“Behold,” Taloress said in the horrified silence of the room. “The. Power. Of. The. Blooming. Lady.”
The sight of the mangled pile of flesh caused hesitation among the ten remaining guards about whether they should fight or flee. Their momentary hesitation cost them.
Taloress' pistils shot forward for another victim and pulled the mewling man into her maw. This resulted in a split among the guards: six of them decided to stand their ground and fight while the remaining three fled.
The six guards tried to kill the source of the tendrils pulling their companion by focusing on Taloress' body, but her petals that had been seemingly ornamental finally made their move. The wide petals blocked the guards' attacks without effort, and their tips that tapered to a point bent like a scorpion's tail and stabbed the guards.
Screams of agony soon started echoing throughout the lobby as Taloress slowly devoured the guards one by one, but I didn't get to watch until the end since my victims have finally arrived.
The three panicking guards who decided to escape didn't bother staying close together and ran as fast as they could, which meant that when I emerged from the secluded corner that I used as a hiding place and plunged my hand through the first guard's chest, the other two had ample time to stop to a halt and stare at me with unmitigated horror.
“There is no escape,” I said with glee as the guard on my arm died. The two remaining guards turned towards one of the side offices, probably hoping to escape through the window.
I dropped the dead guard and lunged forward with inhuman speed, catching the second guard by the back of his neck. I also reached for the third and last one, but he managed to ‘dodge’ my grasp at the last second and escape through the window.
I chuckled in amusement. I could have caught him if I wanted to, but I had to let one survivor escape according to the plan. I had to make it look like a genuine escape as well or else the guard might find it suspicious and realize we were trying to bait the Blackhoods. And now the only thing left to do is wait for the prey to fall into the trap.
I snapped the neck of the struggling guard and tossed his corpse to the side before checking in on Taloress. I frowned in displeasure once I arrived in the lobby. “Taloress, you are dirty.”
The puppet in question transformed her body back to normal before looking down at herself. Her maid uniform was completely soaked with blood. Bits of flesh and organs clung to her dress while her white mask was stained with splashes of red.
“I'm sorry, Master,” Taloress said sadly, but she immediately perked up. “But I. Found a way. To strengthen. Myself.”
“You mean by absorbing your enemies' clothes?” I asked, unsatisfied. “They are of atrocious make and inferior to your true body, and they will be of little benefit. But I won't stop you from absorbing them. Just make sure to clean yourself up. I will not allow a servant of mine to be filthy.”
Taloress's shoulders slumped. “Yes, Master…”
Another headache assaulted my mind, this one more ferocious than those before it.
Taloress… is… family… not… servant…
By the time the headache abated, Fang and Remmy descended to the lobby. Fang had a large smile on his face, although it turned into a worried frown for a moment when he saw the scene of carnage the room had become.
“Did everything… go as planned?”
“Yes,” I replied as I massaged my temples, although I didn't bother explaining the brutal scene we were currently in.
“Well, that's good,” Fang said hesitantly before his smile returned to his face. “Our part of the job is also done. The fatso's dead and we got the code to his safe. Bastard has to be loaded. Wanna come with us and check out his treasure in the basement?”
“No, I shall remain here and wait for the Blackhoods to come,” I replied.
“Suit yourself,” Fang shrugged as he headed to the stairs that led to the basement. “Remmy, tell our men outside to get their asses in here before the Blackhoods come.”
Fang disappeared down the stairs while Remmy walked past me towards the entrance, the stoic thug giving me a suspicious stare. I stared back.
While Remmy called the other lowly goons, I sent Squeaky out of the building and into the city. I no longer needed her presence for now, and so I sent her on another important task: to find Emily and Belka. They were supposed to be in the outer city where the brunt of the revolution was happening and I had to make sure they were safe. After I'm done with my tasks, I would retrieve them and hurry back to the village to destroy any sign of the Hoods' presence. I will not tolerate them skulking about near my domain.
I sat back down on one of the couches in the lobby while waiting for the Blackhoods to arrive.
