Karnak, Monarch of Death

Alius clicked his tongue as he recalled the scene from a moment ago.

How in the world can they fight like that?

It wasn’t as though they had displayed superhuman skills. This was far from the transcendent power wielded by warriors who had awakened their aura or high-ranking mages.

The strength of their swordsmanship and magic was clearly at an ordinary level.

Yet, their sheer mastery defied imagination. They read every attack in advance and dodged with precision. Every weak spot was exploited as if laid bare before them. And they performed all of this with relentless accuracy, without a single mistake, and with not even the slightest hint of tension. How much battle experience must one have to achieve such a feat?

And they’re still in their twenties. At best, they’re about my age—where could they have possibly gained that kind of experience?

Even Alius, who had far more experience than most his age, couldn’t compare to the pair.

Could they be hiding their true strength?

But it didn’t add up. There was no reason for them to hide their abilities, and anyone trying to conceal their power wouldn’t blatantly showcase such advanced battle tactics. The idea was laughable. That left only one conclusion.

They were prodigies. Although still young and unable to awaken their aura or possess enormous reserves of mana, their raw talent was so extraordinary that they could achieve such feats purely through instinct and battle sense.

Wow, and I thought I was considered a prodigy back in the church...

Though he feigned humility before others, Alius was well aware of his own talents. It wasn’t arrogance—it was simple recognition of the fact that he could master tasks with ease that others struggled with. Yet even he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of envy toward those two. Their talent was overwhelming.

The Zestrad Barony, was it?

These were not individuals destined to remain hidden in some rural estate. In a world of growing chaos, talent was always in short supply.

I need to investigate this as soon as I return to the church.

Alius was briefly lost in thought when someone called out to him.

“Excuse me, priest?”

Varos, pressing down on Cleo’s back, urged him impatiently.

“What do we do now? Kill him, or spare him?”

Alius shook himself out of his reverie.

Now’s not the time for distractions.

He approached the fallen Cleo before raising his staff. “I’ll handle it.”

Light began to radiate from the tip of the staff as Cleo squirmed in terror beneath Varos’s weight.

“Ugh... ugh...”

Ignoring him, Alius brought the holy light closer to Cleo.

“Aaaaaargh!”

A bloodcurdling scream erupted as Cleo’s veins turned a dark crimson, bulging grotesquely. His skin began to tear, and a dark energy surged outward. The black energy coalesced in midair before being sucked into a vial that Alius produced. In moments, the ominous aura was completely sealed away.

Varos and Karnak exchanged glances before turning to Cleo. He had died during the process, his lifeless body sprawled on the ground.

“It’s as we expected.” Alius poured holy light into the vial and spoke with certainty. “It’s the Shadow of Doom.”

Karnak gave a faint smile.

So that’s how they deal with it? Interesting. That was quite the demonstration.

He had just witnessed, up close, how a priest sealed necrotic energy. It was a rare and valuable lesson. Varos, on the other hand, was concerned.

[Is this really okay? We need that too, don’t we? Are we just going to let him take it?]

[Don’t worry. I already planned everything.]

[Planned everything?]

At that moment, a tendril of darkness suddenly lashed out from a shadowy corner of the hallway, aiming straight for Alius.

”Ah! There’s still another trap...”

Alius turned abruptly, alarmed, but his reaction came a moment too late. In an instant, a dark tendril coiled around his neck, tightening with brutal force.

“Urgh... ngh...”

His vision blurred as he caught sight of Karnak rushing toward him in a panic.

“Priest Alius!”

Even as consciousness began to slip away, Alius felt a faint sense of relief. The necromancer had already been dealt with, so surely the others would handle the rest.

Thank goodness I didn’t come here alone...

The tendril released its grip the moment Alius lost consciousness, letting him collapse to the floor. Karnak, who had seemed genuinely alarmed, instantly replaced his expression with a sly grin.

“It’s done.”

Varos looked incredulous.

“When did you have time to prepare this?”

“Isn’t being sneaky the bread and butter of necromancers?”

“Even so, if someone starts to suspect us...” Varos trailed off, glancing around. “Though, I guess that’s unlikely, huh?”

The Shadow of Doom had been sealed in the vial, but its residual energy still swirled ominously through the corridor. Laying traps everywhere was, after all, one of the hallmark tactics of necromancers.

“To anyone else, it’ll just look like that guy was up to something shady...”

“There’s a bigger reason than that,” Karnak replied, letting a faint wisp of chaos magic rise around him. “Look here. See? Magic.”

“Okay... it’s magic. So what?”

“That’s the point. I’m a mage—someone who wields mana.”

Varos finally caught on.

“Ah, I get it now.”

Fred was ignorant, and had assumed Karnak had hidden his true identity upon seeing him use necromancy. But Alius was a high-ranking priest.

A necromancer might disguise themselves as a mage in front of ordinary people, but that wouldn’t work with priests. Everyone knew mana, aura, divine power, and necrotic energy were fundamentally incompatible. That was common sense.

