Hey, MDW here.
There's no good writing, Only good rewriting.
Is this a time warp? A glitch in The Matrix? No, it's just a rewrite of the last 600 words of the last chapter. Which I removed from there, by the way. I hope you enjoy it, but if you do not, my 100% money-back guarantee is still in effect for a limited time. Har, har.
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Their flesh was emaciated and drained of most color, their eyes lifeless. Burning necrotic energies swirled in their bodies and I knew the necromancers who raised them had infused their own souls, their own wills into the bodies. It was a desecration of all I fought for, all I lived in all these thousands of years.
Still ensconced in my solar plexus and impossible to remove, Pandora pulsed angrily in outrage. Maybe Rosalinda had recognized her daughter. As we stared at each other, time came to a standstill.
I didn't ask to come to this world. I had a choice but oblivion was not really something anyone would pick. I didn't do anything other than existing to earn the deities' enmity. But too many lines have been crossed. Nothing was sacred for the dragon bitch and I would be justified in anything I did to those overgrown dinosaurs.
They were all in the seventies. Even Lily, who didn't have many opportunities to level up. But the feeling I got was that the better the body, the stronger the zombie-me.
I wouldn't let any of them fight Apricot. If I had to guess, they would fight according to their Classes and an [Assassin] was a wild cannon.
I glanced at the Broodmother. Despite being within shouting distance, she was using some magic or divine power to project her voice. She was still a couple hundred kilometers away but she slowed down to watch the show. The other dragons were also eager to see how this mirror match would end. They had no idea.
We rearranged ourselves and dashed toward our targets. As expected, Apricot vanished, Rosewise started casting, Snowdrop drew a spear, Lily shifted into her moon-bound cat form, Lakerta {Challenged} the former [Emperor], Arista started to sing a spell, and Alloralla drew twin daggers.
I also vanished and used {Flash Blink Step} to appear next to Apricot, who was gliding towards Mona. My perception was just higher than her stealth as I backstabbed her but swapped the damage for long-term stun. As she fell unconscious for a few seconds, Pandora sucked the soul of the dragon necromancer out of the body. I sent it to the item box as I moved on to my next target.
Lily attempted to claw Madge. The floating shields blocked most of the claw attacks and interposed themselves to block any attempt to clinch and grapple. But the lack of flying combat experience was evident in all three fights of human versus zombie. Landbound people usually didn't think in three dimensions when fighting. Mona didn't use her club against Alloralla's daggers. Which weren't the elven ones I had but some enchanted daggers from some dragon hoard elsewhere. Instead, she was evading and whittling down the Star Elf Queen with magic spells for a change. Holy magic was still effective against the undead in this world, and the seeking balls of golden light she fired at the elf zombie were very effective, forcing Alloralla to dodge the incoming orbs and divide her focus.
Nenandil was in a magical duel with Rosewise. The blind Eleon found most of her spells countered by the fairy, who found time to shoot this or that ice or Force magic back. But the problem was her Manastorm. Nenandil and I were okay because we were immune to Mana burn, but the girls were suffering. If the only male (currently) in our party was having any trouble because of the raging magical storm, he didn't show.
Speaking of the devil, Lakerta was struggling to keep the former [Emperor] contained inside her {Snake Fortress}. The [Imperial Mastermind] ignored his Class benefits and was grappling the snake coils of the lamia, apparently relishing the physical challenge.
I had two free targets to fight. As Snowdrop attempted to charge Mona, I used a short burst of {Cosmos Within} to distract her from the attack. The Perk made her ignore anyone but me, meaning she couldn't complete her attack. I could sense the [Unicorn King] outrage at the desecration of his bloodline and used {Spear Blink} to strike the belly of the winged unicorn centauress. She dropped to zero HP as these zombies counted as both dragons and valid targets for {Avenger Lance}.
Her MP didn't drop and Snowdrop went into the negatives. That confirmed one of my suspicions. These zombies didn't have my (unique) Perks as it would be a subversion of the System's guidelines. Even if the Broodmother could grant slightly modified versions, I doubted she would invest any real power in these dummies. They were mostly a diversion. I used {Shadow Warp} to reach Snowdrop's underbelly and Pandora sucked the necromancer soul out of the body.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I had to act quickly. Only Nenandil was "winning" her fight while the possessed half-dragon zombies gave the girls a hard time. The former [Emperor] seemed to be enjoying his grappling bout…
With the big-boob Lamia. A wave of repulsion washed over me and made me lose focus. It allowed Arista time to finish her song. The dissonant haunting tune caused despair in all of us. I resisted the debuff but the girls didn't. They started to hesitate and allow the zombies they were fighting openings they could exploit. Nenandil lost some of her edge and my father was having a good time wrestling my former well-endowed self. That settled it. I let the mermaid sing her next song and used {Flash Blink Step} to backstab Lakerta. Suck soul, yank the corpse out of the guy's grasp and store it.
