Karnak, Monarch of Death

Batalok was still rampaging. The command he had received from Emil remained absolute:

—Ignore your own safety, and kill all the priests of the church.

Even now, after all the Shadow of Doom had exploded outward, this absolute command had not been lifted. Not all the priests of the goddesses in the capital had died yet. So he had to keep killing them.

Golden aura lashed out like a whip, striking the ground.

Taledo Combat Arts, Heavenflame Flash!

The priests desperately raised their shields, but it was useless. It was a technique delivered with the full power of a martial king. The golden aura shattered the holy barriers like brittle biscuits, then tore apart the priests behind them as well.

Pitiful screams rang out in succession, amid the spray of blood and flesh. But the price Batalok paid for this was not small. Giving everything meant there was nothing left for anything else.

"Batalok!" An enraged Chaplin swung his sword. The blade of silver aura cut clean through the martial king's right arm without any resistance.

Black blood sprayed as the severed arm flew into the air. Dozens of priests' lives had been traded for a single arm. Batalok did not care. The command had not yet been fulfilled. For him now, that was the only thing that mattered.

With a beastly roar, Batalok continued to unleash his onslaught upon the priests of the goddesses. Chaplin and Desteran followed behind him, but he paid them no mind.

Golden sword light tore across the earth. Dozens of priests died all at once. And the price was paid. Desteran's aura chains crushed Batalok's right leg.

Then another golden slash ripped through the air. Dozens of priests died all at once again. This time, Chaplin's aura blade took Batalok's left arm, blood spraying as it was severed.

It was a pitiful sight, considering the glory Batalok had once possessed as the Martial King of Taledo, revered as one of the Four Martial Kings. Unable to protect himself due to the command not to defend, he ignored Chaplin and Desteran, focusing solely on killing and killing the priests.

Even for a martial king and death knight, this state could not last forever. At last, Batalok, drenched in blood, fell to his knees. As an undead, he had no breath to catch.

"The command..." He simply let out a dull voice, trapped within his slowly crumbling flesh. "I must... fulfill the command..."

The silver chain-sword whistled through the air. In his current state, he could not even dodge Desteran's attack. His head, covered in a thick beard, was severed and flew into the air.

It was a hollow end for an absolute powerhouse who had once reigned as the absolute among all who held a blade, one of the Four Martial Kings.

Retracting his chain-sword, Desteran frowned. "What the hell..."

Chaplin wore a similar expression. "What just happened?"

They had defeated a martial king, yet felt no joy. How could this be called victory? Undoubtedly, they had been outmatched. Had Batalok not begun acting like a madman halfway through, it would have been Chaplin and Desteran lying dead by now.

Why...

Why did he go so far to slaughter the priests?

Their questions never found an answer. At that moment, a change was felt in the senses of the aura users. From far away, from somewhere impossibly high, something was felt. Chaplin and Desteran jerked their heads upward at the same time, startled.

"What is this?"

***

The sky was trembling. Warriors who handled the world's aura, mages, priests, and necromancers alike, anyone who had reached a certain level of mastery realized it.

Something was happening. It wasn't just in the capital. A change could be felt across the empire, no, across the entire continent's skies. But no one knew exactly what it was.

It was neither hope nor despair. Neither fear nor exultation. It was simply pure bewilderment.

—What is that?

—What on earth is happening?

Lapicel felt it as well. "What is this, exactly?"

Of course, neither Serati nor Leven knew the answer.

"Uh, well, I don't know?"

"It feels weird, though..."

The change was so vast that countless people could sense it, yet almost no one could grasp what it meant. But it was different for the Cult of the Black God.

Staring up at the sky, Diogres' voice trembled. "How could this be..."

Even Giyen Ren wore a look of confusion. "How could you..."

Head lifted, Emil Strauss mumbled vacantly. "This makes no sense..."

Even though the enemy before him was blatantly exposing openings, Varos could not take advantage of them. He was just as bewildered as Emil was. Varos blinked dazedly as he spoke through the telepathic link.

—Uh, Young Master? This feels kinda like you.

The words seemed nonsensical, but Karnak understood immediately. Something was coming from beyond the dimensional void. A being that wielded immense malice and death energy, ruling over death. The Master of Darkness, the Immutable Evil, the Abyss that roamed the realms of hell.

It was undoubtedly an existence that could only be called a Monarch of Death. And at this moment, if there was another Monarch of Death besides Karnak himself, there was only one possible being. "Tesranach?"

***

Tesranach is descending? How? Karnak was certain he had destroyed all of the Shadow of Doom. Was I deceived?

That did not seem likely. Karnak had thoroughly interrogated the souls of Leoslav and Relfiana, uncovering the Cult of the Black God's plans with meticulous precision. Having completely subdued their souls, the fallen popes had no choice but to tell him the truth.

At the very least, he had not been deceived by them. Then was it possible that Emil, Giyen Ren, and the others had hidden the full plan even from the fallen popes? That felt off as well.

In the capital, the Cult of the Black God had moved with a crystal-clear purpose. They had fiercely guarded the Shadow of Doom, sparing no means or sacrifices to protect it. If they had intended to deceive him, there would have been no reason to endure such heavy losses.

Then what on earth is this...

Suddenly, Karnak realized that Emil was wearing the same expression as he was. He too stood there, staring blankly into the air, unable to comprehend the situation. Now, if he were Tesranach, how would he have acted? The answer came immediately when he put himself in Tesranach's shoes.