“Someone like him saw me use mana, so he’s not going to suspect anything. Well, it’s actually chaos mana, but the difference is negligible.”

With a sly grin, Karnak reached into the unconscious Alius’s robes and retrieved the black vial.

“I’ll take a closer look at this and put it back later. It’ll be the perfect crime.”

***

“Well, then...”

Karnak focused his attention, channeling a surge of chaos magic into the darkness sealed within the vial. Varos, watching him closely, asked, “Is it really one of your fragments, young master?”

“It is.”

“Lucky us. The necromancer we just happened to find turned out to be exactly what we were looking for.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it,” Karnak replied, shrugging. “In fact, this couldn’t be helped.”

In his previous life, necromancers were as rare as a grain of sand in a drought. Now, thanks to the Shadow of Doom, they were springing up everywhere like mushrooms after rain.

“Imagine a space with ten stones. Now, someone comes along and throws in ten thousand more stones and mixes them all up. If you pick up a random stone, what are the chances it’s one of the originals?”

Nearly all necromancers now were somehow tied to the Shadow of Doom.

“And the original stones? They’re disappearing by the day.”

During their investigation, they had learned something crucial. Cleo had been a pursuer of necromancy even before the great calamity struck. But although he had practiced necromancy before, he had absorbed another who possessed the Shadow of Doom and absorbed their power.

“Even seasoned necromancers prioritize hunting down the Shadow of Doom. It’s too tempting a prize to resist.”

At this rate, Karnak doubted whether any necromancers untainted by the Shadow of Doom even existed anymore.

After finishing his explanation, Karnak turned his attention back to the vial. Varos, who had been idly waiting, glanced at him and asked hesitantly, “So, did you find anything useful?”

“Hmm... well, I figured out what kind of person this guy was, at least.”

From the remnants of Cleo’s thoughts, Karnak pieced together that, after obtaining the Shadow of Doom, Cleo had become a member of a cult worshiping something called Tesranach.

“Tesranach?” Varos tilted his head, unfamiliar with the name.

“Yeah, supposedly a god of death.”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

In his former life, there had indeed been someone referred to as a god of death—Karnak himself. There was a reason such an imposing title had been attached to someone who was, though far from ordinary, still fundamentally human.

According to the teachings of the seven goddesses’ faith, death and darkness were not divine domains. Darkness was merely the absence of the light goddess’s blessing, and night was a time of fear when beasts and monsters prowled freely. Thus, the sun goddess drove away darkness to turn night into day, while the goddess of the moon and stars guided humanity with light even in the depths of night.

Death, on the other hand, was an inevitable fate for all mortals. Those who followed the teachings of the seven goddesses were said to ascend to their paradise after death, freed from suffering. Without the goddesses’ grace, however, a soul would fall into a demon-infested hell and be tormented for eternity. In essence, death and darkness were not separate phenomena but merely the absence of life and light.

“And now you’re telling me there’s a god of death and darkness?”

“Apparently, that’s what these cultists believe,” Karnak replied with a shrug.

According to their doctrine, Tesranach was a god of death and rebirth. He was the one who spread the Shadow of Doom to cleanse a corrupt and deceitful world through death and usher in a new paradise. Varos chuckled dryly.

“So basically, Tesranach is the one who caused all this chaos?”

“Apparently,” Karnak muttered, sighing in disbelief. “Honestly, they’ll latch onto anything. Making up some nonexistent god...”

From his perspective, the whole notion was absurd.

“Not that we can exactly deny it. Might as well let them believe what they want.”

“True enough.”

They dug a little deeper, but they found nothing else that proved useful. Moreover, the fragmented state of Cleo’s mind made it impossible to piece together a full picture. To uncover more, they would need to capture additional fragments of the Shadow of Doom. Still, Karnak wasn’t particularly disappointed. He’d anticipated this outcome.

“We’ve gained plenty this time. I’ll call it a success.”

Drawing chaos magic from the darkness within the vial, Karnak grinned.

“As expected, everything’s so much easier with the help of a priest.”

“What is?”

“Refining chaos mana.”

Chaos mana was purified necrotic energy—sealed, in other words. Theoretically, a priest’s divine power could make refining chaos magic far easier and more efficient.

“The problem is finding a way to test it out.”

If Karnak were to invite a priest and say, “I’m about to use necromancy, could you purify it with your divine power?” the response would undoubtedly be spectacular. This was precisely why Karnak had chosen to work alongside Alius. His goal was to observe how divine power purified necrotic energy and figure out how to adapt that process to refine chaos mana. After extracting every last trace of chaos magic from the darkness in the vial, Karnak looked satisfied.

“Now I know exactly what to do.”

He had filled in his gaps of knowledge and more than doubled his mana reserves. Without much effort, he had reaped enormous benefits.

“With this, I can even pass as a fourth-circle mage.”

Varos glanced at the unconscious Alius and asked cautiously,

“So... does this mean we’ll be dragging him along from now on?”

