Alaster heard a boot nervously scuff the stone behind him. He turned to face the newcomer. It was a young man in light leather armor, by the satchel over his shoulder, he was clearly a messenger. Of course, even a young man, he was still older than the seventeen Alaster.
The Doom Knight stared at the messenger. It gripped its sword and growled, a sound that reminded Alaster of a predator.
“Silence.” Alaster ordered, not bothering to look at it as he addressed the messenger.
“Yes?”
The messenger looked terrified to be this close to the man controlling the intimidating creatures. He had heard the rumors of the black armored man before him.
“Uh,” He hesitated, but his training took hold, “Sir, You have been requested to meet with the City Lord as soon as possible.” He said with conviction, standing straight and tall.
“Who is taking this position while I am gone?” Alaster asked.
The Lords wouldn’t simply assign him to this section only to leave it undefended when they wanted to talk to him.
“Ten Squads have been assigned to this Section. While you are here, they will support you from the Inner Wall, as you requested. But when you are absent, they will guard the wall until you can return. Of course, in such a situation, it would be much appreciated for you to return as quickly as possible.”
“Understood.” Alaster waved his hand behind him, opening his Domain. He ordered all his Undead through.
‘Keep the Doom Knight with you.’ Belgroth ordered.
‘Why?’ Alaster could tell that while Sedall was silent, he was also curious.
‘The Doom Knight is a collection of multiple fragmented souls. Souls that were broken up even more, ground together in the most painful ways, and then crudely sewn together again. That’s where its hate comes from, its own pain.
Right now, that is all it is. Hate and pain. Which makes sense because it was created from a Berserker. But while the Souls are sewn together, they don’t match. Its like a blanket that has more patches than actual blanket remaining.
But Souls will heal themselves. In this case, they will slowly merge, refining themselves. The hate will remain, but the Doom Knight will gradually become more refined.
In your [Soul Domain], that process will be paused. So just keep it with you as much as possible.’
‘What happens if it is destroyed or unsummoned?’ Sedall asked.
‘Think of it like this. Each Undead inhabits a very small section of your Soul. Like an imprint. Any change is also marked. Right now, you have Devil fragments imbued in your Custom Undead. When the Undead are destroyed, that imprint on your soul still exists.
When you create another Custom Undead, that Imprint is applied, keeping the fragment. Now, right now that fragment is so small and broken that it does very little.
But with Souls in better shape, they will have more impact, even imparting certain parts of them into your Undead.
The Doom Knight is similar. It has an Imprint and it will remain so.’ Belgroth explained as the Undead marched into the Domain.
‘Wait, what do you mean about Souls imparting something on my Undead?’
‘Nothing extreme. The stronger the Soul, the more it will impart. But usually, it will just be minor things. Take a man who has practiced his entire life with a sword. Even if he isn’t the best, all that practice formed a mark on his very soul. That same mark effects the Undead the Soul is attached to.
That Undead will be better with the sword and may even take on similar habits the Soul had.’
‘So I have to be careful what Souls I use?’
‘Obviously. But unless you attach a Soul stronger than you own, the Undead will still obey you.’
‘Is that what happened with the Doom Knight?’ Sedall asked.
‘Yes. In the Doom Knight’s situation, the amalgamation of all those Souls were just barely stronger than Alaster’s. Afterall, in the sense of Souls, Alaster is only a little stronger than most Humans, and Humans have very weak Souls.
Since it was Spiritually stronger than Alaster, it was able to resist his command, partly, because it was only just stronger. But when Alaster offered it something that it wanted, it offered itself to him, allowing his Soul to successfully subjugate its own collection.’
‘So it will obey?’
Alaster wanted to make sure. He didn’t want the Knight going on a rampage among the civilians.
‘Yes, but going along with my previous analogy, any Adept Tiered Undead will act more independently. It will obey, but the way it obeys will depend on it. And, for Expert Tiered Undead, if you do something against the morales ingrained on its Soul, it will revolt.’
