"Gone was the innocence of man when he cast away his faith for the true gods,

It was he, weak willed and full of folly, who marched himself and those he had loved towards damnation,

Gone was the faint smirk of man when he realized the error of his ways,

It was he, pitiful and damned, who begged for mercy for himself and his closest,

Gone was the tears of man when he realized that his transgressions could not be forgiven,

It was he, lost and forsaken, whose eyes had no more tears to cry as he faced his end,

All suffering, all woes, all terrors, comes not from the foe at the front,

No, it is not the blade of infidels that kills a man of faith, but his own doubts,

Doubt not your Divine Lords, those who shall be our providence,

For our true gods shall deliver us to our eternal salvation."


Chapter 4: Just Another Calm…

Night fell upon the city, casting a dark shadow across the landscape. While the gloom of dusk blanketed the streets, mana-fueled street lamps ignite while orange candlelight continued to seep from the cracks of wooden window shutters.

One such glow came from the bathing room of a residence belonging to a short statured blacksmith. Inside the room was an elven man sitting in a clearly undersized bathtub. Yet, instead of being annoyed by the irregularity, the elf looked to be in a state of bliss.

'A hot bath has never felt so good.' Thought Lapis Lazuras. While it was almost laughable that a wealthy man like himself could enjoy himself within a crude cast iron tub, certain conditions made this a completely unique experience.

"Haaaaah." He audibly exhaled.

The water itself was as pure as crystal. It had no cloying smell of rich perfumes that tried futilely to hide the even more pungent odor of chemically purified water.

His surroundings also made it much easier to relax. While the shining, glazed walls of marble and enameled tubs of his home were certainly beautiful, something about the brick walls and the wooden floor gave this place a soothingly rustic quality to it. Like a resort made to look old-fashioned to appeal to a certain group of people.

It also helped that he had just finished what amounted to the best meal he had ever eaten. It was a hearty dinner of toasted bread and a thick stew, filled to the brim with roughly cut chunks of meat. It looked rather unappealing, but the smell made his mouth water and the taste blew his mind.

Never before has he tasted meat so savory, soup so rich with wondrous flavors, or toast so scrumptious. In fact, every single one of these simple dishes had completely outdone any similar foods he has had before. It seemed like the dwarf knew the stove as well as he knew the forge.

The toast had especially blown his mind. Several pieces of reheated bread combined with a glorious mix of jellied fruits, while strange to eat in the evening, made for a wonderfully filling item. The way each bite crunched gave it a wonderful mouthfeel while the sweet and tart jam bursted with flavor. It took only a singular bite for Lapis to lose all respect for his supposedly world renowned chef that had often prepared his meals.

If even the luxury foods he had partaken couldn't hold a candle to this, then the food of the working class would be even more pitiful by comparison.

After all, some of them even ate that horrific meat paste mass-produced by 'Bisome Meats Co.', an untrustworthy corporation that excelled only at producing as cheaply as possible.

"Yeuh." An audible sound of disgust escaped his mouth as he imagined the semi-liquid protein. What little sympathy he had left went towards the poor sods that toiled endlessly in stuffy factories and cramped cubicles.

It was no wonder that Yggdrasil was so popular. It was more than a game. It was a medium that carried people away from their dreary, mundane lives to a fantastical world where not everything was terrible.

If given the choice, most people would rather live the rest of their lives in Yggdrasil than go back to their reality.

Would he do the same?

'Perhaps.' He thought.

He sunk himself deeper in the soothing waters. Now was not the time for these kinds of questions. Now was for pure, uninhibited relaxation.

That was the intent, at least. And relaxation would have been attained if there hadn't been a vague gnawing feeling at the back of his mind.

Something was bothering him, and it pissed him off that he couldn't quite place what.

'Damn it, and I was getting so comfortable too.'

Unable to relax, he scoured his memories to find the source of his unease.

