The weakly beating dragon heart was in Adam's hand, his fingers glowing with a faint dark light as he struggled on, gasping for life on the ground. Desperation and fear engulfed the whole courtyard as spells went on being absorbed by Adam one after another. His laughter filled the air-deep, cold, and malicious.
Instantly, waves of determination swept the student army; all chains of despair were torn asunder. The All-Mother raised her hands, with her face flaming, and shrieked with a voice deep and commanding,
"Everybody! Gather your magic! Let the power be combined!
One by one, the women of the academy followed suit, stepping forward and focusing their energies. Fire, water, air, and earth streams of light merged into a bright vortex of power whirling above them like a storm. The air was electric with intensity as mana gathered into one single, destructive force.
"Now! Release it!"
With a unified cry of magic, one yelled and launched forward into a flood of elemental furor that roared across the courtyard in a blinding display of force, slamming him into Adam.
BOOM!
The blow sent Adam crashing backward, into the stone wall at the edge of the courtyard. It cracked upon impact, sending chunks flying in all directions. Smoke billowed around him, shrouding his form in a thick, swirling haze. There was silence after that.
Everybody held their breath.
"Is… is it over?" one girl whispered.
Another took a cautious step forward. "Did we get him?"
Then from within that smoke cloud, a voice grew-low, haunting, and rhythmic. It sounded like some dark incantation, words steeped in ancient magic and dread.
"In the shadows deep where whispers tread,
The ancient calls to raise the dead.
With moonlight's chance and mystic thread,
Life returns to where once it fled."
The words sent shivers down the spines of all who heard them.
"What's that?" asked a shaking voice.
"I don't like this," another whispered.
The smoke began to clear, and the figure of Adam appeared. His tall figure loomed; his eyes were dark, shining bright with malice as an evil grin spread across his face. He opened his arms as if embracing an unseen force.
"Domain Expansion—Army of the Dead!"
The sun seemed well up above and suddenly dimmed. Shadows stretched out abnormally long on the ground as the light continued to fade. Chilling wind beat across the courtyard while the earth surged beneath their feet.
At that, cracks appeared in the stone floor and began to spiderweb outward. Out of those fissures, skeletal hands clutched their way upward. Bone fingers scraped against the earth, pulling entire skeletons from beneath the earth.
They rose, one after another, an army of dead warriors clad in ancient war armor, their empty eye sockets aglow with cold, blue fire. Rusted swords and shields rattled and clattered; spears went up in eerily unified gestures as the skeletal mouths yawned wide in a silent scream.
"It can't be…" Lysander's voice was hoarse with incredulity as his wide gaze fixed on the rising skeletons. "He's… he's a necromancer?"
Azrael lay on the ground, still in agony, and could only look on in horror. His chest heaved as he struggled to find strength. "A… necromancer?" he whispered, his mind filled with dread.
The All-Mother's eyes slitted. "Stand ready! We fight or we perish!" She summoned a blade of pure light into her hands, its edge humming with energy.
The battle started.
The tide of skeletons surged forward in an unrelenting tide; their swords clashed with the weapons of those defending the academy: bone against metal, the cacophony of violence.
"Hold the line!" the All-Mother bellowed, swinging her shining sword and cutting through two skeletons with one stroke. The bones hit the ground, but more immediately rose to take their place.
Lysander conjured a wall of fire, but the undead just walked through the flames as if they couldn't feel them. His eyes were wide with fear. "They're not stopping! They feel no pain!"
A girl beside him screamed as a skeleton's spear grazed her shoulder. She fell, but another student caught her, yanking her back.
Azrael watched his friends and allies fight and fight. Finally, his frustration overflows. "System! Do something! Anything!
[Too strong still. Working on it…]
"Move faster!" Azrael snarled.
Adam floated above the chaos, giggling with amusement as his skeleton army struggled, yet eventually pressed, the defenders backward. His voice came out sharp and hoarse, echoing loudly around the courtyard.
"Is this really the best that the great academy can offer? Really pathetic." He waved his hand in some vague fashion, and a stream of black energy leapt from him, felling a clutch of students like so many leaves in the wind.
The All-Mother gritted her teeth, blade flashing as she cut down another skeleton. "We have to break his control!"
"Ora ganbare ganbare- try harder!" He sang mockingly.
Lysander stumbled to her side, blood trickling down his forehead. "How? He's-he's unstoppable!"
"No one is unstoppable," she snapped. "Find the source of his power!"
Azrael struggled to sit up, his ribs burning with pain. His eyes snapped to the dragon heart still clutched in Adam's hand; the pulsing glow was stronger now, dark and sinister.
"It's the heart," Azrael whispered, realization dawning. "He's using the dragon heart to amplify his magic!"
He reached toward the ground, pulling himself forward an inch at a time. His breathing came in ragged gasps, but he refused to stop.
"azrael!" the All-Mother shouted. "stay down!"
"No," he muttered through clenched teeth. "I have to stop him…"
the skeletons kept closing in. The defenders began to tire. Adam laughed again.
Finally, his fingers closed around a loose stone. Gritting his teeth, he hurled it with all remaining strength. It struck Adam's hand, jolting the dragon heart loose for a brief moment.