Karnak, Monarch of Death

In one of the hideouts of the Twilight Church within the capital, a small wooden house stood. Inside the kitchen, a boy with messy dark-blue hair was hurriedly shoveling down a hastily prepared pork stew. "Mmm, this is good. Don't you have any wine?"

The kitchen hand, dragged in late at night to cook, snapped back bluntly. "What kind of nonsense is that, asking for alcohol when you're underage?"

"Really, for a bunch of criminals, you're picky about the weirdest things," responded the boy.

"We're no longer a crime syndicate. We are faithful servants under the guidance of Lady Serakal, living within the twilight."

Judging by the middle-aged cook's tone, he seemed to be the same type as Desteran. He was another fanatic. Giving up on the wine, the boy, Diogres Kolon, tore off pieces of bread and stuffed them into his mouth.

Karnak's group watched blankly from across the kitchen. A great archmage was now stripped of all his mighty powers and reduced to a child...

Leven let out a wry chuckle. "Why does this feel so familiar?"

When they had first met, Diogres had already been sealed, reduced to the level of a fourth circle mage. But now, he didn't even retain that level of power. Varos and Serati clicked their tongues.

"That man truly lives a rough life."

"Doesn't he, though."

Drel, in particular, looked the most uncomfortable. The Diogres I knew was a legendary archmage...

To Dreltein ten years ago, Diogres Kolon had been a distant, untouchable existence. It was only after Drel had reached the realm of the martial king that they had stood as equals. Watching this scene now was difficult to process.

Diogres, for his part, didn't care how others looked at him. He continued to eat fervently, focusing only on filling his stomach.

Lapicel, who was watching from the side, spoke up in concern. "Could you... eat a little slower? You'll get a stomachache..."

She trailed off, unsure whether to use polite speech or casual speech. After all, while he looked like a child, he was still Diogres Kolon on the inside.

"This much is fine." Replying like an old man despite being a child, Diogres shot a glare at Desteran. "You should've just fed me in the first place."

Desteran, looking wronged, shot back. "What was I supposed to do? When a random child suddenly shows up claiming to be the archmage, who would believe that?"

"Didn't I show you proof?"

"And that so-called proof was just recounting the events we went through together, wasn't it?"

Before the Black God's cult had appeared, the two of them had been enemies. Naturally, they hadn't known each other well enough to prove their identities to one another.

It was only after Desteran rescued Diogres and they fled together that they came to know each other a bit more, but the incidents from that time were things the Cult of the Black God knew of as well.

"Of course I was going to suspect it was some scheme by the cult."

"Then you could've just come to see me yourself, even once."

"I told you, I wasn't in any position to do that."

Desteran was already a significant thorn in the side of the Black God's Cult. He was constantly disrupting their operations within the capital. While big names like Giyen Ren or the future Diogres—as he was referred to as now—had no interest in someone like Desteran, the cult's operatives could not afford to ignore him.

They had tried more than once to find his location and eliminate him. Even if Desteran was one of the strongest silver knights, there was no way he could stand against a martial king or an archmage. So he had to keep moving and hiding.

And a boy had suddenly appeared in the midst of this, claiming to be Diogres Kolon and begging to see Desteran. It wasn't unusual to see delusional people like that, so Desteran hadn't been particularly surprised. But his suspicion had been aroused further when the boy begun recounting the details of their escape together.

Desteran felt wronged. "Wouldn't anyone find that suspicious?"

What if the boy's words were true? Desteran had seen it with his own eyes when Diogres Kolon, the traitorous archmage, had unleashed tenth circle magic while conquering the capital.

How could they be an imposter when they were using tenth circle magic? Of course, he hadn't believed the boy's words. But ignoring them entirely was also impossible because what the boy had said were details only known to Diogres, Desteran, and the Black God's cult.

Milia, listening to all this, clicked her tongue inwardly. Honestly, this was Master Diogres' fault. The way he said things was bound to cause misunderstandings.

Desteran himself had purposely avoided going near the boy. It was possible the cult was using necromancy to manipulate a child in order to track Desteran's location. Instead, he had ordered his subordinates to capture and confine the boy, instructing them to interrogate him and make him spill the truth.

Recalling the interrogation, Diogres ground his teeth. "Those bastards!"

The only small mercy was that, since Search Black had now joined the Twilight Church, they hadn't resorted to the brutal torture methods they once would have used.

Because the prisoner was a child, they had settled for issuing a few threats and depriving him of food. They had assumed that alone would be enough to break his spirit and make him talk.

Leven looked at Diogres with pity in his eyes. "So that's why you were starving, then?"

"They only fed me just enough to keep me alive," responded Diogres.

It was while he was being worn down like that that Karnak's group had arrived in the capital.

"I see." Karnak nodded, having grasped the general situation on Desteran's side. Now it was time to hear from Diogres. "What exactly happened?"

"Well, you see..." Diogres let out a heavy sigh. "Something unimaginable occurred."

