“The soul is a fragile thing capable of infinite strength.”
~Death Alchemist Karr Yun
Screams echoed over Bainbridge as a horde of mutated insects crawled out the various burrows carved beneath the town. Spiders, ants, and centipedes poured out large holes near the evacuation centers, rushing towards the slightest sign of human life.
Fortunately, the few arcanists stationed there were enough to slay entire swathes of the mutated bugs with just their meager numbers. They put down tens of the cat-sized monsters before the rest of the defenders returned from the wall, turning the defense into a slaughter.
It was all thanks to the skull wearing arcanist who laughed uproariously as he pushed back the majority of the insects with just his forces alone. Black aether washed over the battlefield, stabbing just enough life into the dead bodies littered around the combat zone for them to move.
Although they moved unnaturally with stilted movements compared to the heinous mutated insects being born every second from their queen and matriarch, it wasn’t nothing more numbers couldn't fix.
The Necromancer accessed the skills of the body he possessed, and [seize]’d his ebony spear the idiot left on the dirty ground. A blast of black aether cleaned the weapon as well as imbued it with more power.
Synergy Detected!
Black Death
(Spear of Fear)(Helm of the Necromancer)
Your aura generates black aether
The black aether cascading of the Necromancer’s body surged with new strength. The energy inundated the corpses in his control, not only making their movements more life-like, but also mutating them even further, this time guided by his will instead of the chaos of the natural world.
“...Ahhh.” A raspy, wispy voice cracked underneath the helmet. “It feels so good to have control again.” The Necromancer chuckled as he flexed the various muscles in his body, enjoying the sensation of physical pain across the possessed body while it regenerated. “Even pain is enjoyable after being trapped for who knows how long.”
His army of dead beasts continuously evolved to hold back the pathetic insects, until their very bodies became weapons. Muscles gained mass as the bone gained density to support it. Nails morphed into daggers, teeth turned into needles, while limbs transformed into unliving blades that cut through the bugs' exoskeletons like paper.
Although the Necromancer’s army was growing enough to push the horde back, the boss monsters’ properties allowed to give birth to ready to fight soldiers just as fast as his army could cull them. It kept them at a stalemate, one long enough for the ancient spirit to test his new body’s flexibility.
He marveled at how many properties the body had despite only being of the first circle. “This is a solid foundation.” The black aether changed the body further, making it a perfect conduit for his power. “It wouldn’t be remiss to conduct a few tests though.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
The Necromancer twirled his ebony spear that was trailed by smoke-like black aether. He took a few moments to fall into a few stances he trained with in his youth and experimented with his control over the young arcanist’s body.
A knight-class elite ant broke past the Necromancer’s undying army, fixating its overgrown head and pincers on him. The ancient spirit smacked the giant ant aside, cracking its carapace while inflicting a heavy dose of black aether to its vulnerable innards. He raised the knight-class elite into his own soldier, empowering it and sending it to hold the line against the other knight-class bugs while he familiarized himself with the cards in his new deck.
“I don't need your help, spirit.” He spat out distastefully, switching out the Dewey, Head Librarian for the only card worth his attention. The Necromancer burned through the boundaries between the main and side deck, creating one section for the cards in his new deckspace to reside in, effectively bestowing the All Deck boon onto his host.
All so he would have enough slots to not only keep the surprisingly powerful cards his host already possessed, but also slot the legendary Mythic Heart. The Necromancer had no idea who such a card came to be in the possession of the idiot he possessed, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.
The possibilities offered by a legendary card that could maybe go even further. A name like mythic had certain connotations. Even his soul card, for all the shards, essence, and souls he poured into it, was only at the level of rare.
In the face of hundreds of shrieking monsters that didn’t deserve his attention, the Necromancer slotted the future mythic, shoving Collect Potential and his own cardset formed from his Spear of Fear and Helm of the Necromancer. It bent the limits of the card a little, but there were plenty of shards to collect around the battlefield.
The living ones just needed to be put down
Smokey aether congealed around the ancient spirit as the legendary card altered the very fabric of his existence. His cackle was tinged with a hint of madness while his body shuddered from pleasure. The purple orbs the Necromancer used for as he closed his eyes in mirth, surrendering himself to the tides of black aether wash over him according to his bidding.
A wave of his spear from afar sent a tidal wave of black aether over the fight in front of him, disintegrating all his soldiers while destroying the minuscule souls of the insects they fought against. The Spider Matriarch and Ant Queen screeched, unable to react against literal air that sought to destroy them.
The Necromancer flexed his newfound power, launching his spear through the air with a boom and wave of the field of black aether before him. The missile cut through the atmosphere, piercing straight through the Spider Matriarch’s head. Green blood exploded from the headless body like a geyser, raining the acidic liquid all over the battlefield.
The ancient spirit could’ve ended the battle right there, but that was such a waste. He hadn’t had this much fun in millenia.
The Ant Queen screeched once more, sending her last few knights she had towards him while she gave birth to more soldiers. He destroyed the oversized knight-class monster's souls with a wave of his bubbling field that grew stronger by the second and reached out to his spear that was about to fly out of his perception.
He powered his host skills with black aether and blessed pandemonium, empowering it to the limit to yank the spear back. It stopped abruptly at the edge of his dominion before plummeting back towards him, turning around in the process. The Ant Queen managed to lay another few dozen eggs before his spear came back, ripping through the huge pink abdomen without a hint of resistance.
Both bosses fell to the ground, although it took another few gales from the sea of black aether over his head to quiet the queen’s dying shrieks and slaughter the last wave of baby spiders bigger than his helmet. A surge of smoke sent the battlefield into silence, allowing the ancient spirit a moment of peace.
His smile only lasted a little while as voices began to yell over his dominion. He was about to send the sea of death over his head just so he can have some peace and quiet, yet a shaking from his new deckspace gave him—The Necromancer—a bit of resistance.
The ancient spirit frowned. He dove within his host’s innerspace, unwilling to let a meager infraction like that go.
”You should’ve went to sleep peacefully, you bumbling fool.“