Monarch of Death

Calmly, Karnak cast necromancy. A curtain of darkness spread out, blocking the flashes.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions erupted in quick succession. The darkness flickered and rapidly began to crumble.

Sweat dripped down Karnak’s brow.

‘Ugh, I can’t hold on…’

Baros hurriedly jumped in.

“Young Master!”

Desperately, he drew his sword imbued with battle aura.

But his red aura alone wasn’t enough to cut through those flashes of mana.

“Taaah!”

With a shout, Baros mustered all his remaining strength.

His sword, imbued with battle aura, turned blue as he forcefully deflected the incoming blasts.

Seeing this, Demphis’s eyes gleamed.

‘Blue aura again?’

Curious. How does he switch between red and blue aura?

That wasn’t the only strange thing.

While his mastery seemed to reach as far as the purple or even silver level, his aura level was still on the lower side of red.

In fact, that red-haired female had much more aura than him.

Because of this, his aura fluctuated constantly. It turned red, then blue, as if something was malfunctioning.

‘Wait, can an aura even malfunction?’

At that moment of curiosity, the brand on Demphis’s body trembled, and a mental restriction tightened around him.

Demphis regained focus.

‘Curiosity is forbidden.’

Now was the time to focus only on killing intent.

“You, too, shall die.”

Arch Lich swung his right hand wide.

Flames surged up like a tidal wave, swallowing Baros whole.

Once again, Baros struck down with his blue sword.

The blue aura clashed with the curtain of fire, causing a massive ripple.

Boom!

He held out for a moment, but it didn’t last long.

His blue sword turned red again and soon faded entirely.

Baros’s face turned pale.

‘Kuh, is this the end?’

There was no choice.

No matter how much of a legendary warrior he had been in his prime, no matter how profound his mastery, there was one thing he couldn’t overcome: time.

Since his return, Baros had only managed to master his own aura after meeting Laficel, and that was less than three months ago.

In fact, he had only been training as a knight for a little over a year.

Even though he had grown several times faster than others, with so little time for training, he eventually hit a limit.

The flames crept closer, threatening to consume Baros entirely.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Serati instinctively hurled herself forward.

“Sir Baros!”

Baros screamed at her in panic.

“Stay back!”

The magic was too strong for even him to handle. If she joined in, she’d only burn with him.

Serati realized the danger too late.

If Baros couldn’t stop the magic, what could she possibly do by jumping in?

But she had already moved, and her sword was already slashing toward the flames.

Her body moved faster than her thoughts, and her thoughts moved faster than her reason.

‘Huh…’

A sensation surged through her body, flowing through her limbs. Her vision expanded, allowing her to perceive things she hadn’t before.

As she swung her sword at the flames, Serati’s consciousness drifted aimlessly.

‘This… I’ve experienced it before.’

What was it? What was it? What was it?

In that brief moment, a beam of light pierced her mind. At the same time, her sword, imbued with battle aura, split the sea of flames.

Boom!

The divided flames scattered across the chapel. The ground beneath them trembled with the sound of the explosion.

“…Dame Serati?”

Baros looked at her—no, at her sword—with wide eyes.

“When did this happen?”

Serati’s sword was now shining with a brilliant blue aura.

***

Holding the blue sword, she muttered to herself.

“Yeah, this is it…”

It wasn’t the intense red aura that blazed like fire.

It was a gentle blue aura, flowing like a river.

Yet, within it, a fierce power of destruction lay dormant, much like a tempest brewing beneath the surface of calm waters.

It was the same sensation Baros had felt when he temporarily inhabited her body.

There was no doubt about it.

At that moment, Serati had become a Blue Knight.

With a shout, Serati charged at Demphis.

“Taah!”

Her body surged with energy. She felt like she could defeat anyone.

Her blue sword aura sliced through the air, radiant.

Demphis countered with magic.

The curtain of darkness clashed repeatedly with the blue sword aura, sending shockwaves through the air.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Unlike Baros, whose aura flickered, Serati’s aura was unwavering.

She had always been qualified, but she had never awakened. Now that she had, her aura shone purely blue and maintained its destructive force steadily.

[Wow, how nice…]

Baros, watching her, expressed his honest envy.

[Can’t deny age, huh?]

Serati’s aggressive assault faltered momentarily. Age? What was that supposed to mean?

But he wasn’t entirely wrong.

While Baros surpassed Serati in almost every aspect, there was one area where she held a significant advantage: her aura.

At 25 years old, Serati had spent much more time training her body.

On top of that, she had awakened her aura when she was around 20, meaning she had been training it for over five years.

Even for the former Death Knight Lord Baros, it was hard to overcome the gap between five years and three months of training.

Though, it didn’t mean she appreciated the age comment.

‘Ignore it! Ignore it!’

Without Baros’s sky-high mastery or experience, Serati pressed her advantage, relying on the irreplaceable asset of time.

She charged across the ground, flipped through the air to dodge spells, and occasionally deflected attacks, all while keeping up a relentless assault.

“Hah! Taaah! Taaah!”

Her strike clashed against Demphis’s wand.

The attack was strong enough that Demphis was pushed back a step, his wand trembling in his grip.

But that was all.

“Awakening, huh…”

Demphis muttered in a bored tone.

“I’ve witnessed something interesting.”

Curious, but not surprised.

Aura awakenings often occurred in moments where life and death hung in the balance.

“So, it’s just a blue aura in the end, huh?”

A rainbow-colored energy surged from the Arch Lich’s entire body.

It wasn’t necromantic power, but pure mana.

The vast mana transformed into the elements of earth, water, fire, and wind, surrounding Serati from all sides.

“Uwaaaagh!”

Serati, who had been so confident just moments ago, rapidly paled.

