Karnak, Monarch of Death

”Defeated because they were idiots, huh...”

Sephedes looked down at the fallen dark knights and gave a bitter smile.

”I suppose there’s no arguing with that. They didn’t even put up much of a fight.”

His unexpectedly calm demeanor made Varos click his tongue inwardly.

Damn, did I overdo it with the taunting?

Sephedes raised his arms. The necromantic energy surrounding him surged, spreading in waves across the room.

”They didn’t accomplish anything, but....”

Black smoke began to seep from the bodies of the fallen dark knights. It was dark aura, the source of their strength.

”...at least they didn’t exhaust all their aura!”

The dark energy coalesced in the air before flowing through the shattered windows and out of the temple.

Serati frowned.

What is he up to now?

Moments later, dark shapes began streaming into the temple from all sides. They broke through the main door and clambered in through the broken windows.

”Death is but the embrace of Tesranach...”

”There is no reason to fear...”

”We offer our bodies to the true god!”

There were about twenty of them in total, all appearing to be ordinary cultists armed with spears, swords, and even farming tools. But what followed was far from ordinary.

Whoosh!

Black aura erupted from every weapon they held. Serati’s eyes widened in shock.

”Dark aura? That many of them?”

Each individual radiated an energy comparable to a red knight. Their strength didn’t fall short of the dark knights they had just defeated.

”Are you telling me all of these are dark knights?”

Alius muttered in a low voice, ”They’re black servants.”

Despite their use of dark aura, dark knights functioned much like traditional aura users in terms of efficiency and technique. Black servants, on the other hand, operated differently. They were infused with a massive burst of dark aura all at once, which they burned through in a short period.

For a brief time, they could exhibit power on par with an elite aura user. But once the infused aura was depleted, their usefulness ended. Moreover, the process would end with the user’s death. The compression of energy was so extreme that their bodies couldn’t withstand it and ultimately collapsed. In essence, they were disposable puppets wielding dark aura.

Alius continued, his tone bitter. ”In short, they’re like aura users with an expiration date.”

”How long do they last?”

”About thirty minutes.”

“That’s quite long...”

But even after unleashing such a spectacle, Sephedes wore a sour expression.

Damn it. Because of those fools, I’ve wasted all the dark aura I painstakingly gathered.

Even a necromancer who treated human lives as expendable found little appeal in black servants. It was wasteful to burn through precious dark energy they had painstakingly gathered. Turning them into long-lasting dark knights would have been far more efficient.

Still, while the cost was steep, the power was undeniable. For the next half-hour, Sephedes commanded over twenty warriors as strong as elite aura users.

”So, how are you feeling about that little chat now?” Sephedes sneered at Varos.

Varos smirked faintly in response. ”Can’t call you foolish, that’s for sure.”

After all, how many people hesitated over minor losses only to suffer greater ones later? Sephedes, in contrast, had made a bold decision and changed the tide of the battle. The black servants began tightening their formation around the group while radiating black aura.

”Tesranach, our god...”

”Watch over us...”

Even if they possessed similar aura levels, the black servants couldn’t truly compare to dark knights. They were originally ordinary people with no proper martial training. To make matters worse, they were in a drug-induced haze. In a one-on-one fight, a dark knight would win every time. The problem was their numbers.

”Twenty is just too many, no matter how you look at it,” Serati muttered.

Varos nodded in agreement. ”Well, I guess rehab practice ends here.”

Suddenly, a red flash shot toward Sephedes. Varos had flung his aura blade mid-sentence, aiming directly at the necromancer. Just as the blade was about to pierce Sephedes, one of the black servants swung his dark aura blade to intercept it.

Boom!

The red aura blade ricocheted into the air with a deafening crash.

Sephedes, startled, yelled in agitation. ”Di-did you really think a cheap ambush like that would work? I was prepared—”

Before he could finish, a black servant, standing a few steps from him, lost his head.

”Guhhh!”

A fountain of blood erupted as the servant collapsed with a faint groan. The necromancers stared blankly, dumbfounded.

