Necromancer Of The Black Bible

I briefly examined the underground hole into which Eckhart had been sucked.

The hole filled with dense darkness soon vanished, and now only quiet breathing remained here.

I looked at Eckhart’s body, sleeping with a peaceful expression.

The soul had been drawn into the Ethereal Realm, but the body still slept alive.

What should this state be called?

Alive, but dead?

Dead, but alive?

‘A state where the soul is gone but the body lives… an interesting topic.’

I wonder what the mages of the mage tower would say if they discovered this.

I stroked my chin and carefully examined Eckhart’s lair.

Then Nocturne’s voice was heard.

If I remember correctly, dragons are not a race created by the god.

-Oh, really?

They wandered dimensions and settled here, drawn by the world’s beauty. They desired immortality and dominion over the world, and the god used their desire to forge a pact.

Nocturne’s summary matched the memories of Eckhart I had just read.

The god granted immortality in exchange for the duty to guard justice—the value of Light—but that covenant is not upheld by the god’s death.

‘If it had been upheld, would this world have been different?’

A world ruled by Light.

What kind of world would that be?

It’s hard to imagine.

Above all, I can’t grasp what justice guarded by Light would actually be.

Could there be a justice other than might?

Nocturne, having read my question, offered an answer.

There are many books that define justice. Most say that power is justice, but some write differently.

-Tell me.

Nocturne listed dozens of “definitions of justice,” but none of the phrases appealed to me.

Then Equinox’s voice was heard.

[Justice is living according to the nature of the god.]

It was a simple, clear definition, but a snort escaped me.

[But we don’t know what god’s nature is, do we?]

[The god’s nature is…]

Equinox paused briefly, then answered in a slow but clear voice.

[To care for the weak, love your neighbor, and strive to establish right relations with all creatures of the world.]

I chewed on that phrase and asked again.

[How do we know that it is god’s nature?]

[It’s written. In the scripture whose name has now been lost.]

[Where is that?]

[It is beneath the main cathedral of the Kallios Theocracy. Ask Eliastra and she will tell you.]

The god’s nature written in the scripture whose name has been erased.

So Kallios wanted to create such a world,

‘The Theocracy did not do that.’

I remember the Kallios Theocracy clearly.

They bestowed blessings and promised salvation only to the chosen.

My master had sharply criticized this as well.

-If someone is truly a god, shouldn’t he care for all creatures he created? Granting privilege only to a chosen few is far too narrow-minded! Those abandoned by god will inevitably follow demons, and to wage war to punish them is truly grotesque!

Seeing it this way, I know who the one with god’s nature is.

It is my master.

My master always cared for the weak.

He gave when the poor asked and listened to the petitions of the weak and wronged.

Even after being betrayed by someone he trusted, he tried to understand him.

Moreover, my master sacrificed himself to give me a chance.

Because of that, I learned necromancy and gained a chance to escape the Demon King’s grasp.

That I succeeded in taking vengeance on the Theocracy, subdued the Lord of Wraiths, and seized the Ethereal Gate to gain a force to oppose the Demon King,

when all is said and done, it was all thanks to my master.

The fact that I did nothing for him in my past life suddenly leaves an emptiness in my chest.

‘If my master had been the god of this world, it might have been a more livable world.’

As I thought that, Nocturne’s voice came.

Master. This is a magic circle.

I looked where he pointed and indeed a magic circle was drawn.

The magic circle was enormous, completely enveloping Eckhart’s sleeping body.

And that wasn’t all.

It appears to have just been activated.

Nocturne was right.

A faint red light seeped from the magic circle.

That meant its conditions had been met and the circle had activated.

I inspected the figures inscribed in the magic circle.

‘It’s not runic. More complex, but it feels pure and intuitive.’

Then Equinox’s voice was heard.

[It’s Dragon-Speech. The meaning is… a warning.]

[Who is it warning?]

The moment I asked, I recalled that the opponent we had just faced, Ragdares, was Eckhart’s “last fang.”

[So it’s sent a warning to the remaining fangs.]

[Eckhart has seven fangs in total. It seems to have warned the other six fangs that the main body is in danger.]

I couldn’t help but snicker.

It was over rather more easily than I’d expected, which left me feeling a bit empty.

‘There’s no way a dragon would end like this.’

It is an ancient Crimson Dragon that made a covenant with the gods at the dawn of time.

Such a creature would not have been without precautions.

After all, dragons are a cunning folk.

Master. You must prepare a countermeasure.

Nocturne urged, but I wasn’t in a hurry.

I had already captured their leader and youngest.

If they gathered here as spirits, I’d fill them with the same “Freedom” and send them through the Ethereal Gate.