Ugly thugs with ugly mugs began streaming into the building, their faces adorned with large grins brought about by their overwhelming victory in the first part of the operation. Their grins immediately disappeared when they saw the blood-drenched lobby, however.
The wait took longer than I expected. During that time of inaction, a sense of dread started creeping into my mind. Or rather, it had been there ever since my power suddenly increased by an order of magnitude back at the auction house. I welcomed the increase in power for I deserve it, but for some reason, there was a gnawing feeling inside me as if there was something extremely wrong. It had something to do with my headaches, but I couldn't figure out what. It doesn't matter. It doesn't change what I need to do. I will ravage my enemies and protect what is mine. And then…
My musings were interrupted when my fabric sense detected unusual movement coming from the south. Most of the citizens around the Hartman Headquarters had already evacuated, while the few who remained locked themselves indoors. But from the south, a large group was moving through the main streets and making its way to our location.
At the same time, Fang emerged from the basement, his face marred with frustration.
“Did you manage to open the safe?” Remmy asked the large man.
“Yeah, it was filled with hundreds of gold and precious gems,” Fang replied with a bit of annoyance.
“Then why the frown?”
“There are three vaults down there, Remmy. Three vaults aside from the fatso's safe,” Fang growled. “But the code we got only opens Rutter's safe, not the vaults. And Rutter's safe is the smallest cache of wealth down there, I'm sure.”
Remmy grunted. “That sucks, but we've got more important things at hand. Our scouts reported a large group approaching the headquarters. All of them are dressed in black cloaks.”
“How many?”
“Our scouts estimate there are about a hundred of them incoming.”
“That much?” Fang muttered with a frown before approaching me, Remmy trailing behind him. “Mr. Marion, our quarry's coming soon with a hundred goons in tow against our fifty men. You think we can handle it?”
“Easily,” I scoffed in reply. “We have three augmenters and a mage, Mr. Fang. We've plenty enough strength to take on twice the enemy's numbers.”
Fang frowned. “Three augmenters?”
“If you haven't realized it yet, my servant is an augmenter as well.”
Taloress, who had returned a while ago with a cleaner body, smugly nodded at Fang.
“That's great,” Fang replied, although I knew he thought otherwise. The imbecile must be thinking about how to kill me with an augmenter as my serva— companion.
“How will we proceed with the plan, Mr. Fang?”
“The armed group heading for us should be led by Blackhood Rella,” Fang said. The mention of the bitch's name made me grit my teeth. “In case you don't know, she's a powerful augmenter specialized in subterfuge and assassination. The large group is a bit suspicious since she usually operates alone, but they must be more desperate than we thought. I have a hunch that Rella will use the assault as a distraction while she infiltrates the building to kill the vital targets one by one. That means us.”
I checked the incoming group of enemies once again with my fabric sense and confirmed my thoughts. Rella was not among them. Fang's information was wrong.
“Since our main opponent will be an infiltrator, this should be easy,” Fang said with confidence. “An infiltrator's effectiveness relies on their element of surprise. Rella's strengths would be nulled now that we're expecting her.”
Fang proceeded to lay out his plan to trap Rella. It involved spreading false information to his men so that when Rella interrogated one of them, they would tell her the fake location where we would spring our trap.
I knew their plan would be futile since Rella wasn't coming, but I didn't share that information with them. The result of their plan was no longer relevant to me because I knew their failure would be inevitable. The chances of their success became zero the moment they decided to betray me.
Nevertheless, I still played along.
With the plan decided, we all went to our respective positions. The fake location that Fang disseminated to his men was one of the administration offices on the second floor. We would be waiting in ambush inside the two adjacent rooms, with Taloress and I in one room and Fang and Remmy in the other. When Rella entered the office, we would blow through the walls and catch her by surprise.
“By the way, may I have a moment to speak with your friend Remmy privately for a second?” I asked before we climbed the stairs.
The man in question looked at me suspiciously. “What do you want to talk about?”
“You used to work under the fat man that ran things in this city, right? I just wanted to ask a few details about him.”
