Karnak, Monarch of Death

With the plan set, Karnak's party began preparing to depart for the empire. Among them was Drel, who had yet to fully recover his strength.

Karnak attempted to convince him from joining the departure. "Wouldn't it be better for you to finish rebuilding your body here at the estate? You still haven't regained your full strength."

Drel remained firm. "I can continue rebuilding on the road! It's not like we'll arrive overnight anyway!"

He had spent nearly ten years trapped in the hellish depths of unconsciousness. There was no way he would miss his chance to take revenge on the future Dreltein.

"That man will return, won't he? If things go just as you said, Lord Karnak."

Defeating Tesranach's followers was never truly a victory. They would surely return as death knights or other undead.

"Well, that's true. Or so I said, but strangely enough, none of them have come back yet."

There were quite a few souls Karnak had let slip through his fingers. Not counting the minor lackeys, he had lost grasp on major figures like the future Leven, Gellard, Elezar, and Dreltein.

"In Jedex's case, it's hard to tell whether the soul simply scattered or returned to Tesranach."

And souls that had once returned through time still belonged to this era, even after death. This had already been proven when the soul of the future Leven, expelled from Leven's current body, went on to use the body of Emil Strauss.

And yet, it had been oddly quiet as of late. As far as Karnak knew, none had returned so far "Could there be some specific condition that needs to be met? Perhaps Giyen Ren's reckless advance is his attempt to fulfill that condition."

***

After taking Ment Citadel, Giyen Ren continued his advance. His momentum was unstoppable, and under the might of Giyen Ren's forces, three more eastern fortresses on the road to the capital fell.

Of course, the empire did not simply stand by and suffer defeat. It gathered its elite troops to form a punitive force, and to buy time, it amassed forces in the city of Jaksum, which lay in the path of Giyen Ren's advance.

Stationed there was the eastern branch of the Brigade of Purification. They were used to dealing with the unpredictable movements of the cultists, making them quick to mobilize. Thus, a force of 5,000 was quickly gathered and deployed to Jaksum City.

Each soldier was an elite familiar with necromancy, and with sturdy fortress walls at their backs, they could even hold out in a siege. With such a force, they should have been able to withstand any assault. The problem was that the assault was anything but ordinary.

***

Beyond the horizon, a massive plume of dust rose into the sky. The ground began to quake as thousands of monsters charged forward, letting out frenzied roars.

Orcs and trolls, goblins and kobolds, and all manner of monsters, their eyes crazed with madness, began to scale the fortress walls. They were quickly struck down by arrows, stones, and spells.

"You filthy beasts!"

"Where do you think you're crawling up, huh?!"

The eastern branch of the Brigade of Purification had long been seasoned in live combat against cultists, and the imperial soldiers under their command were equally well-trained. They did not retreat but met the swarming monsters with fearless resistance. The problem lay with the other force approaching from the opposite side.

Thousands of corpses approached the fortress walls with spears and swords while letting out chilling groans. Among them were those clad in familiar attire—the corpses of imperial soldiers and civilians who had died when previous fortresses fell.

"Those cursed bastards!"

"They're even denying the dead from their rest!"

The Brigade of Purification's aura users, accustomed to dealing with undead, stepped forward to confront them. But they quickly confronted and blocked by elves and dwarves with grey skin, who were commanding the undead forces. These elves and dwarves charged with black aura-infused weapons in hand.

"In the name of Tesranach!"

"May the blessing of death be upon the heretics!"

Nearly thirty elven and dwarven death knights advanced, a number matching the aura users of the Brigade of Purification.

"How are there so many monsters that can match aura users?"

Still, they somehow managed to hold the line. Dwarven warriors possessed tremendous strength but lacked stamina. Their short stature also meant shorter reach. Elven warriors could move swiftly and precisely, but their light weight made it hard for them to deliver powerful strikes.

These innate racial weaknesses remained even after they became death knights. Thanks to that, the aura users of the brigade were managing to hold their own.

Emil Strauss clicked his tongue while watching the prolonged siege. "The empire truly isn't to be underestimated."

Even the elven and dwarven mages of the Golden Branch Society were not performing as well as expected. They were continuously thwarted by the fortress barrier spells set up by the imperial magic tower.

Giyen Ren adjusted his grip on his staff and spoke. "I shall step in."

If he unleashed a tenth circle spell here, he would surely be able to turn the tide of battle.

But Emil shook his head. "There's no need for that."

He gestured over his shoulder. "It's your turn now."

Two sturdy young men and two beautiful young women bowed their heads respectfully.

"As you command."

"Agent of the King."

Their gazes were fixed on the dark blue glow swirling around Emil's fingertips. It was a beautifully glimmering light, an instinctive mark of submission they could not deny. The four men and women soon began to transform, and soon, four massive dragons spread their wings and soared into the sky.

***

A dozen or so adolescent dragons followed the adult dragons and took to the air. Adult dragons had gained sentience, and they had the power to take on the form of intelligent races such as humans and elves. However, the adolescent dragons did not possess this ability.

Thus, they had been waiting, perched on the ground nearby, until the order was given. The sight of twenty dragons taking flight at once was truly spectacular. Soon, a massive shadow loomed over Jaksum City.

Soldiers screamed in terror.

"D-Dragons!"

"Damn it!"

"Why are there so many of them?!"

