“Sorry!” Alaster exclaimed, turning around.

“What are you doing in here?” Iris screamed in embarrassment.

“I switched places with my Undead. I swear I didn’t know you were undressed.”

Alaster could hear movement behind him and knew she was getting dressed, though he struggled to not imagine it.

“Why did you switch with your Undead?” From her tone it was obvious she was trying to change the subject.

Alaster was all too glad to do so.

“Uh, I was trying to make a point to your father that he can’t just control me.”

“Control you?”

“I don’t blame him for trying. I certainly wouldn’t want someone like me uncontrolled in your father’s position. But I’m not your father. I am here because I want to be, if I want to leave, I can and will.”

“You are leaving?” Iris panicked.

Alaster turned around to see his friend properly dressed in a set of training clothes.

“No. I’m not. Well, technically I am? I am joining Colius tonight to observe the Tarian Reinforcements arriving tomorrow.” Alaster grinned, “And maybe terrorize them.”

“Why are you going? Wouldn’t you be better staying in the city in case the Tarians attack again?” Iris asked, sitting down on her bed and motioning for Alaster to sit at her desk.

Alaster sat down, “I highly doubt that the Tarian General will consider attacking again before he has the reinforcements. You might not have heard about it yet, but I kinda horrified them in the attack today.”

Iris raised an eyebrow as she began to brush her hair, “What did you do?”

“To be honest? I am not really sure. My Mana has always been violent and pale green. But just before the battle it turned black, like a thick ink, it even dripped. My Abilities changed as well.”

“In what way?”

Alaster was struggling to keep focused with Iris in the room, still damp, and brushing her hair, but he forced himself to push forward.

“As I said, my Mana has always been violent, but this Black Mana? It seemed to seek death. It jumped from person to person, eating away at their flesh and growing.”

Iris flinched, “That’s horrible.”

Alaster shrugged in response, “It’ll make the Tarians more hesitant to attack again.”

Iris lowered her brush slowly, her eyes distant, “Still, I can’t help but feel sorry for the ones that died to that Black Mana. It must have been excruciating.”

“Such is combat. Haven’t you been hunting?”

“Well, yeah, but those are Monsters.”

“Monsters feel pain as well. They have their own emotions and even their own families. Life is a harsh continuous cycle of death.”

“But what if it didn’t have to be? What if we no longer had to fear the Monsters and we had everything we wanted?”

Alaster smiled at how hopeful and innocent his childhood friend was.

“I suggest reading about the ‘Golden Era’. It’s a period that occurred a long time ago. You might just learn things that can help with that goal of yours.”

“Golden Era? Alright. Thank you for telling me. I will be sure to do just that.”

Alaster stood up, “Apologies, but I must be going. Let me know what you think about the Golden Era next time we speak. I am interested in your thoughts.”

Iris stood up as well and walked Alaster to the door, closing it behind after offering her farewell.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

‘How in the world did you manage to turn a it from breaking into a girl’s room while she was changing, to a historical talk?’

‘Sedall, I have absolutely no idea.’

‘Maybe next time Bond with the Undead you are planning on Swapping with.’

‘Agreed.’

‘What’s the big deal?’ Belgroth spoke up.

‘Maybe I’ll tell you when you grow up.’ Sedall teased.

Alaster chuckled and walked away as his two companions began to bicker between themselves.

Alaster was not sure where he was going. All he knew was that he needed a quiet empty place where he could experiment without any interruptions. He did no want to go into another battle without at least knowing what the Black Mana actually is.

Sedall had only known its horrid power. Not its source.

* * * * *

Alaster eventually found himself back in the same training room he had sparred with Iris in. It was large and empty, perfectly suited to his purposes.

Alaster began by sitting down in a meditative position and relaxing. At least, he tried to. His mind was racing with possibilities and what ifs.

Everything from curses to parasites. Even some type of blessing from the Gods. Alaster did not know. The Black Mana was too strange, too unknown, and too costly.

He had only used the Strange Mana for a short time, and yet, several hours later, he was only now regaining his empathy and any other emotion besides hate.

