Karnak, Monarch of Death

The disc of light slowly descended to the ground. The man standing atop the disc stepped down into the square. He was a silver-haired man with blue eyes.

Lapicel muttered without thinking, ”Oh my, he’s handsome.”

”What are you talking about? He’s the enemy,” Serati snapped at her, exasperated.

I didn’t know she cared about people’s looks.

Well, to be fair, he really was good-looking. His eyes were deep, clear blue, his hair gleamed like silver, his nose was high and his features were finely shaped. He was lean but possessed a well-balanced frame. He was clearly in his mid-thirties, yet looked no older than his twenties.

Varos asked over the transmission,

—Looks like it’s really Jedex, doesn’t it, young master?

—Yeah, now that I see him, the resemblance is there.

The Jedex they had known was an old man well past sixty. He hadn’t looked anything like this youthful figure.

—But even then, we thought he’d aged gracefully.

A handsome man aged into a distinguished middle-aged gentleman, and a distinguished man aged into a dignified elder. He had been quite striking in his old age. In his prime youth, of course, he was extraordinarily handsome. And what would happen when such a handsome man descended cloaked in the holy light of the goddess?

Karnak scowled.

—Anyone seeing this would think he’s the hero here.

In fact, a few of the citizens were visibly confused.

”What’s going on...?”

”Has a high priest come to save us?”

Thankfully, only a few were slow to grasp the situation. Most had clearly seen Jedex intervene to save Waraine.

”That wicked heretic scum!”

”They’re using strange sorcery again!”

The cultists had deceived people so many times that even seeing the genuine light of the goddess, they simply dismissed it as another trick. Thanks to that, there wasn’t a major uproar.

Strange. No one seems to recognize Jedex, Karnak thought while scanning the citizens’ reactions.

Jedex had lived in this city under the name Banner Ralphstadder for quite some time, and had even worked as a senior manager for the Tecas merchant guild. It wouldn’t have been strange for at least a few people to recognize his face, especially with looks like that.

Did he go out of his way to hide his face in daily life? But why?

Well, that was a question Karnak could answer soon enough. As he toyed with the black cube in both hands, his eyes narrowed. I’ll get answers when I catch him.

***

Jedex calmly surveyed the square before speaking coldly. ”Pathetic.”

His expression twisted in disgust as he looked at Waraine and the fallen necromancers. ”You acted on your own whims, and this is the result?”

Waraine hastily bowed his head. ”Fo-forgive me...”

”Why didn’t you stick to the plan? You should’ve waited for me!” Jedex shouted.

Watching from the side, Karnak lightly jabbed at him. ”Isn’t it your fault for not showing up earlier?”

Jedex turned to Karnak with a wry smile. ”Well, you’re not entirely wrong.”

Truthfully, Jedex had his reasons. It wasn’t as if he had known Karnak’s group would attack tonight. He had only known an assault would come eventually, just not exactly when.

So he had spent his days preparing for an attack that could come at any time, while maintaining his normal life. In other words, he’d been sound asleep when alarms suddenly rang, and he’d been forced to wake up groggily, rubbing his eyes.

He couldn’t simply leap out of the bed in his pajamas to face his enemies. When enemies invade, you can’t just leap out of bed in your pajamas. You need to wash your face, change your clothes, and get ready for battle.

Of course, the part where he’d peered out the window and sneered, ”Hmph, they’ve finally come,” was just his usual theatrical flair. Once preparations were complete, he had observed the blazing battlefield, waiting for the right moment to intervene.

But then what happened? His subordinates, those fools, had gone out on their own without orders! The timing of everything had gotten completely messed up because Karnak had led the militia and made such a commotion.

Flustered, Jedex had hurriedly left his manor and soared here atop the disc of light. From the outside, it might have looked like a grand entrance, but in truth, it had been quite a scramble. Still, at least he had managed to arrive in time to not miss Karnak’s group

Jedex commanded Waraine in a chilling voice. ”Step back and recover the dead.”

”Y-yes, sir...”

What he meant, of course, was not the corpses but the souls. For necromancers, the soul was far more important than the body. As long as the soul remained, they could simply craft another vessel and place it back inside.

Waraine retreated with a bow. Karnak didn’t bother paying him any attention. For now, his focus had to stay on Jedex. Once Jedex was dealt with, taking care of Waraine would be trivial.

Varos and Leven, Serati and Lapicel, all regrouped at Karnak’s side.

Jedex raised both hands as he glared at them. ”Karnak Zestrad!”

A radiant burst of holy light erupted from his right hand. It was the light of the sun goddess, Latiel.

”How dare you strike down the apostles of Tesranach!”

From his left hand, pitch-black darkness surged forth. It was the power of death, necromantic energy. Light and darkness coiled together, releasing a tremendous surge of force. The sky trembled and roiled above.

”Know that the weight of your sins is as great as a mountain!”

Facing his thunderous cry, Karnak and Varos both smirked.

—Ah, that familiar tone.

—Yeah, no doubt about it. That’s the real Jedex.

***

Light and shadow wrapped Jedex’s entire body. Two forces that could never coexist slid over him, like oil and water, repelling one another but refusing to mix. It was Holy Blessing of divine magic and Veil of Darkness of necromancy.

With his defenses in place, Jedex began to chant his prayer. ”O Latiel, bestow the light of your blessing upon your servant!”

Leven mumbled in shock. ”He’s reciting a prayer to Latiel?”

It was strange enough that a heretic serving Tesranach could wield divine power, but to go so far as to pray to the sun goddess herself?