Remmy glanced at Fang, who gave him a nod. “Go, Remmy. Just make sure to make it quick. Rella shouldn't be making her move before her men arrive at the plaza, but you never know for sure.”
Remmy grumbled and led me inside one of the empty rooms on the first floor. “What did you want to ask about?”
●●●
“How did your conversation go?” Fang asked when Remmy entered the room. It was a small archive room that contained nothing but shelves of files and records. Fang stood by the wall adjoining the office where they would ambush Rella.
“It was nothing important,” Remmy replied, his face set in his usual stoic expression. “He asked whether Purplehood Rutter had a relative in the same line of work. It was a pretty weird question he brought out of the blue.”
“Well, did he?”
“Did he what?”
“Have a relative,” Fang asked in exasperation.
“Oh, you're talking about Rutter,” Remmy said. “I heard rumors about it, but nothing substantial. They say the Purplehood had one. A brother, stationed in Erfeld.”
“Erfeld? Where the heck is that?”
“Don't know either,” Remmy replied. “But they say his brother got killed or something.”
“Did you ask the masked weirdo why he was curious about Rutter's brother?” Fang asked as he kept one ear stuck to the wall, using his heightened hearing to listen for any subtle noise in the other room.
“I forgot to ask about it.”
Fang stared at Remmy. “You forgot? That's a first. I can never think of a time when you forgot to ask for crucial information.”
Remmy shrugged. “Does it even matter? We're gonna kill the mage after this anyway.”
“True, but we can't be careless,” Fang chided. “We got this far because of our careful planning. Our goal of becoming the bosses behind the largest syndicate in Edria is so close, Remmy. The last thing we need is to disregard seemingly-useless information that turned out to be vital.”
Remmy sighed. “Fine, fine, I'm sorry for that blunder. I'm just a bit nervous. We're so close to our goal.”
Fang chuckled as he patted Remmy's shoulder. “I know, Remmy, I know. Remember the time when we had to work as grunts for the gangs? We've come a long way, huh?”
“Yeah,” Remmy whispered.
Fang stared into Remmy's eyes. “We can do this, Remmy. We've toiled long and hard to be where we are now. We sweated blood and tears for this. Nothing can stop us now.”
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
“Yeah,” Remmy repeated.
Fang took hold of Remmy's shoulders and pulled him closer. Their lips approached and they kissed, full of passion and emotion. Remmy seemed surprised, but his worries slowly disappeared from his shoulders as he returned Fang's kiss with fervor. They would become the new kings of the syndicate, and nothing would be able to stop them.
They finally separated when muffled noises from outside the room reached them. With their augmented senses, they could hear the shouts of their men. The enemy had finally arrived.
“It's time,” Fang said as he stepped away from his lover. He retrieved the heavy metal club strapped to his belt and readied to smash through the wall. It was only a matter of time before Rella came skulking about the headquarters.
Minutes ticked by and the noise within the building slowly increased. The sound of shattering glass and intense fighting reached the small archive room where Remmy and Fang waited. With their three augmenters and mage absent from the fight, Fang and Remmy knew their men were probably dying in droves from the enemy's superior numbers, but their sacrifice was worth it if it meant killing Rella.
But as more time passed by and the room on the other side of the wall remained quiet, Fang started to feel nervous. The perfect opportunity for an infiltrator to assassinate key targets was in the middle of chaos, but the sound of fighting was already winding down and yet there was no sign of Rella entering the other room.
Fang glanced at Remmy with a worried face, an expression he only showed to his lover. If Rella didn't fall today, then their plans to replace the Hooded Man as the top dog of the syndicate would vanish like smoke. Rella would just send the syndicate they sought to claim after them and the gangs who joined the coup.
Killing Rella was even more important than eliminating the Hooded Man. Nobody knew who the Hooded Man was, some even believing that he didn't exist, but everybody knew who Rella was. She represented the leader of the syndicate, and if she died, the Hooded Man would have a hard time claiming the syndicate as his own. After all, anybody could pretend to be the Hooded Man. And that will be the time when Remmy and Fang would claim the title of leader as the ones who killed Rella.
