Becoming the Dark Lord

A man stood there. Long hair, sharp eyes, skin pale as moonlight. He had the same kind of beautiful, youthful face she did, even though he was in truth decades older than Erza. Julian Grimhart.

“It’s been a while, little sister,” Julian said.

“Looks like I destroyed your favorite puppet. Still identical to the last time I saw it,” Erza said, stepping back.

Julian glanced at the broken doll. “That’s going to be annoying to repair.”

“Good. I’m out of patience for mind games, Julian.”

“Says the fake Erza,” he replied.

And then Erza shattered into fragments. The door opened, and the real Erza stepped inside.

“There’s only one way to settle this, Julian.”

A fight to the death.

“What you do is nothing but a trick, little sister. Temporary. But what I do...” Julian looked down at the shattered remains of the false Erza on the floor. “What I do is art.”

He moved his hands, pulling invisible threads, and something wrapped in cloth beside him slowly unrolled. At some point, it had been a corpse. Now it was cleaned up and dressed well. A middle-aged man wearing pieces of armor.

“And who’s this new toy of yours?” Erza asked.

“The name doesn’t matter. This individual is a vampire... or rather, he was a vampire when he was alive. Though vampires are not exactly alive to begin with. You understand.”

Julian flexed the fingers of both hands, and the corpse moved. He was controlling it like a marionette. Erza knew exactly how dangerous Julian was. He had developed something unique, a talent that belonged to him alone. A technique no one else in the family possessed. Something that had even drawn P’s attention.

Julian still carried both souls inside him, but by refining the doll bloodline skill every Grimhart possessed, he developed the power to place his second soul, born from the family’s doll lineage, into a corpse. When he did, the dead person’s system reactivated, and Julian could control them like a puppet. It was the perfect fusion of all his gifts. Julian had never devoted much of himself to class levels, but when it came to profession... he was terrifyingly powerful.

“A vampire...?”

The corpse stirred and drew a sword. Julian was controlling every movement.

“That’s right, little sister. But not just any vampire. A vampire baron.”

The puppet lunged with blinding speed, sword carving a crimson streak through the air.

He’s using vampire skills.

Erza twisted away, her threads yanking her backward. In the middle of the sword strike, the baron raised one hand like a pistol.

A blood bullet.

A shot of blood fired from his fingertip, streaking toward her. Erza knocked it aside with a dagger.

“What do you think, little sister?” Julian asked. “Being devoured by a vampire. That would make for a wonderfully fitting death. Right before you become my puppet.”

Julian laughed while the vampire pressed the attack. Erza kept deflecting, testing him.

“Does the family know you want to kill me?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill you anyway.”

Mid-strike, the vampire opened its mouth and spat out a ball of webbing. Erza gave ground, weaving back as the creature triggered another burst of speed, giving her no opening to counterattack.

Julian’s weak in a direct fight, but the puppet is covering that weakness.

He had improved. Erza knew he could already force a corpse to use every skill it had possessed in life. But as far as combat movement went, Julian had always struggled.

“It’s all a matter of having a sharp mind, dear sister.”

The vampire’s free hand shifted, nails extending into claws. It began slicing through the threads Erza was using to guard herself from the sword strikes.

“I’m sure it is,” she said.

Erza hurled a dagger into the vampire, her Witch class imbuing the blade with [Cursed Weapon].

He’s not feeling pain from the Curse, but the effects are still there.

The wound on the vampire began to glow purple, and she triggered [Cursed Tear]. The injury split wider under the added [Curse] damage, and Erza took the opening, driving in at his neck. At the same instant, Julian appeared behind her, poised to strike.

“You’re not good at this.”

Erza spun, flinging a spray of glass shards into Julian’s face. When she moved to press the attack, the vampire jumped in front of him, shielding him with a barrier of blood.

Erza stepped out from one of the mirrors and struck Julian across the back. The vampire baron lunged for her, but she ripped the sword from his hand with a thread and fired another shard of mirror.

[Impact Curse activated]

A pulse of violet light burst from the mirror, hurling the vampire backward. Erza dropped a hand to the carpet.

