Karnak, Monarch of Death

After confirming Lapicel’s successful regression, Tesranach sent these three into the past as well. The designated time coordinate for their regression was this exact moment, the moment when his master was slain by Emil Strauss, and Tesranach inherited his authority before being reborn as a new necromancer.

He had to follow the same rules as Karnak. Since the regression was being executed through necromantic power, there needed to be a clear temporal convergence point in the target past.

”But in reality, the three members of the vanguard ended up in completely different time periods.” Shaking his head, Demphis continued. ”As for Lapicel, we have no way of knowing her fate, so we can’t even tell when she arrived.”

The three departed from the same point in the future, but each landed in a different era. The Archmage Elezar arrived five years ago. The Fallen Pope Jedex Tieland appeared seven years ago. And Dreltein Thelix regressed to a time over ten years prior to the present.

”Ten years?” Varos turned to Karnak in shock. ”Can the margin of error really be that large?”

”Theoretically, yes...”

Designating a time regression coordinate was like painting a massive target over the entire timeline, with the moment of acquiring necromantic power at the center.

”There’s no guarantee that an arrow will hit the exact bullseye just because you aimed for it.”

Even Karnak and Varos had arrived two months off target. A ten-year deviation was extreme, but since Tesranach had been sending others rather than himself, a wider margin of error made sense.

”To put it another way, he was trying to fire a crossbow bolt using a longbow. Of course the accuracy would suffer.”

Varos asked again. ”So... does that mean you could have ended up in a time before you even learned necromancy?”

Karnak shook his head. ”No, that’s not possible.”

Since necromantic power was the anchor, the past version of himself had to already possess it.

”But in Tesranach’s case, he wasn’t sending himself first. He was sending others.”

In such a case, there was no distinction between past and future, so it had led to unpredictable deviations.

”You, for example, just hitched a ride on me, so you regressed regardless of necromantic power.”

”Oh, that’s true.”

Watching the two, Demphis naturally continued his explanation. ”I shall proceed.”

***

Until all three members of the vanguard were assembled, Tesranach’s plan could not proceed. Moreover, Dreltein, who had arrived over ten years in the past, had not yet become a martial king. Jedex, who would one day be the Pope of Latiel, was still nothing more than an ordinary clergyman at this point in time.

As seen in Varos’s case, even a soul possessing knowledge and power from the future needed time to overcome the limitations of its physical body. Both of them had been too preoccupied with growing their strength to act openly.

Elezar, however, was different. By the time she regressed, she was already an archmage and an imperial court mage.

”That’s why the plan truly began five years ago.”

Using her influence within the empire, Elezar initiated covert operations. With her support, the two who had arrived before her were finally able to gather their forces. The Cult of the Black God was established, and the faith in the God of Death, Tesranach, began to spread secretly across the continent.

Once all three vanguard members had settled into place, Tesranach moved on to the next phase. He opened the rift in time and attempted his own regression.

”But he did not return immediately.”

Karnak had only sent back his soul, discarding his authority in the process, so his regression had been straightforward.

Tesranach, however, intended to retain his full power. Since he could not abandon the authority of Astra Shunaph, he first anchored himself in the void space, then gradually dispersed his power into the past.

This event became known as the Shadow of Doom. As Tesranach’s power spread across the world, the Cult of the Black God grew even stronger. They gathered and reabsorbed the fragments of the Shadow of Doom, bestowing it upon their followers, expanding their influence, and further plunging the world into an abyss of blackness.

”Of course, the world did not simply stand by and let this happen.”

The Church of the Seven Goddesses received divine revelation, and the entire world united to fight against the apocalypse. But the wise God of Death, Tesranach, had already foreseen and prepared for everything. Before sending the three vanguard members, he had taught them how to fuse the authority of Astra Shunaph with the existing powers of the world.

Thanks to this, even those who had once been powerful warriors of the world—mages, aura users, and even priests—could become necromancers while still retaining their original abilities. This was an extremely effective strategy for expanding the cult.

No matter how powerful a mage, knight, or priest might be, few could remain indifferent when faced with imminent pain and death. And Tesranach had prepared even more than this.

The three he had sent were merely the vanguard. Which meant that there was also a main force and a rear guard. Those who would come after were formerly the strongest warriors of humanity, now the loyal servants of Necropia. They, too, would be regressed one by one to counter any resistance the past might muster.

”However, there was a significant issue that remained.”

When sending subordinates back in time, there was no way to predict exactly when they would arrive. If the timing was not precise, the entire plan could collapse.

”To solve this, Tesranach bestowed additional knowledge upon the three vanguard members.”

Imagine a ship arriving at a port. But the storm is so fierce that the port’s location is unclear, forcing ships to dock haphazardly along the shore. How could this be prevented?

By building a lighthouse in the waters outside the port, guiding the ships to their intended destination. The knowledge Tesranach had imparted was a method to construct such a Temporal Lighthouse, a beacon that would guide the souls returning from the future to a fixed point in the past.

Demphis reached into his robe and retrieved something. ”This.”

It was a glossy black cube, swirling with patterns of darkness.

“The Anti-Time-Space Transcender. A fragment of the Obelisk of Transcending Time-Space. It’s a temporal beacon that fixes a point in time.”

Karnak and his companions all stiffened at the sight.

