CHAPTER 164


    Laven stared nkly at the scene before him.


    “…”


    One absurd thing after another kept happening.


    An evil spirit tried to take over his body, but it turned out that the spirit was actually himself?


    Then, hisrade, who he thought was part of the King’s Order from a neighboring country, turned out to be a necromancer who saved him using the power of darkness?


    And as a result, he became the necromancer’s servant?


    Even just that much was enough to make his head spin, but the situation that followed went beyond all reason.


    The mannerisms of Serati, who had been struggling against Demphis, suddenly changed to that of a man, and she suddenly became a Purple Knight!


    ‘A red-ss warrior surpassing blue and reaching purple in a single day?’


    In the entire history of known Martial Kings, there had never been such a case.


    Even Emile, let alone his father, Gard, the Martial King of their time, hadn’t achieved anything like this.


    ‘Who exactly are these people?’


    Karnak, the mage from the King’s Order, wielded necromantic power so wlessly that even a 9th-circle master Arch Lich was no match for him.


    Serati, the genius chosen by the heavens, had ascended two aura awakening stages in a single day.


    Laven’s highest evaluation of Baros suddenly made him seem like the most ordinary person in the group.


    And it wasn’t even over yet.


    Serati, who had reached purple-level, suddenly emitted darkness from her entire body and transformed once more. Then, she defeated the legendary Arch Lich in a single blow!


    ‘My God…’


    Laven groaned as he watched Demphis fall.


    None of the sights before him seemed real. It was all just too confusing.


    ***


    Baros’s soul began to leave Serati’s body.


    Serati, having regained control of her body, copsed to the ground.


    “Ugh! Argh!”


    It felt simr to when she’d had her body taken over before.


    After such intense strain, her whole body hurt like crazy, as expected.


    But one improvement from before was that now she could use aura to ease the pain.


    ‘Ugh, I need to circte my aura…’


    Following the method she had learned from Baros, she diligently manipted her aura to perform some emergency treatment, and finally, the pain subsided.


    As she staggered to her feet, Baros awkwardly scratched the back of his head.


    “Are you alright? Does it hurt a lot?”


    After taking over her body without warning, it was natural for Baros to feel guilty if he had any conscience left.


    Sighing, Serati nodded.


    “I can bear it.”


    “I’m sorry. The situation was just too urgent…”


    “We survived, so it’s fine.”


    Of course, in this world, there were those without even that minimal sense of guilt.


    “Wait a minute, Serati.”


    Karnak frowned as he spoke.


    “You cursed at me earlier, didn’t you?”


    He hadn’t forgotten the harsh words Serati had thrown at him before. Completely ignoring the fact that he hadmitted worse things.


    But Serati’s reaction was unexpected.


    Instead of denying it, she smiled at him.


    “You did well earlier, Lord Karnak.”


    Karnak’s eyes widened at the suddenpliment.


    “Huh? Me?”


    It seemed he was aware that he hadn’t done anything worthy of praise.


    “Yes. If you hadn’t acted that way, we all would have died.”


    “Well, yeah, that’s true.”


    Karnak scratched the back of his head, feeling awkward. But Serati’s expression suddenly became serious.


    “But this is thest time, right?”


    “What is?”


    “Possession. This is thest time, right?”


    Frequent possessions drive the host’s soul mad.


    Baros had already possessed Serati’s body twice. If it happened again, it would likely cause irreversible damage to her soul.


    “Yes, it would be dangerous to attempt it again.”


    “I’m not saying never do it again. If everyone’s lives are on the line and there’s no other choice, then we should do whatever it takes. I understand that.”


    But it was important to recognize this.


    It was an act of saving Karnak’s life at the cost of sacrificing Serati.


    “If you don’t want to live like you used to, you should be aware of the consequences of your actions, Lord Karnak. For your own soul’s sake.”


    It wasn’t something to take lightly. Karnak’s face also turned serious.


    “Understood. I’ll remember that.”


    Serati’s solemn expression softened.


    “Then it’s fine. After all, thanks to you, Lord Karnak, we’re all alive, aren’t we?”


    “Thank you for understanding.”


    “You’re wee. Even though the situation left us no choice, I’ve gained a lot from bing your servant. I am grateful for that.”


    With a yful wink, she smiled brightly.


    “And as much as I’m grateful, I’ll do my best to offer you good advice.”


    “I see.”


    Karnak smiled back at her.


    Somehow, it put him in a good mood.


    Though, there was still a hint of difort lingering.


    ‘Wait, am I forgetting something?’


    As Serati turned her back and sighed in relief, she thought to herself.


    ‘Phew, I got away with that double curse just fine.’


    But to avoid it resurfacingter, she quickly changed the subject.


    Serati pointed at the fallen Demphis, whose overwhelming darkness and evil spirits were now almost entirely gone.


    “What are you nning to do with the Arch Lich now?”


    Karnak, who had been waiting for the darkness to dissipate, replied.


    “I’m still thinking.”


    As he spoke, Karnak approached.


    “If it were the old me, I’d have branded him with a seal of domination without thinking twice.”


    But things are different now.


    “And it’s not just about trying to live differently than before…”


    It wasn’t like he had the ability to dominate an Arch Lich in his current state.


    “Right now, there’s no way I can impose my dominance over an Arch Lich.”


    So, the best course was to extract some information and then obliterate his soul. However, even that wasn’t going to be easy.


    Archlich is a fusion of power and spiritual energy, making them formidable even in a soul form. Simply using necromancy wouldn’t be enough to control them easily.


    “I’ll check him out and decide from there.”


    Karnak extended his hand toward the skeleton on the ground, his expression grim.


    “If things seem dangerous, I’ll forgo the information and just go straight to destroying him.”