Was it that strange old priest, wearing that gaudy robe? As terrible as the geezer's sense of fashion was, Lapis was not someone who could be bothered by another's attire, unlike a certain other individual.

Was it the girl with the fat man on the carriage? It could just be a young lady with her father out on a trip to the city. It could be a courtesan out with an older client. At worst, it could be an underaged girl forced into slavery and servitude to a deviant, rich, old man. But none of these really bothered him. The first possibility was completely normal while the second was an accepted practice. The third was clearly both illegal and immoral, but things such as this had become so commonplace in society today that the prolonged exposure made him almost completely numb to the inhumane treatment of others.

There were many times where he shadowed under "advisors" for some of the less than paragon higher ups of companies. From countless exposures, it was at no one's surprise that his empathy had quickly left him. It was only a matter of time before his sympathy left with it.

So what was it that bothered him?

Perhaps it was the way he brutally slaughtered those thugs.

No… He's certainly seen this kind of violence before. It had come from part of the training that was molding him into the perfect aide. And besides the paltry experience from reality, he had also killed many times before in Yggdrasil.

Neither seeing open wounds nor blood would affect him either as Yggdrasil, for a teen rated game, was quite gratuitous in how it portrayed bleed status effects.

An unpleasant thought suddenly found its way into his mind.

Was it because the man blood was so warm?

Was that what bothered him?

No.

It was the eyes.

The eyes that begged for life as he reflexively split open the thug's neck with a smooth left to right motion.

That's right. Faces in Yggdrasil were as lifeless as the dolls found in a little girl's room. This one was not. It showed emotion. Amusement, anger, confusion, then fear. He remembered seeing the man's face cycle through these common emotions as the encounter took place.

Did he actually kill those people? He couldn't remove these possibilities from his head.

His eyes… His eyes… He couldn't stop remembering the dead man's pleading eyes.

A loud ringing sounded in his head, startling him and snapping him from the distressing thoughts.

"Gah! Shit." The sound made him flinch in his tub, splashing hot water onto the wooden floor.

After taking a moment to calm himself, he realized that the ringing was a [Message] request.

He picked up the call.

"Hey Lapis." A woman's voice addressed him with familiarity.

"Nice timing as always, Skar. I'm glad you decided not to use your other voice. I'd rather not experience a second heart attack in such a short span of time."

"A second heart att- What?" Skarlett replied in a confused tone.

"Neeeevermind that. I'm guessing you're calling to brief me on the need-to-knows and hand out a couple of tasks?"

"You've read me like a book, friend." The voice said amusingly. "By the way. Before I start, I need to know if you're in a discreet location. Where are you exactly?"

"In the bathtub."

"In the bathtub? What part of 'stay low' didn't you get?" Skarlett's voice was inflected with annoyance.

"Don't worry about it." He said casually. "Trust me. I've 'stayed low' and I'll have you know that my location is very discreet. I've already covered the house in anti-information spell wards."

"House? How did you get a-." Skarlett paused momentarily. "I'll need a very thorough explanation from you after this."

"Yeah yeah, I know the drill, man. At least I can soak in this warm water while you ramble.

"Okay so... Wait, are you taking a bath?"

"No shit sherlock, why else would I be in a bathtub?"

"... Hahaha." He chuckled after a pause. "What a coincidence."

Within Sanctuary, there was a vast, sprawling undercity hidden just below the Alchemy District. Its decaying, labyrinthine streets interwove, spread apart, and rejoined like capillaries in a corpse.

And yet, there was order in this chaos. Vast legions of risen warriors patrolled these paths in a juxtaposingly methodical fashion. Peddlers and hucksters conglomerated within the wider tunnels, promulgating their wares from stalls of decaying wood. Inside alcoves and cul de sacs, withered necromancers huddled neatly in ritual circles around vast swathes of flesh, bone, and sinew, chanting their infernal incantations to bring life back in a much more damnable form.

