Chapter 0: Necrosis

I sat at my bench alone, quietly having given up sharpening my sword, much less trying to get any work done. Even the new weapon designs could hardly keep my focus, though I could already see how useful the exploding iron balls would be.

My head was throbbing and my mind, which was usually sharper than any weapon, was desperately trying to find something to occupy it in the face of what happened a few days ago… No, it would have happened a week ago at the least…

Standing and deciding to stretch some more, so I started to slowly work through my sword forms.

It had been over 50 years since that old man had picked me up and taught me how to stand, how to move, to pivot, and how to kill like he had been trained. Though I imagine that he would have preferred my fighting in an army to creating my own, I never had cause to think ill of him.

He had been one of the few who never betrayed my trust.

…Well, it hardly mattered anymore, he and Mar were probably in a better place than I would end up. There was too much blood on my hands for the Circle of Eternity, I would be sent to the ovals of judgment… probably the outer ellipticals at that.

My blood, the blood of the dead, the blood of peasants, slaves, nobles, and those I once so foolishly called friends… Stone me, I had the blood of whole kingdoms on my soul.

I focused on my movements, pushing myself slightly harder than I should have for a stretch.

My swordsmanship was important. The shadows danced around me, the ghosts of my past seeming to swirl in their hatred of the sword. They hated my magic too, but it was my sword that they fled from.

I knew that they did not exist. I was not insane. However, the shadows seemed to retreat in the face of my sword. Memories of practice and the dead faded as fast as they came and I pushed everything except my movements out of my mind.

Soon enough even those faded and time passed as I work up a good sweat until the bell rung.

I slowed my movements, not stopping, but letting my body naturally calm down as the gong was hit for the first time.

I quietly recited a prayer for the dead, as each opponent who had died fighting me in this place was honored with a single hit. I also took a few deep breaths to clear my head and relax a small amount.

The fights never lasted long, which was a mixed blessing for my aging body. Even now my joints ached and the world seemed to spin slightly. Even if my lack of interest in my slave women was not a sure sign, there were other indicators. My lower alcohol tolerance in past years certainly was.

I did not even drink that much last night, but my personal stash had apparently been enough to make me hung-over.

Even if I had been totally wasted last night though, my body would have usually recovered by now, but age made everything change. I had even been obliged to avoid more injuries lately, something I never shied away from before, because of how long they took to heal now.

Gorith’s Death Imps had a hold on me and were slowly pulling me into his realm… As the gong kept being struck, I reflected that they were the only enemies I could and would never defeat.

Turning to my collection of weapons I pulled a few specialized throwing daggers and after hesitating a moment, I decided not to take my shield.

Who your opponent was mattered a great deal and my opponent was arrogant, entitled, strong, and prideful. He must have sensed weakness in me after Mar’s death and had chosen the same day I learned of it to issue his challenge.

Almost like he expected it… I felt the shadows grow, they wanted to whisper the truth to me, they were everywhere and heard everything, they knew. I could almost imagine their forked tongues whispering that he had killed my wife to make me weak, to press me in my time of grief, almost.

I released a pulse of my resolve using magic and the shadows disappeared. They were weak things, literal shadows of my past and nothing more. I had command of my faculties and refused their presence, so they could do nothing.

Even if the graveborn had managed to somehow kill my Mar, it changed nothing. He challenged me and he would die because of it, there was no need to think beyond how to kill him.

Regus was a combat healer, the single most dangerous and respected position in any army, although he concentrated more on combat than healing. Still, he was prideful and instead of fighting with an iron shield and spear, like he usually did, he had already announced that he would face me with sword and magic.

I moved over to the door and unbolted it, letting it swing open as I stood far enough back to make sure the path was clear.

We were not honorable men here and if I walked into the arena with a few extra holes no one would ask for a halt to the match. Those were the rules, once inside the arena, all methods were allowed and failure to reach the arena was grounds for forfeit.

The gong echoed louder though the seemingly empty hallway and I cast a simple spell to ensure I was truly alone.

I took a deep breath and walked forward, burying some lingering hesitation and ignoring the aches that my body offered.

I idly kept track of the number of gongs as I walked forward, they went on and on because of the sheer number of men and women who had thrown their lives away over time.

The count was over 60 by the time I reached the entrance to the arena.

