Alaster disconnected from the Night Child, and had it sneak through the city until it reached the battlements above the gate. Once he sensed that the Child had stopped moving, Alaster bonded with it again.
It had reached its destination.
Alaster immediately came to a few conclusions. First, that the section was more rubble than walkway. Second, that the Tarian army was centered on the gate, which he would be positioned above. He would receive the bulk of the enemy forces. And third, that the Onigarian Lords wanted to test him.
As it was now, the Gate Battlements would, without a doubt, fail during the next attack. Which was a problem because there was a wooden bridge connecting the outer and inner walls in the center of the section, practically the only part of the section that was not horribly damaged.
If the Tarians took the section, they would be able to attack the inner gate, at least until the Onigarians managed to destroy the bridge, hence why it was made of wood. As it was, with the Night Child clinging to the side of the left outer tower of his new section, Alaster could see that the engineers were building rudimentary defenses on the inner wall.
The defenses were little more than sandbags and spikes propped up, but it would likely give the defenders enough time to destroy the bridge.
It was expected that his new section would fall to the enemy in the next attack. The Onigarians simply didn’t have enough manpower to repair the extensive damage while also maintaining all the other sections.
Sighing to himself, Alaster changed out of his warm comfortable pajamas and into a fresh set of travel clothes. He summoned the Pact armor around himself and activated [Swap] with the Night Child as the target.
Alaster appeared on the side of the tower, falling a few feet to the destroyed battlements of his section.
His Domain opened, allowing his Undead to march out. Many of the nearby Soldiers shouted in alarm, rushing to their weapons and positions, but the Officers calmed them and got them back to work. Apparently, word of Alaster and his Minions had already spread, at least among the Officers.
Once they learned that he was on their side, they resumed their work in repairing and preparing for the next battle, but Alaster noticed that they would occasionally shoot curious, as well as cautious, glances his way. Alaster ignored them.
Yawning, Alaster activated [Death Embrace], feeling his living body transform into that of the Undead. Instantly, he no longer felt tired. With the Bonus’ low Mana Cost, Alaster was able to keep it active constantly. He had a feeling it would be a while before he would actually be able to get a night’s sleep.
Alaster summoned his Undead Workers and Miner. Together with his Custom Undead, they quickly got to work moving pieces of rubble into position, slowly rebuilding the battlements. Using his Earth Mana, Alaster was able to conjure the missing pieces, as well as seal them together.
Unfortunately, even when sealed with the pieces of the wall, it was clear that his stone was much weaker. The stone of the wall had been magically strengthened by much stronger Earth Mages as well as enchanted. Even broken, they were still much stronger than a casual user of Earth Magic, such as Alaster.
But the stone was still better suited to building a wall out of then bone, no matter how strong Alaster could make it.
For the most part, Alaster did not even need to directly instruct them. He simply provided a mental image of what he wanted and his Custom Undead would do their best to replicate it. He simply had to provide the stone blocks, which the Miner was able to chisel into the proper shapes, if needed.
Alaster instead spent most of the time examining the Mana Streams of his Undead Berserker. Belgroth had suggested to Alaster to familiarize himself with his new skill in seeing through the System. It was still weak, rudimentary, and slow.
Belgroth stated that first, one had to be able to see the Mana Steams, only then could they begin to manipulate them. Editing the Spells he already knew, creating new ones.
So, Alaster decided to first practice on Undead Berserker. He did so for one very simple reason. The Mana Stream for Undead Berserker was one of the simplest out of all the Spells Alaster had access to.
Even his Bolt spells were more complicated because they had to create a projectile out of almost pure mana and mentally send it to their target.
Minion Spells were much more complicated than most, but the Berserker was almost stupidly simple. All it did was create the physical body out of temporary Mana, which would dissipate upon enough damage, or the spell coming undone. Once the body and weapons were created the actual Minion was created next. Basically the ‘soul’ of the Minion, though calling it a soul was an insult to an actual soul.
All of this was done in the mere second it took to summon the Undead. While the Undead Soldier was just as simple, the Minion part was more complex, capable of understanding and accomplishing much more complex duties. The Berserker was quite limited in its ‘intelligence’. The most it could understand was kill or stay.
Due to that simplicity, Alaster really didn’t want any Onigarian Soldiers in his Section during the actual battles. Not only would his own Spells harm them, but his Minions might as well. As it was, Alaster could feel the hostility his Undead had for the Soldiers, even as they worked.
Alaster’s Custom Undead had a weak Intelligence, which was capable of learning. Very rarely had they been called out and not been ordered to simply kill everything around them. And now that they were each paired with the fragmented souls of Devils, who had been fighting a genocidal war against Humans, that bloodlust was multiplied.
