Karnak, Monarch of Death

The existence of the archmage Elezar could be replaced by Giyen Ren. There were plenty of candidates who could take the place of the fallen pope Jedex. The problem lay with finding a replacement for Dreltein, the martial king.

Originally, martial king Malican Thun was meant to become one of the new Three Saints. But he had yet to cross over into this age. And no matter how hard they searched, they could not locate the present Malican Thun.

Due to the continued interference from the future, history had changed greatly. Because of this, Malican Thun in the present day had taken an entirely different path than the trajectory of the future Malican Thun. At this time, he should have been living in seclusion in his homeland, but where he had wandered off to, even the cult's intelligence network could not discover.

The only martial kings remaining were Beltia of Cyphras and Batalok of Taledo. Batalok was out of the question. To turn that man into a follower of Tesranach would require brainwashing or mind control, but such a feat was impossible unless Tesranach personally descended.

It was fortunate that Beltia served Tesranach purely and faithfully. Had that not been the case, the cult's future would have been riddled with further complications.

It truly is a relief... Valeria recalled her conversations with Beltia, feeling a tinge of confusion.

—By his guidance, I was able to meet my dead daughter once more.

Tesranach had allowed her to meet her daughter's soul? How? After all, they were causing all this chaos precisely to make something like that possible. She could not understand it.

But thanks to that, Beltia was fighting passionately on their behalf, so it was better to keep her mouth shut than to question it. With the birth of the new Three Saints, faith in the Black God began to gather once more. But there was still a long road ahead before they could summon Tesranach's true form.

For that to happen, they needed to reduce the faith humanity placed in the seven goddesses. According to the original plan, the entire continent would have been gradually steeped in the faith of Tesranach.

If Jedex, Elezar, and Dreltein had lived, the entire continent would have fallen into the cult's grasp, and the influence of the seven goddesses would have been gradually diminished, allowing the plan to proceed smoothly.

But they had all fallen. The cult had lost much of its hold over the Alliance of the Seven Kingdoms and the empire. Now, the only option left was to forcibly twist humanity's perception through mass slaughter. They had no choice but to start a large-scale war.

Valeria let out another deep sigh. If it hadn't been for Karnak, so much blood wouldn't have needed to be spilled.

Even so, destiny would not change. The longer they ravaged the empire, the more the faith in the goddesses would diminish. Tesranach's influence would continue to grow, and with the new Three Saints as the focal point, the grace of Tesranach would only grow stronger.

And on the day when the army of the dead reached the imperial capital, Thea Krahan, when the World Tree, Astra Shunaph, spread its branches into this age, the great God of Death would descend upon this land!

***

The next morning, the empire's punitive force launched a full-scale assault toward Astlin City, which had been occupied by the cultists.

They were well aware that something strange had happened within the city during the night. Due to the high walls, they could not grasp exactly what had occurred inside, but how could they not notice the constant flashes lighting up the night sky, the eruptions of flame, and the explosions echoing throughout the city?

Because of this, Commander Nicholas gave his subordinates a firm warning. "We don't know what kind of tricks those cult bastards are up to. Move with caution."

It was an order everyone could easily understand, and the troops followed it faithfully. They carefully approached the city walls. Surprisingly, there was not much resistance. They were able to reach the gates without much trouble, and they cautiously prepared to break them down.

But then—what in the world? The gates were already open.

"Is this a trap?"

"What is going on here?"

Throwing open the gates to lure the enemy in was a classic tactic, so it naturally aroused suspicion. That was, if only the cultists had not reacted so strangely afterward.

"Why are those gates open?"

"Hurry up and close them!"

For a trap, they seemed far too flustered. Still, it could have been an act, so the punitive force entered the city cautiously. Cultists and undead surged toward them from all sides. The soldiers held their ground, maintaining vigilance as they fought back. The situation was manageable for now, but no one knew when things could turn.

What is this?

What are they scheming?

And before they knew it, the battle was over.

Most of the cultists in Astlin City had either been killed or forced to their knees. The undead army had returned to lifeless corpses.

"Huh?"

***

From afar, Karnak watched the situation unfold with a satisfied smile. "This was the obvious outcome."

After all, the punitive force consisted of elite troops hand-picked by the empire. Moreover, many powerful inquisitors, the natural enemies of necromancers, were among them. In contrast, without the two fallen popes, the cult's forces were nothing more than a ragtag mob.

"Did you think Leoslav pulled that all-nighter for nothing?"

Having won, the punitive force swiftly took control of Astlin City and began restoring order. They comforted the citizens, rooted out the remaining cultists, and worked diligently to stabilize public safety. It seemed the commander was a man of considerable skill, as everything progressed without incident.

However, there was one problem even the commander could not solve. "What are we supposed to do with all these corpses?"

When the necromancers fell, the undead they commanded reverted to corpses as well. Nearly ten thousand bodies had piled up across the city like mountains.

If they were ordinary corpses, they could be dealt with by cremation or other means. While it would take an ordinary person an eternity to gather enough fuel to burn them all, a powerful mage could easily conjure up massive flames and turn them to ash.

The problem lay in the malice, the death energy, and the Shadow of Doom that clung to these bodies. Burning them without purification would be akin to spreading a poisonous fog across the entire city.

The ground would become barren, the skies would be fouled, and the citizens of Astlin would slowly waste away.

"Which means we'll have no choice but to have them purified by priests," declared the commander.

"Do you realize how many bodies there are? Ten thousand, ten thousand! How are we supposed to purify all that ourselves?"

"If there's another way, I'm all for it."

"There isn't, damn it."

Even as they despaired, the inquisitors were determined to carry out their duty as best they could. And then, a savior appeared. "Would you allow me to handle this?"

