Karnak, Monarch of Death

Darkness surged and wrapped around Dreltein’s body. Dark aura began to seep and mix with the golden radiance.

Cloaked in the Shadow of Doom, Dreltein let out a cold laugh. Then he leapt forward without hesitation. The blackened martial king closed the distance to Leven in an instant.

Startled, Leven hurriedly swung up his aura sword. Even in his desperation, the purple aura Leven wielded held great power within it. It was, indeed, a reaction befitting a future martial king. But it was far from enough to handle the current martial king.

”You worthless gnats,” muttered Dreltein.

He swept his right hand, releasing a stream of dark energy into the air. It formed into a shield of darkness, intercepting Leven’s aura blade midair. ”If only I had enough stamina, I would never have struggled to begin with!”

Sparks flew as his left hand shot forward, and the golden blade thrust forward like a spear, aiming for Leven’s heart.

Leven flinched, bracing himself for death. But Varos’ aura blade came shooting toward Dreltein’s neck like an arrow.

Varos shouted, ”Sir Leven!”

Of course, Dreltein had no difficulty countering it. He immediately turned his blade toward Varos, the golden strike shattering the silver aura in an instant as it continued to pierce forward.

Through the scattering shards of silver aura, Dreltein advanced relentlessly. The darkness in his right hand gathered immense power as it struck Varos’ chest.

Varos was thrown several meters back as he coughed up blood, tumbling across the ground.

Diogres hurriedly raised his wand. ”O spear of dawn! Come into my hand!”

A massive spear of light descended, aiming directly for Dreltein’s head. But Dreltein blocked it easily once again. Simply raising his sword and thrusting it into the air was enough to shatter Diogres’s spear of light into pieces.

With his mana drained, Diogres let out a hollow laugh. ”Haha, well, this is...”

Dreltein was exhibiting an entirely different level of power than before. Just moments ago, they had at least been able to put up a fight, but suddenly, Dreltein had returned to his usual overwhelming self.

The tremendous necromantic power was now overflowing from him. Being freed from the presence of his subordinates, he now wielded the authority of the dark god without restraint.

”It seems you made a mistake, Master Diogres.” A thick sneer curled on Dreltein’s lips as he now brazenly revealed his darkness. ”It wasn’t just you who couldn’t go all out because of your precious reputation.”

***

Suddenly, a tremendous wave of dark energy surged from the other side of the fortress. For Elezar, discerning its nature was not a difficult task.

Dreltein? What in the world is he... She was momentarily startled, but soon reached the same conclusion as Dreltein. Ah, I see!

There was no crime to be committed if there was no one watching. The same applied to Elezar and Dreltein.

Laughing aloud, Elezar struck the ground with the Platinum Queen, and the earth trembled as a black magic circle bloomed. In an instant, her entire body was cloaked in a writhing stream of black energy, as if she were wearing a dress woven from darkness. The archliches recoiled in shock.

”Necromantic power?”

”She’s using the power of darkness?”

”Without even caring if her subordinates see?”

Of them, the quick-witted Demphis was the first to grasp the situation. ”Ah! They don’t have anyone watching them either!”

Immediately, Elezar’s power surged like a storm. ”This is as far as you get clinging onto me!”

Turbulent streams of malice spread across the fortress floor like snakes, slithering in every direction. Dozens of black tendrils engulfed the archliches. It was an overwhelming force, impossible to resist.

Kalaf, dodging frantically while casting spells, sent a hurried transmission.

—W-what do we do, Lord Karnak? We don’t stand a chance anymore!

The only reason they had been able to push this far was because Elezar’s mana had been drained from fighting Diogres. But now, she was using necromancy.

Karnak gave no reply. Or rather, Elezar gave him no chance to respond. Had they fought properly from the beginning, these creatures would have been nothing to her. They had only dared to strike while she was exhausted from her battle with Diogres.

How much rage must she have felt, having endured such humiliation at their hands until now I’ll wipe them all out in a single blow!

She gathered the necromantic power she had drawn forth into a single point, transforming it into a devastating authority. Her target was that black-haired young man, the one whose infuriating smirk she wanted to erase more than anything.

”O hand of chaos, bearing the frost of the polar ends, strike with the blow of the abyss!”

A pitch-black waterfall pierced through the air, flowing straight toward Karnak. It was a torrent of such power that it could destroy Karnak, the archliches, and the fortress itself.

Standing before that absolute death, Karnak smiled faintly. ”Oh dear, so you’ve finally realized? You really are disgustingly slow.”

At the same time, he pulled something out from his robes and held it up.

Elezar’s expression hardened for an instant. That’s...?

It was a cube of pitch-black, the Anti-Time-Space Transcender.

Why is that here?

The Anti-Time-Space Transcender emitted an obsidian glow in the face of the dark waterfall. Blinding darkness and black light collided in midair, roaring violently.

The Anti-Time-Space Transcender began to disassemble, fragmenting into pieces. Each face of the cube slowly merged into the fingers of Karnak’s right hand, and a multitude of pains settled into his thumb.

”One.”

Endless hatred sank into his index finger.

”Two.”

Infinite terror imbued his middle finger.

”Three.”

Unfinished sorrow flowed into his ring finger.

”Four.”

Surging madness entered his little finger.

”Five.”