But despite their own simple emotions, that couldn’t be constituted as true emotions, they obeyed Alaster, their master, without hesitation.
The Undead Berserker was even more bloodthirsty, without the minor intelligence paired with it to temper it. If Alaster summoned the Berserker, it would continue to obey him if he ordered it to stay. But in battle, Alaster wouldn’t be able to order it to not attack Soldiers in a certain uniform. It simply wasn’t intelligent enough to comprehend the order.
Nor did Alaster want to. The Berserker’s strength was its blind fury. Alaster didn’t want to hinder that. No. He wanted to enhance it.
Alaster wanted to make a Berserker that was even stronger, faster, more durable. He wanted a Minion he could cast into the thick of fighting and it would be in paradise.
And with Belgroth’s experience, Alaster was making great progress. Even Sedall stayed silent and listened, trying to learn as well.
By the time the sun rose over the horizon, the Battlements were repaired, at least as much as Alaster and his Undead were capable of. They were more fragile than the original walls, but it would do, for now.
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But care about that. He was more focused on the Mana Streams. He maintained a death grip on them, wary of losing control and creating something completely unexpected, or even out of control. However, Belgroth was an adequate teacher.
The Demon not only instructed Alaster how to manipulate the Streams and in what order and fashion, but also why, so that Alaster would eventually be able to do it without his direct instruction.
‘Good…now, let go.’ Belgroth instructed.
‘Seriously? Just let go?’ This entire time, Belgroth had been warning against letting any of the Streams move on their own.
‘Yes, no matter how much you control the Mana, it will always do its own thing. Think of it like thin hot metal. You can hammer it into a different shape, but it will still bend back slightly. But if you hammer it into too drastic of a different shape, it will snap.’
‘What would happen if a Mana Stream snapped?’ Sedall asked.
‘The original spell would collapse, and you would need to rebuild it from the ground up to be able to use it again.’
Alaster let go with caution. As Belgroth had stated, they quickly but calmly oriented themselves. They moved back and forth, as if testing their new patterns before gradually coming to a halt. Not once did the Mana within the Streams halt or fluctuate.
As they came to a halt, Alaster heard ‘ding’ of a System Notification.
‘I am both surprised and not that your System classified the change.’ Belgroth stated bored, as he usually was with anything to do with the System.
‘Well, the System wouldn’t have survived this long, nor allowed Humanity to survive this long if it wasn’t adaptable.’
‘Hmmph.’ Belgroth was not impressed.
Rolling his eyes at Belgroth, Alaster opened his Status and took a look at his new Spell.
[Doom Knight
Fragments of tormented souls merged into one body of hate and pain.
Max Minion: 0/1
Mana Cost: 500]
‘Doom Knight? That sounds promising.’ Alaster said with a hint of pride.
Manipulating the Mana Streams was much harder than it sounded. Manipulating the Mana of one’s own Spells was already considered a skilled technique for a Mage. Creating your own basic Spells was considered an Advanced technique.
But to create an entirely new Spell, one as complicated as a Minion Summoning Spell, that was unheard of, at least to Alaster’s knowledge. Alaster’s very basic knowledge in that regard.
‘Perhaps but look at the description. It’s different from the other Summoned Undead. That alone is expected since, while it’s based on one of them, it is its own Spell. It specifies the fragments of tormented souls.’ Sedall warned.
‘Bah, that’s normal for the more advanced Minion Summoning Spells. It’s not even truly advanced. Using your own System’s words. The Minions that you Humans are used to are Novice Tier. They require very little more than Mana.
Adept Tier Minions, such as this Doom Knight, require fragments of souls, but they will also be more complex, smarter.
Expert Tier Minions will require entire souls, not just parts, which the soul would slowly recover. The Morals of such Minions have always been in dispute, even among my people. However, the effectiveness was never in question. Such Minions are incredibly intelligent, wise, and powerful.’
‘What about even higher tiered Minions? Both of you were much stronger than Experts.’ Alaster asked.
‘It was just an analogy. The Magic behind Minions is much more complicated than that. But there are some types that could be compared to one of the warriors of my people. They are rare, and incredibly difficult to acquire. Minions are just that, minions. They are weak, meant to deal with those of similar weakness with numbers.’ Belgroth explained.
‘Most of my power resides in my Minions. Does that mean that eventually, I won’t be limited in strength?’
‘Your power lies not in your Minions. But in you. As of yet, you are still quite weak, but as I’m sure you’ve noticed, you have potential in using manipulating the soul. That in itself, is a power that cannot be underestimated.’
‘I can second that.’ Sedall added.
‘In what way?’ Alaster asked as the sun continued to rise. Behind him, the Soldiers changed shifts, those who had worked through the night handed off their tools to the day shift crew and headed to their beds.