The entrance was an iron gate that lead to an iron cage, about 20 meters in diameter, filled with rocks, some vegetation, and the occasional nonhuman skeleton for decoration. It was also covered by a powerful ward to keep others from getting involved. It was currently without snow as this particular arena was at a lower altitude than some of the others in the surrounding mountains.

The twin stars, Alph and Bet were at an angle to cast shadows that stopped just before my feet and make me check behind myself one last time before giving up my ability to see in the dark.

I did not met anyone on the way there, but on the other side of the iron gate that marked the entrance to the arena I could easily hear the dull roar of the crowd. Only the continuous sound of the gong kept them from being louder and I could easily picture final bets being placed.

On the other side of the gate was a kingdom made by bandits, my kingdom, now that the churches had offered official recognition. I had been the de facto king for decades, but when they needed to crush a Soul Mage, they had bought cheap passage through my lands with the recognition.

Silence fell outside and I spared just enough time to reflect on the fact that I would not have been crowned king if not for an army of undead. Then Osiris started speaking, announcing my challenger as the gate in front of my started to slowly rise.

I ignored the introduction and stepped into the light to let my eyes adjust. I already knew what I needed to and being reminded of who he was would change nothing, the Guilt would do that well enough.

I leisurely pulled out a dagger with my right hand and let my sword lightly swing in my dominant hand as the gate so slowly climbed above my balding head.

I waited until it was completely above me before strolling out, annoyingly though, Regus did the exact same thing. The blasted graveborn looked just like I had when I was younger, but with a far larger ego. A cloak of arrogance that had to be ripped off, for he would not remove it willingly.

Standing at nearly 170cm, Regus was wearing what I knew was iron plate over enchanted leather, with a similarly designed set of protective pants. I was wearing much the same thing, but Regus had added spikes and a purple and gold enchanted cloak that flowed behind him. He was also letting his magic roll out of his body.

Stoning graveborn had over twice the number of magic circles to draw on that I had, 11 to my measly 5.

Still, I had killed a man with thrice my magic when I was younger and weaker. I was hardly going to fall to this one, if I stayed vigilant.

Regus smiled and started to great me, but I felt no need for pleasantries, the gong was the only introduction I allowed for myself. I threw the dagger in my hand at him as soon as Regus opened his mouth.

Moving his sword up, Regus tried to deflect the blade only to have it explode the moment contact was made. Did the fool forget that we recently figured out how to seal a core into iron to make it explode? I started using these daggers nearly half a year ago.

I strode forward, drawing out a different throwing dagger, without slowing. His enchanted equipment protected him from the flash and the explosion. Though I noticed that, since the spell I placed in the core of the dagger earlier was not strong enough, the dagger itself came out intact.

Something to work on in my spare time then, but iron was called the magic killer for a reason and the amount of mana in these daggers was limited.

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Regus had lost his smile by the time the air cleared a moment later and I felt a brief flash of satisfaction as I shot a half-dozen snip spells at him. Naturally, his protective wards were prepared and deflected my spells, which were caught by either the iron cage or the protective ward just outside it.

I doubted that there was a single mage without a ward against that spell right now, I was arguably the most infamous non Soul Mage who ever lived and snip was my favorite spell.

I did not slow as I got within sword’s length of him and Regus surprised me by letting us close without using his own magic. Still, I dismissed this as arrogance instead of a calculated plan as I felt the strength behind his sword swings. He wanted to prove that he was my better, that he was worthy of succeeding me, and that he was not just another one of my many graveborn children.

He was wrong.

Magic is not restricted to being channeled down a staff or through one’s hands, though many prefer that. Most mages used their hands and feet, but one of my specialties was that I practiced using every part of my body. This meant, while Regus deflected my sword and then thrust his hands forward to send a spell at me, I took the liberty of spitting a snip spell at his eyes as I used a much uglier spell that came from my knee.

Regus flinched and summoned his mana armor. Unlike his protective enchantments, the armor would stop all spells, not just ones that it was told to. Though it had much, higher cost to maintain, meaning I knew what his next move would obviously be.

I disengaged and quickly backed out of the fatal range Regus’ implosion technique. Regus blasted a large part of his mana out of his hands. It would destroy the person from within and it was truly scary because iron would not stop it.

Iron killed spells, not mana, and Regus’ implosion technique was barely more than a large blast of mana. Mana armor would work, but I had far too little mana to try and get into a stamina contest with him. That all spells used your body’s energy to fuel them hardly mattered since we weighed near the same.

