Karnak, Monarch of Death

Giyen Ren’s staff drew elegant trails of light through the air. “Zaha Eoph Defilan Starlight.”

In the tongue of the Fae, the words manifested into reality, carrying the power of magic. Dozens of massive light projectiles condensed in the air and rained down in a barrage. Drel and Dios reacted instantly. Aura-forged silver swords extended between the projectiles of light.

Kretas Swordsmanship: Star of Ruin!

From the mouth of the black-haired youth came a clear, resonant chant. “Light of the dawning day, descend!”

Dozens of silver beams shimmered like stars, deflecting the incoming projectiles of light. The few that could not be knocked aside vanished in the air, caught by a curtain of twilight. In this way, the two of them managed to withstand the archmage’s bombardment. Immediately after, both of their legs started to tremble. They seemed to be barely keeping upright.

As if she had been waiting, Milia quickly began her divine magic. “Latiel, let your light descend!”

She had done this so many times that her reaction was fast and seamless. The light of healing descended upon the two, quickly restoring their strength.

Watching this, Giyen Ren let out a hollow laugh. “Truly strange ones, aren’t they.”

If Emil Strauss’s level and power existed on entirely separate planes, then these two had levels and bodies that were equally mismatched. It was something that, by all reason, should not have been possible. Someone at their level shouldn’t have such frail bodies...

Dios, barely recovered, took ragged breaths, without even the leisure to thank Milia. Giyen Ren truly possessed power befitting an archmage. They were forcing themselves to draw out power, but the longer they fought, the more they were being pushed back.

How long could they hold out, with just the three of them? But there was no other way. This was the best they could do right now.

***

The upper echelon of the Black God’s Cult in the capital numbered four. There were two archmages: Giyen Ren of the Golden Branch, and Diogres Kolon, Master of the Tower of Dawn. Alongside them stood Batalok, the Martial King of Talado, now a Death Knight, and Emil Strauss, the Avatar of Tesranach.

If Karnak’s party had wanted to divide their opponents effectively, they too should have split into four groups from the start. But they couldn’t, because they simply did not have the forces.

The current composition was the bare minimum needed to even attempt to hold back a martial king or an archmage. If they had divided any further, they would have been defeated, crushed one by one.

And if they had divided into two groups? The enemy would simply have formed pairs and come at them, leaving them with no chance of victory.

So they had deliberately chosen to take three paths. It was a psychological trap, luring the enemy into blocking each path individually while leaving one to guard the seal, just in case.

Yes, it was a trap...

But it was a plan that would crumble if even one group was slaughtered by their opponent. The only saving grace was that their current opponent was Giyen Ren. This was someone Dios knew well.

It allowed for Dios to predict some of Giyen Ren’s tactics, and therefore allowed them to endure, if only barely.

Giyen Ren, for his part, had also begun to suspect this. “You seem to know me quite well, don’t you?”

Naturally, many people knew of Giyen Ren. After all, had he not reigned as an archmage for centuries? But very few could claim to know him well.

To truly know someone was to understand them completely. In other words, only those who had stood on equal ground with Giyen Ren could claim to know him well. In that sense, the young silver knight and the priest of Latiel did not truly know him.

But this young boy was different. Astonishingly, he had a precise grasp of the archmage Giyen Ren. But how?

Giyen Ren cast several more spells to test him. Once again, the black-haired boy managed to block Giyen Ren’s magic perfectly, even if it left him completely exhausted.

It confirmed what Giyen Ren had begun to suspect.

“My word...” He let out a breathless laugh. “Was it you, Master Diogres?”

The boy, Dios, gave a crooked smile. “So you finally noticed?”

“It isn’t exactly a common situation, you know.”

Had it been the future Diogres here instead of Giyen Ren, he would have recognized it immediately. After all, who would fail to recognize their own soul? But to Giyen Ren, it was the soul of another, and unless one was at Karnak’s level, it was impossible to discern the essence of a soul by mere observation.

Even Karnak himself would only be able to tell if the other party willingly opened their heart. Had it not taken him quite some time to recognize Lapicel when they first met?

“I had heard you lost your soul, but I didn’t expect you to reappear like this.”

Even if Diogres had been an archmage, he had no particular skill in necromancy. That he had managed to escape with the aid of Mediator of Necromancy was pure luck, and it was assumed he would be of little significance afterward.

“No wonder your level and your body did not align. You are inhabiting another’s body.”

Suddenly, Giyen Ren’s gaze shifted to Drel.

Could it be that one as well?

This man was also mismatched in his level and body. He was wielding the Kretas Swordsmanship as proficient as Dreltein himself.

But I heard Dreltein truly absorbed his old soul.

The souls of Dreltein and Elezar had been sent straight to the void after they were defeated by Karnak. There had been no contact between them and Giyen Ren, who had returned from the future after the matter. He had never heard the details.

No, it can’t be.

Even so, the mere fact that Diogres had turned out like this was surprising enough.

“So, you had your reasons for confidence, I see.” Giyen Ren smirked as he caressed the Golden Branch. “But foolishness remains foolishness.”

Karnak’s objective was obvious. The group in front of him would tie him down by any means necessary, allowing Karnak to unlock the seal holding back the Shadow of Doom. Karnak had decided to endure the inevitable sacrifices of his comrades. This was a plan where someone would have to die, unavoidably.

