Karnak, Monarch of Death

Laughter echoed from all directions.

At the same time, unfamiliar voices rang out.

It’s me.

I’m back.

I’m right here.

No... They weren’t unfamiliar at all. They were far too familiar. It was the voice of a father. The voice of a mother. The voice of a lover, a child, a friend. The owners of these voices stepped forward. Before the terrified citizens, their loved ones emerged.

They were all the dead, those who had perished—walking toward them, smiling amidst the burning streets. Their beloved ones, reaching out with tender hands, their faces gentle, their voices warm.

Come with me.

Be with me.

I’m lonely.

Don’t leave me alone.

Laughter twisted into sobs. The beautiful faces rotted before their eyes. The corpses of the dead let out wails of despair.

The burnt buildings danced, shifting unnaturally. The streets stretched and contracted.

Nothing made sense. Where did reality end and illusion begin? Citizens, consumed by terror, let out agonized screams.

***

The boundary between reality and illusion had collapsed. Reason and judgment had vanished. Karnak and Varos scowled.

”Damn it.”

”The people...”

The citizens of Harthol, caught in Waraine’s spell, had fallen into utter chaos. Their eyes darted frantically as they stumbled, flailing at the air, muttering incoherently. The carefully maintained formation crumbled in an instant.

”As expected, a hastily assembled army can’t hold up.” Varos clicked his tongue.

Karnak gave him a wry smile. ”To be fair, even well-trained soldiers wouldn’t stand a chance against this.”

He knew from experience. He had cast his share of illusions on highly disciplined troops before. Even the most elite warriors couldn’t maintain their ranks when their sight and hearing betrayed them.

The only silver lining was that even the fire demons had backed away from the plaza. The illusion magic was so powerful that even the demons weren’t completely immune.

”They’re probably waiting for the chaos to tear us apart on its own.”

”We need to act before that happens.”

Even as they stood in the heart of a nightmare strong enough to shake demons, Karnak and Varos remained unfazed. But it wasn’t’ because they were immune to the spell.

”Oh, this illusion is actually pretty well done.”

”Yeah, definitely disorienting.”

They were affected. Whispers filled their ears, and visions of the dead flickered in their sight. But they were used to it. They had been through this before, which meant they could differentiate reality from illusion even in the chaos.

—You see this kind of thing all the time when you pass through hell.

—Yeah, I kept running into it just from following you around, young master.

Lapicel was just as unaffected. She had never been to hell, but she had faced the man who was like a living hell far too many times. Unfamiliar voices circled her ears.

—Lady Lapicel, please save us!

—Help us, Lady Lapicel!

”Hmph! It’s nothing but a mirage!”

She focused and selectively filtered out the sounds, separating illusion from reality. Even without her memories, her soul instinctively carried out this intricate process with ease.

”Did you really think we’d fall for a cheap trick like this?”

With a confident shout, she turned to check on her companions—

And then—

Huh?

She found Serati and Leven flailing.

”A-Ah... Dad? How are you here?”

”Mother!”

Both of them flailed their arms in the air like children chasing butterflies, no different from the panicked citizens around them.

”Serati? Leven?” Lapicel was startled.

She was still just a child, yet she was completely unaffected. So why were grown adults acting like this? Karnak pressed his fingers against his temple.

—Ah, these fools.

Varos nodded in understanding.

—Well, if they’ve never dealt with this before, it’s only natural.

A powerful illusion couldn’t be overcome by willpower alone.

Karnak focused his mind, discreetly channeling necromantic energy through the bond he shared with his subordinates. The dark power flowed along their connection, clearing their minds. Serati and Leven gasped as they regained their senses, glancing around in confusion.

”Huh?”

”W-What just...?”

Karnak’s voice rang in their minds.

—Feeling better now?

—What did you do?

—You’re my subordinates. If I can control your bodies, why wouldn’t I be able to adjust your minds?

It was a chilling statement. But for now, they were simply relieved to be free from the illusion. If they, as aura users, had lost themselves like the others, the damage would have been catastrophic.

Serati let out a shaky breath before glaring at Karnak.

—You could’ve done that sooner.

—I didn’t think you’d fail at something this simple.

She had no comeback for that. Leaving the deflated Serati behind, Karnak scanned the area. ”Now then... where are those bastards? They cast the spell and hid themselves again.”

***

Waraine and his necromancers had moved to a safe distance before watching the scene unfold. The Beguiling Titen’s was so powerful that even they weren’t immune if they stood too close. But they didn’t need to get close. They could simply sit back and enjoy the spectacle as people tore each other apart.

”Yes, kill each other.”

Karnak’s group might have resisted the illusion, but the others hadn’t. To the citizens, everyone around them appeared as demons—or worse, the dead. How would they react to monsters lunging at them?

Would they simply die without a fight? Of course not. They would strike first. They would kill the very people they had fought so hard to protect, only to be consumed by despair.

”Bleed and fall into hopelessness, cultists!” Waraine laughed in delight. ”All of this is a sacrifice to our god!”