Their Overlord, sitting in a marginally more luxurious office at the heart of the festering burg, had just arrived back from his duties. It had been a tiring day, though an undead like himself would never truly understand the feeling of fatigue. However, the fact that his tasks served Sangreal-sama's goals brought joy to his work.

He looked behind him to make sure his friend was behind him.

It was.

His skeletal attendant always followed close by wherever he went, though it would sometimes get lost if his pace was too quick.

As they entered the room, they saw their two Death Lords standing guard at the back wall, holding their eternal vigil.

Calphos sat down upon his seat behind the desk, which was filled to the brim with blank parchments of human leathers and vials of ink distilled from the blood of various creatures. His attendant sat down on a simple stool beside the door.

A squeaky squawk came from his attendant's cornet, which was now placed upon its lipless teeth.

"Ah, I appreciate the gesture, Mister Skehlatol, but I cannot enjoy your compositions whilst working."

Another, noticeably sadder sounding, doot came from the rattling skeleton's instrument.

"Please don't be sad, my friend, I will most assuredly listen to your wondrous pieces after my tasks."

Several high pitched notes replied at rapid succession, signaling the end of his companion's fleeting melancholy.

"Yes, I promise you that much at least. Now, back to the task at hand..."

Calphos had Sangreal-sama's permission to produce great legions in service to Sanctuary and Tier Raid.

Raising them would not be a problem. Massive tomb complexes dotted the undercity, endlessly exhuming untold numbers of corpses to fuel their summoning rituals. What limited his prospects were, rather, the number of beings capable of raising significant undead combatants.

It was truly unfortunate that his district could not churn out powerful undead of all kinds. He had to pick and choose the ones that would offer Sanctuary the most benefit.

Within his eye sockets, lights of fetid green glowed intensely as he ruminates.

The first thing that came to his mind were Death Lords.

These abominable creatures were essentially the next step in the evolution of Death Knights. Instead of being a level 35 warrior that could be summoned by a mere [Create Mid-Tier Undead], these metal-clad goliaths were a fortuitous level 75 and could only be created with [Create High-Tier Undead] or complex rituals requiring multiple weaker summoners. Additionally, instead of being able to bear at the very least two attacks of any power, Death Lords were capable of limiting the damage of any single strike to 10% of their max health.

'Quite a useful passive.' Calphos thought.

He glanced at his towering guardians, who held their alert posture. Their dark, plate armor covered the entirety of their bodies, unlike the sets their weaker brethren donned. One could not even tell that they were undead using eyes alone, but the aura they diffused divulged their twisted nature.

The massive, armored champions of monstrous size had intrinsic merit. They were unparalleled defensive creatures, capable of withstanding blows from even the highest level invaders. While their offensive capabilities were closer that of someone who was level 60, their intended purpose was not to destroy.

Their most important role, of course, was being part of his Divine Lords' ultimate doctrines, such as the Spider-Tank formation. Capable of simple spells and abilities that utilized negative energy, Death Lords were meant to slowly chip away at their adversaries while healing their undead allies. In a legion, rows of Death Lords casting [Negative Burst]s and [Death Wave]s, spells which both harmed their enemies and healed themselves, made for a nigh unstoppable formation.

But what of more aggressive combatants? After all, the duty of obliterating foes was given to more offensive undead, such as Blackfire Arbalists, Revenant Archer Elites, Damned Archmagi, and etcetera.

There was much to consider.

The recounts and explanations from both sides took some time, but because there had been no interruptions from either participant, it didn't take egregiously long.

However… Now was the time for questions, and both of them had a lot to ask.

"Sooo..." Skarlett dragged his voice, as if he was still processing Lapis's story. "You wake up in a forest after the servers shut down,"

"Mhmm." Lapis confirmed.

"Walked for hours until seeing a city which you then entered,"

"Yup."

"Took took a casual stroll through the city,"

"And then you called me."

"Which led you to being attacked by thugs,"

"Mhm."

"Who you killed."