But that plan couldn't come to fruition if Rella didn't come.
More seconds ticked by and the noise of fighting finally died down. Their men were completely defeated. Fang looked at Remmy with dread. Their plan failed.
The soft click of a closing door was heard from the other room.
Fang didn't hesitate and immediately swung his club at the wall, his muscles empowered with mana. The concrete wall shattered like glass from the force of his swing, sending up thick plumes of dust.
Fang discarded the warped metal club and drew his sword, eyes focused on the lone figure inside the room staring at him. Their plan worked. They were able to catch Rella by surpr—
The figure was not Rella.
“What are you doing?!” Fang shouted with pure rage. His face turned red from his anger and the veins on his neck seemed like they were about to burst. “Do you know what you just did?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST FUCKING DID?!”
Mr. Marion stared at him quietly. His smiling mask seemed to laugh at his outrage as if he was a child throwing a tantrum.
“You've fucking doomed us, you bastard!” Fang shouted. “This was our only chance to rise to the top! It was do or die, you fucker! And you just killed us with your fucking stupidity!”
Fang's furious expression turned into deep hatred as he raised his sword toward Mr. Marion. “Rella is going to send the whole syndicate after Remmy and me. We're dead men walking. But if I'm going to die, I'm going to take you with me.”
Mr. Marion spoke before Fang could take a single step. “You made a small mistake, Mr. Fang. Only Remmy is a dead man walking.”
“What do you—”
Fang felt a strong impact on his back as his chest suddenly burst in a shower of blood. The small blade of a dagger was sticking out where his heart should be. He turned his head and saw Remmy holding the dagger. Despite stabbing his lover in the back, Remmy still had the same stoic expression on his face.
“R-Remmy? Why?” Fang whispered in shock and betrayal as blood dripped from his mouth.
“You're partially right though, Mr. Fang,” Mr. Marion continued. “You're not a dead man walking, but you're about to be.”
The last thing that Fang saw was a serpent-like mass of thread emerging from the masked man's body and entering his neck before his vision turned black.
●●●
I looked at my two new marionettes with a mix of satisfaction and disappointment. On one hand, the scene had been phenomenal. Two lovers displaying their passion for each other for one last time before they performed their plan that would let them achieve their shared dream, only for one of them to experience betrayal from the person he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. Such a heart-breaking and extraordinary story of tragedy, if I do say so myself.
On the other hand, though, the scene was too short. Although amazing, it was far from the complete play I sought to create. With the meager amount of time and preparation I had, I guess it was expected.
Despite the shortness of the scene, I was still satisfied with the results since I was able to learn a few new things about my new ability to create marionettes. The most important of which was that the fewer the marionettes, the better control I had over them. Having to control only one made it easier to make the marionette act more human.
Playing with people's lives was very entertaining. Unfortunately, this short tragedy only served to worsen my craving for more. It was like scratching an itch and stopping midway, causing the itch to become even more unbearable. Alas, I had no more time to satisfy my urges. I still had to wipe out the imbeciles that just attacked the building, hunt down that bitch Rella, safeguard Emily and Belka, and then claim my territory in the city before leaving back for Wildpost.
Taloress, I called out with my mind. You are free to kill everybody inside this building.
Yay!
Ah, except for the little man hiding inside the oven in the kitchen.
Yes, Master.
I was extremely tempted to kill the little man for bringing me to his superiors who intended to betray me, but I decided otherwise since I knew the puny voice inside my head would have complaints, not to mention I still had a possible use for him.
Before I talked to the little man, I decided to take out the leader of the attacking enemies first, who was currently in the lobby on the ground floor.
I formed spider legs on Mr. Marion's back and moved down the halls faster than a galloping horse, the eight limbs making it easier to move down the enclosed space. Fang and Remmy followed behind me, their movements smooth for the most part, but a few jerks and spasms still appeared from time to time.
