The night sky had no light, but darkness. In this darkened night, only the lights from buildings and streets were visible. People sleep in the darkness of the night and wake up in the morning. However, the people were not aware of the predators of the night.

On one particular night, several people were walking home. They were all experienced adventurers and had just completed a difficult job. So they were cheerfully drinking and laughing at a job well done.

The streets were lamp lit with magic stones which had dimmed due to the thickness of the darkness. The night is not a safe place in this unpredictable world. Yet, these men continued to talk and laugh loudly for everyone in the world to hear.

None of them noticed the dark presence approaching them from all sides. This presence had evil intentions and emitted blood lust as it approached the adventurers.

Slow and steady, they stalked their prey without letting themselves get caught. The adventurers’ normal alertness was gone due to how deeply drunk they were.

Seeing the opportunity, the multiple presences seemed to signal each other. The next moment, they charged at them with all air of stealth gone.

“Ah?”

One of the adventurers heard something overheard. He looked up and saw nothing for a moment. Then a large black body appeared as it jumped down the building.

“GRAAAWWWRRRR!!!”

The monster let out a beastly roar as it plummeted towards them. The adventurers were taken by surprise and stumbled slightly, but managed to dodge the monster as it landed on the ground.

“What the?” Some of the adventurers said in confusion.

The adventurers did not know what was happening. All they knew was they suddenly began feeling the heavy bloodlust surrounding them. The next thing they knew, there were numerous demon beasts surrounding them.

They quickly pulled out their weapons, but were very unfocused and unsteady. The monsters charged at them and they retailed by attacking but, the drunkenness made their attacks sloppy.

The monsters roared and attacked them relentlessly and the adventurers were quickly growing tired. They tried to run, but the monsters gave chase. With their minds in a whirl of unsteadiness, the adventurers did not know where they were going.

“Huh?”

After running for a few minutes, they came to a stop. Standing in front of them was a man covered by the darkness of the night sky. Thinking the man was there to help them, they began speaking to him.

“Um... Hey! C-Can you help us here for a bit? There’s these random monsters attacking us out of nowhere!”

The man remained silent after hearing those words. There was no sense of power or strength emitting from the man. The eerie silence was making the adventurer’s skin prickle.

“GRAAAA!!!”

They heard the roar and turned around and realised they were surrounded. Fearing for their lives, they held their weapons at the ready and asked for the man’s help. This time, the man moved what looked like a clock he was wearing to reveal a staff.

“Certainly.”

The man began to emit powerful energy as he gathered for his attack. The adventurers were relieved when they saw the monsters back away in reaction to the man’s power.

“Death Shot,” the man said quietly.

The next thing they knew, a hole was punched through one of them. The body of the dead had his eyes widen open in surprise before his life was extinguished. As he fell dead to the ground, the others reacted wildly.

“Arthur! Hey! What have you-?”

The next thing, the man’s face was blown off his shoulders. As his headless body fell to the ground, the others backed away and looked at the man with fearful eyes.

“Kill them,” the man said quickly.

“GRRRRAAAAWWWWRRRRRR!!!!”

The monsters lunged at them just as the adventurers began screaming. A moment later, they became quiet as the monsters ravaged their bodies by eating at their flesh.

Once all were dead, the man moved forward with his staff at the ready.  The remains of the bodies were covered in blood which was spreading everywhere.

Then the man under the cloak smiled and said “Spirit Absorption.”

The staff began to glow as dark energy radiated from it. Out from the broken pieces of the adventurers’ bodies, blue shimmering light appeared. They rose high into the air and quickly got absorbed into the staff.

After collecting the spirits of the dead adventurers, the staff stopped glowing. The man looked at shambled remains of them and smiled in the dark. Then he turned around and walked into the darkness with the monsters.

The next morning, news spread about the deaths of the adventurers. Those close to them cried and those that were not talked about it. Their freaky deaths scared the populace because of how brutally they were murdered.

In a certain hotel room, they were also discussing. However, they were discussing about something only related to the incident.

“Six dead! All were murdered without an ounce of mercy or regret!” Wolfenstine said in a disgusted voice.

“Hah? I think butchered is more like it!” Rumble said in annoyance.

“Enough you two! This is not a joking matter! We’re talking about people who died!” Marilia said and she glared at them angrily.

When the two of them looked unhappy and apologised to her, she turned to look at Darian. He was sitting beside her with a serious expression on his face. Upon hearing the deaths of the six adventurers, he was startled, but later became silent as they talked.

“Who could’ve done this and why?” Ondine asked in a voice full of concern.

“Could’ve been some stray monsters,” Tetra suggested.

“Don’t be ridiculous! How can monsters get inside the city walls when there are guards and barriers all over the place?”

“Maybe they sneaked in. These look like the kind of damage no Beast Dogs can inflict. So it must be a really strong monster that got in through stealth!”

“Tetra! Now you’re seriously annoying me! There is no way a monster could just come in stealthily when there’s barriers to alert the guards!”

“Maybe the barrier was down? Maybe the guards were too drunk to notice? Maybe the guards are actually not guards, but people who feed us to monsters?”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

“Tetra... Stop it!” Lakshman suddenly said angrily.

“But, master! Ondine is not think enough about this!” Tetra said as she tried to appeal for him. The next moment, she said “OUCH!” and clutched her head.