Huh?

What just happened?

Why did that guy die?

Only Serati, watching from a distance, understood what had occurred. The aura blade Varos had thrown had curved mid-air, tracing a wide arc to strike the back of an unsuspecting black servant. However, the servant had been focused solely on protecting Sephedes. They had failed to notice the redirected attack.

”One down,” Varos said calmly as he lunged forward. He flicked his wrist.

Clink!

The fallen longsword snapped back to his hand with an eerie sound. A faintly red chain appeared briefly between his wrist and the sword. It was an aura chain. Serati realized what had happened.

So he used that chain to change the blade’s direction mid-air.

Gripping his sword once more, Varos moved toward the hall’s perimeter. Three black servants pursued him. Crackling dark aura blades closed in on him from the front and both sides in rapid succession. Varos crouched low, his movements like a predator crawling along the ground. He slipped between their strikes and countered with a lightning-fast attack.

”Guh!”

One black servant fell, their throat pierced clean through. A burst of black smoke was released from their wound.

Varos’s voice echoed faintly, his tone indifferent. ”Two.”

But he wasn’t finished. Using his momentum, he spun around. Having already pierced its target, the red aura blade shot upward into the air, forcing the pursuing dark aura to miss its mark.

Seizing the opening, Varos delivered a downward slash as fast as lightning. The crimson blade sliced through the neck and chest of the remaining two servants in a single, fluid motion.

”Three, four.”

The final two black servants collapsed, spewing blood and dark energy as their screams faded into silence. The necromancers were stunned, utterly speechless. Something had flashed before their eyes, and in the blink of an eye, four of their black servants were gone. To make matters worse, black servants were single-use assets. Once they fell, their dark aura couldn’t be reclaimed.

Sephedes, trembling with fury, bellowed his orders. ”Surround them! Attack all at once!”

***

The black servants surged forward in unison, while the necromancers stood behind them and emanated death energy.

Varos clicked his tongue, though his expression betrayed little concern. “I guess that’ all I get from my ambush.”

”Both of you, guard the entrance to the underground prison,” he said.

Serati and Alius looked at him in shock.

”You’re going to take on all of them alone?” Serati exclaimed.

”That’s suicide!” Alius added.

Varos scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile.

”Well... actually...” He turned his right hand casually, the friendly grin on his face unshaken. ”It’s not as impossible as you might think.”

Clink!

The red aura chain extended once more, its ominous glow lengthening dramatically. Sephedes instinctively stepped back, his face twisting in alarm. The black servants quickly moved to shield him. In the next moment, the chained blade moved with hypnotic grace, carving an intricate arc through the air.

Boom!

A thunderous explosion sent chunks of flesh flying in all directions. The victim wasn’t Sephedes. Nor was it one of the black servants. It was one of the other necromancers. He had been standing off to the side, never even imagining that he would be targeted. He hadn’t anticipated Varos would attack him directly, and his life ended with brutal finality.

”Here’s the thing about people who stay in the back and throw attacks,” Varos said, spinning his chained sword like a deadly pendulum, his smile now ice-cold. ”They assume that whatever’s happening doesn’t concern them, as long as they’re not at the front. Why do they think only the people in front will die first?”

Sephedes’s face turned pale.

He’s fought necromancers before. He knows exactly how we operate!

The necromancer had perished the moment his heart was pierced. However, Varos took it further and deliberately detonated his aura within the necromancer’s body, obliterating it completely. It was intended, as leaving the body intact would have only fueled more necromancy.

”Alright, let’s do this!” Varos shouted, lunging forward.

The chained sword shot out toward the nearest black servant, who deflected it with a dark aura blade. The weapon ricocheted off, but Varos manipulated the chain mid-air, driving the blade into the temple’s ceiling. With a sharp tug, he launched himself upward, soaring into the air.

“Here we go!”