Alaster knew himself well enough to know that he didn’t have much empathy to begin with. Already, he saw little issue with letting innocents die in front of him. But the Black Mana seemed to absorb every ounce of warmth.

It was as if Alaster was reliving his parents’ murder. Like he was watching the assassins drive those hooks into the two people he loved most in the world. Hearing their final breaths and watching the life leave their eyes.

It left him cold. Colder than he had ever imagined possible.

‘Any ideas what it is? Or even what caused it?’ Alaster asked quite possibly the two most knowledgeable people in known existence.

‘No, which is interesting.’ Belgroth spoke up. Alaster could imagine that the ancient Demon was scratching its chin, ‘In all my years and expertise in Magic, I have never seen a Mana like that.

Mana is the essence of life. Even you primitive Humans know that much. But it doesn’t have a will of its own. Certain types of Mana will have preferences, typically being locations. But never an actual will.

This is the first time I’ve heard, let alone seen, a Mana that had its own will, its own direction. And one so violent at that.

You Humans are strange. Weak, fragile, utterly foolish, but you grow quickly, even if your lives are so short. And now, you have uncovered something that not even my own people have learned and done so twice.

Or perhaps it is something to do with your precious System?’

Alaster mentally turned towards Sedall, ‘Sed, are you sure that last person died?’

‘Without a doubt.’ Sedall declared without hesitation, ‘After the slaughter we Demigods were subjected to, not one of the survivors dared to risk it. We atomized the corpse and shredded the soul. He is dead.’

‘There are ways to survive that. Certainly not without significant cost, and the methods are difficult and rare. But the chance still exists.’ Belgroth countered.

‘It’s been centuries. The man would have revealed himself by now.’

‘What if he was still rebuilding his strength?’ Alaster asked.

‘Doubtful.’ Belgroth replied, ‘Even the methods to survive such thorough extermination would not take so long to recover from. Unless,’

‘What?’

‘Unless the man was not able to accomplish the feat, at least not entirely. Such a misstep could potentially irreparably damage the soul upon death. The chances are infinitesimally small though. It would require a horrendous mistake to happen in the best possible way.

However, if that did happen, then while the person would still survive the extermination Sedall’s peers subjugated the remains to, the soul would be permanently damaged, limiting its growth in strength severely.’

‘So then the Black Horror lives?’ Sedall asked with a shaky voice.

‘Weren’t you listening to me? The chances of that happening would have been one in several billion. No, the man is dead. Not that it has anything to do with Alaster and his own use of the man’s signature Mana.

Its not like the man happened to infect the boy, even if he was still alive, that would be impossible, at least not without killing the boy.

It is instead much more likely that the Black Mana was instead something the man stumbled across and decided to use. Something that Alaster has also done, even unwittingly.’

‘So basically, we have no idea what it is or what it does. Only that it makes my Magic much stronger, while also sapping away all my emotions but hate and desire to kill.’ Alaster sighed.

‘Yes. Normally, I would instruct you to experiment with it so I could take notes and learn from it. But considering it took several hours for you to even begin recovering from such a short use? It is quite possible that extended use could create permanent damage to your Emotional State.’

‘Got it. Avoid using the Death Ink.’

‘That is a horrible name.’ Sedall grumbled.

‘Think of one better and I’ll call it that.’ Alaster teased.

Alaster opened his eyes and looked around the training room. It was still empty, except for the Dread Knight, who was walking around bored. And a bored Berserker was rarely a good thing.

Alaster could of course unsummon the Knight until there was a battle. But Belgroth had told him that the Dread Knight was still unrefined and that having it summoned would help to refine it, allowing it to function better.

Though it still worried him to have the Dread Knight walking around with nothing to do. He needed to give the Knight something to do, but he also couldn’t trust the Knight with anything he didn’t want destroyed.

Alaster needed to create a sparring partner. Meaning that it was now time for Alaster to create another Adept Minion.

‘You do realize that I only called it an Adept Minion for ease of use? That’s not its actual title.’ Belgroth sighed.

‘Eh, it works. Besides, its not like it actually matters.’

Belgroth groaned.