‘The Mage creates. The Knight destroys. The Lord rules. A good ruler has the loyalty and fear of their subjects. A poor ruler has neither.’ Alaster recited what his Class had told him.
‘Yes. Most of your Minions will be created using Souls. The longer they exist, the more intelligent and refined. Right now, the Doom Knight is confused. All it wants is to destroy. In this case, that will not change, but it will become more focused. Simply put, you can treat your other Undead like disposable tools, but with the Doom Knight and other Higher Undead, you can’t do that.’
Alaster nodded to himself and closed the Domain after the last Undead went through. He dismissed the Summoned Undead.
‘Keep in mind, that verbal commands have more power than mental ones.’ Sedall reminded.
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“Follow me. You will stay with me and not harm anyone unless I command otherwise.” Alaster sternly ordered the Doom Knight.
It growled, but Alaster could feel its acknowledgement. The Doom Knight followed behind Alaster, similar to how Lukas followed Lord Siphas.
If Alaster frightened the other Soldiers, the Doom Knight outright terrorized them. Everyone gave the two a wide birth. The walk through the walls and tower was just as lengthy, however.
Alaster liked how long it took for him, even while everyone avoided him. It meant that during a battle, it would take that much longer for the walls to become overrun. Honestly, Alaster wondered just how many more would die in the attempt to take the walls.
The hill of dead in the Bailey was only a small portion. Most of the dead were taken to one of the many Bonfires and burned. Wind Mages kept them contained as well as clearing the air of the stench of burning flesh. But it was a slow process.
As it was, Alaster doubted the Tarians would attack today. His sudden and dramatic appearance had shocked them. They were likely compiling every report they had of him and attempting to create plans to counter him.
Fire and Holy Magic were typically most effective against Undead. But Fire Magic was weaker against bone, even more so against pure strengthened bone. And Holy Magic was increasingly rare, and typically single target.
Alaster doubted the Tarians even knew his Minions were Undead. Very few in Onigas knew, even then, they would likely suspect that only a few of his Minions were Undead. Afterall, his Undead were much stronger than the usual type of Undead summoned.
Walking through the streets, the citizens created a much wider bubble around the pair than the Soldiers had. The few children that were outside were hidden behind their parents. People stopped what they were doing to watch them, afraid that the two large people in scary armor would attack. Several rushed indoors, slamming their doors shut and pulling the curtains over the windows.
Alaster only rolled his eyes. He understood that many only fought to become Adepts then spent the rest of their lives working a nonviolent Class. Most people weren’t cut out to fight. Alaster understood that.
But what he couldn’t understand was not training to become strong enough to protect yourself and those precious to you. If you couldn’t protect yourself, you would be forced to rely on others, and there was no telling if they would get to you in time, or if they would come at all.
‘Hey Belgroth? The Doom Knight Spell has a Max counter, implying that it is capable of increasing. How will that work?’
‘Adept Tiered Undead are simple enough to do so, but I suspect that Higher Undead will each have their own Spells. But for the Doom Knight, you will just need more Soul Fragments present during the first summon. It’ll create a new Imprint on your Soul, and they will each progress differently.’
‘What sort of requirements will Higher Undead have?’ Sedall asked, trying to gleam as much as possible.
‘Depends on the type. It’ll be diverse, I can tell you that. During the War, there was a Human Summoner who had to kill a hundred children before he could summon one of his Minions. That man died a very gruesome, painful, and slow death.’ Belgroth with bloodthirsty joy.
‘Will there come a time that a soul has too many Minion Imprints on it?’
‘Theoretically. Though in practicality, as one is capable of summoning more Minions, their Soul will grow in strength, growing larger to accommodate.’
Sedall and Belgroth continued discussing, but Alaster only paid partial attention. He was instead focused on the rooftops, where several cloaked figures were following him.
They were obviously Adepts specialized in stealth, but none were exceptional in that field. From his lessons with both Sedall and Belgroth, Alaster knew that only rare Stealth Abilities allowed the user to remain invisible from one much stronger than them.
If Alaster could see these figures, that meant they didn’t have those Abilities, and they were all much weaker than him.