"Because I wasn't sure if they overheard our conversation."

"Then found a dwarf who told you the city hates everything except humans, who then took you in."

"Correcto."

"And after eating a delicious dinner, you're now soaking in an undersized bathtub until I oh so rudely interrupted your bubble bath."

"And here we are, both sitting in bathtubs, talking to each other after such a long, hard day. Reminds me of when we were still basic trainees."

"Don't remind me of those dark times."

From the conversation, Skarlett had learned that Lapis was in a city known as Vacatina, situated in the eastern side of a country known as the Slane Theocracy. The Slane Theocracy was a human-centric place that shunned most non-humans, including elves and dwarves.

In other words, they were a bunch of racists.

The Theocracy was bordered in the north by two other human kingdoms, the Re-Estize Kingdom and the Baharuth Empire, both of which were more lax on their treatment of abhumans. There was also the Roble Holy Kingdom west of the kingdom of Re-Estize, but Lapis had little information regarding that except for the fact that there was a massive wall along its border.

According to the Lapis's new dwarf friend, these were the only known human kingdoms, as all surrounding countries were run by either a mix of non-human species such as Beast-men or Orcs.

"Well then, do you really think you can trust the dwarf?"

"Probably. But if he ever tries to turn me over, I can just hack and slash my way through the city. Everyone seems pathetically weak. The thugs that attacked me were hilariously ill equipped, the legions of knights and paladins didn't look much better. I'd say they were all lower than 20."

"Still, making too much noise is a bad idea. A massive shitfest can come back to bite us in the ass later. This is especially true since we have no idea of anything that's going on, meaning we could be alerting stronger and more vindictive powers to our presence."

"True…"

"And there is a bigger problem here. I have no idea where Sanctuary is situated relative to YOU. For all I know we might not be in the same world."

"Well did your scouts tell you of much else?"

"Between dinner and now, I got another set of reports, this time telling me that much further away was a spattering of small villages, but I doubt that helps. Every kingdom has villages."

"Yeah… That sucks…" Lapis's tone showed some disappointment. "But we should focus on gathering more information and cross referencing until we can find each other."

"A sound plan. I'm surprised."

"Hey, a little respect here, man. Don't forget that I'm supposed to babysit you after I finish my training program."

"I'd hardly consider the role of an advisor to be close to that of a babysitter's."

"And that's where you're wrong kiddo." Lapis could feel palpable disgust emanating from Skarlett through the [Message] spell. 'Okay, don't call him kiddo. Noted.'

"In any case, Lapis, your task will be to find a detailed map of all three major human kingdoms that shows the locations of all settlements, including small villages. I will send my scouts to map out the villages close to Sanctuary. We will then cross-reference the locations and names of each village so we will know where Tier Raid is situated."

"Sounds good, Skarlett." He said the name in an amused manner. "Anything else?"

"Yes. I will be calling you every evening at this exact time for further information exchanges. Make sure that you can pick it up when I call."

"Gotcha."

"Oh, and don't do anything stupid, okay. Just keep your head down and wait things out. The last thing I need is for you to make yourself known in a place that purges, genocides, and enslaves your kind."

"Yeah, yeah. I got it. More of the usual." Lapis shifted in the bathtub, making himself more comfortable in the now lukewarm water. "Now can I ask my questions?"

"Go for it."

"So let me get this straight. From your little meeting, you found out that basically everyone is your fanatic?"

"That's still unconfirmed. I have no idea if they are internally harboring ill will."

"But everyone openly treats you like you're their gloriously supreme leader, correct?"

"Correct."

"You'd think they'll treat me like that when I get back?"

"I honestly don't know. As far as I know from Bjergan, they think that I'm the last 'Divine Lord' left in the guild. Until I can gauge how they'll react to your return, I'm going to have to keep any information I have of you far away from them."

"Sounds good to me. What about the NPCs' personalities? You told me that they were weird but didn't elaborate."