And knocking him out every time like today? That didn’t seem like a sustainable plan. Unless someone were a complete fool, suspicion would surely arise if the same situation repeated itself.

“Of course we’re not,” Karnak said, waving off the thought. “After all, priests aren’t the only ones with access to divine power.”

In this world, it wasn’t just people who could possess divine power. Rather, objects could possess divine power as well. Divine artifacts were a prime example.

“It sounds impressive because of their name, but they’re actually more common than you’d think,” he explained.

Items like holy water sold by the church, charms for warding off evil, and protective talisman all technically counted as divine artifacts. But they were so ubiquitous that people often forgot they were considered sacred.

“I have more than enough money. I’ll stock up on a bunch of those and use them for refining mana. Things are about to get a lot easier.”

Having drained both the information and mana from the vial of darkness, Karnak had no further use for it. He carefully slipped it back into Alius’s robes. Even if Alius inspected the vial later, he wouldn’t find anything unusual. The malice and residual necrotic energy were still present, and the concept of extracting magic from necromantic energy was so unorthodox that it would never cross a priest’s mind.

“It’s like extracting nutrients from feces—completely counterintuitive, right?” Karnak remarked with a smirk.

Varos grimaced in disgust.

“Could you not use such a filthy analogy?”

“Necromancy is a filthy craft to begin with. Especially in the eyes of priests.”

“Are we really that repulsive as necromancers?”

“Why do you think we’re universally hated? It’s not for nothing.”

The only thing left to do now was wake Alius. Karnak took a moment to compose himself, adopting a look of urgency and concern before shaking the unconscious priest.

“Priest Alius! Are you all right?” he called out loudly, his voice laced with worry.

“Ugh... uhh...”

Alius groaned softly as he began to stir, slowly opening his eyes. Karnak heaved a dramatic sigh of relief.

“Thank goodness. You’re safe.”

Varos, watching the performance, could hardly contain his amazement.

[Wow, you’re really laying it on thick without even batting an eye.]

[Focus on your expression, Varos!]

[Ah, yes, right!]

***

With Cleo’s death, the necromantic spell over Gelpha village was broken. Freed from the illusion, the villagers began to realize the contradictions in their memories, and horror spread among them.

“My goodness, why did I see that man as young?”

“Why did we think he was handsome?”

“Even the priest from the church fell under his necromancy?”

Fortunately, Alius’s swift response helped calm the mounting fear.

The church quickly coordinated its explanation with the village clergy. Contrary to appearances, the local church hadn’t been idle—they had been suspicious of Cleo for some time. In fact, it was Priest Grass who had secretly summoned Alius to eliminate him.

This narrative restored the villagers’ trust in the church. Moreover, the fact that the villagers had suffered no real harm played a significant role in easing their minds. Cleo had indeed planned to sacrifice village maidens in a ritual. To that end, he had showered the village with money and goodwill, earning their favor in preparation for the ritual.

But fate had intervened, and he was caught by Alius just before the sacrifice could take place. From Gelpha village’s perspective, they had essentially pocketed Cleo’s money without suffering any consequences.

“Phew, that was close.”

“We’ll need to be more cautious from now on.”

Though the atmosphere remained somewhat tense, the village gradually regained its stability. After wrapping up their business, Alius accompanied Karnak and his group on the road to Derath City. The entire way, Alius peppered them with questions.

“Where did the two of you learn your swordsmanship and magic?”

“You seem to have considerable battle experience. Is the Barony of Zestrad a particularly dangerous place?”

“Have you ever fought against a necromancer before?”

It was clear he was deeply interested. To be fair, their performance in the earlier battle had certainly warranted such curiosity. Karnak gave plausible answers, weaving truth and lies together with practiced ease.

“I was fortunate to inherit the legacy of an ancient court mage. Sir Varos has trained in the Delphiad swordsmanship.”

“Our land is quite rugged, so we often encounter monsters.”

“Not long ago, a necromancer fled into our territory, and we had to call on the Church of Latiel for assistance.”

By mixing truth and fiction so skillfully, Karnak kept the conversation flowing seamlessly. Eventually, they reached Derath City, and it was time to part ways.

“Are you both returning to your estate now?” Alius asked.

Karnak shook his head. “No, we plan to stay in Derath City for a while.”

“I see.” Alius bowed gracefully, offering a formal farewell. “May Hatoba’s blessing guide your journey.”

As they watched him disappear into the distance, Varos muttered indifferently. “Feels like we’ll be seeing that priest again. He seemed pretty interested in us.”

“Building connections with the churches of the seven goddesses isn’t a bad idea,” Karnak replied. “The situation has changed.”

They would have to continue searching for the Shadow of Doom, after all. The more information channels they had, the better. Karnak turned to Varos, signaling it was time to move on.

“Now then, let’s get back to work.”

Varos followed him eagerly, his voice filled with excitement.

“Yes, sir! Time to finish our tour of the best eateries!”

“This isn’t a food trip. We’re here to track down the Shadow of Doom.”

“So? Are we skipping lunch, then?”

“Of course not. It’s food.”