Karnak, Monarch of Death

"In the name of the Master of Darkness, Karnak Zestrad, I ask you: Diogres Kolon, will you become my vassal?"

"I will."

"Then open your mind and accept the contract."

Black mana swept over Diogres' soul. By the contract formed through mutual consent, every structure of his soul fell into Karnak's grasp. Thus, the archmage Diogres Kolon became Karnak's vassal.

As the ritual concluded, Diogres let out a low groan. He instinctively understood. He could no longer defy Karnak, could never harm him, and could not reveal any secrets Karnak had forbidden him from sharing.

Diogres asked in confusion. "But... what secrets am I forbidden from revealing, exactly?"

Karnak pointed a finger. "Alright, your turn, Serati."

"Yes." As if she had been waiting for this moment, Serati opened her mouth. "It's time you heard the truth, Master Diogres."

"The truth?"

"A long, long time ago, there lived a man named Karnak, who was known as the Monarch of Death..."

At this point, Serati had recited the tale so many times that it flowed easily from her lips.

***

In the end, Diogres came to know the entire truth.

"My goodness, so that was the reality..."

It was far greater in scale than he had imagined. Taking the risk of becoming a vassal to regain his power had indeed been the right choice.

Diogres offered a wry smile toward Karnak. "Until I reclaim my original body, I shall live diligently as your vassal."

Serati tilted her head, sensing something odd in his tone. "Wait, weren't you supposed to die the moment the vassal contract was lifted? Does the contract get nullified if you return to your original body?"

Karnak shook his head. "That's not how it works."

Varos had only been freed from the vassal contract because he, together with Karnak, had turned back time, nullifying the contract in the process.

"This is why Tesranach branded his subordinates' souls with the Mark of Contract before sending them out. So it wouldn't be nullified even across time and space."

On the other hand, merely switching bodies within the same timeline, as Diogres had, would not break the contract. If changing bodies could break the vassal contract, then simply going undead for a while and then returning to one's own body would have been enough to dissolve it.

Serati nodded in understanding. "Ah, that makes sense."

Diogres' expression shifted repeatedly as he listened. "Wait a moment?"

He had just heard something he could never ignore. "Even if I return to my original body, I'll still be your vassal?"

"Yep."

"You never said that before!"

"You never asked."

At some point, Karnak had begun speaking informally to Diogres. It was only natural now that he had become Karnak's vassal.

"W-What is this!"

Diogres was about to flare up in protest, but his shoulders slumped. He wanted to resist, wanted to push back, but those feelings faded away. Instead, he felt only the relief that it was better than dying powerless as a weak boy.

Self-justification began to seep into his mind, clouding his thoughts.

So this was what it feels like to become a vassal?

As Diogres sat there in confusion, Karnak grinned broadly at him. "It's already too late. You're already my vassal. There's no backing out now."

Serati let out a sigh. She could never understand how this man managed to swindle people without uttering a single lie.

"But, Lord Karnak."

"Mm?"

"Is there really no way to free a vassal while they're still alive?"

What if you had to save someone precious, but another precious person had already become a vassal? What if you had to choose between the two?

Serati questioned, "Isn't that inconvenient even for a necromancer? You'd think someone would have researched it."

Karnak blinked in confusion. "Precious people?"

It was a phrase he had never really thought about, and for a moment, he looked as though he was trying to recall its meaning.

"Well, I've never found it inconvenient before..." He had simply never had two people he would call precious in his life. "Seems like none of the necromancers before me ever worried about that, either. I've never even heard of anyone bringing it up."

"Wow, how can people be like that?"

"Because that's exactly the kind of person you need to be to succeed as a necromancer."

***

The fact that Diogres had become Karnak's vassal was soon shared with the rest of the party—everyone except Lapicel, that is.

"So you're telling me you were all Karnak's vassals?" Diogres looked back and forth between Serati, Leven, Drel, and Milia, utterly dumbfounded. "Why are there so many vassals? Are you collecting them like some people collect stamps?"

Karnak grumbled in protest, looking aggrieved. "You make it sound like I was going around making vassals on purpose, but I was just saving people, alright? They were in situations where I had no choice but to save them."

Leven, Serati, and Milia all tilted their heads.

"That's true, but..."

"It's not wrong, yet it feels wrong somehow."

"Right?"

Drel, on the other hand, seemed entirely unbothered. "I'm only grateful to Lord Karnak."

After all, he had spent over ten years under the control of his future self and had only just barely been freed. Being able to live in his current state was freedom itself.

"See? Drel has really become a decent person."

"Ugh, that's exactly the kind of comment that gets you unnecessary hate."

"Huh, really?"

Watching Karnak and Serati bicker, Diogres smirked. "Well, I suppose I'm in the same boat."

Even if he had known in advance that he couldn't break the contract by reclaiming his body, he would have become a vassal anyway. There simply hadn't been any other choice. Afterward, he was added to the secret telepathic messaging network shared among the vassals.

—So this is why you all suddenly stare into the air with blank faces?

He hadn't even needed to practice. From the very start, Diogres could handle the messaging magic more skillfully than anyone. After all, this messaging system had originally been developed at the Tower of Dawn.