"I would rather not elaborate." Skarlett insisted. "Let's just say some of them were very personal and some of them were quite neurotic. The Floor Guardians were a mixed bag.."

"... Fine. I guess I don't need to know people who I won't meet for a while. Hmmm." He mused at what Skarlett told him. "So you're now the leader of a mega fortress city that is practically self-sustainable and can levy an almost limitless number of fanatically loyal servants. From your conference, you found out that your subordinate officers all showed that they would support your every decision, with their only downside being that they may argue amongst each other?"

"Yes."

"Looks like you're living your dream, bud."

"Hardly. There's so much that I need to organize and learn before I can run this place efficiently. Right now I'm just hoping that my Guardians can make sure their own floors don't implode in on themselves. I don't want anyone making more problems for me to solve. Is that all?"

Lapis paused briefly to make sure there was nothing else he wanted to ask. "Yeeup."

"Well then, I'll leave you to your bath. I have to attend to other important matters."

"Like fixing that voice of yours?"

"Shaddup. The last thing I need is more things you can poke fun at me for. In any case, I will call you at the same time tomorrow."

"Same time, same place, same bathtub."

"Goodbye."

"Ciao."

And with the sound of a soft click, the call ended.

He could finally relax in peace in the now uncomfortably cool water.

"Damnit, I'll need to heat up a couple more bucketfuls."

'Now, how about Blackfire Arbalists?' Calphos pondered.

Those rotting crossbowmen were lower level variants of the Deathfire Arbalists, but they still can output an inordinate amount of firepower for a Level 60 minion. While their long range and AOE debuffs made them effective even in low numbers, the fact that they have extremely low health made them liabilities in unfortified positions.

The two glowing green dots within the Overlord's empty eye sockets shifted with his thoughts.

Revenant Archer Elites, on the other hand, were more reliable on the open field. While requiring the same summoning spell and retaining similar dps, they traded utility for greater mobility and defenses. These undead were already being utilized enmasse to man the walls of Sanctuary. They had also proved their effectiveness during the 'Righteous Idiot's Storm Korps [RISK]' guild wars, where they inundated the enemies of Tier Raid with showers of quarrels, sending waves of invaders to their shallow graves.

In the grand scheme of things, these ranged undead had few downsides that applied to them besides the standard weaknesses ranged summons usually had.

There were several other Mid-Tier summons that could compete with the two in effectiveness against the most powerful of invaders, but their abilities were too niche to be considered cost effective.

While there was an array of more effective choices that could be used against weaker opponents, it would be most unwise to underestimate their enemies.

Calphos took out an ancient bone quill and made note of alternative Mid-Tier summons on one of the sheets of parchments.

The choice of Mid-Tier summons as well as their ratios was all but set in his mind. Now he had to finalize the High-Tier summons. While commanding his necromancers to summon legions of Death Lords and only Death lords was a simple and attractive option, there were still many tasks that even they could not fulfill.

Leadership roles for example. Even simple Elder Liches could fulfill bureaucratic tasks better than these violent and brutal warriors.

Calphos turned his skull to face the Death Lord to his left.

The armored juggernaut holding vigil was a hammer in his arsenal. But his armory require more than hammers. He needed swords, bows, staves, and, most importantly, quills.

Yes, his fellow districts could provide as many hammers as Sangreal-sama requests, but only his could produce enough competent quills to maintain an expanding army of this magnitude.

He made a mental note of increasing the distribution of Low-Tier summoning spells towards Elder Liches.

'Crypt Lords would make for a fine addition to Sangreal-sama's quills.' He thought.

While they usually could only be obtained with gold as mercenaries, these undead could alternatively be summoned by two powerful necromancers, both using one of their four [Create High-Tier Undead] spell charges.

This commander-type undead was both highly intelligent and versatile. It can, by itself, summon and take charge of twenty Death Knights and buff them enough so that they can become a formidable presence against much stronger foes. A significant advantage of being able to create its own entourage was that a single one of this commander-type undead could lock down large areas through overwhelming presence.