As Karnak folded all five fingers, the last remaining facet of darkness gently settled upon the back of his hand. It was eternal solitude.

Karnak opened his right hand again, lightly brushing the air as he smiled. ”It’s been a long time... since I’ve felt this.”

Elezar blinked blankly. ”W-What is this?”

She could not comprehend what he had just done. Yet instinctively, she felt fear.

”Thank you, Elezar.” Turning to her, Karnak expressed his gratitude with honest sincerity. ”Thanks to you, I’ve succeeded in grasping death with a living body.”

***

Karnak had devoted himself steadily to research ever since obtaining the Anti-Time-Space Transcender. As a result, he had managed to master various methods of using it. Yet all of that was merely superficial.

The most crucial essence—the darkness that composed the Anti-Time-Space Transcender itself—remained completely out of his reach. What annoyed him further was that, being the so-called Monarch of Death, he had figured out exactly how he could reach it.

He simply had to die. More precisely, he needed to become an undead. Of course, he would rather die than consider that option.

Return to being undead just to stop the world from ending? If it ever came to that, Karnak’s belief was to enjoy a grand final feast, tearing into a juicy, dripping steak, and then perish together with the rest of the world.

He wanted to scrape every last bit of value from the Anti-Time-Space Transcender while preserving his precious living body. With this firm conviction, he had continued his research, and eventually arrived at a partial solution.

He needed to strike the Anti-Time-Space Transcender with necromantic power so powerful it could crack its structure. Once cracks appeared, he could separate the fractured cube into various death-infused concepts and manipulate them individually, allowing him to gain what he desired while minimizing side effects. But he realized a problem with his solution.

”When I actually ran the calculations, I realized there are barely any who possess that level of necromantic power.”

Only those like the former martial kings and archmages who had once served under him could barely meet the requirements. No matter how skilled a necromancer might be, none could even come close. And this led to yet another problem.

If Karnak fought Elezar or Dreltein, would they willingly use necromancy as he wished? They were already a martial king and an archmage. They could accomplish their goals with ordinary magic and aura alone, so why would they risk using such dangerous power in front of others?

That was why he had gone to such lengths. It was all to force Elezar to unleash necromancy.

As he examined his right hand, Karnak remarked playfully, ”Powerlessness truly is a pitiful thing. Just to pull off this one stunt, I had to prepare so many things, goodness.”

Elezar’s brow furrowed. ”I don’t know what you’ve done, but...”

It was true she could not comprehend what had just happened. And from earlier, an inexplicable fear had been tightening around her heart, instinctively. Yet, objectively speaking?

All Karnak had done was dismantle the Anti-Time-Space Transcender and attach it to his right hand. It was the very same Anti-Time-Space Transcender that Elezar herself possessed.

”And what do you think you can possibly do with that?” Elezar forced a mocking laugh.

Karnak lightly raised his right hand toward her. ”What can I do with it, you ask?”

He curled his fingers like hooks, then ripped the air apart with a single swipe. ”This.”

***

Two people stood in a bizarre subspace, filled with darkness, where there was no up or down.

”Elezar?”

”Dreltein?”

They stared at each other in shock. The moment Karnak tore the air, all their senses had twisted, and before they realized it, they had arrived in this place.

Dreltein, in fact, had been in the middle of fighting Varos. ”What is this place?”

”I don’t know.” Elezar clicked her tongue as she glanced around. ”It feels like Lord Tesranach’s temple...”

”To call this Tesranach’s temple, you say.” A voice echoed. From the darkness, Karnak emerged leisurely. ”That fellow. Is he really me? Our tastes are frighteningly similar.”

Dreltein quickly raised his sword, grinding his teeth. ”You bastard! What have you done?”

Karnak remained calm as ever. ”If I planned on telling you, would I have gone through all the trouble of arranging this meeting?”

Despite having a martial king and an archmage right before him, there was not a hint of fear in his demeanor.

Dreltein, feeling mocked, scowled. ”How dare you...”

But he soon relaxed his expression. His opponent was someone who had managed to plunge even him, the martial king, into such a bizarre situation. He had to admit that Karnak was entitled to such arrogance.

”I must acknowledge it. You are no ordinary man,” said Dreltein.

”Indeed.” Elezar formed hand seals with both hands, her eyes sharpening with tension.

She had no idea how this situation had come to be. Yet this was not the first time they had experienced something like this. Back when they were heroes of humanity, the Monarch of Death Tesranach had ensnared them in countless illusions. And the best way to break free from illusions was always to deal with the caster first.

”I can feel your substance,” said Elezar.

”And if something has substance, it can be killed,” added Dreltein.

The corrupted martial king and archmage began emanating killing intent while drawing their sword and staff.

”Ah, correct.” Karnak raised both hands as well.

A fearsome surge of mana began to ripple in his left hand. Dreltein flinched in surprise. It was a magical force no less powerful than what Elezar, an archmage, could wield.

Karnak shrugged. ”Knowing the answer doesn’t mean you can solve the problem, though.”

Golden aura surged from Karnak’s right hand. Elezar was shocked as well. He was displaying a golden aura, something only a martial king was capable of exuding.

”In this place, I am the absolute.” Holding the power of both the martial king and the archmage in his hands, Karnak laughed gleefully. ”You have no hope.”