Karnak, Monarch of Death

It had happened about a month prior.

”Lord Gellard suddenly collapsed.” Sir Heiss, a knight of the Strauss family, gave his report.

Leven’s face twisted in disbelief. ”Father is ill?”

The martial king of this era, Gellard of Delphiad, had fallen to illness? Frankly, it was hard to believe. As it turned out, it wasn’t an illness.

Gritting his teeth, Sir Heiss continued. ”It was Emil’s doing.”

Recently, Gellard had shut himself away, devoting himself solely to Emil’s training. The heir to the family, Emil Strauss, was still in his early twenties. He was so young, he could hardly be considered more than a boy.

Even so, he had already reached the purple-tier as an aura user. This was not only cause for celebration within the Strauss family but a matter of pride for the entire Seven Kingdoms Alliance. At this pace, within ten years, he might well become the fifth martial king.

Even ten years from now, Gellard himself would still be in his prime. The alliance would possess two martial kings at once, and the pride of the alliance, long overshadowed by the empire, would be restored.

Thus, Martial King Gellard had pushed Emil even harder. Gellard would often train with him in secret with just the two of them. But then, a month ago, Emil suddenly appeared with Gellard in a coma. He had made a declaration.

—Father has collapsed. From this moment, I am the head of the Strauss family.

Then, he imprisoned Gellard in one wing of the mansion and swiftly took control of the family. At first, the vassals of the Strauss family were shocked and flustered, but they did not immediately doubt Emil’s words. After all, if the father fell ill, it was natural for the son to take charge temporarily. The real problem came next.

—From this day forward, the Strauss family shall serve the Dark God, Tesranach.

The vassals of the house worried for him. They believed he had been pushed to the brink by the shock of his father’s illness. After all, it was such an absurd statement.

But what followed was even more absurd. Before anyone realized it, cultists had infiltrated every corner of the Strauss family. Even among the existing vassals, there were more than a few who had already been corrupted by the Cult of the Black God.

No one could tell when it had happened, but by the time they noticed, many within the house were already obedient to Emil. Alarmed, some began secret investigations, and uncovered the shocking truth.

”Emil had poisoned Lord Gellard!”

”What a vile man!”

”How could he commit such treachery against his own father?!”

Upon hearing the knights’ furious outcries, Leven’s expression turned complicated.

Well, it’s not surprising since that’s not the real Emil...

Inside that body resided his future self. Meaning, in the end, the act of treachery had been committed by none other than himself.

”But something seems strange,” Leven said. ”Father wouldn’t fall to something as simple as poison, would he?”

”They say it was a special dark poison crafted by the cultists,” Sir Heiss replied. ”We weren’t able to determine exactly what it was.”

Ordinarily, uncovering the identity of such a poison would take considerable effort. But Leven didn’t bother. He had someone to ask.

—Is there really a poison that can work on a martial king?

The answer came immediately.

—No. If there were, my life would’ve been a lot easier.

—Then what is this?

—Probably a stab from behind and necromancy layered on top. That would work.

—You sound like you’re speaking from experience.

—Because I’ve done it, to the Martial King of Delphiad.

—Wait, you fought my father too?

—No. I fought the future you.

Leven grimaced as if a sharp pain had shot through his back. Chuckling softly, Karnak added through the message.

—Even if he’s a martial king, what can he do when he’s stabbed in the back by the son he trusts more than anyone? Necromancy can work like poison once the target is wounded.

In any case, those who had uncovered the truth rose in rebellion against Emil Strauss. The result stood before them now: the battered knights who had fled to this place.

Most of them were defeated and killed before they even had the chance to properly fight back. Only these five managed to escape to the Zestrad Barony, where Leven Strauss now stayed.

”Most of our forces have fallen into Emil’s hands, or the cult’s...” one knight said grimly.

”But there must be many who escaped,” another added.

”They too will surely come here, to seek your aid!”

The knights, their voices filled with fervor, cried out, ”Only you, Young Master Leven, can save Lord Gellard and reclaim our house!”

***

After seeing the knights of Strauss to the guest rooms, Karnak and his companions gathered separately in the study.

Still unable to shake off his shock, Leven asked, ”What should we do now, Lord Karnak?”

If this situation had merely been the foolish act of a young man so desperate for power that he’d gone so far as to remove his own father, there wouldn’t have been much to worry about.

They would simply draw up an obvious and unquestionable plan: eliminate the crazed brother and rescue the father.

But the reality was not so simple. The one occupying Emil’s body was, like Karnak and Varos, the soul of Leven Strauss, who had lived over a hundred years.

Karnak let out a faint, mocking laugh. ”Though, if you count it, not much of that long life was truly living.”

A death knight could hardly be called a human life, nor could such an existence be called truly living. ”In any case, I doubt the Leven inside Emil would go to such lengths just to seize the family estate.”

It was clearly bait, and it was meant to lure Karnak.

”Thanks to that, Gellard is likely still alive,” Karnak remarked.

Leven frowned in confusion. ”How can you be sure?”

”Just look at your family’s knights,” Karnak answered him.

