“I am more than my magic,” I whispered urgently. “Think, Vervain!”
I transformed back into my human body. Naked and vulnerable, I was nonetheless free of Marduk's cage. He was too focused on tearing our troops to pieces to notice me climbing through the metal bars. I emerged behind him, going through possibilities in my mind. Fire wouldn't work on Marduk and water had failed as well. I didn't want to make him insane nor did I want to make him fall in love with me. Forcing lust onto him wouldn't be a good idea with only us up on that column, but the agony of heartbreak had brought Marduk to his knees before. Should I try that again? There was always my emerald, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to attempt to drain Marduk's magic again; the last time hadn't gone so well. Maybe I should just shift back into a dragon and squish him with my foot.
Wait, I had one more trick up my sleeve.
I cast an illusion around us, making it look as if the territory had suddenly stopped responding to Marduk. Boulders fell to the earth, hovering weapons vanished, and waves of water receded. Marduk flinched and swung his hands out more violently. I kept the illusion in place and added to it, showing our troops getting to their feet and rejoining the battle. It wasn't that difficult, what with only him to fool and only the small area around the column to focus on. I could keep the illusion in place with minimal effort.
Marduk shrieked in fury as he spun to face me. He flinched when he saw me out of my cage then his eyes scraped down my body with a sneer. “Did you truly think you could seduce me?”
“As if,” I huffed. “I left my clothes in pieces on the ground when I shifted. Feel free to manifest some new ones for me.” I looked around as if I'd just noticed that his magic had stopped working. “Oh, never mind; you seem to be having some problems with that. I'll take care of it myself.”
I shifted into my weredragon form.
Marduk's eyes narrowed at me in both disgust and suspicion. “What did you do? How did you stop the territory from obeying me?”
“I didn't,” I said honestly. “You must be losing your touch. Or maybe the territory doesn't like you.”
Marduk rushed at me, hands extended toward my throat. Victory surged through my body and gave me a burst of extra strength. I swung with my fist and connected with Marduk's jaw. He went tumbling aside, nearly rolling off the edge, but caught himself and came barreling back. I swung again, this time with claws extended. My blow scratched over the Tablet. If I could just slice away the straps holding it, I could take the Tablet of Destinies away from him.
I moved to strike again. Marduk growled and desperately waved a hand at the metal bands nearby. They twisted and lifted, shielding him from my attack.
Marduk grinned in revelation.
“I haven't lost my touch at all.” He glanced around himself. “What is it; an illusion?” He grinned wider. “Of course it is; you have moon magic like Sin. You thought you could trick me!”
A band of metal formed into a spear and shot toward me. I dove off the side of the column, shifting into full dragon form as I went, and the spear glided past me. I looped around and flew back up to cast a curtain of darkness around Marduk. An intricate illusion wasn't necessary anymore and there was no point in wasting my focus on one; all I had to do was blind him.
Marduk roared and lowered his column back to the ground with rumbling speed. As soon as it settled, he ran forward blindly, trying to move past my shield, but I kept it tightly over him. Mesopotamian Gods tried to grab Marduk and keep him from tumbling into our troops, but he shoved them away, unable to tell friend from foe.
“Pull back!” Marduk shouted to his people. “Stay away from me!”
The Mesopotamians backed away as I circled the battlefield, taking stock of our damages. Gods and demigods alike were scattered among the debris. I couldn't tell if they were dead or merely injured. They still had their heads so I hoped for the latter. The Jinn had vanished; all of them. At first, I'd thought they had abandoned us but then I started seeing flashes of Jinn bodies; warriors jumping into solid forms to administer a blow before becoming spirits again. I couldn't tell how many Jinn were left, but they were still there and they were some of the most effective fighters on the battlefield so I was grateful for any who remained.
Marduk started lashing out with the territory again, sending trees flying along with stones and earth. Moving objects is easier than transforming them. I assumed he was going for quantity over quality; like a machine gun fired in blanketing swipes instead of being aimed at one particular target. Whatever his plan was, it was working. Even without being able to see, Marduk was managing to hit my army. There were so many of us and his missiles were massive. It was like cutting wheat in the field; he only had to swing his scythe to cut us down.
Speaking of scythes, Azrael shouted, his cry echoing hollowly in his Death skull, and pointed his scythe at Marduk. The Horsemen jerked on their reins and directed their mounts at their new target. Nor were they the only ones to decide that taking Marduk down was imperative. We had all realized that without Marduk and his territory of doom to defend them, the other Mesopotamians would quickly fall