As I made my way to the main entrance of the building, I encountered dozens of the cloaked men who charged at me without hesitation. Annoying pests.
I sent Fang and Remmy ahead of me to kill the cloaked men, and I rejoiced when I realized that augmenters who were turned into marionettes retained their strengths, at least while their bodies were fresh and intact.
Fang and Remmy mowed down the cloaked men by the dozens their swords and daggers blurring as they slashed at limbs and torsos. Another surprise came when I realized that the cloaked men weren't all men. There were women and children as well.
And they were all undead.
Interesting. I analyzed the undead more closely with my mana sense and realized that they all had the same mana signature as if they were all the same person. Their bodies were suffused with an intricate weave of Life mana, but instead of healing their bodies, the Life mana controlled them. It looked similar to how I controlled marionettes with one interesting tidbit: they absorbed ambient mana on their own to keep the magic animating them functional. Absolutely fascinating! If I could figure out the workings behind this magic, I could make my puppets self-sufficient, removing the limit to the number of puppets I could keep active at a time.
My mind whirled at the things I could do with self-sufficient puppets, but unfortunately, I couldn't decipher the workings of the magic animating the undead by simply analyzing them with my mana sense. If I wanted to learn it, I'll have to get the knowledge from the one who cast it. I hope the necromancer is foolish enough to personally come here.
The hallway soon started to reek of rotting flesh as Fang and Remmy violently cut down the charging undead, sending pieces of organs and coagulated blood everywhere. I was glad that I did not kill the undead myself. Their filth would have stained Mr. Marion, and that was unforgivable.
I continued on my way when my marionettes finally killed the last undead in the hallway. I could sense more throughout the building, but Taloress was already on the task of killing every single one of them.
The lobby had turned into an even ghastlier scene of carnage than last time. The entire floor was completely covered in corpses and blood, and the smell was atrocious. Most of the corpses belonged to Fang's men, and in the middle of all the massacre stood a hunched figure with a long staff surrounded by numerous undead. Like the rest of his undead minions, the hunched person was dressed in the same plain black cloak with a hood covering his face, but I knew he was their master. The edge of my mana sense reached him and I realized why the undead had the same mana signature as each other: all of them had been reanimated by the same necromancer.
“So you're the one they called Mr. Marion, hm?” the hunched person spoke with a raspy masculine voice. “Blackhood Rella told me to be careful around you, and now I see why. You and I wield the same power. You are a necromancer as well! Hehehe, what a small world it is to meet a fellow practitioner of the fine arts, eh?”
I cocked my head to the side. Even if he was wrong, he still managed to deduce that the two marionettes behind me were under my absolute control like his undead minions. “What made you think that I'm a necromancer?”
“Heh, I'm a veteran in the field, young one,” the hunched man chuckled. “Those two men behind you are dead, yet they still stand. They might look alive to some people, what with the freshness of their bodies, but I've been dealing with corpses longer than you've been alive, boy. No makeup or disguise could hide the touch of death from my eyes. I can see death.”
“A bit dramatic, are we?” I said with a bit of annoyance. Being dramatic was supposed to be part of my character, but this upstart buffoon was hogging all the spotlight. “If you can see death, then I suppose you already know that it's coming for you?”
Fang and Remmy started approaching the hunched man, who only chuckled without concern. “Are you seriously intending to use undead minions against a necromancer? You naive fool!”
Instead of sending his undead minions against my marionettes, the hunched man pointed the head of his staff at my minions. I felt an intricate spell form, one that felt like the cold of the grave, and his staff glowed a deathly-teal light. When the complex spell finished forming, two strands of Life mana snaked forth from his staff and connected to my marionettes.
My marionettes' strength suddenly dropped precipitously as their bodies rotted right in front of my eyes. Their muscles degraded until I could no longer move them, but instead of dropping to the floor, my marionettes stayed upright. After a moment, they turned around to face me.
“You stupid fool,” the hunched man said as he chuckled. “Rule number one when it comes to a duel between necromancers: don't use undead minions against them unless you're confident in keeping your minions under your own control. All you're doing is giving me more weapons to use against you.”