I circled around him for a moment, keeping myself out of range of Regus’ move. At the distance I was at I felt the wave of energy pass through me and make me queasy, though it was not be fatal. The range for Regus’ technique was 2 meters or so, at most, but the fatal area was a single meter away or less from the source.

Despite that, I coughed into the back of my hand a few times. Regus’ smile immediately came back at that. Quickly deciding to trying and push him, I swayed a little as I gained control over the coughing.

Immediately Regus raised his sword and his smile fell away as his feet shifted. I stopped bothering to sway as his stance became defensive in an instant. It looked like he at least knew when I was acting.

It would not be feasible for me to force past Regus’ armor with my limited magical power, but it was an extremely common strategy so I was more than ready. Mana armor was completely ineffective against physical objects after all and if I could just touch him, I could cast my spells directly into his body.

That said, he had at least a meter long extension to any limb that would likely kill me if he got to use it. If he had even the slightest bit of sense, or anything resembling a worthy subordinate, he would know more about me than just my fondness for the snip spell. For all of his ego, I doubted that Regus was stupid.

I would say that he was foolish, prideful, and desperate to outshine me, but not stupid.

What would he be hiding in reserve for me? His armor could not hold that many enchantments. Maybe he had another weapon, or that cloak was- Regus dropped his mana armor at that point.

It was wiser to only use it when he had to, in order to conserve energy, but that gave me an opportunity.

I mentally prepared the dozen snip spells and some variants of the spell that his enchantments might not react to.

There were three possibilities in my head, with the first possibility being that that Regus had mastered a particularly difficult spell, like an acid mana attack. Though such spells were impractical in fights like this, unless you could cast them in moments, like I could do with my snip variations.

I unleashed my spells and watched as they all circled out and surrounded Regus. Spells had different speeds and my version of snip was faster than any bowshot, not to mention that it could curve. Regus did not move and was kind enough to let his enchantments catch all of the spells.

I smiled at that, it would have been better to summon another layer of mana armor instead. Even if it would have been a waste of mana, he had plenty to spare and his body was hardly to the point of eating itself to sustain his magic.

The other two possibilities in my head involved hidden physical weapons, particularly if they were enchanted like my daggers were… Or that he really was stupid and I just overestimated him.

If he was hiding an enchantment, than he would not have let my spells hit his wards. They would be too annoying to recharge in the middle of a fight, not to mention that it would have been more efficient to just use his mana armor to block them all at once. No, if he let them go and hit his protections like that, I would say that Regus was fighting with a spell as his secret weapon.

I could be wrong of course, but it would be hard to hide something like a spare sword and even if he had a dagger or throwing knife with a death spell enchantment added into it, I was used to stopping such things.

That said… what was Regus talented at beyond healing spells? I could not follow every one of my children’s life, I had too many of the little graveborns running around for that, but I would remember any outstanding talents. Regus… his mana implosion technique and healing talents were the only thing of any real note about him.

Regus changed his stance, getting ready to attack and I started to wonder if the hand movements he made earlier might not have been necessary. If that was it, than I had to watch for his implosion technique from his whole body and not just his hands.

Though I should have been looking out for that from the beginning: everyone wants to kill the King and they will go to great lengths to do just that.

Blood, guts, and carnage all for the position as head, as the leader. Honestly, I could not understand why my children made up so many of my challengers. I told them, all of them, what a curse this cursed throne was and yet I still had challengers who wanted thing. I built it from the ground up, turning the title of king from a joke to a terrifying reality.

Regus approached and I kept my distance, knocking his blade aside as best as I could and stepping around him for more room.

He did not use the implosion technique for a second time just yet, but I kept watch. We were both being cautious at the moment, but that could change at any moment. In a way, it was reassuring to see Regus take a slightly more defensive attitude, it not only gave me time to think, but also lent credence to the idea that he had something in reserve.

A counter of some sort… unless that was what he wanted me to think.

I even briefly wondered if he might have a second secret weapon to use against me before a small coughing fit struck. I managed to keep my mouth closed though, so only I knew about the blood.

I was coughing blood?

Without even worrying about Regus, I mentally started backtracking my movements. I had not been effected that badly, by his movement I was sure.

Regus had mastered the implosion technique in the sense that he could cast it in a very brief moment, but he used large area bursts, limiting his range. I had the truly disturbing experience of once fighting a true master, who fought in the opposite manner.