He looked around at everyone with a serious expression. What he was about to reveal now was a secret that could shake the entire world. "The one currently occupying my body is none other than my future self!"

Karnak's group all made peculiar faces at once.

"Ah."

"Uh, so..."

"Mmm..."

The reactions were not what Diogres had anticipated, and his expression twisted in frustration. "Did you not understand me? I said the future Diogres Kolon has crossed into this timeline!"

At the same time, he had learned why Elezar and Dreltein had suddenly changed. "They, too, were undoubtedly possessed by their future, corrupted selves!"

This was why, despite becoming a powerless child and suffering through endless hardships, he had sought out Desteran at all costs. "Even if I had become a useless existence, this much I had to reveal to the world. That's why I... I..."

He was passionately pouring out a world-shaking secret, so what was with their lack of reaction? The boy's expression contorted strangely. "Why do none of you look surprised?"

***

Karnak also explained the situation to Diogres, though only to the extent he had told Desteran. Upon hearing it, Diogres slumped deeply, crestfallen. "I went through all that suffering just to deliver this news..."

The hardships he had endured flashed before his eyes like a revolving lantern. They had all already known, while he had been starving in that cold cell, desperately steadying his resolve.

Diogres, now overcome with bitterness, snapped. "You could have told me sooner, couldn't you? I would have been more cautious if I'd known!"

Karnak scratched the back of his head. "Well, you see..."

It had simply become a habit to hide as much as possible and avoid explaining things. It was a common trait among those who had committed many sins.

Karnak continued with his excuse. "I didn't expect things to turn out like this, you know? The Twilight Church isn't exactly publicly recognized, is it?"

Well, there was no undoing what had already happened. Since it wasn't an entirely unreasonable explanation, Diogres let out another heavy sigh.

Karnak shifted the topic. "By the way, how did you end up inside that child's body? You never studied necromancy, did you?"

"Well, about that..."

It had happened a few days before the emperor summoned him and Batalok. While enduring Desteran's relentless pestering as usual, he had received word that a visitor had come to see him. Seeing it as a chance, he had used it as an excuse to barely escape Desteran's clutches.

The visitor turned out to be a handsome young man in his twenties.

—I am Emil Strauss, the eldest son of Gellard Strauss.

—Ah, the son of the late Lord Gellard?

Diogres Kolon had not been personally close with the Martial King of Delphiad, but there was no reason to suspect the young man's identity. There was no trace of dark energy about him. The Strauss family crest he presented as proof of identity was genuine. Above all, he bore a striking resemblance to Leven Strauss.

Even if none of these had been the case, Diogres would not have suspected him. Why would a tenth circle archmage, a supreme existence in the mortal world, feel the need to be wary of a young man in his twenties? Whatever tricks the youth might try, Diogres had the confidence to crush them all with ease.

Saying he had something important to discuss, the youth had asked to meet privately, and Diogres had dismissed those around him to receive Emil alone. When Emil extended his hand for a handshake, Diogres had naturally taken it. In that instant, lightning struck his soul.

"It was then that he came. It was my future, corrupted self."

Recalling the event, Diogres let out a deep sigh.

—In accordance with the guidance of the great God of Death, Tesranach, I now answer the summons...

The moment their souls met, he knew. The opponent he was faced with was the Archmage Diogres Kolon—himself. There had been no time to ponder how such a thing could happen. Even shock or confusion had been a luxury he could not afford at that moment.

Gritting his teeth, he fought against the encroachment, enduring and enduring again with the formidable willpower befitting an archmage. But his opponent was also an archmage, just like him.

—Surrender, my past self. Accept your true self.

In the end, he had to admit it. No matter how long he held out, it would only delay the inevitable, not change the outcome. He needed a different approach. But how could he possibly escape this bizarre situation of himself trying to consume himself? Magic could not resolve it.

"But then it suddenly crossed my mind that necromancy might make it possible."

What the other wanted was the vessel of the present. The future Diogres was trying to merge the two souls to seize Diogres' current body.

"So I abandoned my body and fled with only my soul. That was how I barely managed to escape."

Shaking his head, Diogres wiped his forehead. Even now, cold sweat ran down his back when he recalled the tension of that moment.

"So..." Karnak still wore a look of confusion. "You're saying you used necromancy to escape? But how?"

Necromantic power and mana could not coexist. At present, the only ones capable of such a feat were Karnak's party and those belonging to the Cult of the Black God.

No matter how much knowledge and wisdom he possessed that could shake the heavens and earth as a great archmage, how could he possibly use necromancy without necromantic power?

Diogres nodded. "Of course, I don't possess necromantic power."

Then, with a faint smile, he looked up at Karnak. "But there's a way to use necromancy indirectly, isn't there? Wasn't it you who spread that method?"

It was magic that extracted and calibrated the dark power from forbidden objects belonging to wicked heretics. He was referring to Mediator of the Necromancy.