AN: 1800 words, folks. From this point on, short chapters will be between 1500 and 1800 words, while everything else will be 2000+. Well, that's the plan anyways. Going to try and get every chapter at 2000 or more later down the line.

Also, if I could ask others for a review on what they think of the story thus far, I'd very much appreciate it. Please try to keep all questions and concerns in the comments section below each chapter.

Thank you.

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The frilly girl in front of me was called Delilah of New Wair, first princess and heir to the throne of King Shamiah. Or "Papa", as she repeatedly called him. I had to extract the details out of one of her enthralled bodyguards, which wouldn't be so bad, if they all didn't try to vie for my attention. Apparently, having thralls weren't all that great. Especially when one of their prerequisites was to vie for my affection/attention at any given moment.

A few even went as far as to try and get me some food and drink, but had to explain to them, as though they were a child, that I was an undead being and didn't need any form of sustenance. Many became disheartened by this, but I told them I would be grateful if they could serve Brutus and the little starter harem instead. Yes, I did call them that, and no, I never apologised for my words. Mainly because they never did find out until a few days later. Even then, I never did.

The trio were still frightened by my persona, even after food was brought. I sighed at them, and ordered my thralls to find someone that can pass their language to them. This set them all off, all except the little princess. Of whom I held up and had her wait as I changed into something to make me less of a target. "<>," I intoned, and became a mostly naked human once more. "I need clothing," I said aloud, and a few guards appeared with a spare uniform for myself. The uniform, itself, was the same as Brutus's, but blue. It even had a patch depicting an eagle in flight. When I asked about it, one of them stated it meant the wearer was a captain of the guard. Interesting.

"Where will the king stay, when he is injured?" I inquired to those who had gathered after someone was imparting knowledge of their language to the trio.

"In his room," a few piped up. This was followed by several groans and words about not being fast enough.

"Very well. Lead on. It's high time we speak to him about what will happen from here on out. Oh, and bring the others, Brutus, but keep them from interfering. They will not like what is about to happen."

*****

Excerpt taken from 'Life and Death of King Samiah the Greedy':

"...Thus the king was bedridden.

"In his greed for power, Samiah the Greedy was struck down for laying his hands upon our Dying God. Those still loyal did try to heal and mend the illness called 'Stroke' that afflicted their king, but was for naught.

"And lo, Death did come in human guise to Samiah the Greedy. For he did proclaim a way to heal the king, but this healing art was a secret. Death wished for everyone to leave, but only a few stayed. They were wary, and did not trust Death and his unknown magicks.

"And Death did ascend to the king. Whereupon they spoke words which will not be graced upon this book. No, but Death did grin and mock Samiah, who was struck with fear as Death became our Dying God.

"Our Dying God did stand high above the king. Those still loyal to Samiah the Greedy did try and slay our Dying God, but were cut down by The First Queen and Her Undying. Our Dying God did laugh a great laugh, as Samiah the Greedy did beg and plead for his ungrateful life.

"Our Dying God did laugh at the greedy king, as His poison began to form behind His ever grinning maw. And He did stand over Samiah the Greedy, and bathed him in His poison.

"Thus ends the tale of King Samiah the Greedy. Thus begins the tale of our Dying God, and His mark upon our world called Terra."

*****

You may be asking why I did such a thing, and I will tell you it is because the human would have done his best to enslave us at every step and turn. The human was as tenacious as a cockroach, if the stories were to be believed. He would do everything in his power, and I do mean everything to reign in and control those who he deemed of worth. Whether they were a rich merchant, or a prostitute's child, he would sink so low to keep them under his thumb.

However, after his death came joy. The people below the castle had begun to celebrate the passing of the king, but were worried about the mentality of their new queen. Delilah, by all pretense and purposes, was far too young to be the new queen, and many worried about who would act in her stead. There were many who believed the king's brother, who was far too ruthless, would become the reagent until the queen became of age. Many even speculated that he may try and take the life of her, or even sink so low as to marry her.