The dragons stirred up strong winds with the flap of their wings, and darkness enveloped parts of the fortress walls. Dozens of torrents of flames rained down upon the city. The screams of humans filled the blazing battlefield.

Of course, the defenders of Jaksum City did not fall without a fight. Arrows, spears, and spells continued to target the dragons from atop the walls.

"Keep firing!"

"We have to bring them down somehow!"

Anything that flew was destined to be shot down. This was an era where anti-air spells were far more developed than flight spells. If their opponents had been mages or necromancers using magic to fly, they would have been brought down with little trouble.

The problem was that they were faced with dragons. Most fortress barrier spells included countermeasures against flight magic, making it easy to drop anything attempting to fly over them. But these measures did not work on dragons, who wielded draconic magic.

Thus, they had to be brought down with direct anti-air spells, but dragons could easily resist magic even while flying. After all, they were a race born to fly.

It was an entirely different matter from creatures that should be walking on two legs using the cheat of magic to forcibly take to the skies. For dragons, flight was in their nature.

Spells continued to explode around the dragons, yet few of them suffered any serious damage. They circled endlessly over the city, spewing out dragon breath again and again. After three days, destruction finally swallowed the entire city.

***

Jaksum City, once fallen, had become a living hell. Monsters roamed every street, while undead and wraiths spread the stench of death. Flames flared in every alley, and corpses littered the roads. The screams of citizens echoed under the black banners of Tesranach.

Blood overflowed in every direction. Among the ones suffering the most wretched fate were the clergy of the Seven Goddesses.

"In the name of Tesranach!"

"Round up these filthy dogs of the goddesses!"

Countless monsters, under the command of elves and dwarves, set out on a hunt for priests. Some of the fairies, too, had once been priests who served Ta'al, the only god of the fairies. Yet now, having become necromancers who wielded foul power, there was not a shred of sanctity left in them.

Many priests were captured and slain. Those who barely survived were taken as prisoner, and there was no guarantee they would live to see tomorrow.

Grelda, a priest of Alium, Goddess of the Moon, was among them. Yet her fate was slightly different from the others. For some reason, she alone was taken separately and brought before the leaders of the enemy.

Trembling in fear, Grelda looked at the beautiful elf standing before her. That's the archmage Giyen Ren...

Giyen Ren wore a satisfied expression. "I've found you."

The young human man in his twenties standing beside him nodded. "Seeing her like this, she truly is young."

Giyen Ren said, "Young to the point of being a child."

Even in her fear, Grelda found herself puzzled. Who exactly was this human youth that he could speak so casually to the archmage? At that moment, the young man stepped forward in front of Grelda and raised his right hand. A dark blue radiance gathered at his fingertips.

What is that...?

It was neither mana nor aura, neither divine power nor necromantic energy. It was an entirely unfamiliar force, something she had never sensed before. With the light gathered at his fingertip, he lightly touched Grelda's forehead.

That was all there was to it. There was no unfolding of some complex ritual. Yet, black flames suddenly burst forth from Grelda's entire body, engulfing her in a towering blaze. Her eyes widened in shock, only for the light in them to fade instantly, her empty gaze staring into the void.

"Ah?"

Moments later, her eyes regained their focus, but now they shone with a profound, almost unfathomable depth that had not been there before.

Grelda smiled softly at the elven archmage. "It is good to see you again, Giyen Ren."

Giyen Ren returned her smile and welcomed her. "Welcome back, Relfiana."

Then he gestured with his hands to either side. "Show her the respect she deserves."

The elves who had been holding the woman immediately released her and offered her a respectful bow. Yet Grelda did not appear the least bit flustered. "It has been a long time since I have been in this body."

She stood, running her hands over herself as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "So this is what it felt like to have a living body?"

Giyen Ren nodded, as if he understood. "You will adjust quickly. I did as well."

She was no longer Grelda. She was now Relfiana, the fallen pope of Alium, one of the Apostles of Tesranach.

Relfiana then turned her gaze toward the young man, Emil Strauss. "You are the avatar of Tesranach?"

Emil nodded. "That is correct."

She made a comment. "How convenient, that power of yours."

There was no longer a need to subdue the target, bind their body, place them upon an altar, and perform a long, complex necromantic ritual. Now, a mere touch was enough.

Relfiana asked a question. "Couldn't we have used it earlier? Elezar and Dreltein might have survived."

Giyen Ren shook his head. "That is not necessarily the case."

His gaze then settled on the dark blue glow swirling at Emil's fingertips. "It was thanks to their sacrifice that we could use this grace."

Emil let out a dry laugh. "Strictly speaking, they didn't need to sacrifice themselves at all."

The original plan had been for Diogres Kolon, who had returned through time, to fight Karnak. There had never been a need to waste valuable assets like Elezar and Dreltein, who were effectively ruling the empire from the shadows.

But because things had gone awry, they had lost two precious talents, Diogres had become a powerful enemy, and they now had to orchestrate a grand invasion of the empire just to summon back those who had returned to Tesranach.

Clicking his tongue, Emil muttered, "Really, for someone who doesn't even know the full picture, he's astonishingly good at getting in the way of our plans. Well, he was always like that."

Giyen Ren and Relfiana exchanged a curious glance.

Just who is this Karnak...?

And why is the Avatar of Tesranach so wary of him?'

But neither dared to ask.

—Do not seek to know.

For this was the absolute command of Tesranach.