‘Because someone capable of manipulating souls are damn near unstoppable if given time to prepare. For example, you just created a unique Minion Summon. Minion spells are naturally complicated and difficult to replicate, let alone create your own.
Very few people are able to learn them if they don’t have a predisposition to one, like you. As one who can manipulate souls, you could even learn how to manipulate your own.’ Sedall explained.
Belgroth spoke next, ‘A good friend of mine, before the War, had contained his soul in a crystal ball. It didn’t matter how much damage his body took, even if it was disintegrated, so long as the crystal ball was intact, he would simply regenerate.’
‘That sounds uncomfortable.’ Alaster winced.
‘It can be if you do if incorrectly. But my friend knew enough that he was perfectly fine. The only issue was that if his body was too far from the Crystal Ball containing his soul, he was unable to use his Magic. To overcome that, he simply trained his body, enhancing it through Magic.’
‘Wow, that sounds incredible.’
‘It was certainly a sight to see. Unfortunately, I haven’t a clue how he managed to do it. But let’s see what this Doom Knight looks like.’
‘I too am interested.’ Sedall added.
‘But it required fragments of souls.’ Alaster reminded.
‘You are on a battlefield with hundreds of dead around you. The bodies might have been removed or even destroyed, but the souls remain where they died unless moved.’ Belgroth said with a sigh.
‘For a few days at least, depending on the soul’s strength.’ Sedall quickly said.
‘That is true. Human souls are so weak they last a few days, maybe a few weeks. Argalon souls are so strong they can last several months, even years.’
‘So, if I cast the Spell, it should automatically use the souls?’
‘Presumably.’ Sedall admitted, ‘It should. But it will only use pieces of the souls, nothing that will destroy it. Simply delay it. However, with how the Spell is worded, it will merge those pieces in the most painful ways, elicting pain and hate.’
‘Alright. Let’s see.’
While Alaster would have been able to visualize it through Identifying its Mana Streams, he didn’t. The image would only give a general feeling of its abilities, not a true accounting. And as Belgroth and Sedall repeatedly said, morale was critical, and the appearance and aura of an enemy could quickly affect it.
The Doom Knight also required ten times the amount of Mana as an ordinary Undead Summon, so Alaster was really hoping it would be worth all the effort.
Casting the Spell, Alaster noticed that it was summoned slower than usual, but he also had the feeling that it was because of two reasons. One, that it was the first time being summoned and required time to gather the soul fragments. And two, because there was no enemy to fight.
Alaster suspected that for later summons, especially when there was an enemy nearby that needed to be slaughtered, it would appear much quicker than usual for one of the Undead Summons.
As the Doom Knight phased into existence, a feeling of dread began to resonate from it. So much so that the Soldiers from both shifts look over, many grasping their weapons.
The Doom Knight was of similar height and build as Alaster. Its pitch-black armor had sharp spikes pointing out. They were not for appearances. The spikes had channels through them that fed into grooves in the armor.
Alaster’s Pact Armor was cruel, but the Doom Knight’s was sadistic.
Its fists were similarly spiked and, in its hands, it held a single serrated great sword.
It wore a battle skirt with flexible metal plates. At the bottom of each plate was a long sharp blade. Alaster could perfectly imagine the Doom Knight spinning around and slicing apart any foe foolish enough to get near it.
Its closed helm was surprisingly simple, but that only enforced the sense of fear it expelled. The helmet had three visors aiming down in sharp angles. It made it appear as if the Doom Knight was wearing a crown of spikes.
The Doom Knight finally phased into existence and looked curiously around itself. It seemed confused, until it looked out of the walls, towards the Tarian Camp. A sense of hatred, but also joy. It then looked at the broken wall, at the old bloodstains. It radiated a sense of pure unbridled joy.
It turned around, catching sight of the Soldiers. It raised its sword and dashed forward. Many Soldiers backed up in fright, a few even crying out.
Alaster calmly raised his hand, “Stop.”
Alaster expected it to immediately stop, but it didn’t. It slowed its charge until it stood right in front of him.
“You will obey.” Alaster commanded, “Kneel.”
Through his [Seeker Sight] Alaster saw the Doom Knight’s grip on its sword tighten. Several tense moments passed, but it did eventually obey. Slowly, but it did kneel.
Despite kneeling, it stared at him. He could feel it glaring.
“Follow and obey me, and you will be given countless foes to slaughter. To rip and tear. To bath in their blood, to your heart’s desire.”
The Knight cocked its head for a moment, as if pondering something, before bowing its head. In that moment, Alaster felt something change within the Minion Spell.
He had earned the Doom Knight’s fealty.