He had simply never needed to use it for private conversations before because he had always lived an above-board life, but in truth, Diogres was the real expert here. He even ended up teaching Karnak advanced techniques for managing the system.

—There are too many people connected to this messaging network, Lord Karnak. It would be better to separate them into groups.

Karnak pouted.

—I wanted to, but I didn't know how.

—Come to think of it, that part was classified knowledge at the Tower of Dawn.

While he could no longer use the magic himself due to losing his mana, he could still teach the methods. Karnak learned quickly and applied it immediately.

Now, they could manage group-wide broadcasts, one-on-one private messages, and even divide the network into small, private group chats to share opinions.

—Now we can finally talk behind the young master's back.

—And what exactly would you talk about without me?

—Ah? It's not working, Master Diogres.

—Well, the caster of the spell is connected to all of it. Isn't that obvious?

—Tch.

Just like with Drel, a new alias was created for Diogres. His new name became Dios Klein, a simple alteration of his original name. His identity was listed as the apprentice of Karnak, the Evil-Slaying Mage. Given the apparent age of his body, it was the most natural cover.

Varos expressed a bit of concern. "Drel and Dios? Isn't that a bit too obvious?"

A swordsman named Drel, who used techniques nearly identical to those of Dreltein, had suddenly appeared, and now there was a boy named Dios who wielded the Tower of Dawn's magic with skill?

Varos frowned. "I think they'll figure it out."

Karnak did not care. "And what problem would it cause if they noticed?"

It was never about deceiving the Cult of the Dark God in the first place. Even if they used entirely different aliases, anyone who saw their aura techniques and magic would figure it out eventually. With the real Dreltein and the real Diogres Kolon on the other side, it would all come to light in the end. They were hiding it simply because it was awkward to explain to others.

"Besides, for those who don't know, they won't be able to connect the dots just because the names sound similar."

And the Cult of the Dark God could not publicly reveal their true identities either. If it came to light, they would be in just as much trouble.

"As long as it's convenient for us, that's all that matters."

Once he became part of Karnak's group, Dios began his full-scale mana restoration. Whenever Karnak handed over vast quantities of chaotic mana through the Anti-Time-Space Transcender, Dios would calmly channel it and convert it into his own mana.

It was a method that required exquisite mana control. For an average mage, converting even a single grain of mana into their own would take an entire day.

Dios reached the third circle in just half a day. For a former archmage, handling this amount of mana was as natural as breathing.

"From here on, my body won't be able to handle it."

It was similar to Drel's situation. His control over mana had already reached the pinnacle, with nothing more to improve upon. All he could do was wait, hoping this young and fragile body would adapt to the mana with time.

In any case, the results were promising, and Karnak felt a sense of satisfaction. "Alright, with this, Dios will eventually become a usable asset again!"

"But, young master," Varos interjected, sounding hesitant.

"What?"

"It's great that Master Dios is safe and has joined us, but..." Varos asked with clear suspicion in his tone. "What about the emperor? What are we going to do about him?"

The original reason they had desperately searched for Diogres was to create a link to the emperor.

"We haven't actually solved the problem, right?"

"Huh?"

***

The problem turned out to be surprisingly easy to resolve. The moment he reached the fourth circle, Dios came running to Karnak.

"We must secure the emperor's support!"

"The emperor?"

"Yes. Lord Karnak, you may believe your own strength alone is enough, but you must not underestimate their power. We can only hope for victory if we ally with the empire."

"I mean, I know that." Karnak cut him off, frowning. "But how exactly am I supposed to get the emperor to listen to me?"

"Ah..." It was only then that Dios realized his mistake. "I started this conversation in the wrong order. I got ahead of myself."

Taking a deep breath, he began to explain calmly. "I have just now reached the fourth circle as a mage. It means I can now perform my personal technique, Proof of the Tower of Dawn."

"What's that supposed to be?"

"It was a contingency I prepared after what happened with Elezar."

Having lived his entire life relying solely on his own magic, Diogres had only regained his strength through the help of Karnak's group. There was no guarantee such a thing wouldn't happen again. So, he had prepared a method to prove his identity to the emperor, the crown prince, and the mages of the Tower of Dawn.

He had created a magical seal, encoded with a complex personal technique that only he knew, allowing him to prove who he was. The reason he had made it with fourth-circle magic was because that was the level he had been reduced to after being defeated by Elezar.

"I never imagined I'd lose all my mana entirely."

Because of that, despite preparing in advance, he hadn't been able to use it and had gone to find Desteran, enduring all those hardships. Well, even if he had known, he wouldn't have been able to use it since forming the magical seal required at least fourth-circle magic.

"So, basically..." Varos, who had been watching, pointed to the faint glow of the seal that hovered around the boy's fingertips. "You're saying this is your pass to get an audience with the emperor?"

Dios nodded. "If we take this to the emperor, he will meet us immediately."

Varos frowned, unconvinced. "But wasn't that only valid when Master Diogres went missing?"

Now, he had openly turned traitor, even proving his identity as an archmage by using tenth circle magic in full display.

"And now you want to show up with the seal of the Tower of Dawn as your proof?"

"What?" Dios's expression stiffened, clearly not having thought that far ahead.

Karnak shook his head. "It's fine. This is more than enough to convince the emperor."