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What they didn't know, was that the king's brother was locked up in the castle's dungeon. He was awaiting trial for killing a duke's wife and daughter, but was forgotten until the guards noticed a horrid smell coming from his cell. It turns out, the man died of starvation and thirst, and his body began to decay quite rapidly. Whoops.

All in all, the ones who would help govern over the land were the first two to touch my sword body. I'm speaking of the Labor Day offender and his brother, the Red Shirt. I never did learned their real names, but they took their title well. Especially after I kept calling them LD and RS, respectively. When they asked what the titles meant, I told them, "Where I come from, Labor Day is a day of celebration in which gives time off to the working class for a full turn of the sun, and sometimes up to a week. This is only once per year, mind you, though nobody celebrates it anymore. Whereas being a Red Shirt just means," I struggle for a moment, but decided to tell the truth, "Well, it means you're expendable. It also means many will go after you first, before going after anyone else."

There really wasn't much I could say on the matter, truth be told. A Red Shirt really does mean a person is expendable. On Earth, if there is a show, or a play, and someone walks on stage with a red shirt on, then you know they will die soon. Although, there were a few instances where the Red Shirts didn't die until the end, or even not at all, but those were few and far between. By the way, this all took a couple of months, but I'm not at all going to explain it. As it would just take too long.

Once everything was situated with the new queen, and all, we came to the heart of the matter. Which was WHY we were summoned in the first place.

I stood in front of the throne's dais, and was in my human form. There were many nobles in attendance, and I could hear them all whispering and pointing at me. My guess was they were wondering why I wasn't kneeling to the young queen and her reagents as the trio and Brutus were.

Brutus, after giving him several dozen applications of a spell that gave him fifty points to his intellect, had become something of an oddity. Gone was the simple minded brute of a guard, and in his place was an intelligent captain who had taken down his brother and most of the operations of the 'shadowmen'. The man was given his own home, a copy of the design of my greatsword body, and even had a girlfriend who was as brutish as he was. Even I was stunned when he introduced her to me. While he looked like a half-bear, SHE looked like a half-ogre.

She was a bit taller than he was, but only by a head, and had pink hair that was tied in pigtails from either side of her head. Her face was homely, which was odd, because the rest of her body looked to be carved from the same stone as Brutus. Who, by now, had shrugged out of my charm spell, and didn't hold it against me. He said it was when he was stupid, but to not try it again.

The trio, on the other hand, had two new additions to their group, and of course, they were female. One was a human mind-mage, while the other was a freed bear-kin. A mind-mage, by the by, is someone who uses spells to affect the mind, or minds, of others. She was okay in her craft, until she met me, and tried everything to make me follow her commands. So much so, that I became annoyed and many of my female thralls were quick to turn her into a punching bag. Once they were done, they threatened to have the men "show her a great time", if they believed she was still trying to enslave me. I believe she took the hint afterwards, because after she saw me, she would run in the opposite direction.

The bear-kin, on the other hand, was of the Black Bear Beastman Tribe, but was not a true Beastwoman. No, she was a half-human, half-beastman, thus she was called a 'Bear-Kin'. This one wasn't annoying, but she was adorable, and was the only one of whom I allowed to sit on my shoulders as a skeleton. She would always have an amazed look in her eyes whenever she was near myself, and I was amazed the basilisk poison didn't harm her as it would others.

See now, at the time, the poison on my bones did coat my entire being, but only my secondary limbs, spine, ribs, clawed fingers, and teeth had the acidic properties. This little bear-kin would use my spine, sometimes my ribs, to climb onto my shoulders, and never seemed to complain, nor did she melt. When I tried to convince her to journey with me, however, she shook her head and looked at the male Japanese 'hero' with passionate eyes. It seems she was in love with him, and I could do nothing about it.

Yes, I could have enslaved her, but she was too adorable, and I didn't want an adorable slave. Now an adorable companion, on the other hand, I would be happy to have, but I digress.

"The reason why you were summoned," Queen Delilah began, "is to defeat the Demon Lord, and end the war between our two races."

I was right. It was a cliché.