Their arsenal of instant death and crippling magics allows them to take down individuals that would trouble lone Death Lords.

Their intelligence allowed them to complete complex operations while also making them capable of processing paperwork in more stable settings. This certainty is amplified by the fact that they can still control their twenty Death Knights while doing these tasks.

'They were truly amazing servants, but they take two [Create High-Tier Undead]s to create...' This task would be more difficult than he thought.

He looked towards his skeletal attendant, who was now doing a little jig at the center of his office.

"Haah," He quietly sighed. 'To be so blissful and carefree.'

He will complete this task as well as possible for Sangreal-sama, and then he will fulfill his promise to his boney friend. He'll make sure of that.

After relaxing in the guild bathhouse, Sangreal arrived back to his personal bedroom. It was grand and lavish, even more so than the halls on the other side of the door.

It had been a while since he last went into his own bedroom. He had forgotten the gleaming marble tiles that covered the floor and the intricately decorated walls. At the back corner was his oversized bed, soft and sumptuous.

How very tempting.

However, his focus was redirected to the jewel encrusted chest that sat on the table beside the bed. In all of his time in Yggdrasil, had never decorated the room with such an object, which means…

"That's probably the stuff I asked Rebis and Opus to get me… I think."

He approached the small decorated strongbox and unlatched it, opening it from the top.

The instant he saw what sat inside, his stomach heaved and churned harder than when he was once tricked into eating a meat paste sandwich by Lapis.

Leeches. Three large, black, squirming leeches.

He took a preemptive step backward.

The leeches kept wriggling, not taking notice of the distressed humanoid.

'Right.' Skarlett reassured himself. 'Siren leeches. The things that I requested earlier today. Those things… Yeah.'

Even when he tried to wrap his mind around it, he couldn't ignore how disturbing those things looked. In the game, their item descriptions said that they had to be attached to their user's neck for them to work, but he had hoped that they had simply stayed in their inanimate item forms.

"Ooooh god no." He managed to mumble.

He wanted to fix his nagging problem, but he had to get over his disgust for these things.

He took a step forward, towards the box of miscreated horrors. Reaching into the box, he gently grabbed the one at the very centre.

As soon as his hand touched it's warm, slimy hide, the creature went limp. It was still alive. That, at least, was for certain. He could feel its body throb with every beat of its tiny heart.

From arm's length, he could see the thin horizontal grooves along the length of its body, separating it into evenly spaced sections. Also in his sights were the tiny teeth embedded within its circular maw. That part of the creature was meant to attach to his neck…

'Ohhh god.'

He inched the creature closer and closer towards its neck. All of his instincts screamed out a deafening 'NO' but his knowledge reassured him that nothing bad will come of it.

As its wet mouth touched his neck, he felt it acting as a suction cup, locking itself onto where his non-existent adam's apple should have been.

"I hope thi-" As he spoke, he realized that his voice was not what it was before. Gone was the sound of a generic woman from some fantasy game. Now, it was a strange, unidentifiable and monotonous voice.

He touched the creature as he hummed, rapidly shifting the voice from a squeaky high pitched tone, to a deep rumbling, to a horrid shrieking, to an excessively suave tone. Several minutes of blind touching and fiddling passed before he finally figured out how these things generally worked.

Stroking it lengthwise increased or decreased the pitch, depending on if you run your fingers from tail to head or head to tail. Each of its body sections separated by thin horizontal grooves controlled a different aspect of a voice. One adjusted raspiness, another changed how much the voice echoes regardless of surroundings while a third would change the limits of how expressive the artificial voice was allowed to be.

Another couple of minutes of gentle caressing went by before he had gotten a workable voice.

It was one of deep and masculine timbre, almost comically so. If one would imagine a body that accompanied the voice, they would see a bulky, badly proportioned hero. One with an unusually chiseled jawline, who would proclaim how glorious his country is or perhaps declaring that he will save some princess from a terrible beast.

