"I see, if the devils don't know that we are aware of their tricks we can use it against them. Come, we need to plan our next assault." Varkesh stood as he called for the vice-captains of the deep priests and the singers.
Once everyone had gathered they began to review what they knew about Lucan, starting with Chronos who had been in close combat for most of the battle.
"He uses miasma like a bloodline power. It both strengthens his body and can be used to cast spells or techniques. The spell glyphs I could see were rotbite claw which formed a claw of miasma, withering pulse that broke Gregory's threads, and miasmic arrow which Sariah countered.
The withering pulse may also be that black ball that initially struck us. The rotbite claw carries the attribute of rot or corruption, actually all of his attacks might carry some form of corruption. In addition to that he possesses an innate ability to create and disperse miasma that will attack the will of any creature nearby.
The only technique I saw were his wings which can be used offensively or defensively; I don't know how he formed those as techniques don't require external glyphs. Finally, his last attack was a fourth rank spell. I could see the rune that was the focus, but I didn't recognize it.
Overall, he has a lot of power but not much combat experience which allowed us to trick him and overcome his power for most of the battle."
The others were surprised by how much Chronos had picked up while in the middle of intense combat.
"I see, that mist he gives off must be an innate ability; it's going to be the most troublesome to deal with. Priest Vorellion, do you have any method to counter the mist?"
"I believe so. Now that we know how he is attacking our will we can use an old spell to counter him, the [Tide of the Unbroken Mind]."
"Doesn't that spell only last a few seconds?"
"No, it lasts an entire hour unless we need to force out stronger corruption. The biggest flaw is that it can only cover an area of five meters from the priest, one or more of us will need to be right behind the orca guard while you fight the devil."
"Hmm, was there anything else that we need to be wary of?"
Singer Ilyra spoke up, "His clothes indicated that he is a noble somewhere, so I expect him to be skilled with a weapon of some kind. However, I didn't see any weapon on him, should we be worried about weapon mastery from him?"
"I don't think so. When I was clashing with him, I didn't see any calluses on his hands that would indicate weapon training. His main combat style seems to be spells with only a little close combat; I doubt we saw his full strength there." Chronos explained.
"If it's just spells then we singers can counter most of his magic. It will take a little while, but if our harmonic magic can find the right chord, we can scatter any magic he uses." Singer Ilyra said.
"How many singers do you need and how long will it take?" Varkesh asked.
After thinking about the previous battle Ilyra came to a conclusion.
"At least four of us will need to be there and it will take 3-5 minutes. If he brings out something new it may take longer."
"If we play off of his arrogance, we can buy enough time for the singers." Chronos said.
"That won't be enough." Varkesh shook his head as he considered the best plan of attack.
"We didn't fight with our full strength as we all have techniques and spells we didn't use but more than likely the devil also didn't use his full strength. I don't think we can kill him in a short period of time and even if we can we'll suffer heavy casualties.
No, instead of fighting the devil we need to stay focused on purifying the world crystal. Once we succeed the Marshward Host can handle the devil with us." He concluded.
Lyla scowled, "Then how do we reach the crystal before him. He went down the shortest current and will arrive before us."
Varkesh and the vice-captains got a sneaky smile on their face. When Chronos saw that smile he realized that they had been tricked.
"That wasn't the closest current to the crystal, was it?"
"Nope, when you told me about the devil early on, I planned to find several currents and use the furthest one to trick him. Even if he didn't take the bait, it would give us more time to prepare. Once we reach the crystal we'll have 15-20 minutes before he arrives."
Priest Vorellion spoke up, "We need at least 30 minutes to cast the purification ritual."
"Then we'll have to set traps and an ambush." Gregory stated.
"Indeed, we'll split our force into two groups. The first group will be composed of those with the strongest will while the second group will focus on purifying the crystal. 24 of the orca guard, 3 Deep Priests, and 4 singers will follow me to stall the devil. That leaves 6 orca guard, 7 deep Priests, and 6 singers to purify the crystal. Are there any complaints?" Varkesh asked.
Despite the risks of fighting a devil with fewer forces no one complained. They all knew that they might not survive this trip into the tear and were ready to take that risk.
"Good, then here's the plan...."
After they had discussed what to do, they left the sandbar at a quick march, not wanting to waste their energy before they fought the devil.
They were on the move for nearly an hour before they saw the current that would take them out of the inner area and it was just over an hour after that that they drew close to the world crystal.
Slowing their pace they carefully scouted their surroundings, making sure that they had arrived before the devil had.
Once they were certain it was safe the priests got to work setting down a water net to hold the crystal in place while they purified it.
While the priests were handling that everyone else set a trap along the most likely path the devil would follow to reach them. There weren't any large boulders or islands for them to use this time, instead the singers created several clear icicles and locked them in place upstream.
The orca guard took up defensive positions while Captain Varkesh prepared something special for the devil.
Meanwhile Gregroy drank a water-breathing potion and found a spot to hide within the currents while Chronos and Lyla stood on the water's surface as bait once more, Sariah prepared multiple curses while staying near the purification ritual.
With all of their preparations made they settled in to wait for their prey.
As they waited, the world crystal arrived and was captured by the water net, the priests immediately started chanting their spells to drive out the power of the void from it.
The minutes slowly passed while tension climbed until Chronos' nose twitched, he could smell Lucan coming. He gave out a low growl, and everyone took a combat stance.
23 minutes after they had captured the world crystal Lucan appeared in the distance. Behind him was a 1-meter object encased in miasma, but they couldn't tell what it was.
Upon seeing them waiting for him Lucan became angry.
"How did you get ahead of me?!"
"Tricking a fool is just natural isn't it." Chronos said.
Glaring at him Lucan responded, "I will give you a horrible death, furball!"
"Several people have told me that. Of course that's usually right before I do something crazy, like killing a devil. You barely got away from me last time, bat." He taunted.
"Hmph, I won't fall for your tricks again." Lucan said as he flew higher. "If you can't reach me, I can kill you whenever I feel like it."
Glyphs came to life around him as he cast several spells at once.
[Miasmic Arrows]
[Withering Pulse]
[Spine of Rot]
A volley of arrows, a black ball, and a large spike shot at Chronos.
[Isolate]
[Lawbound Bulwark]
The spatial barrier was encased in geometric golden lines just before Lucan's spells struck them. The barrier rippled as Lucan's spells were dispersed by Lyla and Chronos' combined magic with the only signs of them being a small pool of miasma left behind by the spike.
"Great, the spike leaves behind field hazards after it's cast." Chronos thought.
"Why are you people so frustrating? I am a devil, the greatest race in the world! Why won't you just die?" Lucan glared at them like they had personally offended him.
"Maybe you're just weak or stupid, or both. You certainly talk too much." Chronos lazily mocked him.
"Yeah, can't you just let us bash your skull in already? You're boring me to death with all this chatter." Lyla commented.
Chronos could see a blood vessel burst on his forehead at that. He must still be holding a grudge over the last time she hit him.
"Oh, now he's really mad now." Chronos grinned slyly.