Lakshman had delivered a karate chop on her head. Looking at her sternly, he said “Enough negative thoughts from you, Tetra. People just died and you’re talking like this?”

Tetra shrugged her shoulders and said “Over the past eight-thousand years, I have witnessed many deaths that I’ve become accustomed to how fragile life is.”

“Even so... Don’t disrespect the dead, Tetra,” Lakshman said in a reasonable voice.

“Y-Yes, master,” she said and she hung her head in sadness.

He looked at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. Then he looked at Darian and asked “Darian. What’s the meaning of this? Do you have any idea?”

Darian opened his eyes and looked at them in surprise. Then he asked “Why is everyone looking at me as if I have the answers to all of this mess? Come on, people! I’m not a magician that can solve everything!”

Rumble and Wolfenstine laughed at his words and Marilia even smiled. Darian raised his eyebrows at the reaction of his wife and friends.

Lakshman chuckled as he said “Yes, but I was wondering if you kind of know what this meant.”

Darian sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Then he reopened them and said “This is not the first time this has happened.”

“EH?!” All of them exclaimed in shock at his words.

He nodded at them and said “Over the past few months, people have been mysteriously dying. The officials have no clue how they keep on dying and there were no signs of monsters sneaking in.”

“T-Then...?” Marilia asked apprehensively.

Darian looked seriously at them and said “There was, however, several witnesses stating it was a man wearing a cloak and carrying what looked like a staff. Apparently, these witnesses were in their homes and just happened to get a glimpse of the deadly action.”

“What? Cloaked figure? Carries a staff? Could it be... a Necromancer?”

As Darian nodded, Lakshman thought about who a Necromancer was. In the past, he read stories involving Dark Magic Users and Necromancers. Apparently, they were evil magicians that specialise in dark magic, sorcery and witchcraft. In fact, his parents often said the necromancer will come and attack him if he did not go to sleep on time.

Lakshman shuddered as he remembered the stories and the frightful words of his parents. Although he had grown up, his young mind has not yet matured enough to grow up yet.

“What are these Necromancers? Do they bring the dead back to life or something?” Ondine asked curiously.

“Not exactly. They collect souls of dead people and revive them as puppets.  He The other thing is that they collect spirits as an offering for some sort of summoning or something,” Marilia explained.

“Ugh... How repugnant!” Ondine said and she looked disgusted.

“Yes and that’s probably what that necromancer was doing. He most likely is trying to collect dead souls for something.”

“Still... How did he get into the capital? I thought the Phoenix Clan would be aware of this.”

Wolfenstine shook his head and said “Not necessarily. Ever since Felix disappeared, a lot has been happening without much supervision. I even suspect part of the Phoenix Clan are corrupted now that their lead’s disappeared from sight.”

“That’s no good! We need to quickly find Felix and make him restore everything!” Ondine said as she looked at everyone.

“Yes, but until we find him, we will need a substitute,” Darian said quietly.

“Substitute?” They all asked curiously when they looked at him.

He nodded at them and said “Someone who can rally the good. Someone who can keep things together and stop the occurrence of evil around the place!”

They looked at each other and nodded in understanding. It was a good plan. The substitute can go around and keep the order together while they search for Felix. However, Rumble saw the flaw in it and asked Darian about it.

“It’s good, but who? You do realise this substitute needs to have considerable amount of authority to keep things together and make the masses listen to him!”

Darian nodded at him while smiling cheerfully. Everyone was confused as to why he was smiling like that. Only Lakshman sighed because he knew what was coming and did not like it.

“This substitute has so much authority, I doubt the officials can ignore him! He’s so powerful, he is known as the legend!” Darian said brightly.

“Huh? He has, hah? Then who? Stop keeping us in suspense and tell us who it is already!” Rumble said irritably.

Darian laughed and said “The Phoenix Titan!”

For a moment, everyone were stunned to hear him say that. Rumble was the first to recover and he began shaking his head at his friend.

“Sorry to blow your bubble, Darian, but the Phoenix Titan does not exist in our year. In fact, there has been no Phoenix Titan for the last eight-thousand years! You know that!”

“That’s right! What makes you think the Phoenix Titan will come when he hasn’t appeared once in these eight-thousand years?” Wolfenstine asked curiously.

“Yes, I know. That’s why I’m going to be sending in someone as a temporary substitute as the Phoenix Titan!”

“T-Temporary Phoenix Titan? I don’t know... Feels like trouble to me...” Marilia said apprehensively.

“And? Who is this temporary Phoenix Titan you’re going to be sending in? You know that I can’t do that job and Wolfenstine sucks at those kinds of things!” Rumble said to Darian.

“Hey!” Wolfenstine exclaimed and he looked angry as he looked at Rumble.

“It’s the truth, you wolf face!” Rumble told him in a firm voice.

“I don’t need you to tell me that, monkey brain!” Wolfenstine said and the two of them glared at each other for a moment before looking away.

“Yes. The one I intend to send in as a temporary Phoenix Titan is... Lakshman!” Darian said and he gestured towards Lakshman.

There was a stunned silence within the room as everyone became frozen by his words. Then they let out a loud voices of shock and exclamation.

“EEEEHHHHHHH?!”