Necromancer Of The Black Bible (144)

“Th-that’s sophistry.”

Kael shook his head and stepped back.

But Verdin did not stop.

He took another step closer and continued speaking.

-You know not about death, but I do. Your guess is baseless.

Verdin struck at the heart of the matter.

Kael wanted to deny it, but no proper words came to mind.

Verdin spoke to him again.

-There was a time where I thought like you. Loyalty to the king. Honor. Conviction. I thought such things were more valuable than death. But it was all meaningless.

There was sincerity in Verdin’s voice.

What had once mattered to him vanished like dust after death.

The plan to recover Princess Lillian was only about keeping a promise he had made to himself.

It wasn’t done out of expectation for anything.

And now, as a phantom knight, there is no one from his past who will reward him.

Just as everyone here regards him with revulsion, those who knew him before would be the same.

-You are a disposable item. They have already discarded you. They do not hope that you will defeat me. Their intention is to raise the soldiers’ morale through the deaths of you and the other knights.

Again, Kael could only concede.

What he had deduced about the situation wasn’t much different from what Verdin had said.

-Either way you will die. If you take my hand, you will be given a second chance.

Kael mustered the courage to ask.

“If I don’t take it?”

-It will turn out as you suspect.

The words were laden with many implications.

From that, Kael identified a few facts.

One was that not every corpse becomes undead.

The other was that there are differences even among those resurrected as undead.

‘Gerhardt and Krause, whom I killed, were different from this one.’

They were just the sort to walk slowly and swing their weapons mechanically.

Even a low-grade golem made by a novice mage can do that.

But the spectral knight before him was different.

He moved more nimbly than a living man and his intellect was superior.

Though outwardly a headless specter, he was no different from a person.

Having gathered his thoughts, Kael spoke again.

“If I take your hand, will I become like you?”

-Me?

“I mean… become a headless ghost like you.”

Verdin snorted a laugh.

He hadn’t cared how people saw him until now.

He was originally a spirit, but the iron collar around his neck had materialized him.

Materialized spirits are usually invisible to human eyes.

‘Perhaps that’s why they’re called ghosts.’

Verdin answered with a faint smile.

-You won’t become like me. My case is somewhat special. However, some of my other companions look the same as they did in life.

“Who decides that?”

-You do.

It was an astonishingly radical statement.

After a moment’s thought, Kael realized all Verdin had said was very favorable to him.

So he asked again.

“Can you swear by God that it’s true?”

Verdin answered with a laugh.

-I swear to my Master that nothing I have said so far is untrue.

Kael’s expression changed.

He was starting to believe Verdin’s words.

He asked the final question.

“Why are you offering me this?”

-Because you resemble me.

Verdin stepped closer to Kael and continued.

• And there is something I’d like to ask of you.

“A favor?”

-If I keep my promise to you, you’ll do me a favor.

“What is it?”

-I’ll tell you after I keep my promise.

Kael nodded.

At that moment, Verdin moved.

At first glance it was a simple, light movement—one that could be followed with the eye and seemingly evaded.

But Kael could not stop him.

Like a gust of wind, the blade came in naturally; though plainly visible, it pierced his heart.

Immediately after, Kael blinked several times, and suddenly the previously unseen face of the ghost knight appeared.

A man with long ash-brown hair falling to his shoulders.

His gray-blue eyes, seeming to look into Kael’s own, looked somehow sorrowful.

Kael stared into his eyes until he fell to the ground and his breath ceased.

And the moment he closed his eyes, memories from the past surged like a storm.

Verdin watched the scene calmly.

At that moment, soldiers’ voices were heard nearby.

“Lord Kael has fallen!”

“Damn it!”

“Three knights taken down by that monster!”

“I can’t stand it!”

“We must have revenge!”

It was the expected reaction.

After several shouts, the sound of drums followed.

It was the drumbeat of an advance.

As Verdin turned toward them, Natasha’s voice was heard.

-Stand still there. Laerin is doing something right now.

Verdin waited silently.

The sight of 3,000 cavalry charging toward them at once was spectacular.

He had participated in wars in life, but had never faced three thousand alone.

Forces too numerous to take in at a glance were charging solely to kill him.

It was then.

Rumble-

Thunder rolled out from the thick, overcast sky.

The sound shook the whole land, and a lightning bolt struck down.

Kwarararak-

A massive bolt struck amid the three thousand soldiers.

The bolt blackened hundreds of soldiers, turning the battlefield into chaos in an instant.

That was not the end.

Kwarararak! Kwararak! Kwak!

Lightning kept striking from the sky, each time reducing, at most, a hundred and at least dozens of soldiers to ash.

Verdin had never seen magic of this scale.

‘Is this the power of an elementalist?’

He thought perhaps this was why mages had looked down on them.