I clicked my tongue in annoyance. My marionettes weren't undead, but they were still corpses. I should have expected a necromancer to easily turn them into undead even with my parasites still inside them.
Losing my marionettes was an annoying setback, but at least it gave me a little insight into necromancy. Where my Authority required living tissue to keep my marionettes moving, necromancy only needed magic to keep the corpses animate, which explains how rotting carcasses could still move even without muscles. An interesting fact, but one that I had no time to further investigate because of my lack of time.
“Rella wants you dead, boy,” the necromancer said. “But I know a possible asset when I see one. Your skill at raising undead is decent enough if you were able to reanimate augmenters, but your hold over them is abysmal. I didn't even have to bother exerting extra effort to steal control over them. But I can teach you the path of the undead arts.”
“Oh? You would go against the wishes of your fellow Blackhood?” I asked with amusement.
“I don't care what Rella thinks, she is not my master,” the old man scoffed. “Necromancers are extremely rare, you know? The Inquisitors of the Holy Mother Church constantly scour the earth of our kind. Young ones like you are the ones they often find, and they do not take prisoners. Killing you would reduce our already dwindling numbers. So I'll give you an offer you can't refuse, boy. Join us and I will teach you the path of necromancy. Refuse and your body will join my collection.”
“Join the Hoods?” I scoffed.
“Not the Hoods,” the necromancer said as he removed the hood that covered his head. “The Cult of the Corpse Mother.”
The necromancer was not human. What skin there was on his face was white and peeling off in flakes, revealing the bone underneath. He had no lips and nose, and where his eyes should be were two dark holes with teal orbs glowing inside them that stared at me.
The necromancer was an undead.
“Surprised at what you see?” the necromancer chuckled. “My enemies used to laugh at my appearance, but I had the last laugh when I outlived them all while their frail bodies failed them. I have achieved immortality. And you can, too, if you accept my offer.”
“You're making three wrong assumptions,” I said as I began casting an overloaded Force Blast. The necromancer immediately noticed it and began preparing his spells as well.
“And what were those assumptions, if I may ask?” the necromancer asked as runes etched along the length of his staff glowed with sinister magic.
“First, that I am a necromancer. I took control of Fang and Remmy's bodies, true, but through necromancy.”
“A different school of body-manipulating magic?” the necromancer asked with interest.
“Second,” I continued, ignoring his comments. “That I am interested in immortality. Unlike you, I've already faced death and I do not fear it.”
For the first time since our conversation began, the necromancer's face twisted into fury. “You arrogant fool! You dare say that in front of me?! If you have lived a fraction of the centuries I've lived, you will come to fear Death as well!”
“And three,” I said, continuing to ignore his words. The necromancer's countenance darkened further. “That you have the power to stop me if I refused.”
Fang and Remmy's clothes came alive and ripped off from their bodies, forming into two large spikes that flew for the necromancer. The spikes turned black as I overloaded them with mana.
“Defend me!” the necromancer screamed, and two huge zombies stepped forth to block the incoming spikes. Their bodies might as well have been paper when the spikes pierced them, but their bulk was enough to alter the trajectories of the spikes, saving their master and giving him enough time to leave the lobby and position himself in the plaza outside.
I didn't bother waiting for a response from the necromancer and released the overloaded Force Blast I've prepared. A deafening explosion rippled through the air as a massive wave of force traveled towards the necromancer and his entourage of undead, wrecking the entire front wall of the building and obliterating Fang and Remmy's bodies as it passed through.
“Wall of Flesh!”
A flash of teal light emerged from the necromancer's staff as dozens of the undead around him flew in front of him. Their rotting limbs snapped and contorted as their bodies merged into a large domed shield made of corpses. My Force Blast arrived, turning most of the bodies forming the corpse wall into pulp but failing to destroy it.
“You leave me no choice!” the necromancer shouted as another flash of teal light emerged from his staff. The magic took hold of him and a moment later, he started floating a few meters from the ground. “I wanted to hold back to keep your body intact, but you are too powerful for me to hold back. I'll just have to hope that there will be bits and pieces of you left by the time I'm done with you!”
