Ability: Light Sword Type: Low Triggered Event: "To be a Servant of the Radiant Star, you must possess her weapon." Effect:
In day, the sword merely glows with power, but at darkness will it truly shine the most.
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'Its just the Dungeon though.’ Verum questioned, ‘I’ve been there, and the owner of that place is pretty reasonable, as long as you don’t break his walls.’
Marie turned her head towards Verum and glared at him as if it was his fault.
“I’m guessing you’re the killer?” She asks.
“No” He lied.
Verum could already tell she didn’t believe him, and proceeded to walk up to Stevan.
She then smacked his head to the point the ground cracked when he hit the ground. She then proceeded to use [heal].
“Why do you always get yourself in- huh?”
Verum amusedly watched as the priest try using [Heal] over and over again, only to end up with no result. He himself had that ability. He was specifically taught by the same religion into making it his first skill, so he knew that the undead are not affected by it.
Stevan got up, smiled, and greatly apologized.
“Sorry, Marie, but I swore allegiance to Lord Verum, making me undead.”
Marie kept silent for a handful of seconds. She then looked back at Verum, and uttered an ability.
“[Starless Doma-]”
“Wait!” Verum shouted, “He is fine, and don’t you dare activate a domain ability, look, I’m not here to fight. I just want to help my student get stronger.”
“Student?” Marie mumbled, then opened her eyes wide when she realized who he was talking about, “You mean the two girls?”
“Yes.” Verum answered, “Give me the [Beacon], and Il show you my strength before you decide to get yourself killed.”
Verum could immediately tell she was doubtful, but he really doesn’t want to kill a radiant priest.
“Fine.” She agreed, “Il be back.”
She turned around and punched the fabric of space again, but this time the portal did not close, instead it remained until she came back with the [beacon].
“Now, give me proof I can’t annihilate you in seconds.”
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“Domain abilites?” Seraphine asks
“Yup, mine is called [Mountain of loss]” the man with pointy ears answered.
The prince is sitting with Seraphine within the barrier, casually watching the battlefield, or more specifically, Keren, who can’t seem to put the the giant lion down.
“There are many types of abilities.” He explained, “At birth, you always get an innate ability, something your race is born with. I believe the humans have [Image of evolution] right? Us elves had [One with the world], which helps us understand laws much easier, though I doubt you’d even knew what laws are.”
“Like Miracles?” Seraphine asks.
“Miracles? What’s that? I don’t think that’s a law. The ones I mean are gravity, death, life, Sustenance, and many more. You don’t need to learn them now though.”
Seraphine wondered why this man started to talk to her. He came out of nowhere when Keren came back, and then proceeded to sit down on the ground right next to her.
She guessed he might have noticed her gaze towards Keren, then assumed they were related and was teaching her things to gain favor.
“There are also simpler types.” He continued, “There is low, mid, high, and unique. The first three are pretty self-explanatory, but unique abilities could only ever be obtained through evolution of a high rank ability. I believe they are the rarest types to possess.”
“Chaos?” She wondered
“Chaos what?”
“Chaos Abilites.”
The prince simply shook his head, “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I have heard of such a type. Maybe if you enter a higher realm, you might be able to learn more.”
Seraphine watched as the surroundings dissappear, replacing it with a mountainous view, atop a flat rock surface.
“And this is a domain. Believe it or not, but there are higher realms than star perfection. When you enter that realm is when you start constructing a domain. There are some exceptional people that can make one before reaching it though like me and the Undead that is controlling the monsters, those are called Starless domains, since they are incomplete.”
Seraphine wandered around the mountain. She touched the hard surface and found it to be authentic. She looked at the sky and saw no clouds and only endless blue. She tries to find the sun, but none seem to have appeared.
“I lost.” The prince behind her spoke. She was then back inside the barrier, back in time to see Keren get pinned down, and incinerate the lions face with her breath.
“Anyways, Il be leaving for now towards the castle. I will come back when the small problem of your kingdom is dealt with.”
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He smiled, then stood up to casually walk away.