[Fabric Curse activated]

The rug twisted under her will, coiling around the vampire and pinning him in place.

Julian retreated. “The vampire had a second class, little sister.”

The carpet tore apart, and arrows came flying at Erza. The vampire spat webbing that shaped itself into arrows before being fired from a bow. A huge webbed net shot toward her. Erza dodged aside just as Julian, manipulating threads, brought down the hanging bodies from the ceiling in a single motion. They hit the floor and began to move, every one of them smiling, still clad in armor and gripping their weapons.

No. Don’t tell me he can replicate his technique across more than one person.

“Don’t worry about that, sister. I’m not that skilled yet. Not enough to apply my art to another living being completely. But I’m still a very good puppeteer.”

And the bodies attacked. They’re alive. Erza slipped between their blows, realizing they were not truly dead. They were in a deep sleep, their bodies simply being controlled. Julian kept retreating while, at the same time, the scattered wooden toys around the room began to move as well.

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The vampire kept firing arrows at Erza. Each one smashed into pillars and shattered stone. She ran through the barrage, avoiding the attacks and cutting straight toward Julian. The vampire leaped in to protect him and came at her with his claws.

“Help me!” someone screamed, waking from the sleep of control. On top of the person’s head, a toy monkey clapped its hands.

The man ran toward Erza. The monkey flashed, then exploded. Erza came out of the smoke with her eyes burning.

Poison.

Then Julian slashed at her with a dagger. The blade caught her. When she tried to kick him away, the vampire attacked from behind. Erza turned in a tight spin, binding the vampire in threads and severing his head.

[Curse Flames activated]

The threads ignited in purple fire, consuming the vampire’s corpse.

“Give it up, Julian. In a duel, you lose to me.”

The controlled people kept coming at her, shouting, weapons in hand. Erza dodged each attack, searching for her brother.

“Would you really be able to kill your beloved older brother?” His voice echoed from somewhere unseen. Julian was hiding among his toys.

Then the door burst open.

“Lady Erza, we came to assist you,” her maids called as they rushed in.

“I told you to stay away!”

The walls shook. The ceiling was beginning to fail. The pillars that still stood could no longer hold the weight.

“But you called us.”

“I did not call you!”

Then Florence’s head came off.

“Ah, sorry. That was me,” Julian said from behind Florence’s body, and the voice coming out of him was Erza’s.

Damn it.

The others turned to attack him, but before Florence’s headless body could even finish falling, it jerked back upright. Her severed head was pulled into place by a thread.

“I am back in your service, Lady Erza,” Florence said, laughing.

She was his puppet now. And she was dead.

“Get away from her!” Erza shouted.

Florence raised a hand, conjuring flower petals and sending them slicing through the room. Erza moved to strike Julian, who was controlling everything from behind a pillar, but Florence jumped into her path.

“Little sister, are you really going to kill your adorable servant?” Florence said with a laugh.

“Hold still!”

And the maids froze.

“I didn’t say that. He’s copying my voice!” Erza shouted.

Then the toys exploded, wounding them. Julian had already slipped away.

“That’s why I love absolute devotion,” Julian’s voice said, echoing from every toy in the room.

Still laughing, Florence began hurling razor-sharp petals at the injured maids. Then something struck her in the back.

“Sorry, Florence,” Joanna said, lifting her up on the end of a spear.

Florence’s body went limp.

Then she turned her head all the way around.

“And who said I died?” she said, laughing as spikes burst from her body.

It was Florence’s epic skill.

“Puppets don’t need hearts.”

“Get out of here. You’re only getting in my way,” Erza snapped, yanking Joanna aside and saving her from a killing blow. Even so, Joanna took spikes through the stomach.

Then all their wounds began sprouting thorns, sending waves of pain through them.

“I’ll handle Florence,” Joanna said.

Erza did not answer. She was already after Julian. He was running. The bodies he controlled were piling up in front of the doorway. Erza threw a shard of glass, activated [Impact Curse], and blasted them aside. She chased Julian down the corridor while explosions sounded behind her. The throne room was collapsing, battered by traps and Julian’s sabotage, but there was no time to turn back.