I dashed out of the lobby and ran towards the necromancer, intending to kill him before he could cast any more magic, but he managed to finish his spell before I could reach him.
“Corpse Giant!”
Massive amounts of mana flowed out of the necromancer's staff and into his undead. The dozens of undead that still remained of his minions jerked at the same time and started flying through the air, slowly clumping together into a giant mass of corpses.
Judging from the spell's name, I knew it would be annoying if I let the Corpse Giant complete its formation, so I started forming one of the most destructive spells in my arsenal.
Five magic circles appeared in front of me, and I started channeling thousands of mana into them as I overloaded them to their limits. By the time I was finished forming the spells, the Corpse Giant finished forming. It was a four-meter tall behemoth made of rotting corpses, its body leaking with coagulated blood and other putrid fluids.
I sent the magic circles flying and stuck them to the Corpse Giant's body before activating them.
If the overloaded Force Blast earlier sounded like a huge explosion, then the five overloaded Force Bombs that detonated at the same time felt and sounded like the impact of a crashing meteor.
The ground beneath me shook as dust and body parts flew everywhere. Visibility turned to zero for a moment before the dust finally settled. Where the Corpse Giant used to be was now nothing more than a battered pile of flesh.
“How?!” the necromancer screamed as he floated in the air. “What magic was that?! How did you destroy my Corpse Giant that easily?! That was fourth-circle magic!”
The necromancer continued his tirade, but my attention wasn't on him for the moment. Oh no, it was not. My eyes were focused on a small patch of fabric on Mr. Marion's shoulder. A small drop of black blood no larger than a millimeter in radius was staining it.
“Your magic might be impressive, boy, but you're facing Razar the Defiler! I will not be defeated so easily!” the necromancer shouted as his staff glowed once more. “Corpse Healing!”
The Corpse Giant's remains squirmed as the piles of rotten flesh slowly regenerated. The pieces of limbs and bodies that flew everywhere earlier flew back, reforming into intact bodies.
“Corpse Giant!”
Once again, the necromancer cast his fourth-circle magic, the mana coming from his own body instead of his staff this time. The torrents of mana descended onto the mound of regenerated corpses, and within a minute, another Corpse Giant was standing.
“What's wrong, boy? Finally regretting refusing my offer?” the necromancer sneered as his Corpse Giant lumbered towards me.
“You stained my coat,” I said.
“What was that?”
“YOU STAINED MY COAT, YOU PUTRID BASTARD, AND I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET IT!”
I felt Taloress in my fabric sense still battling with remnants of the undead inside the building. I forcefully took control of her body and pulled her towards me, heedless of her surprised yelp. A stab of pain assaulted my mind, but my anger forcefully stomped it down. TALORESS, YOU COME HERE.
Taloress' body flew out of one of the windows of the building and made its way to me. I made her body morph and split open before she reached me. Her body slowly merged with Mr. Marion's until their combined bodies turned into a two-meter tall monstrosity.
Mr. Marion's appearance changed from a respectable merchant into a creature of nightmare. His arms ended in sharp spikes, spider legs and threadtacles sprouted from his back like the wings of a twisted angel, and his head sprouted demonic horns. The only feature that revealed who he was was the same comedy mask still covering the front of his head.
“What the hell are you..?” Razar whispered as he watched our transformation. “That's not magic. It can't be. No magic could do that— shit, you're an Ascendant?!”
I ignored the necromancer and leaped at the Corpse Giant.
Two magic circles started forming on Mr. Marion's arms as I landed on the Corpse Giant's back. The behemoth tried to pluck me off, but it was slow and clumsy. After a few seconds, I finished forming the magic circles and channeled mana into them. Two spells attached to Mr. Marion's arms manifested at once.
“Force Drill.”
Two huge rotating drills made of invisible force covered Mr. Marion's arms, and I plunged them into the Corpse Giant's back. The drills ravaged the bodies that made up the Corpse Giant like soft butter, splattering blood and gore everywhere.