That day, I found myself memorizing just what the technique felt like when it liquidated some of your muscles.

If not Regus’ attack though, that could leave old age or… poison, but when?

I threw the dagger I was still holding at Regus to keep some more distance between us while I thought.

All of my food was tasted. I cast 7 different poison detection spells before I ate and had that fat graveborn Cook both personally prepare the meal and shared it with me, eating twice as much as me to eliminate the odds of being poisoned over time.

Could someone have gotten to Cook? No, the fat mage wanted nothing more than to keep being fat and happy these days. Maybe his wife though, she had been a slave once and he adored her…

I abruptly stopped dodging and fired a few more snip spells in Regus’ general direction. I was suddenly very dizzy and I did not need him to realize it before-

I coughed again and several things happened immediately.

While Regus finally charged, I saw that my blood had a green tinge to it and realized what I had been poisoned with. More importantly though, the poison told me when I was poisoned. My private bottle of Furutsu, which I was saving for Mar’s next birthday, the same bottle that I drained the night of her death.

He killed Mar?

I concentrated for a moment surrounded myself with mana armor, concentrating on my front. My sword met his and I stopped Regus’ swing only to have him explode his mana in all directions, managing to crack and even destroy the armor I concentrated on my left hand.

He killed my Mar?

My right hand was already in my belt when Regus swung. My now useless left arm was numb though and made a good shield.

He murdered my Maria?

One of my last daggers. In between the graveborn’s ribs. Iron interfering with his spells, knife with his breathing.

Maria, my Maria, dead…

Useless arm, his sword got stuck, iron. Snip was simple, but he had to bleed.

Dead.

Used the blood splinter spell. The shadows howled. Direct touch ignored enchantments, his defenses. His leg’s bloodpath was destroyed. Tried to run. Get distance. Fell.

Mar.

Hate in his eyes. Anger, like my own, but less. Did his mother do that? Did she help nurture that hate? Fool, I gave her choices.

Mar… I miss you.

I half cough and half spit at Regus… He looked confused at the green, at my face. Then fear, realization, and something else. “I-I” He was wheezing. “It was- not- that- it was- supposed- to- be- that-”

I leaned forward, suddenly finding my body extremely sluggish. Regus’ face started to blur and I hesitated, trying to figure out where he was. In the end it did not matter though, nothing did, and I touched his lips with my finger. No more talking.

There might have been tears, but I could not see them if there were. The whole world was fuzzy.

I cast snip. Once in his neck, between the bones, before I cast it in other places. He would try to heal, but it was too late.

I looked up at the stars as best I could and cast my final spell. The mana armor had drawn too much and the poison was into my blood.

Using magic to amplify my voice I called my oldest comrade’s name. “Osiris.” I opened my mouth for a moment, when the shadows, now dancing freely all around me started whispering. If Regus did not know what the poison was then someone put him up to it. Someone manipulated him. Who else would I chose to succeed me in this situation than Osiris? Who-

The whispers started, but I banished them after a moment of concentration… it was surprisingly quiet. No cheers for my victory, no crying for my defeat.

I was dead. Mar was dead. It did not matter what happened after I was gone, so I did not have to worry anymore. My part on this land was done… it was a little liberating to be honest.

I smiled and forced my last order out. “Osiris, I have won the match, but I am too far gone, so I am leaving you in charge.” A coughing fit almost overtook me, but I wanted to finish this. “Good luck.” I wanted to say more, but my body started failing in earnest.

I fell to my knees and then further. I could not see the faces, that came to me soon enough. I could feel their mana, their magic, but I was so overcome that even my mental third-eye was failing.

Stone it all. Regardless of when this little ‘kingdom’ that we built imploded, it would be a result of the actions of their choices from here on out.

I was done.

…Maria.

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DeMorte's location is the star on the southern part of the continent (northwest of the ship)

Most of the city symbols are capitals, but a few are temples. The cave like structures are dungeons and the symbols to the west in the mountains are fortresses/chokepoints. The building to the east of the compass and west of the mountains near the kracken (who is just for decoration) is a temple city. Other symbols are either for decoration or for my mental placement - IE: Entrials is the town symbol just south of the forest, but the distances are not scaled.

 simplified version [https://s13.postimg.org/fnm1g7cef/Eastern_continent_political_map_simplified.jpg]