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“Oh Radiant Star.” Marie exclaimed, she had never seen such a realm before, but more importantly, she had never thought so many abilities could belong on one person.
‘1, 2, 3,….he has so much…. that’s absurd!’
Marie trembled, with the exception of Innate and Titles, the amount of abilities one posses often correlates with their realm. The problem is that Marie only saw 1 innate skill! He is essentially someone that can destroy this world if he wanted to!
“Will you hear me out then?” Verum asked.
‘Do I have a choice?’ She sarcastically thought, ‘Why does someone like him bothering with lower worlds like these?’
“Look,” He negotiated, “I can see that The Dungeon entrance is expanding, but I want you to keep it that way for about a month.”
Marie wanted to refute him, but she can’t afford to offend something so powerful.
“I’ll take your silence as a yes. After a month, me and my student will leave this world and close this. Oh, and keep my existence a secret as well. Until then, Il be inside Stevans body.” Verum answered and went inside the idiot she was stepping on.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
On one hand, that skeletal ghost seemed to be reasonable. On the other, prolonging the Dungeon to expand could lead to dire consequences. The last time they ignored one, the demons had to retreat to their own world just to recuperate their massive losses. Endless monsters coming in waves are never a good thing.
‘That annoying Krieg, he probably kept it hidden so he could capture the monsters and enslave them.’
She sighed, it’s not up to her now. All she could do is follow orders. Whatever he plans on doing, Marie just hoped doesn’t lead to harsh consequences.
On a side note, she noticed that one third of the undeads skills are taught by the Radiant church. Perhaps he used to be one?
‘Hmm, I might be able to find information about him in higher branches, maybe the ones on Indra had something?’
Marie frowned, she really doesn’t like visiting higher worlds, especially Indra.
‘Well, it’s not like they could hold a candle to that undead’s realm anyways.’
“Can you step off now?” A voice below her complained.
Marie looked down at Stevan who still can’t lift his head from her foot. She really wanted to keep it that way, but it’s not a good thing to mess with his subordinates.
“Whew, finally.”
“What did you do to find your master?”
“You mean Lord Verum? I…..don’t know, I think its- oh, Its because he saved me from dying and found my daughters so I swore allegiance to him.”
‘That’s a lie.’ She thought, “He saved you from dying so you chose to serve him….By becoming undead?”
“……yes”
‘He probably told him about that lie.’ She deduced.
Besides the questionable logic, the fact that he still had his memories is at least pleasurable to know.
When she found out he was undead, she was in rage, but finding out he is still the same lucky fool was a sigh of relief. It’s not like the church hates undead specifically, just those that doesn’t “shine”.
“Whatever, I’m leaving to help the king.”
He could have ask the undead to stop him, but she needed to vent her stress out.
And nothing is a better target than scum like Krieg.
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“Unbelievable” Fate mumbled.
She was witnessing what could be called a vicious battle. Instead of some exchange of precise skills, it’s just two beings, trying to rip each other apart. One of them was Keren.
She saw how her breath burned the giant lions fur, melting it’s bones and evaporating the blood, but it kept going, trying to crash her under its immense strength and weight.
Keren kept breathing flames, and the lion kept pushing, over and over, and over again.
That is untill the beast finally fell, the lower half of its body only remained.
Keren herself didn’t come out unscathed. She stood up limping with a bloody mouth, and possibly a broken ribcage. Still she smiled.
“Is that all you got?” Keren mocked against the horde.
Fate may have been hallucinating it, but the monsters that was pushing towards the Cathedral had less pressure now after her threat.
Yes…..she was hallucinating.
The monsters did not listen to her declaration, but was instead moving, avoiding a specific path to make way to their leader. The cause of it all.
Like the sea splitting itself. The undead Krieg walked towards the Cathedral. Held on his hand is a disheveled body of a man. A still bbreathing, skinny human with a missing arm and a golden golden sword with a crown shaped handle.
‘It was the king.’ Fate realized, ‘The king lost the battle.’