”Huh?”

”That thing...”

They had seen it before. Karnak reached into his robes and pulled out an identical black cube.

”This one, right?”

This time, it was Demphis who was shocked. ”How do you have that? Did you craft it yourself?”

”No, that’s not it...”

Karnak hesitated. How was he supposed to explain this? That some insane witch had been causing havoc, so he crushed her, and this thing just happened to appear?

”Just hand it over for a moment.”

Despite the sudden demand, Demphis complied without hesitation, placing the cube into Karnak’s hand.

”Here.”

Karnak alternated his gaze between the two cubes, letting out a low groan.

”This is connected to the Obelisk of Transcending Space-Time?”

Even as the one who had personally created that monument and one who stood at the pinnacle of necromancy, he had never fully understood the nature of this cube. No matter how skilled a clockmaker might be, they still had to open a watch to examine its inner workings.

The darkness within the cube was so intensely compressed that it had been impossible to break it down for analysis. But now, with two identical samples...

Varos leaned in and asked, ”Figured anything out, young master?”

”Let’s finish listening to the story first. We need to piece this together properly.”

***

Through the knowledge of the Anti-Time-Space Transcender, the three vanguard members, now revered as the Three Saints of the Cult of the Black God, became capable of guiding Tesranach’s main forces from the future.

However, there was an issue with creating the Anti-Time-Space Transcender. It was an artifact that no living being could create.

”That makes sense.” Hearing the explanation, Karnak nodded as if it were obvious. ”If it’s a reversed application of the Obelisk of Transcending Space-Time’s sorcery, then theoretically, it shouldn’t be something the living can interfere with.”

Demphis continued. ”But the three vanguard members could not afford to abandon their living bodies.”

As the highest-ranking leaders of the Cult of the Black God, they had the task of spreading their faith across the continent. To accomplish this, they needed to maintain their public identities.

”The archmage Elezar couldn’t very well show up one day as a walking corpse, could she?”

Instead, they needed individuals capable of crafting the Anti-Time-Space Transcender. And they needed to be undead individuals. Unfortunately, no such talents existed in the present era.

”But they did exist in the future.” Demphis gestured toward himself. ”That would be us.”

The Four Governors of the Necropia Empire were Maloka of the East, Kalaf of the West, Demphis of the South, and Tirafat of the North. Tesranach regressed these four archliches into the past.

Their mission was to gather the darkness of the present age and forge the Anti-Time-Space Transcender, then summon the remaining martial kings and archmages to this era.

”With all the martial kings and archmages returned, their overwhelming power would ensure that the Cult of the Black God could seize control of the world.”

For Tesranach to descend while retaining his full authority, one condition had to be met. His faith had to become the dominant religion of the present world. There was no need to conquer the world outright. He did not have to become the sole deity.

”So, to put it bluntly, as long as the Cult of the Black God surpasses the Church of the Seven Goddesses by even the smallest margin, the condition is met?”

”Precisely. And once Tesranach descends, there will be no need to worry about anything else.”

Thus, the task given to Demphis had been to summon Leven Strauss, the future martial king, into this world.

”I spent years secretly preparing and performing the summoning ritual. But thanks to my unfortunate encounter with Lord Karnak, all of it ended in failure.”

***

With that, Demphis’s explanation concluded.

Karnak fell into thought for a moment before suddenly speaking. ”So...”

Holding both black cubes in his hands, he raised the one Demphis had given him. ”You’re saying that you made this?”

”Yes. I only followed orders, though. I still don’t fully understand how it works.”

Demphis’s voice lowered slightly. As a master of the ninth circle, a mage who had reached the pinnacle of magic, he felt embarrassed to admit his lack of comprehension.

”In that case...” Karnak lifted the other cube, the one that had emerged from the enigmatic witch. ”Who made this?”

”That’s what I’d like to know as well...”

”You don’t recognize it?”

”I don’t. It’s not like we engrave names on them.”

”I suppose that makes sense.” Karnak put both cubes away. Then he asked, ”Still, if it wasn’t you, then one of the other governors must have made it, right?”

Demphis shook his head. ”That’s not necessarily the case. As of now, the other governors have yet to arrive in this timeline.”

Serati, who had been listening, tilted her head. ”But didn’t you all leave at the same time?”

”As I mentioned earlier, just because we departed together doesn’t mean we arrived together.”

Demphis maintained his formal tone with Serati. Varos had been Karnak’s closest aide in their past lives, but Serati was merely a vassal. There was no real need to show her such courtesy.

And yet, he noticed how Lord Karnak treated her differently. It was better to be cautious and read the room.

Demphis continued his explanation respectfully. ”We regressed without the aid of the Anti-Time-Space Transcender. Just like the three vanguard members. That’s why I was the first to arrive.”

Of course, there were other ways to create the monument, such as obtaining a powerful mage from the Cult of the Black God, turning them undead, and forcing them to craft it. Or perhaps one of the other governors had arrived in this timeline without Demphis’s knowledge.

”I haven’t heard any reports of such an event...” Demphis trailed off uncertainly. “The church’s internal communication is so fragmented that I can’t say for sure whether it has or hasn’t happened.”

”I see...” Karnak pressed a hand to his temple and muttered under his breath. “Is this really some kind of a parallel world?”