Giyen Ren casually asked, “So, you’ve decided to throw away your already once-lost lives?”

Surprisingly, Dios remained calm. “There’s no choice. We are clearly at the disadvantage. We have no choice but to gamble.”

Giyen Ren’s gaze narrowed. There is something here.

At first glance, they looked like heroes willing to throw away their lives to save the world. But upon closer inspection, that was not quite it. Those who have truly given up on their lives do not wear expressions like those.

Indeed, while they were prepared to stake their lives, none had actually given up.

They shared the same thought. We know we can’t last long. All we can do is pray Lord Karnak’s plan succeeds before then.

—Operation Name: Gift Bundle.

That was the name of the plan Karnak had devised. No one knew what it meant. With necromancy involved, even memory could not be trusted as a vault, so he had not shared it with them from the start. The only thing Karnak had asked of them was one thing.

—Hold them off and buy as much time as you can! Then I’ll handle the rest!

***

Purple aura rained down upon them, and silver aura rose to block it. Shockingly, the silver sword aura was pushed back by the purple aura. Grunting, Varos hastily shifted his stance. This was no time to be worrying about finesse.

Side effects or not, I need to survive first!

His sword extended with a grim, eerie energy.

Reversal Blade, Sliver of Hope!

The sword’s light shot forward, weaving deftly between Emil’s sword strikes, twisting and redirecting his attacks elsewhere.

It was a sword technique specialized for breaking away by countering in critical moments. Varos, with his short formal training, had named the technique himself, and while the name was odd, its power was undeniable.

Barely escaping the onslaught, Varos gasped as he sent a transmission.

—Wow, he’s seriously strong.

Karnak wore a similar expression.

—Indeed, he’s nothing like Serati, is he?

It was true that Emil Strauss and Serati seemed similar in many ways. They both possessed exceptionally high physical ability and aura destructive power for their level, along with incomprehensible speed and resilience.

But there was a decisive difference. Unlike the average Serati, Emil Strauss was a bona fide genius. So much so that even Leven, a future martial king, was lesser in raw talent. Though Emil’s level was lower, his understanding of techniques, combat instincts, and precision far surpassed others.

And if someone like that gained the physical prowess, aura destructive power, and speed of a martial king? Emil lunged forward once more, his purple sword shining.

Delphiad Swordsmanship: Storm King’s Barrage!

A merciless storm of blades swept forward. It was a ferocity that surpassed even Leven, with Varos no exception, as the devastating sword pressure raged in all directions. In both power and momentum, even in precision, it was comparable to Gellard himself!

Varos and Karnak scrambled desperately to avoid it before the torrential destruction of aura raining down like a storm. They had no chance to counterattack.

Karnak, barely managing to dodge while shattering three layers of shields in the process, trembled.

—He’s disgustingly strong now, damn it!

Even Varos shook his head in disbelief.

—At least Serati’s slow, but Sir Emil? He’s practically reached martial king level, hasn’t he?

—Hey, Serati would cry if she heard that.

—She wouldn’t cry over something like that. That girl’s tougher than she looks. Maybe because she’s been through so much?

For all their grumbling, the two still had room to spare. When your life was truly hanging by a thread, you didn’t even have the luxury to complain.

Emil felt it, too. “If there had been just a few more of them, even I would have been in danger.”

Of course, he understood why they hadn’t brought more. To properly engage Emil or the other archmages in battle, you needed to be at least on the level of Leven or Lapicel.

Anyone weaker was useless, no matter how many they brought. It was the same for the empire’s aura users or mages.

Chaplin and Desteran would have been a great help, but there were other reasons they couldn’t come. However, it wasn’t as if they were the only capable forces available. There was still the Twilight Cult.

Emil suggested, “You could have at least brought the archliches.”

“What makes you so sure we didn’t?” Karnak’s expression twisted into a sly grin. “Who’s to say they aren’t hiding somewhere, waiting to stab you in the back?”

Emil chuckled dryly and shook his head. “We’ve checked for that, obviously.”

Elezar and Dreltein had been caught off guard and ended up like that because of those four archliches. How could they afford to ignore them? It wasn’t only Emil who was wary, but also Giyen Ren and future Diogres, who had kept their guard up the entire time.

Two archmages had spread out an exhaustive surveillance net. Illusion magic could fool numbers and appearances, but it could not hide existence itself. That was why they were certain. The archliches weren’t anywhere nearby.

Karnak gave a crooked smile. “It couldn’t be helped. The elders had to move the Twilight Order themselves to evacuate the priests.”

And he drew up chaos mana once more. “It doesn’t matter. The forces we have now are enough to take you down!”

“No, you won’t be enough.” Suddenly, Emil’s smirk deepened. “Because now that we know they aren’t here, there’s no reason for us to hold back.”

It was then. Varos’s face suddenly went pale. Huh?

A powerful energy was being felt in the distance. It wasn’t coming from inside the grand cathedral. It was coming from the direction of the capital, where the cursed six pillars stood. It was a darkness so powerful, it was felt clearly even across the vast distance.

“Martial king Batalok!” Karnak’s expression hardened slightly. “I thought he was inside.”

The smirk on Emil’s lips deepened into a cold sneer. “You know, don’t you? That our victory only requires reducing the number of goddess priests.”

His cold voice echoed with dread. “Then we’ll reduce them.”

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