“Your poor king has lost. Since I am in a good mood today, I shall give you a choice. Die now, or submit to my command. Whichever you choose, you shall know this as the last time you tasted freedom.” He declared while smiling.
She had to leave now. Fate had no doubt that breaking this silly barrier and getting through Keren would be a trivial task for him.
But where could she run? She herself had experienced his mind control abilities. The fact he doesn’t use it on the people wasn’t a weakness, but a deliberate act of pride. The entire time, he had been playing with them until he felt satisfied enough to snuff out the hope that they had.
She could see his smile, under that golden mustache, is a soul that she could deem “evil”.
“Same shit, different day.” Keren amused, “Don’t think your getting past-“ she tried to say but stopped, then she made blank face, and turned her head in their direction.
“No.” Fate despaired.
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“Greetings, Young Master.” Krieg telepathically relayed, “My king ordered me to destroy anything on site, but since you’re here, I would love to serve you too. I will help you kill anything, anyone. You just have to say the word.”
“How?” Seraphine asked verbally.
“Hmm? It depends on your wishes. I could feed them to a million rodents, get chewed by orcs, or even-“
“No, I mean head talk.”
“ Oh, you mean telepathy without the need to speak? Just form a small energy point, arrange it to shapes of words, then direct it to me.”
“Cant.”
Kreige paused, not sure what to say next, “Well, that is fine, you could just make use of my Kings [Unworthy], like when talking through me on my Lion comrade.” He said in her head and smiled, looking somewhat like he had lost a piece of himself upon mentioning the dead beast.
Then, casually, he turned his head towards Keren and his army, fully under his control.
“Since nobody is choosing, then I will.” He declared, and sent a mental command, “Kill everyone in the barrier.”
His words made the civilians attempt breaking out, but the priest responsible for keeping it up decided to set the barrier itself to be impossible to leave, or rather he was mentally controlled to change the condition. Many shouted, punched , and used their own abilites to even try making a crack, but nothing was strong enough to make a big hole.
Even the adventurers outside the barrier are now desperately just trying to defend themselves from the onslaught of monsters, ever more vigorous that their master was here.
The worst part is that the amateur adventurers had long retreated back into the barrier, too injured to continue on. Leaving the veterans behind.
Keren unleashed a sea of flames, different from before where it was once concentrated, now its just widespread and destructive. Fortunately, the spread lessened the strength of it and did nothing towards the barrier and the skilled men.
‘Hmph, even after being undead, my control still lacked when it comes to intelligent and strong willed creatures. If only I could fight too, but my domain ability just had to make me weaker than my realm. Not like it matters anyway, this is exactly the reason I kept this so called “king” alive.’
“This is your chance to shine, King Ramposa Grim.” He smiled as he let go of the king and invaded its thoughts.
Throughout his mental Invasion, he saw his insecurities, and his darkest desires. He lived a very long life, and surprisingly was king for half a millennia, just with different “identities”.
The kings memories showed an ability. [Hostile Takeover], to invade a foreign body and destroy the original soul, letting the king be the supposed heir for generations.
He could also sense regret. He had children. Many children. Yet one stood out, for her body had an unique ability to carry the kingdom to new heights, but somehow she managed to escape his grasp and was long gone hundreds of years ago.
Even now, the king had the intention to transfer his soul to his soon to be vessel. The current princess of this kingdom.
To Kreig, his intentions are essentially as vile as his. If only he learned his wrong ways and find a new purpose, just like how he did and swore his loyalty to his king by becoming undead. He might suggest helping him convert when his master decided that he had destroyed enough.
But right now, he had a command to fulfill.
“[Starless Domain: Trials of the weak]”
He could feel the animals, the people, and their desires, he could control them, all at his own command. Even the king was powerless. In this kingdom, he is invincible.
“[Starless Domain: Glory before the end]”
Suddenly, he felt half of them disappear, and his control had significantly weakened.
‘Who dares mess with me!’
A crack appeared in space, and a priest with white robes stepped out. Her heterochromia eyes dared him to get closer.
“You will be my punching bag for today.” Marie declared.