Karnak, Monarch of Death

A new knight was appointed in the Zestrad territory. He was a man in his early thirties with a dependable, rugged demeanor.

"I am Drel Rixton. I look forward to serving you."

Needless to say, Drel Rixton was the revived Dreltein. Varos, Lapicel, and Leven Strauss were individuals who would only become famous in the future. Since they were relatively unknown in this era, they could use their real names without concern.

However, Dreltein Helix was the Martial King of Kretas. He was simply too famous. Thus, he could not go around using his real name. So they had created an alias by rearranging his original name.

Granting him a completely new name risked the occasional slip of the tongue, so they purposely renamed him close to his original name to keep it natural. The appearance of a mysterious new knight was rather suspicious, but the knights of Zestrad did not find it strange at all. After all, it wasn't the first or second time something like this had happened.

Their lord had a habit of returning from trips with aura users. Serati, Lapicel, and Leven had all appeared in Zestrad as its knights one day, as if they had fallen from the sky.

"By the way, Sir Leven is no longer one of our knights, right? He's the head of the Strauss family now."

"Well, officially, that's true..."

"But he's still out there training in the training ground, isn't he?"

"And he still acts the same as ever."

They were all simply curious. After all, every knight Karnak had brought in had turned out to be far from ordinary. They had all reached realms of aura mastery that others could only dream of. In particular, Lapicel had managed to become a purple knight at such a young age.

Since all the newcomers had been such powerful figures, the knights couldn't help but wonder. Just how strong was this Sir Drel? Red? Blue? Purple?

Their expectations shattered the moment they watched Sir Drel's training. At first, his posture seemed respectable enough. His swordsmanship looked convincing as well. But his stamina, especially his endurance, was abysmally poor.

After swinging his sword only a few times, he was already gasping for air. The conversation between him and Varos went something like this.

"Gah! I can't breathe!"

"Would you like to take a short break?"

"Let's do that."

Despite his solid build and seemingly experienced demeanor, his stamina seemed worse off than even a common farmer, let alone an aura user.

He's all looks and no substance, isn't he?

Why on earth did the lord make someone like him a knight?

***

Dreltein had become Karnak's vassal, but it wasn't the Martial King of Kretas who had become his vassal. Just like Leven, Dreltein was not yet a martial king at this point in time. He had been at the level of a silver knight ten years ago, when his body had been taken.

It was the Dreltein of the future who had ascended to the position of martial king. Still, a silver knight was undeniably a formidable force. And it was certain that he was someone who would become a martial king in the future. Karnak was delighted, thinking he had secured a valuable ally.

But Varos corrected Karnak's misunderstanding with a single comment. "He won't be much help for a while."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Don't you remember what it was like for us right after we returned from the temporal regression, my lord?"

They had lost all the overwhelming power with which they had once conquered the world. In fact, they had to resort to desperate tricks in a trivial duel against a local nobody named Randolph.

"It's the same situation for him. He's only just gotten a new body. There's no way he can immediately utilize his former power," commented Varos.

Karnak wasn't convinced. "I accounted for that much, which is why I pumped him full of chaos aura using the Anti-Time-Space Transcender."

"Yes, he'll probably be able to use aura. Although, that's probably all he can do."

Karnak only fully understood Varos' words when Dreltein, now called Drel, finally displayed his aura. "Hm, so this is how it feels."

With a serious expression, Drel lowered his sword and controlled his breathing. A dazzling silver aura wrapped around the blade, radiating a brilliant light. It was a beautifully clear aura, befitting a silver knight.

But then... "Urgh, this is as far as I can go."

The aura suddenly flickered out, and Drel collapsed. He fell to the ground while panting heavily, clutching his forehead as if he were suffering a massive headache.

Karnak, dumbfounded, shouted, "What do you mean, as far as you can go?! You only activated your aura for three seconds!"

Seriously, how could a man over 180 centimeters tall collapse like a delicate princess?

But Dreltein had something to say in his defense. "Is there some noble law that says kings and dukes can't faint? If you run out of strength, you fall."

He still retained his ability to handle aura. He still remembered all the martial arts and swordsmanship he had learned. Moreover, since his new body had been created using his original corpse as a catalyst, he wasn't suffering from any notable side effects. Everything should have been perfect, but there was one thing missing.

Drel was kind enough to point it out. "This body hasn't been trained at all."

The artificial body Karnak had created was that of a healthy adult man with no defects. But having no defects wasn't enough to match up to an aura user. His body wasn't accustomed to martial movements, nor to the methods of controlling aura. For a while, he would have to devote himself to correcting this imbalance.

Varos explained. "It's just a normal body, so there's no way it can endure using a silver-tier aura."

Karnak scrunched his brows. "Can't he just lower the level of his aura like you and Lapicel, and use it sparingly?"

"We could do that because we were martial king-level. Sir Drel here isn't his future self yet."

He was in a situation similar to Leven's. He had the talent to become a martial king in the future, but for now, he hadn't reached the level where he could properly control his aura.

"Even Lady Lapicel could only do it when she was her future self. She couldn't when she was still a child."

Karnak asked, "So when exactly will he be useful, then?"

Varos shrugged, as if it were obvious. "He'll probably be about like I was. If he trains for about six months to build up his body, he'll at least reach the level of an average knight."

Once he reached that point, his ability to handle swordsmanship and aura would allow him to recover his strength exponentially.

Karnak was at a loss. "So what should we do now?"

Varos gave a helpless shrug, as if the answer was obvious. "Feed him plenty of meat and put him through hellish training, what else?"