It was bad.

'That asshat will definitely make fun of me for this. I can goddamn guarantee it.'

"This will work." He said with an unintentional heroic timbre. "For now at least…"

Of course, this was what the two spares were for.

Unlike Lip Bugs, which the district filled with those horrifying arachnids definitely contained, multiple Siren Leeches could be equipped at one time, making it favorable if you need to change your voice on a fly if your commanding role in a raid changes.

After all, group [Message] spells often get garbled with idle chatter, so an artificially loudened voice was often used to draw attention to the group while a deep thunderous one would be used to command fervor during pre-boss speeches. While callous, high pitched voice would be used to command DPS members, an echoing one would command the tanks and healers. Needless to say, this was useful to broadcast meaningful orders for massive and often rowdy mega-raids.

The one disadvantage of Siren Leeches compared to Lip Bugs was the fact that their voice change was treated as an illusion spell whose dispel resistance scaled with the rarity level of the leech. If one were using a modulated voice to command large groups of players against another PvP group or a boss that had dispel spells in its rotations, the spells may destroy the leeches, sending voice feeds into disarray as no one would know who was in charge of what.

In short, reliability was traded for versatility.

He fiddled with the two other leeches for another ten minutes each before flopping onto his velvety bed sheets, satisfied by the results.

He firmly tugged on the three leeches that were on his neck, making three satisfying popping sounds as they came off. Barely managing to reach the strongbox from his position, he dropped the Siren Leeched back into their container.

As soon as the Siren Leeches left his hand, Skarlett was hit by a wave of drowsiness. He did not know why since he had felt fine until just now. Perhaps it was because he had completed his last task of the day, meaning that he was finally allowed to relax. Or maybe, he was just so focused on his tasks that he never had the chance to feel tired.

Whatever the case, he was now overwhelmingly sleepy.

The good news was that he was lying right on something he could sleep on. It felt odd to sleep anywhere than his usual bed. But this one felt so much more plush and cozy than his own…

He could almost see the sandman physically sprinkle his magical sand across his eyes as each surge of somnolence hit him like waves against a crumbling dam.

'Well… I don't really have anything else to do…' That was the last thing that came to his mind before the metaphorical dam burst open, sending him off into an even more fanciful land...

It was a beautiful starry night. One could hear the chirps of crickets if not for the rumbling of armored men riding horseback. The dance of the fireflies would have lit the grassy plains if not for the clouds of dust kicked up by the horses. However, all was not lost. The vast full moon still held it's beautiful luminescence, casting a soft blue glow upon the lands below its infinite gaze.

The disruptive interlopers were a large group of mounted soldiers, covered in thick leather armor complemented with thick plates near their center of mass. They rode into the night in an organized formation, yet they had an air of urgency surrounding them.

Another anomaly amongst the midnight symphony was a group of wearing strange flat-topped masks standing on a cliff, overlooking the riders with both contempt and pity.

They were right in feeling this way.

After all, everyone in the group had mastered of 3rd-tier divine magic, which made them superior to most magic users of this world. More importantly, those foolish horsemen were but flies flying into the masterful web created by their commander, the leader of the Sunlight Scripture, Nigun Grid Luin.

To say that all members of this group wore these masks would be a lie. In actuality, one of them his allowed his bare face feel the whistling wind. This man had short blond hair and a large vertical scar over his left eye. A brutal reminder of a prior engagement, a previous embarrassment that he would most certainly rectify. His most defining feature, however, was his sharp blue eyes, which almost seemed to glow in the dim moonlight.

To him, the situation of the world had become quite interesting.

The Windflower Scripture, instead of tracking down the traitorous former 9th seat of the Black Scripture, were suddenly given orders to bolster the spy networks of the glorious theocracy.

