I dumped the liquid in the health potion into Haydith’s mouth and pulled her chin up to move the liquid to the top of her throat. Despite this, the healing compound remained in her mouth, and Haydith’s swallow response did not activate. I brushed my fingers against her neck to determine the location of the hyoid bone before pressing down on the soft esophagus underneath.

  With a terrible, gasping choking sound, Haydith’s swallow response activated, and the healing compound slid into her esophagus. I didn’t have to worry about any of the compound aspirating into her lungs, since she wasn’t breathing.

  Haydith’s wounds closed as the healing potion took effect, but her eyes remained unmoved. She was just as dead as she had been seconds before. I put her down on the cobbled street and prepared to perform CPR. It would be tough with only one hand. I would have to improvise.

  With my right hand and left elbow, I began doing chest compressions. While I worked, I frequently turned my eyes to look at the ongoing battle between Kinro, Beltane, and Alexander. Beltane was holding a deep wound in his stomach, and Kinro was swinging violently at the Blue Mage. One of Kinro’s attacks missed completely as Alexander disappeared from view for half a second, and Alexander used the opportunity to land a blow on Kinro’s chest. They were putting up a good fight, but it was only a matter of time before they lost.

  After about thirty seconds of chest compressions, Haydith’s eyes began to flicker. Her chest began to move as her lungs began to heave and cough in an attempt to expel the fluid contained within. She spasmed for several seconds as her body, operating entirely on instinct, returned to its natural living state. I held her head in place to prevent her from giving herself a concussion until her movement stopped and she fell back into a state of unconsciousness. Haydith would live, but it would take a while for her to wake back up.

  Slowly, I rose to my feet and turned back toward the ongoing battle. As I looked, Beltane was slashed across the chest while Kinro was struck with an Ice Spear.

  I’m giving you control, Thale. I sincerely hope you have an actual plan.

  “Finally,” Thale said with my lips as he gained control over my body.

  The bottom of my staff was banged against the ground, and six sparks of Hellfire surrounded my body in a hexagonal pattern. My feet carried me forward as those six motes transformed into a long line of text written in the Ancient language. I had no idea what was happening as Thale began circulating a significant amount of mana through my body.

  The lines of flaming text flashed into several different forms like words scrawling on a teleprompter. I recognized some of the words and realization suddenly hit me. The long lines of text created in the flames of Thale’s Hellfire was the incantation to ritual cast a spell. The flaming text reached its end after a mere three seconds before returning to their natural state of burning motes of fire.

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  When the final word disappeared, my staff was pointed at the horde of undead, and Thale said, “Mortuos regam.”

  Thale cast the spell [Control Undead], a spell that would be beyond my body’s capacity without the benefits of the Ritual of Empowerment, and nearly half of the undead under Alexander’s command suddenly stopped moving and turned to me.

  “Destroy the undead under Alexander Lee’s command!” Thale shouted, and the undead began tearing into one another.

  Another line of flaming text scrolled past as my legs carried me closer to Alexander. As I walked, annoyance appeared on the Blue Mage’s face, and he decided to quickly switch strategies. In one smooth motion, he returned Cloudrazor to its sheath before drawing his knife. Alexander lunged at Beltane and scratched his arm with the knife before turning and throwing the knife at Kinro’s neck. At the last second, Kinro was able to deflect the knife, and it clattered harmlessly to the ground.

  The flaming text reached its end, and Thale said, “Magia apparet impetus!”

  It was the incantation for [Mana Bolt]. A glowing arrow of pure energy shot toward Alexander’s back. He turned at the last second, popping out of existence just as the Mana Bolt would have hit him. The Mana Bolt flew past him and crashed into the statue of Theophrastus in the center of the square, detonating when it struck. The base of the statue and a few knights standing nearby were caught in the blast and immediately turned to ash by its force.

  To dodge my attack, Alexander was forced to turn his back on Kinro, who used this moment of weakness to his advantage. Kinro cut Alexander’s back, causing some of the Blue Mage’s blood to fall to the ground.

  “You see?” Alexander said in English. “This is why I have to kill you.”

  Alexander took a step toward Kinro as he put all of his strength behind his sword. Kinro easily deflected the telegraphed attack, but the force was enough to push him back several meters. The Blue Mage then turned and pointed his staff in my direction.

  “Moriturus pro nihil.”

  My blood turned cold. That was the incantation for [Death Bolt], a spell that caused instant death when it struck. The death effect would not work on some strong creatures or people, but I knew that I certainly wasn’t in that category.

  “Viviere aliquo.” Thale spoke the counter-charm, and I felt it as 100 points of mana were torn from my core.

  Alexander grimaced in my direction. I knew from experience that nothing was more annoying than getting counter-charmed. He lunged and began running in my direction. A moment later, Kinro swung at him, forcing him to roll out of the way.

  He didn’t use [Blink]! He must be low on mana!

  My feet carried me forward, and the slight burning pain in my hand informed me that some of my undead thralls had been killed, causing my hand to be healed. Thale moved my eyes downward, and I saw as my hand reformed into a recognizable form. My pinky and ring finger were missing, but at least I stopped bleeding.

  Alexander drew another card, and a small red stone appeared in his hand. Kinro stepped in to strike him once more, but he stopped when Alexander raised his hands in a gesture with one of his hands still gripping the red stone.

  “Hold on for a second. Let’s talk,” Alexander said with an annoyed smile on his face.