‘But if they retain any intelligence, they wouldn’t do such a thing.’

From their perspective, the most rational move is to watch me.

They would see if they could truly win; if not, they’d wait for an opportunity.

I slowly surveyed the communal chamber to see what was here.

Eckhart was frugal for a dragon.

There were no obvious artifacts, only heaps of gold coins and gems.

And the large red crystal in the center still reflected Emma.

‘She said she has her name changed to Erisia now, right?’

I looked at her and recalled the past.

A perpetually mocking gaze and a cold expression that seemed to look down on the world.

But she never showed that to someone stronger than herself.

She would erase the shade and sharpness, smile brightly, and build trust.

Now I can see clearly.

In my past life, I had no way to beat her.

I could only watch from afar with a gaze mixed with envy and resentment.

A scene from the distant past came to mind again.

The image of her smiling when she ordered Andre to strike my knee.

That smile and the one in the crystal now were no different.

Watching her, a strange emotion stirred within me.

‘How should I repay her?’

Revenge is the most important law that governs this world.

And my heart demands the sacrifice of those I hold dear.

‘Can I get past this moment?’

That thought crept in, but I soon shook my head.

Because whenever I asked this in my past life, my master always answered like this.

-You can. One of the truths I’ve learned in life is that if you strive desperately, you will surely achieve it. So strive desperately. Then you will achieve it.

‘How should I strive?’

The moment I posed that question to myself, a thought flashed through my mind.

The memories of Eckhart and Ragdares.

I found an important clue there.

That they want the body.

They intend to seize a body assigned to them and revel in the sweet power.

‘If so, one of the remaining six fangs must be nearby.’

Leopold von Eckhart.

They wouldn’t have left the head of the Eckhart family alone.

I placed my palm on the red crystal before me.

Then I commanded it to show me another target connected to the crystal.

Emma’s image vanished, and someone else’s appeared.

As expected, it was Leopold.

He was watching me exactly beyond the crystal.

When our eyes met, he immediately vanished from within the crystal.

Leopold von Eckhart.

The seventeenth head of the Eckhart family and the mage tower lord of the Valkyr Empire, he had just received a strange signal.

A warning message had been sent from an underground magic circle he had set up long ago.

[The main body is in danger. Prepare a countermeasure!]

This message is sent when the magic circle assumes the most severe scenario.

Specifically, it’s a message activated only in ultra-emergency situations like the world’s collapse.

Leopold, who received the message first, was bewildered.

He’d had the magic circle for over a thousand years, and nothing like this had occurred.

Moreover, since Demon King Belzemon’s disappearance, there was no one in the world who could threaten his main body.

Illinas and Dikrea, who seized the Ethereal Realm after Belzemon, were trapped there and had not posed a threat since.

‘Prepare a countermeasure…’

Leopold mulled over the latter part of the message.

It didn’t call for immediate dispatch but to prepare a plan, which meant the opponent’s power far surpassed his.

So he idly activated the crystal orb.

A crystal orb that can communicate with the main body underground.

-Eckhart. Can you hear me?

He called the name several times, but there was no answer.

‘What on earth happened?’

At that moment, the orb began to project something.

A man with a cold, aloof expression.

He looked at Leopold with eyes seeped in a sinister green aura.

The moment their eyes met, Leopold felt his whole body prickle as if electrocuted,

Unable to bear it, he smashed the orb.

Crack!

The orb shattered completely, but the fear did not fade easily.

His heartbeat remained rapid, and the mana rings around his heart began rotating at different speeds in unease.

A cold sweat ran down his back.

Only now could he understand why the magic circle had sent such a warning.

‘A monster has occupied the lair.’

There was no response from Eckhart’s main body and Ragdarez, who had always been connected.

‘What happened? Could they have been overwhelmed?’

Honestly, he couldn’t imagine it.

Who could possibly annihilate a dragon’s spiritual form?

Such a thing is impossible unless done by a god.

“The god is dead. None of the demons who seized the Ethereal Realm possess such power.”

But now he had to assume the worst.

He had to think that someone with power rivalling a god had intruded in order to plan a response.

“First… I must contact my siblings.”

Leopold rose from his seat.

He pulled a cord hanging in a corner of his office.

With a small click, the space where he stood changed.

A secret chamber of the mage tower lord known to no one.

In the center of that place sat a large chair.

An antique-style chair studded with seven large red gems.

Seated there, Leopold closed his eyes and focused his mind.

After a moment.

The gems began to glow one by one, and communication began.

They were Eckhart’s fangs.

They were Leopold’s brothers and sisters.