Tesranach, you bastard! Karnak's face contorted. You deceived your own followers too!

In the first place, the Shadow of Doom had never been a requirement for Tesranach's descent. What truly mattered was the hierarchy of divinity. So long as Tesranach's divine rank across the continent surpassed that of the seven goddesses, that was enough!

Then why go to such lengths to gather the Shadow of Doom? They put far too much effort into it for it to be a mere ruse.

Once the thought process began, deductions quickly followed. The being currently tearing through dimensions and approaching undeniably possessed power enough to shake the world. But it was not to the extent of bringing about the apocalypse.

I see now. The one descending right now is Tesranach as the Monarch of Death.

It was a partial success. They had prevented the descent of the God of Death by detonating the Shadow of Doom, but they had failed to stop the Monarch of Death from returning to this era.

"I don't know what's going on, but..." Amid his confusion, Emil began to smile once more. No matter how the situation had turned, one thing was certain. "My true self is coming!"

The sky wept. The world tore apart. The dimension split open, and a colossal presence descended. It made no impact on the material world itself, leaving ordinary people completely unaware, yet for those attuned to the world's energy, it was an overwhelming change in its purest form.

Varos grumbled.

—What's with that guy, making such a grand show of returning? When we came back, there wasn't even a single dark cloud in the sky.

For them, it had simply been a matter of closing and opening their eyes to find themselves in this era.

Karnak shook his head.

—It's different for him.

Everyone who had returned so far had done so only in the state of their souls, unable to bring any of the mighty powers they had once possessed in the future. Tesranach, on the other hand, had raised all that chaos precisely to return while keeping all of his powers intact.

—Yeah, fair enough.

Varos, who had been nodding blankly, suddenly asked a chilling question.

—But, Young Master, if that bastard is returning now, whose body is he going to possess?

Karnak and Varos had both returned to their past bodies. It had been the same for the future martial kings and archmages as well, their souls descending into the bodies they lived in during this era.

Then what about Tesranach? Who exactly was he in this era? It wasn't entirely impossible to guess. Judging from the circumstances thus far, it was likely Karnak himself, and according to Demphis, possibly Varos.

Karnak swiftly prepared a necromantic spell.

—Varos, get ready for a vassalization contract!

This was in case Tesranach ended up taking over Varos' body. It would be much harder to expel Tesranach than it had been with Leven. After all, he too was a Monarch of Death.

But in the worst-case scenario, at least Varos' soul could still be saved. Varos flinched and retorted.

—Are you going to kill off all your other vassals, then?

—Do we have a choice? Or do you want to become Tesranach?

—Well, no, but...

At least Karnak had grown strong enough now that he had the leeway to claim Varos as a vassal if needed. Of course, as Varos pointed out, most of his other vassals would have to be abandoned.

Fortunately, I won't need to release Serati.

He didn't cast the vassalization spell immediately. There was still a good chance Varos wasn't Tesranach.

—What if you're Tesranach, young master?

—Then I'll ditch this body and get out right away, so grab my soul and run for it!

Once preparations were complete, Karnak looked up at the sky.

—All right, who is it? Who's Tesranach?

***

The change ceased. The trembling in the sky stopped. Varos turned toward Karnak warily. "Young master?"

Karnak sent a similar look back. "Varos, is it you?"

Varos scanned Karnak suspiciously. "Are you really the young master? You're not some fake, are you?"

"What would Tesranach gain from doing that?"

"You always lied even when you had nothing to gain, young master. Why can't Tesranach do the same?"

Karnak blinked. It was oddly convincing. "If that were the case, I would've already turned into a ghost and latched onto your body."

On the other hand, if Tesranach had possessed Varos, he wouldn't have been speaking in that tone. That was unmistakably the way a man who had spent over a century as a servant would speak.

"You're still Varos, huh."

"And you're still you, young master."

At the very least, it was certain that Tesranach had not descended upon either of them.

"Then where did Tesranach go? Did it fail, maybe?"

"Doesn't look like it, judging by his face."

Just as Varos said, Emil was staring up at the sky, immersed in ecstasy. And beyond him, through the shattered roof of the grand cathedral, the skies above the capital came into view.

Suddenly, the sky split open entirely. Space tore apart, spilling blinding light. It was a phenomenon that occurred when something massive crossed the boundary of space.

In that instant, Karnak realized. Tesranach was indeed aiming for his own body.

It simply hadn't been located here in Thea Krahan. From a place unimaginably far away, Tesranach, having reclaimed his body, was now coming here. A thunderous drum-like sound echoed across the skies above the capital.

Space warped, and the colossal being revealed itself. It was as if a mountain peak had materialized before their eyes.

Vast wings cleaved through the clouds as they whipped the winds into a frenzy. A colossal tail swept across the earth, stretching beyond the horizon. Hard scales reflected the blood-red sky in a constant glint, while the twelve horns sprouting from its head each stood like towering spires.

Varos' voice trembled. "We're screwed, Young Master."

Karnak wore much the same expression. "So it seems."

A dragon, easily five hundred meters in length, gazed down upon the ground with golden eyes filled with haughty disdain. It was the guardian of the world, the dragon god descended to earth, the ruler of all dragons.

The ultimate nemesis whom even Karnak, the Monarch of Death who had once conquered the world, and Varos, the Death Knight Lord, had risked death to face.

"Dragon emperor, Grateria, Karnak muttered in a voice empty of all hope. "So it really was that bastard Tesranach all along?"

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