The Corpse Giant hurried to get me off its back, but its range of motions was small because of its size. Out of options, it ran towards the building with its back facing it, intending to ram me through the stone walls.
I immediately jumped off just before the Corpse Giant reached the building, a decision I was glad for after seeing the behemoth destroy the entire wall with its sheer mass. Despite Mr. Marion and Taloress' bodies protecting me, I would have been crushed into paste if I had received that attack.
When I landed on the ground, I didn't pause for a single moment before I started running again, this time towards where the necromancer was floating. He tried to float away, a futile action. The fear on his face told me that he knew the same.
I channeled more mana into Mr. Marion's legs, improving their strength, before leaping. We shot through the air, aiming for the fleeing necromancer. Our current trajectory and speed wouldn't let us reach the necromancy, but we didn't need to reach him. We only needed to get near.
Right before I started falling, the threadtacles on Mr. Marion's back shot forward like ravenous snakes. The necromancer tried to dodge, but it was obvious that his flight spell was not for aerial combat. The threadtacles easily caught him.
The spider legs absorbed the impact when Mr. Marion finally landed on the ground, the necromancer firmly wrapped in my threadtacles.
“Please!” the necromancer cried. “I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were an Ascendant! If I'd known it, I wouldn't have attacked you!”
“You stained my coat,” I said angrily as I snapped the necromancer's limbs with the threadtacles to prevent him from escaping. “But before I punish you for that, how did you know I was an Ascendant?”
“From your unique abilities!” the necromancer cried. “I felt how your mana flowed, and your ability to transform like that doesn't conform to any system of casting magic that I know of! You didn't even use magic circles for manipulating all that fabric!”
“There are numerous ways to cast magic. I could have used the same method as that of the Night Wardens' mages, yet you were still able to realize I was an Ascendant.”
“T-There are indeed numerous systems of casting magic, but that's what gave you away. You weren't using any sort of system. Your mana just flowed to your fabrics and they immediately obeyed your will. Not to mention that you heavily utilize fabrics. Ascendants almost always specialize in a certain aspect, that of their Authority. I assume you control fabric?”
“You know a lot about Ascendants,” I said, ignoring his question.
“I've lived for centuries,” the necromancer said. “I've encountered my fair share of Ascendants, although it always began and ended with me fleeing before they even saw me. Except for today, that is.”
“From what you told me, spotting Ascendants shouldn't be easy for normal people without a mana sense, yet some people still managed to deduce that I am an Ascendant when I first Awakened. Why is that?”
“Probably a lucky, or unlucky, coincidence,” the necromancer said. “Normal people wouldn't be able to differentiate a mage from an Ascendant, which is why there are always a high number of false Ascendant reports. The bounty for successfully turning over an Ascendant is simply too good for normal people to pass up, so they take any chance they get if they think a mage is an Ascendant, usually when they see the abilities of a young mage manifest for the first time. An Ascendant's Awakening and a mage's first manifestation of abilities look pretty similar, after all.”
I nodded in understanding. I always did wonder how normal people could tell whether someone was an Ascendant. Turns out they couldn't.
“You're very willing to talk,” I said at last. “I would have thought I'd have to pry the information out of you.”
“Age comes with wisdom,” the necromancer said. “No use in further aggravating you, is there?”
“None indeed,” I said. “But I'm afraid I'll have to kill you nonetheless.”
The necromancer sputtered. “But, but, but why?! I answered all your questions! I apologized! I promise not to attack you ever again! I'm willing to make a magical oath! Just let me live!”
“Why? Because you stained my coat,” I said as I prepared to crush his skull.
“What?!” the necromancer screamed in outrage. Mr. Marion's arm descended, but before it could reach the necromancer, I felt a pulse of magic from inside his cloak before his body immediately disintegrated into dust. An orb of teal light rose from his body and shot off into the distance.
The necromancer escaped from my grasp.
I destroyed a section of the Hartman Headquarters in rage.