The war among the Jaredites had now reached its ninth year. This is significant because all during these years God's prophet, Ether, was having to survive by living in caves and scrounging for food at night when it was safe to come out of hiding. When there were wars he also had to survey the battlefields at night and search among the thousands who were killed to see if either of the opposing leaders had survived.
We learn that in the first year of the reign of Lib, Coriantumr was wounded in the arm, but he and his army pursued Lib to the seashore. There the battle swung over in favor of Lib, but Coriantumr gathered the entire population to fight with him and he finally succeeded in killing Lib. However, the giant leader of the satanic cult had barely expired when Lib's brother named Shiz, whom we also assume to have been a cult member, rose up in his wrath to destroy Coriantumr.
Shiz adopted a scorched earth policy. He burned every city and killed men, women and children. The whole Jaredite population was terrified by the tactics of Shiz. As a result the entire kingdom divided into one faction in favor of Shiz and the remainder in favor of Coriantumr. No one dared to be neutral. Every man knew that to choose the wrong side meant certain death.