Chapter 11

For the Ender Knights, who fought necromancers who toyed with souls, death was the salvation. In Senli’s arms, Lou’s lips parted slightly. All Senli could hear was weak, shallow breathing. Tears fell from Lou’s widened eyes until she at last gave a tiny smile, then closed her eyes. The strength left her body. Senli, hands trembling, laid the still-warm body on the floor. She bit her tongue hard, controlling her emotions while getting unsteadily to her feet. Her hand whitened as it gripped her sword. Power welled up within her, as though in response to her emotions. Nobody touched Senli. One fellow knight simply asked quietly: “Can you fight…?” “Once we defeat Horos… I’ll build her a grave,” Senli replied, voice quivering, before gritting her teeth and looking ahead. The necromancer was waiting patiently for the Ender Knights at the center of the mansion—in a hall, its doors opened wide. After the horde of scarecrimson knights, there had been no signs of any new undead appearing. However, it was clear that they weren’t the last trick up his sleeve. Horos Kamen was an elderly man. He stood there calmly, attended by two skeleton knights holding something behind him. Wrinkles creased his features, and his hair was stark white. The only thing brimming with life were those glaring ashen eyes. He was tall and wore a full-length jet-black robe. In his right hand, he held a short staff. The Knights’ master, Epe, had an indiscernible age because of his abundance of blessings, but the man before them was ageless in a different sense. When his clouded eyes fixated on something, it seemed like he was peering into an endless darkness. A strange, bloodred magic circle had been drawn on the carpet beneath him. Luphrey and the others gasped at the demonic aura. In a raspy voice, the sorcerer said, “So, Ender Knights…you’ve come at last. You are fearsome foes indeed, to have scattered my minions to get here…” “Horos Kamen… I, Senli Sylvis, of the Ender Knights…shall be the one to kill you!” “Hmph… It appears Lou was of some use.” “!!” Horos Kamen remained unflappable at Senli’s words—at the words of the Ender Knights, his mortal enemies. Persuading him would be impossible. She wanted to tell him how Lou died and press him on that, but that was more than she could manage. This man was nothing like Lou. His was a wholly wicked existence who had tread this path of his own volition. She couldn’t even take a step. Not because of fear, but because Horos Kamen still had a trick to play. At a glance, Horos currently seemed defenseless. But assuming that would be a mistake. This hall was filled with such an incredible negative presence, the likes of which they’d never felt before. Horos Kamen shouted. “But the spell is already complete. This place…is now the netherworld. Obstructors of my fervent wish…burn my power over death into your eyes…and die!” The earth, and the very air, began to quake. The two skeleton knights suddenly collapsed, and the black objects they’d been holding flew into the middle of the magic circle. …And then they took shape. Senli understood. Those…were fangs. Two giant fangs. Luphrey and the others stepped back, faces white. They’d realized what this spell was. Darkness gathered around the fangs. They took the shape of arms with sharp, hooked claws—of great wings that blocked out the sunlight—of fangs that could crush all things between them—of shining eyes. Horos Kamen cackled. “Heh-heh-heh! Witness it—for this is my ultimate necromancy!” “Impossible… Only two fangs, and it—” The typically easygoing Nevira gripped his mace tightly and shuddered. This was, essentially, the culmination of all the necromancy Senli had ever seen before. Normally, when creating the undead from remains, most of the body was required. At the very least, Senli had never heard of anyone creating an undead from a pair of fangs. Before them was an evil black dragon. Wings and fangs. Claws. A giant tail. Smooth skin and a veiny body. Pure darkness had replenished the creature’s lost flesh and blood, and it was so tall that it couldn’t fit inside the mansion. Its head easily tore through the ceiling, and sunlight shone down onto its black body. The evil dragon roared as if to defy the sun. Horos Kamen shouted his order. “Now, guardian of death, watcher of the underworld—kill them!” So incredibly wicked. How many years had this man spent studying this ritual? The dragon howled. The negative energy forming its night-black being was far greater than even the vampires Senli had fought in the past. It was probably stronger now than it had been in life. Destructive energy gathered in its wide-open jaw before instantly condensing into a single point. Then, as though a hole had opened in the world, black energy began to swirl. With that, the creature unleashed its flames. The dark flames formed a beam that engulfed Senli and the others in an attack modeled after the strongest of all illusory beasts—the dragon. Luphrey and his companions gritted their teeth. But Senli was entirely calm. She simply focused her mind like she always did, gazed at the approaching death, and put all her blessings into her sword. Under Epe’s tutelage, she had studied the power of light—and learned of her own duty.