(Diao Chan POV)
Everything was turning out to be quite disastrous.
I was originally supposed to follow the second rotation of troops to relieve the first group alongside Gamma, Cai Hong and Eris, but now that plan was rendered moot by our wall collapsing way before we anticipated.
And since the princess has blown the horn, everyone will be pushed to the fight immediately instead of rotating out in reserve.
It was already our final stand before we knew it.
I rushed ahead of the soldiers, muttering a Spell under my breath that propelled me onto the roof of a building where Lian Li was standing.
"How is it?" I asked.
She didn't answer and instead jerked her chin in the direction of the Dong's army.
I followed her gaze and froze.
"About another hour till dawn comes… I fear we may need to use your trump card earlier than expected, Diao Chan."
I grimaced, "If we must… But at most I would be able to buy us half an hour and there's no telling what they would do once it is deployed. We might just get ourselves surrounded and if we do, I'm not even sure if Elaria can do anything about it..."
Lian Li pondered for a moment, ignoring the sounds of war coming from below us.
I could see from here that Manami and Kiyomi had joined the fight as well, they were quite noticeable by the flashes of fire and ice so there was no mistaking it was them.
A short distance away from them was Alpha, Beta and Delta providing support for their High Priestesses by decapitating all who tried to flank the fox sisters. Though they weren't as good as Gamma in combat, that doesn't mean they are helpless.
"We'll save it for now…" Lian Li decided. "But if they decide to commit their entire army just to crush us, we would need to deploy it. In the meantime, we should do whatever we can to slow their main force down."
I nodded my head in agreement, "That, I can do."
I stretched out my arms and concentrated my senses just like how Master had taught me, crafting the Spell I needed in my mind. We don't need something that will kill the most number of people, we just need something that will slow their advance.
"'Spirits of old, the hour is nigh, I call upon thee to terrify; Their numbers shall be their bane, their wills lost in this domain; Harken to the symphony of mindless violence, where all of reasoning shall be silenced; Rage and madness from within thy mind, spill forth to consume themselves and blind; Friends and companions are now their nemesis, submit to their hate and bring forth necrosis! Malice Possession!'"
The moment the words left my lips, I felt the pull of energy drain from my body as the Spell took effect.
Casting this Spell took quite an effort out of me and it felt like I had just ran a mile or two. There was still a lot for me to learn before I could reach Master's level of proficiency. At least it got the job done for now.
Red coloured humanoid shadows rose up from the ground in front of the main army, numbering in the hundreds.
I linked my mind with them and gave them a simple command, prompting them to immediately rush towards the main army while spreading themselves out amongst the front line.
Someone called for archers and arrows were shot at them, only to pass through them harmlessly.
When they reached their lines, the soldiers tried to stab at them with their spears and swords but that also yielded the same results.
Fools, such mundane attacks can't harm what is immaterial.
All of them passed through their defensive lines without issue, causing some panic within their ranks.
The commanders shouted out to their men to keep them calm, claiming them to be nothing but illusions. This action would be their undoing.
The ones that have been identified as commanders immediately had a shade leap at them to enter into their bodies, possessing them.
The same thing happened to several of the other soldiers that looked important until none of the shades were left.
There was a few seconds where nothing happened before those men started screaming while rolling around on the floor.
Their comrades got concerned and tried to help them but their thrashing wouldn't stop no matter what they did.
A good minute passed before those possessed by the shades stood up calmly as though nothing had happened, brushing the dirt from their clothes.
Their comrades started to breathe a sigh of relief before the possessed drew their weapons and started cutting down the people closest to them.
Confused and pained screams mixed together as their former brother in arms began killing each other without any mercy.
Those shades would have erased the personality of those possessed and replace their will with one that thrives on violence and bloodshed.
Once they have reached this stage, even I will be unable to control them, making this a double edged sword since they might also attack our own people if given the chance. But this drawback would not affect us here since they were so far away.
Unfortunately for us, Practitioners cannot be possessed by these shades since the abundance of Quarks within their bodies would have acted as a wall against the shades and prevented a possession.
Non-Practitioners like these soldiers were still fair game though.
The soldiers hesitated on killing one of their own but the possessed had no such qualms, cutting down everyone indiscriminately.
One of their Practitioners tried to heal them but that proved to be ineffective too.
There was nothing to heal after all, the original persona was just altered a little to make them kill voluntarily. Unless one of the Practitioners was well versed in Spirit Quarks or they had another Witch that knew a counter Spell, there is no way for them to be reverted back.
With this Spell, the command structure should take a hit and they would be too busy trying to restrain or dispatch their former friends, this should at least delay them for a bit.
"Good work, I never knew you could do something like that," Lian Li commented, blasting another group of Dong soldiers with her Lightning.
"Normally I can't," I admitted. "I needed to use the feelings of anger and hate that is present in our own soldiers to summon those shades and even that took the wind out of me."
"Hmmm… Though it seems they have already steeled themselves to dispatch your puppets though…"
I followed her gaze and saw that indeed, the possessed soldiers were now being cut down themselves without mercy. Some higher up must have given the order to execute them knowing that they could not be saved.
The Dongs are more heartless than I thought.
I grinned, "No problem, I always have a backup plan."
Concentrating on the minute link that I still shared with those possessed soldiers, I gave them the only command I could still give while they were in that state.
The shades started absorbing in the Quarks present in the air into their host's bodies which would then result in a big explosion of blood and flesh that would kill all within a five meter radius.
Considering how most had surrounded a possessed in an attempt to subdue them, there will be quite a number of casualties.
Not enough to make a significant enough dent in their numbers but the main point of this was to cripple their command structure even by a tiny bit. This should at least decrease the efficiency of their army and may even cause them to hesitate in their advance, buying us precious time that we so desperately need.
The battle below us was still leaning towards our favour.
Gamma, Eris and Cai Hong were cutting down most of the enemies in the front lines while Manami, Kiyomi and Lian Li supported them from a distance. The injured were quickly carted off to Brendan who would give them the healing pills needed to send them back into the fight.
My only regret is that I cannot participate in the battle fully since I still need my energy to use the final Spell that will buy us the most time if needed.
We just need to hold out for another hour...