She thought she had the upper hand, but Demphis’s counterattack was overwhelmingly powerful!

“Guh! Ugh! Ugh!”

Serati barely managed to deflect the waves of fire, lightning, and frost, forced to retreat again and again.

Within moments, her back was soaked with sweat.

Demphis’s taunting voice reached her ears.

“Did you think a mere Blue Knight could challenge a 9-circle master?”

Awakening was impressive, but in the end, she had only just reached the blue level. The gap between her and Demphis remained vast.

The only reason he had been cautious with her was because Baros was such an unpredictable opponent.

And Demphis was always a cautious person by nature.

“I examined you just in case, but you’re nothing special.”

Demphis aimed his wand, his blue eyes gleaming.

“Now, die.”

A massive pressure weighed down on her shoulders.

The word “death” rang in her mind with terrifying clarity.

Unconsciously, Serati took a step back.

‘Is this it? Am I going to die after just reaching a new level?’

As she fought to resist the overwhelming fear, a voice called out from behind her.

“Well done, Serati!”

It was Karnak, his voice filled with excitement.

“You are our savior!”

“What?”

Serati was bewildered.

Since meeting Karnak, it was the first time he had ever praised her so sincerely.

Karnak exchanged a glance with Baros.

‘Wait, why are they communicating with looks instead of telepathy?’

Then Baros jumped over to Karnak and bowed his head.

In that moment, memories flashed through Serati’s mind.

‘…No way!’

Indeed, the “no way” seemed to have an uncanny ability to materialize.

Karnak placed his hand on Baros’s head and began chanting.

“My servant, open your mind and accept this!”

“You son of a—”

Her curse was cut off midway. Instead, her voice changed to that of a man.

“Oh! Dame Serati, you’re truly amazing. This is incredible!”

Karnak’s triumphant voice echoed through the cathedral.

“Go forth, Serabaros!”

***

The red-haired woman lightly shook her blue sword.

Woooong!

She—no, Baros, now inhabiting Serati’s body—grinned.

“If I put in a little more effort…”

Flash!

Blinding purple light filled the chapel.

“I can even reach the purple level.”

Serati’s skill had grown significantly. So much so that her body could endure even greater exertion.

Serati’s soul, trapped within her own body, could feel this too.

‘This… this is the level of a Purple Knight…’

She marveled, but quickly regained her composure.

This wasn’t the time to be enchanted by such things.

‘Is this really okay? Didn’t you say doing this repeatedly was dangerous?’

‘Isn’t it better than dying right now?’

‘I mean, that’s true, but…’

It made sense.

At first, she had cursed out of shock, but in hindsight, they had all been on the verge of death anyway.

Finding any way to survive was the wisest choice.

Even so, she couldn’t help but feel a little empty.

‘I really thought I’d achieved something this time! I was finally feeling proud of myself!’

Regardless of how Serati felt, Baros seemed thrilled.

“Hahaha! Now this is more like it!”

Serati’s body charged at Demphis.

Purple chains unfurled, and the sword aura stretched endlessly in the air.

It was as if her sword aura was duplicating itself using pure energy.

Ssss!

Nine chains of sword aura surrounded Demphis on all sides.

Every strike targeted a weak point, aiming directly at the Arch Lich’s vulnerabilities.

“Hah!”

Demphis summoned a mana shield around him, letting out a grunt of admiration.

‘What is this? How is this possible?’

No, he couldn’t afford to think like that.

‘Focus on the killing intent. Focus on the killing intent.’

Demphis reminded himself, counter attacking with magic.

But the power of his spells had already diminished.

He was consumed by curiosity.

It gnawed at him, making it impossible to suppress.

‘How is this happening? Why does it even feel… familiar?’

The brand on Demphis’s body trembled, and his attacks slowed significantly.

And Baros, ever the seasoned warrior, seized the opening.

[Young Master!]

Karnak raised both his arms, as if waiting for this moment.

[I know!]

Even though Baros had reached the purple level, it still wasn’t enough to take on a 9-circle master.

Though not a perfect comparison, a 9-circle master was usually on par with a Silver Knight.

But!

[If we don’t hold back, even this is possible!]

Serati screamed internally.

‘You jerks! This is my body! Be careful with it!’

Karnak unleashed all of the necromantic power he had been gathering.

A massive shadow of darkness billowed into the air and engulfed Serati’s body.

Whoooosh!

Black flames surged forth.

On the back of the beautiful woman sprouted menacing, jet-black wings. Her eyes burned red, dark horns protruded from her limbs, and shadows boiled at her feet like molten lava.

‘What the—? What’s happening to my body?’

Baros didn’t answer. Instead, he changed the subject.

“With this, I can finally use my Death Knight techniques again.”

‘What happens if you use them?’

Serati’s body assumed a stance.

A massive killing intent gathered like a spear aimed at the Arch Lich.

‘Hello? Why aren’t you answering me?’

Demphis was in utter shock.

‘This… this is…!’

It was an overwhelming, dark battle aura, rivaling that of a Silver Knight. At this rate, he could truly lose.

‘How is this possible?’

Yet, despite everything, he could not stop the trembling of his brand.

As proven by his final thought, Demphis had failed to overcome his curiosity.

Baros stepped forward. Darkness flowed like light.

In just a single step, the distance between them was reduced to nothing.

And with that, the dark sword was swung down.

—Heaven-defying Sword, Cleaving Life and Death!

The golden wand shattered, the curtain of darkness was torn apart, and the power of darkness scattered into the air.

Baros’s strike, cleaving through everything, landed on Demphis’s chest.

Boom!

From the shattered heart of the Arch Lich, countless shadows and souls erupted.

“Kuuaaaaaaaagh!”