The moment the punitive force laid eyes on the black-haired young man, they immediately understood why the cultists had been so powerless.

"Th-That man is...?"

"Of course! He was the one who punished the cultists!"

"No wonder the gates were left open!"

He was the renowned nemesis of the Black God's cult, famous even in the empire. He was a catastrophe for the cultists, the one who drove out the darkness and brought down justice. He was the Evil-Slaying Mage, Karnak Zestrad.

"Lord Karnak, so it was you!"

"Please, we beg of you!"

Everyone clung to him joyfully, and seeing their warm reception, Karnak and his companions could not help but smile.

—Drives out darkness and brings down justice, huh...

—At this point, it's starting to feel natural, isn't it?

—So this is how people get swept up in scams.

Only Drel looked on with genuine puzzlement.

—But Lord Karnak really did take care of the cultists, didn't he? Why is everyone acting like this?

***

Every one of Karnak's vassals knew one universal truth. Karnak was shameless. But even then, none of them had truly realized just how shameless he could be. In the middle of a large plaza on the west side of Astlin City, mountains of corpses lay piled high. The undead army once commanded by the cultists had reverted to lifeless bodies.

Before these massive heaps of corpses, inquisitors diligently performed purification rites.

"O Allium..."

"Bring your light down upon this place..."

"Cleanse these wicked energies..."

Faint holy light shimmered as the malice and death energy clinging to the corpse piles were drawn out and separated. But this alone was not enough to declare them purified. The separated energies needed to be annihilated.

That required an enormous amount of divine power, something even the inquisitors struggled to manage on their own. Normally, they would seal away the darkness, transport it to the headquarters of their respective orders, and store it under strict supervision.

But there were simply too many corpses in this city. It was impossible to transport all that vast corruption elsewhere.

So Karnak stepped forward.

"By the power of the great providence, I wield this profaned might..." Holding censers in both hands, he chanted an incantation. "Come forth, malice and essence of death!"

Necromantic power rose from his entire body as he began rapidly drawing in the malice and corruption swirling around the corpse piles. By any measure, it was necromancy. Yet the inquisitors were ecstatic.

"Ooh! It's working!"

"The corruption is being absorbed!"

In the most shameless manner imaginable, Karnak was openly absorbing the darkness right in front of the clergy. But the inquisitors believed in a different truth.

—I possess a spell called Mediator of Necromancy. It allows me to indirectly utilize the items of wicked heretics.

It was already common knowledge. In fact, a few high-ranking mages used such techniques themselves. No one doubted him.

—I have here the dark censers taken from these cultists. Using these, I will seal away all the malice and death energy of this land!

And so, in broad daylight, before everyone's eyes, he boldly gathered up the dark energy.

Incredibly, the moment all that malice and corruption entered the censers, they disappeared without a trace. Even the sensitive clergy of the goddesses could not sense the slightest trace of darkness.

"Astonishing..."

"How in the world does it work like that?"

The undead army that had invaded Astlin City numbered ten thousand strong. On top of that, the empire's own dead added to the count.

Naturally, the corpses were piled high not just in this plaza but throughout the city. Karnak went around to each of these places, absorbing all the malice. It was a task that took more than half a day.

After cleansing the entire city, he immediately handed the censers over to the priests. "Please, let the Church of the Goddesses keep these safe."

"Ah, understood."

Taking the censers with the utmost care, the inquisitors once again felt deep admiration. Truly a hero.

The amount of darkness Karnak absorbed over more than half a day was unimaginable. No matter how tainted the power might be, the sheer magnitude of it was undeniable.

And yet, he was giving it up so easily? Not a hint of greed flickered in his eyes. There was not the slightest hesitation in the way he handed them over. Karnak truly had not the slightest interest in this dark energy.

Thank the goddess that such a man has no interest in necromancy.

Returning to his companions, Karnak wore a bright smile. "All right, that cleans up this city nicely!"

Serati muttered in exasperation. "Ugh, if only he'd just keep his mouth shut..."

In truth, this was the reality: Naturally, the dark censers had no such function to absorb the dark energies. In reality, Karnak had placed several depleted Anti-Time-Space Transcenders inside the censers and recharged them. With countless priests diligently casting purification spells at his side, siphoning off the energies was easy.

Anti-Time-Space Transcenders did not leak any energy externally the moment they absorbed darkness. Not even Karnak, the former Monarch of Death, could sense anything from them. There was no way the priests could detect it either.

And so, after siphoning off all the malice and death energy in the city, Karnak had simply slipped the Anti-Time-Space Transcenders back into his pocket and casually handed over the empty censers. Of course, no matter how thoroughly they checked the censer, they would find no trace of darkness within it.

But the church of the goddesses still knew far too little about necromancy. Rather than suspecting that the famed Evil-Slaying Mage had tricked them, they would simply believe that the censer contained something beyond their understanding. It was a perfect crime.

Karnak shrugged.

—Why? I cleaned up, didn't I?

Serati hesitated.

—That's true, but... why does it still feel so unsettling...

Regardless, everything had wrapped up nicely. They had extracted valuable information about Tesranach through the fallen popes and fully recharged the Anti-Time-Space Transcenders. There was no longer any reason to linger in Astlin City.

"All right, let's get a free meal from the temple and get out of this city!"

Karnak licked his lips in anticipation, but Milia promptly doused his excitement. "They won't be feeding you. All the temples here have been destroyed."

"But there are priests among the expeditionary force, aren't there?"

"Priests eat army rations when deployed. Obviously."

"Gah!" With a grave expression, Karnak turned to his longtime retainer. "What do we do, Varos? We're out of packed lunches."

Varos mirrored his grave look. "I will locate the nearest surviving restaurant immediately!"