-Don’t be too surprised. Master has arranged it.

-Master?

-The spirit Cirrhnua, whom Laerin serves, swore fealty to Master. This might be her gift.

Verdin nodded.

If it was his Master Damian, then even the most powerful spirit would be loyal.

‘Authority over death. There is no power that surpasses it.’

Verdin looked down at the dead Kael.

His body was growing cold, and his soul hovered above, sinking into turmoil.

The chaos experienced immediately after death.

The soul undergoes this period of confusion, reviewing its life and recognizing death.

Only after emerging from this can Necromancy be used.

Verdin drew his sword and cut down a few charging soldiers.

Corpses littered the battlefield.

Thanks to the lightning strikes from the sky.

As the dead continued to pile up, the castle gates opened again and someone appeared.

It was Natasha.

No one recognized Natasha, who had appeared alone without a word.

Her appearance was not as splendid as a noble’s or a general’s.

She wore black glasses which made her stand out, but with lightning constantly striking it was hard to pay attention to her.

Natasha approached Verdin with unhurried steps and spoke.

“Need some help?”

-Is it possible?

“Well, we’ll see if it works.”

Natasha examined Kael’s soul floating in the air.

Kael had his eyes closed as if dreaming.

When Natasha placed her hand over his head, his entire spirit began to tremble.

Then he soon opened his eyes.

-Ah.

It was the first word of someone who had awoken from the flash of memories.

Both Natasha and Verdin had experienced that state, so they could easily guess why Kael was like that.

Verdin spoke.

-How do you feel?

Kael tried to raise his spirit as if getting up, but he had difficulty finding his balance.

Verdin steadied him, and then Kael spoke.

-It’s a strange feeling. I can’t feel anything. Where is this? I can’t see anything.

Kael groped around as if blind.

Natasha, watching him, spoke.

“You need to focus. Everything is visible, so nothing seems visible. Do you remember the moments before you died?”

-…Yes.

“Think back to then.”

Kael did as she said.

He concentrated and recalled the scene he had seen right before dying.

The dull sky and Brandstein Castle visible in the distance.

The three thousand soldiers staring at him.

Recalling that cleared the blackness that had filled his vision.

The silhouette of Brandstein Castle was the first thing he saw.

Next to come into view was Verdin standing directly behind him.

His appearance was identical to how he had looked right before Kael died.

-So it really was you.

Verdin answered with a faint smile.

-So, how do you feel?

-It’s peculiar.

-Then shall we begin?

Kael immediately understood what Verdin meant.

When Kael nodded, Verdin placed his hand on the iron collar around his neck and spoke to Damian.

-Master. I am ready.

-Very well. Understood.

At that moment, three small beads that had emitted a faint glow on the collar began to shine brightly. The light thickened, drew out, and engulfed Kael’s fallen body on the ground.

Then it connected to Kael’s spirit standing with Verdin.

When the greenish mana shone, Kael’s spirit was slowly drawn back into his corpse.

And then.

“Huh?”

Kael confirmed his voice had come out as a physical sound.

Though his heart remained pierced and cold, his body began to move again.

Then a voice sounded inside his mind.

It was a voice Kael had never heard before.

-I am your Master. Do not forget that, by contract with Verdin, you have been given a second chance.

-Ah, I understand.

The moment Kael answered, a new world unfolded before him.

A palace made entirely of white.

Looking ahead, a man sat upon a throne.

Kael sensed that this was the man who had just called himself his Master.

Following the customs of the former Empire, he approached and knelt on one knee before him.

Damian looked down at him and spoke.

-Verdin kept his promise. What will you do?

-I will… keep it as well.

-I will remember those words.

The conversation ended there.

When he came to, Kael found himself back on the battlefield from moments before.

The difference was that now all his senses were vivid as if he were alive.

Kael rose to his feet.

Standing before Natasha and Verdin, he looked at Verdin, who spoke.

“Did you meet Master?”

“…Yes.”

“Now it’s your turn.”

“Speak.”

Verdin faced him and answered.

“Consider me your superior.”

“……”

He had guessed as much.

What Kael had received was no ordinary thing.

A second chance.

And a body that does not die.

Looking at his palm, it felt real.

Then Natasha, standing nearby, spoke.

“If you’re not satisfied with the body, I can change it. I can use some magic.”

“No. This is fine.”

Kael liked the fact that his heart had been pierced in this state.

With the proof of being completely defeated by someone etched into his body, each time he saw it he would be reminded of his shortcomings.

Kael knelt on one knee before Verdin and said,

“Relay your orders, Sir Verdin.”

Verdin raised a finger and pointed toward the hill and said.

“Kill them.”

There were twelve thousand Imperial soldiers stationed there—those Kael had just belonged to.