    As he sent a wave of darkness to examine Demphis’s condition, something caught his attention.


    ‘Huh?’


    Something strange was there.


    ‘A brand of contract?’


    Someone had carved a powerful brand into Demphis’s soul.


    ‘It’s not mine, but it feels like something was there before…’


    What puzzled Karnak even more was that the brand was eerily simr to one he had once ced on Demphis.


    Same spell, same position, same target.


    Even the necromantic power and the ritual form used to ce the brand were identical.


    There was only one difference.


    The name of the one who had ced the brand.


    ‘Tesranak…’


    It was like finding a contract with a different signature on the same document.


    ‘How could it be this simr?’


    At any rate, this opened up another possibility.


    ‘If I just change the name, I could make him my ve.’


    It was within the range of what Karnak’s current necromantic power could handle.


    It was worth trying.


    ‘If it works out, I’ll gain a useful servant and some valuable information about the Dark God’s cult and Tesranak.’


    And if he failed?


    ‘I’ll just destroy him and be done with it.’


    Rolling up his sleeves, Karnak extended his hand toward the brand.


    “Alright, let’s do this!”


    As he infused the mark with his necromantic power, he focused.


    “In the name of the Lord of Darkness, Karnak Jestarad, Imand you…”


    But just as he began to tamper with Tesranak’s brand, something surprising happened.


    ‘Huh?’


    It was too easy.


    It felt like all the rights of the contract were naturally transferring to him as if the mark had been his from the start.


    “Uuuh…”


    With a faint groan, Demphis’s scattered bones began to reassemble.


    The skeleton reformed in midair, and the spiritual energy of the Arch Lich wrapped around it.


    “My lord, master of my soul…”


    The resurrected Demphis knelt before Karnak.


    “Please,mand me. I shall obey…”


    ***


    Laven couldn’t help butugh dryly.


    “Hah, hahah…”


    As if things weren’t confusing enough, now the fallen Arch Lich had risen again and was swearing allegiance to Karnak?


    Laven had been holding back out of respect for the tense atmosphere, but now he was reaching his limit.


    “Who exactly are you people?”


    Serati gave him a knowing look.


    Though Laven was trying to remain calm, his voice trembled.


    ‘I understand that feeling more than anyone,’ she thought.


    Just as she was empathizing, Laven fixed her with a sharp gaze.


    “Especially you, Dame Serati. Who exactly are you?”


    “…Me?”


    “Yes! Who are you? Are you perhaps some demon descended upon thisnd?”


    Serati nced at Karnak and Baros, dumbfounded.


    ‘Do I look more suspicious than these guys?’


    Was there really no one left in this world for him topare her to other than them?


    But after hearing his next question, she realized that maybe he had a point.


    “Or were you always a purple knight and just hiding it this whole time?”


    “Oh, that…”


    From an outsider’s perspective, everything must have looked incredibly unbelievable.


    Karnak and Baros exchanged knowing looks and shrugged.


    “Well, since Laven’s already one of us, there’s no need to hide it, right?”


    “Yeah, might as well exin everything now.”


    Even Demphis, noticing the atmosphere, raised his hand hesitantly.


    “To be honest, I’m quite curious about it myself…”


    His insatiable curiosity had led him to his defeat, after all.


    The blue mes in Arch Lich’s eyes flickered violently.


    “Who exactly are you people?”


    The one who would have be the Martial King in the future, and the one who had returned from that future, both stared directly at him.


    Karnak thought for a moment.


    How could he exin things quickly and concisely?


    He soon found the easiest solution.


    “Serati!”


    “Huh? You want me to exin?”


    “I think you’re better at this than I am.”


    Indeed.


    It was easier to leave it to the subordinate.


    “After all, this is about dealing with people, right? You’ll do a better job than me.”


    “Really?”


    She hesitated for a moment, then realized.


    This was going to be a very hard exnation to start.


    “Uh, so…”


    After thinking for a bit, Serati awkwardly pointed at Karnak.


    “He once tried to conquer the world…”


    Then, she gestured toward Baros.


    “And he helped with that, apparently?”


    Before she knew it, her exnation had be nearly identical to the one she’d been told earlier.


    Karnak and Baros chuckled to themselves.


    “See? It’s not so easy to exin, is it?”


    “Even Dame Serati struggles with it.”


    Naturally, Laven’s reaction was much the same as before.


    With a serious expression, he frowned.


    “I’m asking you this in all seriousness…”


    And Demphis added in a solemn tone, looking at Karnak.


    “If you doubt me, you already know that there’s no need for suspicion.”


    Serati gave a bitter smile and continued.


    “Please, just listen for now.”


    The exnation that followed was more or less the same.


    Karnak, the illegitimate son of a fallen noble family, who had learned necromancy, along with Baros, his former servant.


    The story of how the two had caused trouble, been chased, and grown in power until they became the enemies of the entire continent.


    How they had seeded in conquering the world as Astra Spiritus, and eventually used space-time regression to regain their lost humanity.


    As the brief exnation concluded, Laven frowned.


    “That makes no sense… You’re from the future…?”


    Unlike Serati, Laven wasn’t interested in the typical tales of heroism found in the streets. Naturally, stories like this were hard for him to ept.


    On the other hand, Demphis, who had alsoe from the future, had a different line of questioning.


    “That’s strange. In the future I came from, neither of you existed.”


    Karnak, unsurprised, asked him, “But you have an idea why, don’t you?”


    Demphis nodded.


    “Yes.”


    Indeed, there had been someone in the future who had such an ovepping history.


    The god of death, Tesranak.


    “If the story is true…”


    The Arch Lich, with his skeletal body, turned to face Baros, the golden-haired knight.


    “Then you are Tesranak.”


    Karnak’s group simultaneously widened their eyes.


    “Huh?”