It was only moments later that the first of the new Ethermen attacked the Cage of Bone. Of course, they got nothing from it. In its current form, Dave doubted there was a force in this universe that could crack the Cage entirely. Though they did manage to leave several gouges in the surface, which was a feat in and of itself. Dave wanted to observe them for longer, but one noticed the Banshee he’d been using for reconnaissance, and his connection was cut only a moment later. The undead spirit didn’t even catch what ended her.

What Dave did learn was that the new Ethermen were several degrees faster and stronger than the previous forces. Seemingly in counterbalance, he’d only seen a dozen of them at most, rather than the actual thousands that had attacked before. Such lower numbers indicated that these Ethermen were a newer brand, something that the Revolution hadn’t had the time to build up a proper stockpile of.

Hopefully, that newness would leave some exploitable weaknesses in their design, but it wasn’t something Dave was willing to bet on. Instead, he was planning to hit these artificially enhanced humans as hard as he could before they had a chance to adapt. Overwhelming force was always an answer.

“Ok, is everyone on the same page?” He asked, looking around at the group, which included a freshly healed and hale Asherta.

Everyone nodded.

“Ok, now we just wait.” Dave watched through the senses of one of the lesser undead near the front entrance of the Cage of Bone, waiting for signs of the Ethermen. He didn’t have to wait long before five of them flew through the opening at high speeds. They were so fast that Dave doubted his weapons would have caught up with them, a solid counter to the blender he’d created as a chokehold for the lesser Ethermen.

It was good, then, that he wasn’t even trying to use his arsenal. Instead, he simply waited as the Ethermen ignored the lesser undead and charged toward the back of the Cage of Bone. They’d no doubt seen Lily and her group enter there and logically believed that Dave would be there as well. Unfortunately for them, that belief was a tad naive. The only thing they found at the back of the Cage was a ring of metal with sharp edges and embedded ethertech.

From across the ruins of the tournament city, Dave watched the outside of his containment spell turned defensive fortress. Through the Death Link, he watched the five Ethermen that had entered the dome stare at the Entrance Blade, likely trying to divine its purpose. Or maybe figure out where he and his comrades had escaped to.

Through the same Link, Dave gave a command that propagated through the army of over ten thousand lesser undead still in the Cage of Bone. Less than a moment later, his connection to the undead was cut off, and a brilliant flare of Necroflame bloomed out of the opening, blasting hundreds of feet across open ground and leaving a path of rotten devastation in its place.

“How many were in there?” Lily asked, standing next to him.

“Five.”

“That’s great! We’ve only seen twelve or so total, and I find it hard to believe there are more than double that if there are more at all. We just dealt with a sizable chunk of their forces before combat really even started.”

“That’s if they died from that.”

“Do you seriously believe they wouldn’t? I saw the calculations the Bladeborne did on the damage output of that detonation. Even if they were practically immune to Necroflame, the raw pressure from that much confined energy would be enough to crush an Etherman a hundred times stronger than the ones you captured.” Lily stared at him incredulously.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.” Dave sighed. “If they survived, their durability would have to be insane. And don’t discount that as an option. I’ve seen more than enough to know it's possible.”

“So, for you, this was just another information-gathering opportunity. That’s why you had the Bladeborne help with figuring out how much damage that blast would do.”

“Of course,” Dave nodded, still watching the opening, waiting to see if any Ethermen came out. “With the calculations we now have, we can determine a solid baseline for their durability based on how much damage those five sustained. Plus, any variation in damage between them might give us some insight into how their defenses work. Battle and warfare are all about information; never forget that. The more knowledgeable side wins.”

“You know, I’m suddenly even more glad that you’re on our side.” Lily looked at the War Wight with a combination of awe and fear. “You sacrificed your entire army just to figure out how much damage they could take.”

“Oh please,” Dave snorted. “You make it sound like some insane plan. The lesser undead couldn‘t have helped at all against Ethermen of this caliber; I could infer that just based on their speed and attack power. Anything that can mark the Cage of Bone is going to ignore lesser undead entirely. They weren’t going to be useful in this fight any normal way, so I found a way to make them useful. Those undead had no chance of taking out one of those Ethermen normally, let alone five. My tactic let them collectively punch far above their power level.”

“Still, brutal.”

“You do know that lesser undead aren’t sapient, right? They literally can’t think; their souls are too weak to support higher functions. They’re basically a catalyst for other undead or Necromancers to exercise their will. Pretty much any animal more complicated than an amoeba has more complex functions than a lesser undead.”

“Oh, look,” Lily ignored him, pointing toward the enemy ship. “It looks like they’ve found us.”

Indeed, the ship had turned and aimed its bow in their direction. No Ethermen had emerged from the Cage of Bone, which made Dave pretty comfortably sure that the explosion had destroyed them. “We’re not done with this conversation, but I’ll put it on hold. I don’t like the implication that it’s somehow inhumane for me to destroy lesser undead.”

“Sure, sure, whatever you say,” Lily waved him off. “We’re still following the initial plan, right?”

“Yup.”

“Well, I guess you’re about to be busy, and I’m about to be quiet.”

Dave sighed as she walked back into the fortified position they’d created around the Entrance Blade. He wasn’t looking forward to what he was about to do. Actually, that was a lie. He was looking forward to it a lot, but he felt bad about that feeling. After all, a proper general wasn’t supposed to enjoy the time when his entire force was destroyed, and he had to get his own hands dirty.