”Shouldn’t that not even work?” Lapicel wondered aloud.

Serati clicked her tongue. ”Exactly. Is the goddess just that gullible?”

”Si-sister, that’s kind of a blasphemous thing to say...”

Varos also asked Karnak over the link.

—What’s going on, young master?

—Not sure yet. Even I’m surprised.

Whatever the reason, the prayer seemed to have worked. Light pierced through the air, suffusing the battlefield with divine energy. Soon, radiant knights formed from light rose up around Jedex. There were seven of these knights, fully armed with spears, shields, and armour made of light.

Karnak recognized the technique immediately. ”The Blessing of the Seven Guardians?”

It was one of the highest-tier spells of Latiel’s divine magic.

Karnak frowned. His divine power is stronger than I expected.

Not even Alius, the famed high inquisitor of Eustil, could wield divine power to this degree. He wasn’t quite at the level of the popes Karnak had seen in his past life, but at the very least, he seemed to rival a cardinal.

How did he amass that much divine power after returning from across time?

There was no harm in probing for answers. Karnak casually baited him. ”Hey, is it really okay to go begging Latiel like that? Won’t Tesranach cast you aside?”

Unfortunately, it didn’t work this time.

”Why should I reveal such sacred secrets to the likes of you?” Jedex sneered while drawing forth even more necromantic energy.

While the Blessing of the Seven Guardians was certainly a powerful spell, it did have its limits. Individually, the knights’ combat power was about on par with a typical red-tier aura user. They weren’t weak by any means, but underwhelming for what was supposed to be a top-tier divine spell.

Holy magic by its nature excelled in defense and healing, but its offensive power lagged behind other disciplines like magic or aura. This was one of the reasons the Seven Popes were often considered inferior to the Three Archmages or the Four Martial Kings. But if necromancy were to be woven into it...?

”O demons of Gehenna, become armor of blood to shroud the light!”

Crimson armor clamped over the seven guardian knights. Their weapons and shields, too, were rapidly stained a blood-red hue.

Serati blinked at the sight. ”Wait, that looks like...”

Leven turned to her and asked, ”What’s wrong?”

”It’s nothing, really... I just saw that once before.”

More precisely, she had worn it once before. Back when she first fought Lapicel, who had wielded the cursed sword Mareda, it was the same blood demon’s armor that Karnak had draped over her.

An ominous energy now poured from the winged knights, and agonized screams rang out from every direction. Having beings of light wear the armor of a blood demon caused them unspeakable torment.

Serati’s expression clouded. Huh... I felt perfectly comfortable in that armor, though...

The seven knights of light had turned into seven knights of blood. And along with their transformation, their power had surged to a level far beyond what it had been before.

This could be a problem, Varos frowned.

—How long are we going to just stand here watching, young master?

Originally, Varos had planned to throw his chain blade at Jedex before the man could even finish preparing for battle. After all, there was no rule that stated you needed to wait for your enemies to get fully prepared before attacking. But Karnak had deliberately stopped him, saying there was something he needed to confirm.

—Have you figured everything out yet?

—There’s still a bit left, but I guess I’ll have to finish the rest as we fight.

Karnak replied with a grin, running his fingers over the twin cubes in his hands.

As magic began to surge from his palms, Karnak shouted aloud, ”I’ll prepare a spell! Hold them off for just one minute!”

”Yes, sir!”

The four aura users launched themselves forward at once. Simultaneously, the seven blood knights also sprang into action. The two sides collided midair, and a violent shockwave rippled across the plaza.

Varos’s chain-blade danced through the air, intercepting three of the blood knights at once. Serati charged after two more knights who tried to slip past. Unwilling to let their backs be exposed to her, the two knights turned immediately to face her.

Leven and Lapicel each took one opponent for themselves. The knights were now on par with blue-tier aura users after being clad in blood demon armour. Despite their power, Karnak’s group possessed unusually high combat abilities for their level, and they managed to hold their ground. The fierce melee continued.

Both sides aimed straight for each other’s core: Karnak and Jedex. Whoever’s line broke first would lose, and neither side gave an inch.

Amid the thunderous blasts, Karnak rapidly completed his spellwork. ”A beam of light falls from the heavens, becoming a star, and within it shall be etched the scream of ecstasy...”

He built the spell calmly, letting the chaotic mana flow while sorting through the information he had gathered from Jedex. As soon as Jedex had arrived, he had swept away the summoned elemental giants in an instant. But it hadn’t been through overwhelming force.

Instead, he had freed the poor, tormented elementals from their brainwashed servitude through the benevolent light of the goddess.

No wonder they were all so eager to go back.

It meant he possessed genuine, untainted divine power. And divine power was the natural nemesis of necromancy. No matter how advanced the techniques, there was no overcoming such an overwhelming disadvantage.

While Karnak had kept his distance from necromancy, Jedex had steadily accumulated divine energy, widening the disparity between them even further. On top of that, as a former pope, Jedex was highly skilled in divine magic as well. It wasn’t as if he lacked technique.

It seems like necromancy won’t work against him. Still, Karnak wasn’t too concerned. No matter. I’ve got plenty of tricks left with chaos magic!

Smirking, Karnak ran his fingers over the cubes in his grip. He had been holding back precisely for this moment, waiting for Jedex to reveal himself. Thanks to that, his mana reserves were still plentiful. Finally, everything was ready.

Twelve grey magic circles flickered into existence behind Karnak. ”Necromantic magic, Ashen Meteor!”

The tangled chains of mana ignited all at once.