***

Drel regained his original strength far faster than expected. After all, he had once been a martial king candidate and had reached the level of a silver knight. Unlike Varos, he hadn't used shortcuts, and unlike Leven, he hadn't started from the bottom. Most importantly, he could still use his aura even now.

By briefly activating his silver aura for even just a second, he could place strain on his body and recover quickly.

However, Serati could only gape in horror as she watched him undergo his training. "Isn't it dangerous if you make even the slightest mistake doing that?"

If he lost balance while circulating silver aura in an untrained body, his joints, ligaments, and muscles would be torn to shreds in an instant.

Drel's response was simple. "Then I won't make a mistake."

It was like a man performing tightrope acrobatics on a single rope over a cliff, saying, "I've done this plenty of times. I just need to stay focused."

It turned out just fine, since he truly didn't make any mistakes. He was built differently, as expected of someone destined to become a martial king. Burning with the desire for revenge, he pushed his body to its limits with unwavering passion, even utilizing aura in his training.

"Damn that bastard Dreltein!"

The fact that the Dreltein of the future was already dead meant nothing to him. Given that it involved Tesranach and necromancy, it was obvious Dreltein would return someday as a death knight.

During this time, the others also focused on their training. Varos, alongside Leven, aimed to break through to the next level, and Lapicel would dash to the training grounds with Serati as soon as their knight classes ended.

Thanks to them, the training grounds of Zestrad saw the most dazzling scenes since their construction. Every afternoon, the grounds would flash with blue aura, purple aura, and silver aura at every corner. And in the midst of it all, what caught Drel's eyes was, unsurprisingly, the ash-haired girl. There he saw a girl in her teenage years wielding purple aura with ease.

He had to ask. "Who in the world is that girl?"

"Huh? You don't know Lapicel?" Varos was momentarily puzzled but quickly understood.

Come to think of it, there was no way Drel would know about her. It was the Dreltein of the future who knew Lapicel. Since Drel was now receiving secret magical transmissions as well, Varos discreetly explained.

She, too, is the soul of a martial king from the future.

What! Then that child also had her body stolen by a future soul?! How monstrous!

Uh, well, it's... complicated.

He wasn't exactly wrong, but he wasn't correct either. Scratching the back of his head, Varos continued.

You see, in the future, she fought against the Monarch of Death and lost, and her soul was torn apart. She ended up living as a gatekeeper, then was used as an experimental subject and thrown into this timeline. The young master did something to help, so now she's with us, having lost her memories.

Drel's face went blank. Wasn't Karnak the Monarch of Death? So he had torn apart her soul, but then also saved her?

I don't understand any of this at all.

Let's talk over drinks tonight. It's too long to explain here.

And so Drel settled for the rough explanation. Varos? A future martial king-level being. Leven Straus? A modern man destined to become a martial king. Lapicel? A martial king-level girl.

Suddenly, he turned his gaze to the red-haired woman on the other side of the training grounds. Then what about Sir Serati? Who is that woman to be capable of such things?

Varos' expression turned serious. That's something even we find remarkable.

***

Serati had always tried to stay positive. If I work hard enough, I'll get there.

She didn't. The limits of talent were cruel, and no matter how hard she tried, she could not break past the realm of a blue knight. Yet, there was still merit in her effort.

With a sharp cry, Serati's blue aura blade cut through the air, and it clashed against Leven's purple aura blade.

It was Leven who was sent flying. Despite a clash between a blue knight and a purple knight, the one at the higher level, Leven, was the one who had been overpowered.

Leven blinked in disbelief. "Why is your blue aura so ridiculously strong?"

Serati shrugged. "Beats me."

All of them had completely made the energy received from Karnak their own. Using this opportunity, they received a new infusion of chaos aura. Varos, Leven, and Lapicel were all on the verge of breaking through to the next level. They were now striving to overcome it.

In contrast, Serati still couldn't even sense that barrier. There was still a long path she had to walk as a blue knight. Considering her age, it wasn't all that strange. Yet a bizarre phenomenon had taken place.

Her level was clearly at the blue-tier, but in terms of aura capacity and output, she even surpassed the purple-tier. When facing her head-on, even Leven and Lapicel were pushed back. However, the moment techniques such as deflection or redirection came into play, she was easily defeated. Her insight and mastery remained at the level of a blue knight.

"I asked Lord Karnak about it, but he said he had no idea either." Serati let out a long sigh as she gazed down at the blue aura gathered along her sword. Then she spoke the words that had become a habit for her recently. "I really don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing."

***

For a while, Karnak remained in the Zestrad territory. There was no reason for him to move. The Black God's Cult was as quiet as a mouse after losing Elezar and Dreltein. In fact, they were so quiet that it made one wonder if they had been wiped out.

All they managed were a few scattered minor skirmishes, which the Kings' Order of the Seven Kingdoms, the Brigade of Purification, and the Twilight Cult could handle without issue. Karnak had already spread his information networks across all of them.

He simply continued to rest while waiting for a new development. Soon enough, the change finally came, but it came from a direction he had never expected.

—Archmage Giyen Ren has invaded the Lacania Empire, leading the fairies and dragons!

The report came simultaneously from Search Black, the Twilight Cult, and the Brigade of Purification. There was no room to doubt the credibility of the information. Yet Karnak found it hard to believe.

Archmage Giyen Ren was, above all, the supreme guardian of the fairies. It made sense that he would command elves and dwarves, but... "The dragons are listening to him? Why?"'