Similarly, the Black Scripture, who was in the middle of preparing for the resurrection of the Catastrophic Dragon Lord, was forced to forfeit their objective after using their Divine Artifact, Downfall of Castle and Country, on an unintended yet equally important target.

While he was not privy to who or what exactly they had captured with the divine object, he had heard faint whispers coming from the higher brass speaking of a holy entity possessed by demonic corruption.

After being notified by the Cardinals of the visions that came from the Black Scripture's 11th seat, the Thousand Leagues Astrologer, he knew for certain that the creature was related to the resurgence of the Demon Gods. If the Black Scripture had encountered such a being so soon, then he too may face one, if not a legion, of those damnable creatures during his mission.

However, he was not clouded by worry. No, he had no reason be. Even if his men were to be slaughtered to their last, he would have no fear in his heart. This was because he was blessed with one of his country's greatest artifacts. One that contained a power that could obliterate even the demon gods themselves.

Yes, even if the demon gods themselves were to throw themselves at him, they would have little chance of surviving.

"Hmh." He stifled a smug chuckle.

Nothing could stop him from slaughtering the Kingdom's most prized champion.

The man, filled with zeal and conviction, inhaled deeply. There was much to enjoy on a night like this, but there was work to be done.

"Tomorrow morning, attack the next village." He casually commanded. "Guide the beasts to their cage."


Notes: Sorry for such little content after two whole weeks. I went on a road trip without my computer, which meant that I couldn't work on my draft and outlines :( . If next chapter goes as planned, however, expect a one as big as the previous one if not even bigger.

The main purpose of this chapter, IMO, was to clarify some information of combatants, items, settings and build upon intrigue. To make things more… palpable, if you would. Hopefully it worked!

Also, I probably should have done this a long time ago, but here are the stats for a character. I will probably do one every time I post a new chapter until I've done them all or I want to leave someone an unknown for reasons.

Name: Skarlett Sangreal

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Title: The Sovereign of Blood and Steel

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Alignment: Neutral ~ Evil / Karma: -100

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Racial Level:

Great Devourer (Level 1)

Flesh Beast (Level 10)

Inchoate Flesh (Level 15)

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Job Level:

Shield Lord (Level 10)

Blackguard (Level 5)

Unholy Knight (Level 10)

Valkyrie (Level 10)

Jester (Level 1)

Berserker (Level 10)

Warlord (Level 10)

Taskmaster (Level 5)

Vanguard (Level 10)

Cleric (Level 7)

Paladin (Level 8)

Hemomancer (Level 10)

Baker (Level 2)

Others… (Combined Level ?)

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Racial Level (26) + Job level (98+?) = 124 + ?

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Stats:

HP: 150

MP: 60

PHYS ATK: 95

PHYS DEF: 85 = 135 ([Living Armor])

AGI: 85

MAG ATK: 60

MAG DEF: 85 = 125 ([Living Armor])

RES: 90 = 120 ([Living Armor])

SPECIAL: 90

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Total: 800 = 930 ([Living Armor])

I would also like to thank everyone who left reviews! If you have any questions, put them in your review or message me and I will message back as soon as I can.

Thanks again for reading!

Edit: Fixed some errors in this chapter.

Edit 2: Woops, turns out that I was a complete idiot with my stats and did not do enough research on level 100s. Due to the advice of someone who is more knowledgeable than me on this, I have adjusted the character sheet accordingly. I apologize for making such drastic changes.

Edit 3: The new stats may not be permanent depending on how stupid they are. I literally got out of bed when I was informed of my idiocy and quickly band-aided the problem. I am falling asleep now and I will re-review these changes when I do not feel like passing out. This will be next morning. Thank you for your patience.

Edit 4: Woke up. Read stats. Stats were most certainly stupid. Adjusted stats to make them less stupid. Everything should be stable now. If there are any more changes to the stats, they will appear next chapter, probably along side a manifesto that outlines how I will approach character sheets from now on. I apologize for this fiasco.