I met the former [Emperor]'s gaze and grunted in annoyance. He shrugged and chuckled. I tossed the spear and impaled Arista who was too busy singing to dodge.
I collected Arista's corpse and soared to help Madge. The dragon-were-cat girl was still trying to madly claw Madge but aside from a few scratches, the most she managed to do was to scratch the steel lining insulating the enchanted core of the floating shield from the Adamantite plate. She had a few cuts from Madge's sword but something was wrong. An inspection of Madge's situation showed she had been infected with therianthropy and was in the process of turning.
Grabbing the unruly gatathrope (like lycanthrope but with the Greek word for cats) by the scruff, I stabbed her with the unicorn spear and stored the now inert body.
Nenandil had defeated Rosewise-zombie.
I pondered.
I scratched her with a cat's paw and checked my notifications to see I'd successfully overwritten the zombie inferior strain. Then I healed her.
With help from her daddy, Madge was able to summon the Matriarch's {Paw of Judgment} and finish Alloralla. That accounted for all the zombies.
I felt shaken. Madge held my arm as she flapped her wings to keep next to me. She would turn into a were-cat when the moons came up. Speaking of the time of the day, I checked the sun's position. It was mid-afternoon already, our overland travel and few skirmishes eating most of the day. The almost-a-square-kilometer-fat-ass Brood-Whore would reach us in less than an hour.
Maybe that was her goal. To make me lose my cool and make me careless. I used {Compartmentalized Mind} to put the grief of my former selves and the outrage out of my mind. I was thankful for the 300 points of Willpower that helped me survive this episode only shaken. Part of me wanted to rampage wildly but that would condemn my companions.
I was glad they proved to be more than just a liability.
As inspiration overtook me and my spirit was raised by {Serendipity}, I followed its guidance. A midnight black tail sprouted from my sacrum bone. The bone linked to resurrection if the ancient Egyptians were to be believed. But that tail was pure Death magic. I cast a spell to double my Luck score. Then I took an urn of ashes from my item box and greedily ate the contents. Vlad would serve me well in death beyond undeath.
> > You devoured the essence of a vampire.
>
> > You gained the Perk, Control Undead (rare): You can control undead creatures and wrestle them away from their controllers in a contested (Magic + Ego) dispute. Sentient undead may resist.
It was {Four-Leaf Clover} who had triggered once again. I immediately exercised my Perk as my Necromancy tail sucked in all light, casting a long shadow behind me. The possessed forms of my former selves were still controlled by the spirits of [Dragon Archmages] who formerly inhabited them after sacrificing their mortal shells to bring such desecration about. The undead bodies were not dead-dead but inert. I made sure to not damage them to the point they would crumble into dust.
The Broodmother might have had plans to make me fight these puppets.
> > Contested (Magic + Ego) test won (x7).
But now they were my puppets.
Anti-apotheotic but I had no time to check who was stronger if the current me or possessed shadows of my former selves. Yet I couldn't bring myself to destroy them. They couldn't be stored in the item box as they counted as "living" as far as the Perk was concerned, to hell with biology.
I made them charge and attack me. With angry hisses, they obliged. Around me the dragons watched, eager to see the fight. Above and still approaching, the jumbo dragon Goddess smirked a fangy grin. As they reached me, Pandora became pitch-black. Without the dragon necromancers' souls squatting in my former bodies, it was time to grant them some decency. This decaying flesh needed to go.
Another seven tails appeared and flew toward them. As they touched each of their bodies, I poured Divinity into them and mixed it with my Necromancy and Flesh magic.
> > Anima Incarnator
>
> > You permanently lost 350 points of Magic.
It was worth the sacrifice. Color returned to their bodies as their skin returned to life. Eight heartbeats rang in unison. {Anima Incarnator} allowed me to make golems but the restriction of doing it with only Silk disappeared. As the fragments of my own soul represented by the sacrificed Magic infused their bodies, they blinked their eyes as they came alive.
They weren't alive in the sense they were the same people they once were but flesh golems imbued with fragments of my soul. That granted them the memories they had in life. They were aware they were golems. I only hoped they didn't mind but I don't think they would make a fuss now, with the dragon bitch closing nearby.
Lakerta snorted as she didn't see the point of wasting a curse-breaking on that.
Lily was just overwhelmed.