Nullification present within the Barrier was degraded to an Immunity.
An explosion of fire covered the Lich only for them to dissipate a couple of seconds after, revealing an unhurt one except for a couple of cosmetic scratches, its eyes blazing malevolently towards its opponent.
The Lich opened its own mouth suddently, releasing a strident sound that brought her to flinch back in pain at the sound, her "Hunger" worsening further for an instant before alleviating as Mafel recovered enough to Cast an Holy-Attribute Sorcery on Amber, increasing her natural Resistance to specifically the "Hunger" Alteration.
This wouldn't suddently negate the activated Alteration but it would lengthen the time it needed to worsen further, Amber noted, before Unleashing her Aura at full power immediately around her body without using Luna's own as support, her blade starting to vibrate as flames condensed immediately around it and causing the air to distort because of the rising heat.
Luna noted how the two where preparing to return to their fight before nodding to herself, her Aura starting to pressure Sabel and Mafel while at the same time reinforcing them.
Her mind, however, was focused on the Spells that the Boss launched from the start of this battle, analyzing them second after second.
Amber didn't hesitate, jumping back in the fray with a thrust of her sword directed to the other's skull while fireballs rained down upon the Lich.
This last one without any waiting rose its shield to block the sword while its staff Casted on its own a [Fire-Attribute Barrier] to further shield itself from Amber's fire just in case while trying to bash her head in with its staff.
Before she could be hit, the Phoenix kicked forward sending her flying back and evading it while launching a wave of fire from her mouth to serve as a smokescream, confirming that the other had Physical-Damage Immunity and Fire-Attribute Nullification and she was more than able to guess the reason, its pieces of jewelry lowered the magnitude of their Resistance while changing the type of Resistances.
Luna intervened, activating the effect of "Presence: Charm" on the Lich only for one of its ring to shine slightly before the pink glow of the Status Alteration was shattered by a purple light generated by it, confirming it also didn't have Status Alteration Nullification considering how it was effected before the interference from one of its rings.
Amber didn't hesitate, trying to take advantage of its brief confusion to jump back in and slash at its neck to decapicate it in one fell swoop but this tentative to end the fight or at least taking the lead, was a complete failure as the Monster dodged the strike by jumping right before trying to smash the skull on its staff on her head while at the same sending a beam of Curse-Attribute Mana towards the three non-combatants to distract the one with the most Fire-Attribute Affinity.
This failed because this last one had complete faith in her, or rather one of her, Mates' ability to deal with the attack continuing on her assault on the Lich, her blade creating red hot lines all over the air as this last one found itself having to hurriedly move as any of her attack could suddently Pierce its Barrier and wound it.
Meanwhile the beam it released and the Curse it was imbued with, splashed harmlessly against a [Curse-Attribute Barrier] that Luna casually Casted before this last one started to absorb her Mate's Vital Energy and Mana, manually using them to create more Vital Mana that she then gifted back.
At seeing that the Lich, at the moment still continuously and rapidly stepping away from the swings of the half-Succubus, before releasing a strident yet silent yell, causing the blonde to flinch away in pain as a couple of purple Magic Circles formed in the ground near it.
Within the Circles, an empty void showed itself briefly before a long bony hand emerged from both of the Circles, the Spell [Summon Skeleton], a version of an Undead specific Spell.
With another couple of silent roars, the Skeletons ripped themselves out of the void from which they were formed from, each of them emitting their own strident yet silent yell.
The battle intensified soon after.