Hovering in the air wasn’t usually advantageous in combat, but it was a different story if one was completely free to move. Varos wielded his aerial mobility with startling mastery. The chained blade lashed out like a serpent, striking and ensnaring black servants from all directions. It whipped, coiled, and crushed with relentless precision. The violent symphony of clashing steel filled the air, the sound resembling the rattling warning of a viper.

Clink!

Under the unrelenting storm of attacks, the black servants struggled to fight back, swinging their dark aura blades in desperation. Their power was undeniable. Even a glancing blow from their weapons would have been lethal for Varos.

But that was only if it landed.

“But it won’t,” Varos said with a smirk.

No matter how wildly they slashed, their blades seemed to pass harmlessly through him, as though he were an illusion.

”Ugh!”

Varos exploited their openings and delivered precise, fatal strikes.

“Aaagh!”

”Guh!”

He flowed through the battlefield like water, his movements elegant and deadly.

Grinning, he muttered, ”Man, it’s been ages since I used this technique.”

He was employing the Desteran-style chain blade. It was a technique created by the Silver Knight Desteran, the head of Search Black, a criminal syndicate once considered the most powerful underworld force on the continent. Desteran had reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship and aura mastery before his death.

Varos had often relied on this technique as a dark knight before transforming into a death knight. For years, he hadn’t had enough aura to execute it properly. But now, he was finally able to wield it again.

Sephedes, clearly shaken by the overwhelming dominance Varos displayed, muttered as if in disbelief. ”Was that bastard not fighting seriously until now?”

Varos let out a light chuckle. ”Come on, of course I was fighting seriously. Do you really think I’d slack off when my life’s on the line?”

He wasn’t lying. He had been entirely serious. He had fought seriously to gauge his opponents’ skills and earnestly to test their strengths.

”But now...” Before he even finished speaking, Varos pushed off the ground and relaunched himself. ”I’m fighting seriously to kill.”

***

Varos was the death knight lord and Karnak’s most loyal subordinate. In his previous life, he had undoubtedly been one of the strongest warriors in the world. But before that, he had been the world’s most notorious killer—a man so steeped in blood that even fragments of his soul reeked of it. A corrupted being who had slaughtered so many that his very essence was tainted with the scent of death.

Now, chains of aura bloomed like infernal flowers, scattering crimson sprays of blood in all directions. The temple was drenched in radiant streaks of red sword light. Varos himself was barely visible. Only the chain blade seemed alive and dancing of its own accord.

Clink! Clink!

He moved the weapon instinctively, letting it flow naturally. Even when acting purely on instinct, his strikes adhered perfectly to the principles of slaughter.

Boom! Boom!

The deafening roars of explosions mingled with the relentless screams of his enemies.

“Aaagh!”

”Ugh, nooo!”

Yet, neither Serati nor Alius found the scene particularly unsettling. After all, Varos was cutting down evil cultists and necromancers. They were clear enemies of humanity. From where they stood, his actions seemed entirely justifiable. Human perception could change depending on one’s vantage point. The same act could be viewed entirely differently based on who performed it and who was suffering.

Alius clicked his tongue in amazement. ”I didn’t realize Sir Varos was this powerful. He’s become incredibly strong since I last saw him.”

Serati wore a faintly exasperated expression. ”And here I was by his side this whole time, not knowing he was capable of something like this...”

Both friend and foe were astonished. Meanwhile, Varos steadily reduced the number of black servants with ruthless efficiency. Growing desperate, Sephedes poured every last shred of necromantic power he had left into one final act.

”Come forth, tortured souls of the abyss!”

The two surviving necromancers joined him, summoning their own powers.

”Rise, deceive death, and walk once more on your legs!”

Specters floated through the air of the temple, their ghostly forms shrieking in anguish, while the corpses of fallen monsters rose again as undead abominations.

Varos frowned slightly.

A desperate last stand?

There was a saying that a cornered rat will bite a cat. However, it didn’t really matter whether a rat bit a cat or not. Its fate remained the same—it would still be eaten. But that didn’t mean the bite wouldn’t hurt.

Varos retracted his chain blade, preparing for the next onslaught, and called out with a sharp mental message.

—Sir Serati!