“Little sister, are we playing tag?” Julian shouted.

Erza flung a shard of glass ahead and emerged from it, attacking him. Julian blocked by raising a puppet, and Erza stopped at the last second. It looked exactly like Anne. That instant of hesitation was enough. Julian struck.

Erza engaged him directly, but Julian kept dodging, then broke away again, throwing black spheres onto the floor that burst into smoke.

“Little sister, your fear of what I’ll do to Anne is blinding you,” Julian’s voice said.

When Erza rushed into the next room, it was only a toy repeating his voice.

Damn it.

She focused on [Assassin’s Tracking], but his footprints were gone.

The magical smoke hid them. Bastard.

He knew how assassins worked. So Erza sharpened her senses and focused on sound instead.

Found you.

She ran through the corridors, ignoring Julian’s voices coming from every other direction.

“I’m over here, little sister.”

“Look what I’m doing to Anne now.”

All lies. All bait. Then Erza kicked in a locked door. Julian was inside, trying to pull the sheet off something covered up.

“Don’t move, Julian. I promise I’ll make it quick.”

“Will you? I’m half-doll too, sister. I can recognize a good lie when I hear one.”

He turned toward her with his hands raised in surrender. The sheet slipped down. Underneath was a puppet identical to their doll mother.

“That’s what she is, sister. Just a puppet. Not our real mother, and she never loved us. She’s a manufactured lie.”

Erza felt the rage rise inside her. “Shut your damned mouth.”

Then suddenly the puppet began to glow.

“Let’s see which one of us survives this, little sister.”

The door slammed shut, yanked closed by one of Julian’s threads, and then he threw himself backward through a window. The doll exploded. The entire place came down. The floor vanished beneath Erza, and she dropped.

She caught a glimpse of the sea. The room had been perched on the edge of a cliff. Falling, she seized one of her threads. Rubble tore past her on the way down. Pain ripped through her as she hung there by one arm. The other was injured. She nearly cursed when the violent jolt of stopping made the wound split open even further.

“I lost the bastard,” she said, staring down at the water.

Below the cliff, the waves crashed hard, but she could also see halos in the water. Dozens of them. Each one teleported a person somewhere different, and Julian had almost certainly escaped already, leaving traps waiting at the exits of the others.

He wanted me to find him.

She climbed back up the thread and returned to the ruined chamber.

The locator deactivated. Damn it.

The locator she had earned as a reward for clearing a Phase 1 Beacon had already burned out. Now, trying to track Julian at this point, knowing how her brother operated, would be nearly impossible.

“Lady Erza,” a figure said as she entered the room.

It was Joanna. Erza kept her dagger raised.

“The others are alive. They’re wounded.”

Then Joanna saw the injury and ran to her.

“You’re badly hurt, Lady Erza.”

“I know. It hurts.”

“Where is your brother?”

“He got away.”

“I’ll take you to be treated. Lean on me.”

Erza missed Anne. “At times like this, my healer would already be here.”

“She was badly hurt in the explosion, Lady Erza. Shall I bring her to you?” Joanna asked.

“I wasn’t talking about that one. But yes, bring her. I have no interest in walking around for nothing.”

Joanna ran down the corridor. Erza bent and picked up a shard from the broken doll, one bearing the face of her doll mother.

“I’m sorry I tried to kill your son. But I’m going to try again.”

Then the face cracked in her hand. Erza sat down and pressed a hand to her wound.

“I saw the commotion from a distance, and look who I find here,” a voice said from above.

When Erza looked up, she could not believe what she was seeing.

“You? But you died a long time ago,” she said.

The person made a show of looking confused. “And you saw me die?”

No. That was impossible. Erza was certain that person had died back in the tutorial.

“Who are you really?”

Was this one of Julian’s games? Because there was only one person Erza had helped bring back from the dead in that tutorial, and the one standing in front of her now was definitely not that person.