Alaster sat down in a chair in the common room. The rooms the Lissurians had given him for his stay were all grouped together. There were two rooms near the door where eight of his Forgotten could stay. Behind those rooms, there were four large and lavish bedrooms, a full bathroom tiled in polished marble, and a large common room.

Each room was comfortable and well maintained. Suitable for an entourage of foreign diplomats.

Two Forgotten stood guard outside the main door, with another two in the common room, to either side of the hallway from the Guard Rooms. Finally, four more Forgotten were imitating playing a card game in one of the Guard Rooms.

Alaster sat in the chair, pretending to look over a few papers, but was truly examining the room. He wanted to ensure that there were no secrets or ways to spy. Alaster did not know much about Enchanting, there was simply too much to know and not enough time. But he did not need to know.

Sedall was paying attention as Alaster scoured the rooms with his Mana. Sedall also did not know much about Enchanting, but he did know enough to be able to figure out its general purpose and disable it.

Belgroth remained uncharacteristically quiet, but Alaster decided to leave it be. He had enough to worry about. If the Ancient Demon wished to speak, he would. He still spoke when spoken to, but he no longer freely gave his opinion. Something Sedall was concerned about as the Demon was very opinionated.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but was in fact just twenty minutes, Alaster finished his scan and found nothing that could be used to spy on the events in the rooms. Sedall bid farewell to Alaster and said that he would be busy meditating in his true body.

After all, Sedall was only in Alaster’s mind as a guest, granted access by the Ring Alaster wore. But Sedall still lived, trapped, somewhere. And as more time passed, Sedall found himself more and more anxious. Which did not surprise Alaster.

Sedall might be a Demigod, but someone he thought was his only friend had instead been the one to trap him in his prison for the last several centuries. The last time the two had spoken, Evros had told Sedall to build his strength as it would soon be needed. Sedall decided to take the elder’s advice, though the intended target was different.

With both of the beings in his mind busy with something else, Alaster found himself alone, something that had grown increasingly rare. He decided to take a moment to relish it before he returned to work.

Alaster had always been a quite person, even as a kid. He enjoyed his time alone just as much as he did with his friends. When he had been forced to flee, he had spent so many years completely alone. His Undead certainly did not count.

Alaster closed his eyes and laid his head against the back of the cushy chair, deeply sighing. As he did so, the Forgotten in the Guard Room stopped their card game. They understood the game and its intentions, they even had the free will to play it, but as Undead they did not have the desire to do so.

Alaster might be relaxing, but his Minions were not. Within the Castle, his Shadow Assassins continued to spread, something that was very difficult to do as there were many locations they could not reach, and there was a large section of Castle that they could not even approach. A section that moved.

Alaster sighed for another reason. He had hoped to not meet Sir Castiel so soon after his arrival. He had wanted more time to learn the situation. Instead, he had been forced to play off the reactions of the Nobility around him, paying most attention to the Duke’s reactions.

Duke Redmond did not like the Saint. That much was obvious. What was not obvious, was the reason.

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Alaster wished to get in the Duke’s good graces, at least as Lord Ashborn. Doing so would allow him much greater access to the Duke and his secrets, even if he still wished to keep them hidden.

Luckily, Colius’ Ring had done its job well. Alaster was not sure what to call the Ring, but it had worked to conceal his Mana Signature from the Saint, even if it did nothing to protect him against the Saint’s mere aura.

With even more luck, Alaster was correct in thinking that the Saint’s Aura could not do any actual damage to him as he was still flesh and blood. It had only harmed Fenrir to such an extent due to his entire body being created through Necrotic Mana.

The Forgotten were able to operate normally because their bodies were technically created out of Mana Crystals. Alaster did not know the specifics of how it all worked. And he did not care. All he cared about was that it did work. However, while they could still function in close proximity to the Saint, if they touched him, Alaster suspected that they would disintegrate.

In this rare moment of peace and quiet, Alaster attempted to peer into the mind of Fenrir. The two might share the same soul, but not the same mind. Alaster knew that Fenrir was keeping something a secret, but he could not figure out what. Today was no different.

Sighing in annoyance, Alaster sat straight. It was time to get to work.

His Shadow Assassins were perhaps the most versatile, but they were also quite weak, they were also incapable of sneaking into secure places. Something the Royal Castle was full of. As of yet, despite being able to see it, not a single one of his Shadows had managed to get within a mile of the Inner Castle.

Alaster needed a Minion that would be capable of getting past the Enchantments and Wards. Studying the defenses through the eyes of his Shadows, and with the help of Sedall and Belgroth, Alaster had figured out a way to get a Minion through, even if he couldn’t get through himself.

For a while now, Alaster had been casually working on the design, so Alaster got right to work constructing it.

Duke Redmond had already told him that there would be a feast later that evening, so Alaster had a few hours to get the Mana Weave prepared, though not enough time to build the body.

Though as Alaster prepared to begin, he wondered if he should be working on this new Minion at the moment. He could make good progress on the new Minion before the feast, or he could upgrade one of his current Minions.

Now that Alaster had personally experienced the Aura of the Saint, he was confident he could modify the Mana Weave of his Minions to resist it, at least until a few Meters away. Unfortunately, the Shadow Assassins would not be as resilient. Their Shadow form was much more vulnerable to the Aura than their physical form.

However, the modification would take some time. Alaster would not be able to make the change all at once. Instead he would have to make the modification to each Minion Weave individually.

Nodding to himself, Alaster put away the Weave for the new Minion, that he had already begun working on, and examined the numerous Mana Weaves attached to his Soul. He had grown so powerful and proficient in Necrotic Mana that none of the Weaves were limited by the number of Minions they could maintain at the same time.

Alaster studied each Weave within his own soul, trying to figure out which one would be best for the first modification. As he studied them, he found many faults in each Weave. Faults that were not critical, but now that he was more skilled in Weaving, he knew he could fix, increasing the effectiveness of the Weave and therefore the Minion.

Eventually, he would fix both the faults and include the modification for all of his Minions. It was just a matter of priority.

After a moment, Alaster decided that it was only right to modify and upgrade his first Woven Minion. Alaster focused on the Mana Weave of the Dread Knight. He almost cringed at how crude it was.

The Weave itself was powerful, but was so crude that much of that power was wasted. The Knight’s armor was spiked and dark, yet sleek. Its strength was powerful for Adepts, but its speed was frightening for most.

Out of all Alaster’s Minions, the Dread Knight was perhaps the most simple minded and inflexible. They were designed to be. Alaster had designed them with the idea of pointing to an enemy and telling the Dread Knight that he did not want to see that enemy again.

However, it was due to its simple mind that more power could be used to increase its abilities. Specifically, its ability to absorb the blood around it to strengthen itself.

A weapon that grew stronger as it fought.

However, now that Alaster had allies, or times when he could not just attack everyone blindly, the berserk power of the Dread Knight was too wild.

Alaster got to work, not to tame the Dread Knight, but to hone it. The Dread Knight had to be able to discern friend from foe. But Alaster had designed the Dread Knight for a reason, a reason he wished to keep.

The Dread Knight was designed to rampage.

And soon, it would once more.