But Dave was going to enjoy this. A lot.

Of course, he wasn’t alone as another five figures flew out of the ship as it approached. Asherta and Mel were with him, ready to go. Neither of them was a pushover by anyone’s definition. Asherta had confined herself to a more limited draconic transformation, maintaining her humanoid form and leaving off the wings. After all, they were sticking to the ground this time around.

Dave wasn’t overly surprised that the Ethermen had decided to leave the ship behind. He’d proven twice that its defenses weren’t as solid as they’d likely thought. Simply enough, the ship wasn’t nimble or responsive enough to deal with an opponent that could freely teleport like he could. No, now they’d want to confront him directly.

And he also didn’t doubt that their focus was on him. Both Mel and Asherta had been handily countered by their ship, which almost certainly made them less of a threat in the Etehrmen’s eyes. An opinion that would prove devastatingly naive. Neither Mel nor Asherta had revealed all that they could do, and they’d only run because they were in a bad matchup against the ship.

The Ethermen themselves visually matched up with the ship they’d come with. Less jutting metal and exposed pipes or fleshy amalgamations that looked cobbled together with random extra limbs and misshapen bodies, and more smooth, flat metal with streaks of ether running along the joints. There was no exposed flesh on these Ethermen at all. In fact, Dave wasn’t actually sure if they had a human core at all. These may well be robots. Androids, not cyborgs.

Ok. Dave flexed his hands at the same time he flexed his magical senses and powers. He felt his soul come alive, flaring with necromantic power and releasing a miasma around his body, something he hadn’t even bothered to do yet. At the same time, a short sword and buckler appeared in his hand directly from his arsenal. As a War Wight, every weapon he attuned to became an extension of his body, a part of him. And he had a lot of weapons.

Time for some fun.

The approaching Ethermen didn’t speak, neither taunting or making threats. They simply attacked as soon as they were within range. All five blasted out laser attacks, lesser versions of the ones that had injured Asherta and broken through Lily’s cloud defenses. Three went for Dave, while the other two went for each of his companions.

Mel snorted derisively, flicking her hand and triggering a prepared instance of her Reflective Shielding spell. Asherta opened her draconic maw and blasted out a dense bolt of Mithril that swallowed up the energy-based attack like it was nothing. Dave simply raised his shield, an enchantment on the artifact attracting all three lasers, pulling them in and eating the energy.

Dave had fully expected the Ethermen to have attacks similar to their ship. Of course he was prepared for it. The lasers seemed to be the Revolution reinforcement’s go-to damage-dealing attack, so it made sense that it was their opening move. By predicting that, Dave and his comrades had seized the momentum of the fight. But from here on out, he expected the enemy to get far less predictable.

So it wasn’t too surprising when the lasers ceased almost immediately. In fact, the Ethermen seemed equally unsurprised, simply using the attack to close distance and get into melee range. An idea that had some merit. After all, everything they’d seen from Mel and Asherta indicated they were ranged fighters. Meanwhile, although Dave had revealed he was a more melee combatant, they were still attacking him three-on-one.

The three attacking Dave revealed a variety of weapons, one unfolding a spear that extended from it’s arm, while another revealed two blades with glowing white edges, and the last one had an odd combination of a buckler and tower shield, one on each arm. The one facing Asherta had its human-like hands covered in masses of blunt metal, like a mace and boxing glove had a child. The one facing Mel mirrored Dave with a sword and shield.

Easily deflected with opening strike of the spear and sword wielders, their moves far too simple and telegraphed to impress him. Likewise, Asherta slapped aside the attacks from her opponent before striking out with a taloned hand, slamming it into the machine-man’s chest and sending it sliding back almost a dozen feet, an energy shield flaring around it’s body to soak up any actual damage.

It was Mel that both most and least concerned Dave. She was one of his oldest comrades and supremely skilled. She was also the only one here that actually was a primarily ranged fighter. His worries were relieved a little when the sword-and-shield Ehterman’s attack passed right through Mel’s stationary form, which flickered like a flame before snapping back into focus once the weapon had passed through her.

But his focus couldn’t remain on his comrades. Dave was facing three of the Ehtermen at once, and while his miasma was eating at their energy shielding, it was a slow process. Meanwhile, he found himself in an odd position. None of the simplistic attacks could reach him, but the dual shield Etherman was incredibly quick, jumping in to protect either of it’s fellows when one of Dave’s parries opened up a gap. He was stuck in a stalemate. So, he decided to change things up.

Suddenly, a dozen weapons of different descriptions appeared around him, all of them darting toward the spear-wielding Etherman even as they exited his arsenal. As if waiting for that very moment, the shield Etherman practically exploded, with dozens and dozens of metal plates flying from it’s body to block Dave’s onslaught.

At the same time, the glowing edges on the dual-sword Etherman grew brighter, and it’s next attack left gouges in the surface of his shield. Dave’s eyes widened in surprise. The buckler he was using was by no means his best shield, but all of his arsenal gained massive benefits when he wielded them directly. That this automata-man could leave scratches over an inch deep in it was a surprise.

“Well, it seems you aren’t pushovers, at least.” Dave laughed, letting his aura explode into its full glory for the first time since his evolution. “Now, let’s see just how much the three of you can handle.”