The Strauss knights seemed to have no doubts whatsoever that Gellard had merely been imprisoned in a coma.

”In situations like this, they would normally say something like, ‘The family head was alive when we fled, but we don’t know his fate now.’”

Which meant they had seen Gellard alive, here and there, on purpose. Obviously, it was staged.

”It’s easy to guess why they did such a thing,” continued Karnak.

A hostage only held value while alive. If Martial King Gellard were dead, there’d be no need for Karnak and his group to attempt a rescue.

Leven frowned. ”They’re not just pretending he’s alive when he’s already dead?”

”There’s always that possibility. We’ll have to verify it first...” Still, Karnak shook his head.

If it were him, he wouldn’t have done so. Even if this wasn’t meant as bait, keeping the former head alive made it easier to control the Strauss family.

”Right now, Gellard is far more useful kept breathing,” Karnak said with certainty.

Serati, who had been nodding along, raised a question. ”Even so, I still don’t understand. Would they really go this far, just to lure us?”

Varos answered instead. ”What’s so reckless about this?”

”This, of course.” Emil—no, the Leven inside him—had openly declared that the Strauss family now served the Dark God Tesranach. ”This means the entire Seven Kingdoms will move to attack them, no?”

”They will,” agreed Varos.

Sure, the Strauss family had a mighty fortress, one that would offer incredible advantages during a siege. But even so, they would soon end up trapped inside, surrounded on all sides by enemies.

”They’ll be holed up in the fortress the whole time, and eventually, they’ll fall, won’t they?” Serati said.

”Hm?” Varos’s expression grew curious. ”Why would they fall, when they hole up in a fortified stronghold.”

As a rule, defenders in siege warfare held a tremendous advantage over attackers.

Serati continued, ”Well, that’s true in the short term, but over time, supply shortages and such...”

Varos’s expression shifted to one of realization.”Ah... That’s only true if the defenders are alive, isn’t it?”

As they had seen during the battle with Maloka, undead armies were largely free from supply concerns. Even if they were surrounded in their fortress, it wouldn’t pose much of a problem. So long as the necromancers secured their own provisions, they needed very little food relative to their numbers. And it wouldn’t be difficult to gather supplies to feed the necromancers while under siege.

No matter how tight the enemy’s encirclement, it was impossible to completely prevent small groups from slipping in and out during the night, especially if they were necromancers specialized in stealth and covert movement.

”And topping up their forces is no issue if they use the undead,” Varos explained.

In a living army, forces would inevitably dwindle the longer a siege dragged on. But with the undead? The corpses of enemies slain the day before could be raised to bolster their ranks today. Sustained combat didn’t necessarily mean a depletion of strength.

”Of course, if the number of necromancers dwindles, their army’s strength would fall too. But as I said, a few necromancers can slip through enemy lines without much trouble,” Varos continued.

For the Dark Cult, there was little disadvantage here. If the entire Seven Kingdoms Alliance concentrated its forces against the Strauss family, it would only leave their own nations vulnerable elsewhere. The cultists would have an easier time operating in the defenseless nations.

”Of course, that’s why the young master created the Twilight Cult, to counter them. It won’t be as simple as they think. But still, from their perspective, this isn’t a reckless move. They believe they have a fair chance at victory,” Varos concluded.

Karnak brought their focus back to the matter at hand. ”Now then, the question is how we’re going to move.”

At the very least, they had avoided the worst-case scenario. Elezar and Dreltein weren’t joining forces to attack them. It seemed their enemies had judged that future Leven alone would be sufficient to deal with Karnak and his party.

Varos voiced that reasoning. ”Looks like their Sir Leven has regained his former strength.”

”Most likely,” agreed Karnak.

If Leven inside Emil had truly regained the power of the Martial King of Delphiad, he alone would be more than enough to annihilate Karnak’s group.

Varos voiced his question. ”Then does that mean we have no chance of winning?”

”Hard to say. We’ve grown a lot stronger in a short time, even if it was through some shortcuts.” Karnak fell deep into thought.

Honestly, their odds were about fifty-fifty. But it was also hard to pass up this opportunity.

If they fought within the Zestrad Barony, their chances of escape would certainly be higher.

But if we attack the enemy’s stronghold, we can also borrow the power of Kings’ Order and the church.

While their chances of escape might be lower, their chances of victory would improve. Of course, the Cult of the Black God would undoubtedly have prepared traps to greet them. That much, Karnak knew all too well.

But traps, once you escape them, turn into blades you can drive straight at the enemy’s throat.

More than anything, would they ever again get the chance to confront Leven inside Emil head-on?

Karnak voiced his thought. ”It’s annoying to keep calling him Leven inside Emil. Should we just call him Emil-Leven?”

Varos smirked. Somehow, it sounded like the name of someone well-suited for human sacrifice. ”Mashing the names together makes it sound strange. Let’s just stick with what we’ve been calling him.”

In any case, Karnak remained lost in thought for a while longer. The others waited silently for his decision.

”I’ve made up my mind.” At last, Karnak spoke again. ”Prepare yourselves. We’re heading for Strauss Castle.”