***

Chaos consumed the battlefield. People screamed and lashed out blindly. Weapons swung through the air as voices overlapped in terror.

”D-Die!”

”Stay back!”

Blood splattered. Shrieks of pain echoed. If they had been unarmed, the damage wouldn’t have been so severe. But swords and spears could kill, even when wielded by trembling hands. More and more wounded collapsed beneath the frenzied slashes.

”No!” Lapicel charged into the crowd, desperate to stop the violence.

Leven and Serati rushed in right after her, trying to break up the fights. Darting between panicked civilians, they knocked weapons from hands, shoved people apart, and kicked shields out of reach. They did everything they could, but there were nearly a hundred affected.

And they were just three. Lapicel gritted her teeth, trembling in frustration. ”You vile bastards!”

Varos sighed internally. Oh, I should probably look outraged too.

It was always best to mimic good people. Feigning anger, he joined in, forcing people apart while secretly sending a telepathic message.

—So... what do we do now?

He knew how the future Leven had handled situations like this. But that solution wasn’t an option for them.

—That’s not something we can pull off.

Karnak, for once, looked just as uncertain.

—Yeah, I know.

Leven Strauss, the Martial King of Delphiad, had relied on the power of the Goddesses’ Church. Whenever illusions like this spread, he had used the prayers and hymns of priests to calm the people and break the spell. But there were no priests here.

—What about breaking the necromantic barrier?

—I already tried. No luck.

It was different from what they’d encountered with Bishop Shtraph. Even with overlay magic cast on top, the flow of dark energy continued unabated. It wasn’t the result of Waraine being an exceptionally skilled necromancer. It felt more like the spell itself had been reengineered, but by someone of equal skill to Karnak.

So it was Tesranach’s doing, after all? Karnak’s expression tightened as he continued manipulating necromantic energy in secret. Wow, it’s hard trying to live like a decent person.

To be honest, there was a very easy solution to the problem: Just kill all the civilians and raise them as undead. Of course, even Karnak had come to understand that maybe he shouldn’t be doing that anymore.

I’m good at casting illusions, but I never really bothered learning how to undo them... Grumbling to himself, Karnak suddenly came to a realization. Wait. Hold on.

Come to think of it, there was a way to put his expertise to use. Yeah, this could work.

Without hesitation, he raised his wand high. ”Whisper, deceitful Nandung!”

A massive surge of darkness and death magic poured from him. Indeed, he had blatantly cast necromancy out in the open.

Lord Karnak? Lapicel blinked in shock. Is that... Mediator of Necromancy? But no, it’s far too necromantic for that. And there’s no reason to disguise magic as necromancy in this situation...

While she tried to make sense of it, Karnak unleashed his power without pause. The black mist twisted into the illusion of a massive snake, tongue flickering, blanketing the entire area.

The scene mirrored the one Waraine had conjured earlier, only this time, the scale was different. If the previous serpent had been a viper, this one was more like a full-grown python.

I may be clueless when it comes to saving people... Spreading his spell across the plaza, Karnak let a confident smile spread across his lips. But when it comes to sabotaging others, I’m an expert.

Intangible energy roared through the square. Illusion stacked upon illusion. Echo layered upon echo.

”Take this! The illusion-countering-illusion technique!”

***

The dead reached out with distorted forms, mouths opening to unleash twisted sounds.

Letetetet googogogo...

Wiwiwiwiwiththth memememe...

Loneononononelylyly...

Memememe tootootoo...

Just moments ago, the voices had sounded like wails of grief. Now, it was impossible to tell what they were saying. The same went for their appearances. The dead, and everything warped in the haunted streets, began to flicker and glitch. Their appearances began overlapping with the real world beneath. One by one, the citizens began to come to their senses.

”Uh...”

”Wh-what is this...?”

”Was it... just a hallucination?”

As the two illusion spells tangled with each other, the effects of the original enchantment began to unravel quickly. Though their vision was still distorted and the noise overwhelming, that entranced, puppet-like sensation had vanished.

Varos nodded.

—So technically, this counts as breaking the necromantic domain too, right?

—Same basic principle. Just a more roundabout process.

Karnak barked orders to the militia. ”Stand shoulder to shoulder, form up, and point your spears and blades outward!”

Despite the confusion, the civilians rallied quickly. It wasn’t as clean as before, but the basic formation was restored. As Karnak’s illusion receded, Waraine and the necromancers were revealed once again.

Seeing his elaborate magic unraveled, Waraine cried out in disbelief. ”What have you done?!”

”If you were smart enough to understand, you wouldn’t be working under Jedex,” Karnak replied calmly.

Waraine’s eyes narrowed. ”So you do know about him...”

That meant there could be no loose ends. The enemies had to be eliminated, right here and now.

Waraine shot a look toward the necromancers. ”Take care of the aura users.”

Then, planting his staff, he locked eyes on Karnak. ”I’ll take him myself.”