They had set an ambush further ahead, most likely for him.
Alaster could have surprised them by counter attacking, but that would likely incite even more panic. They were already scared of him, if they saw him suddenly blasting their rooftops…it would only cause more issues later on.
Plus, Alaster was interested in seeing what these assassins were capable of. He suspected they were Tarian Spys sent to assassinate him, or if that failed, to probe his Abilities and report back. Simply put, Alaster needed to make sure that none of them were given the chance.
There were seven. As Alaster neared their position, remaining casual, they readied themselves to attack from the roofs. But one held back. Close enough that he could clearly see the action, but far enough away to get away if needed.
They might only be Adepts, but they were experienced in their work. Alaster wondered how many others in Onigas had been eliminated.
Alaster mentally ordered the Doom Knight to not attack and to stay when they attacked. He did not want to risk the still very unstable Doom Knight going on a rampage in the middle of the city. As he did so, Alaster prepped his Magic, he would target the furthest one first.
Information was the key to any conflict, and the less that Tarians knew about him, the better. They would eventually learn of his capabilities, at least the ones he revealed, but the longer that took, was more Tarian lives he could reap.
He eventually reached the agreed upon point, triggering all six to attack simultaneously. But Alaster was still faster. A single cast sent fifteen [Necrotic Bolts] into the body of the observer while his Halberd appeared in his hand mid swing, decapitating two assassins.
In the same movement, Alaster’s second and third mind sent another two casts of [Necrotic Bolt] into the fourth and fifth.
Behind him, Alaster heard wet gurgles. The Doom Knight had already cut one man in half at the waist. As he watched, the Knight swung its sword with a powerful crushing blow into the last assassin’s shoulder. The man raised his sword in an attempt to block it, but it was too powerful.
His sword shattered, and the serrated blade cut into his shoulder down to the center of his chest. But the Knight was not finished with its prey. Yanking its sword out, it dropped it, grabbing both sides of the grievous cut and pulling. With a sickening crunch of bones breaking and muscles tearing, the man was ripped in two from his right shoulder to his left hip.
People screamed and ran indoors, even if it wasn’t their home. Blood painted the road. But Alaster wasn’t focused on that. Instead, he was watching the Doom Knight. The large amounts of blood that had spilled onto it were soaked into its armor, filling the grooves. They glowed faintly and Alaster could feel the Knight growing stronger, faster, and more durable.
‘A powerful weapon in a large battle.’ Sedall commented.
‘Why didn’t it obey me?’ Alaster asked, more curious than angry.
‘Like I said, it will obey, but in its own way. You told it not to attack, it didn’t. It only defended itself.’ Belgroth said with a chuckle.
Alaster noticed that it hadn’t moved more than a single step. The two men had attacked it. He would have preferred to capture one of them to hand over for interrogation, but the Doom Knight clearly didn’t take prisoners.
As Alaster pondered, he noticed that the Doom Knight seemed almost joyful. Nothing about it changed visually, but through his connection with it, the Knight was indeed happy. But he could also sense a bit of annoyance that there wasn’t more.
A patrol of Guards had rushed over in the commotion, but by the time they had gotten there, it was already done. There had already been several assassinations, both successful and not. But not once had they seen such a horrific outcome.
One of the assassins was dead on the roof of a building, he had slid down further and now one foot and arm were hanging over the edge, most of his front was melted off.
Two more had their chests melted, revealing what little remained of their internal organs and bones.
Two were decapitated, and if the bodies hadn’t clearly fallen, the Guards would have suspected they had been executed.
But the last two were in large pieces. The Guards had arrived just as the Doom Knight ripped the last one in two. Several of their patrol were throwing up their breakfast.
Alaster quickly told them what happened and moved along. They were too frightened and stunned to attempt to stop him.
The Doom Knight followed behind with glee. It had been less than two hours since it had been summoned, and it had already killed two. Alaster had promised countless for it to slaughter, and the Doom Knight was beginning to believe it wasn’t an exaggeration.