Monster Girl Quest: Shadow of Undeath

by Commander Dagoth Boreale

Vaskul, an ancient demilich, searches for the long lost Emperor of Hell to learn the Secret of Evolution so that he may become God. Along the way, he finds the newly formed world of MGQ, and finds himself setting in motion a chain of events that he quickly finds to be out of his control. Can Vaskul find the Emperor? Or will the war between Alice XVI and Ilias stop him?

3. Artistic Necromancers

"Shame all that hard work went to waste," Vaskul muttered as he flew towards Sentora. While admittedly, Luka was a major source of entertainment, his late mother was...

Difficult.

Vaskul had spent several years living nearby and helping those two, acting all friendly and even a bit comical at times, but he knew that ultimately the late Seraphim would've never trusted him with the knowledge of Estark's resting place, even if he did cure her sickness and save her from death.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have been too forwards about the matter..." He mulled, thinking back to how he had lost patience and started asking questions the first night he met them and gave answers that, from her perspective, shouldn't be quite possible.

He wondered why for a brief moment why she could not bring herself to trust him. Was it because he just casually murdered those grunts with a smile? Was it because he demonstrated knowledge of things that only she, Micaela, and Ilias should've known? Was it because he showed his true voice and soul gems, and that led her to suspect his true intentions? Is it because she did not trust the man who made her creator into what she supposedly is now?

Maybe it was all of those. She certainly had a lack of... Surprise from what he said, even though he was less interested in her feelings and more so in answers at the time. All she really did was doubt his answers and story, hell he was surprised she didn't attack him on the spot after he showed her his skull.

It might've had something to do with her earlier experiences in the Great Monster Wars. It could've been possible that she met the likes of Nokturnus, Mortamor and Mildrath if the myths in that book were true, and if it was, those last two... Well their forms were a seemingly impossible mix of disgusting, terrifying, and weird.

Vaskul himself wasn't surprised after many things after he saw that Nimzo's true form looked like a slug with wings... And Deathtamor was a pink gargoyle! So perhaps she had seen those two up close, and the experience numbed her to the feeling of surprise? Maybe a little bit, after all, she did briefly let out some of her true power upon seeing what Vaskul could be like. Or maybe she was just good at masking her emotions. After all, it takes a lot to (mostly) blend in with society, even if you were an outcast.

It could also be the fact he gave Ilias sentience and most likely influenced her personality, as well as blantatly asking about Estark and his significance, that made Lucifina distrust him? She certainly did not demonstrate a great love for her creator as Vaskul saw, and perhaps that hatred extended to Vaskul when she found out he was the one who gave Ilias sentience? It could be possible. He wasn't really that concerned if she did find out who he really was.

But then again, she did exchange pleasentries with him and answered questions that did not involve the Angels or Estark. Could that have been because of her son was there to see and hear her say any and everything? There were only a few times Vaskul was truly alone with Lucifina, but even then they were usually on good terms.

Speaking of Luka, Vaskul wondered how the boy would turn out to be. He thought he did a good job at training him, but there was no way to be certain of the boy's fate... He'll probably turn out to be a fine hero, if a bit naive. His baptizing ceromony was scheduled a couple of years from now, and that should provide plenty of time for him to sharpen his skills and learn more about various Monsters.

Moving on from the sore subject of Lucifina not truly trusting him, Vaskul went on to think about Ilias. She was an interesting case to him... A supposed "Goddess" of Light, beloved and worshipped by humans, creator of angels, enemy of monsters, yet according to Lucifina and the History Book written by the Monsters, Ilias had a heart blacker than a Nightshade.

Truly a wonderful example of why you should never judge a book by its cover.

And if Lucifina was telling the truth about Ilias's feelings and wasn't trying to throw Vaskul off by embarrasing him, then Ilias had... more than a simple crush on him. Vaskul could feel his soul gems turning into rubies as he recalled the terrifying experience. Ilias, a simple primal elemental of Light, a literal personification of that which Vaskul despised the most, not only had a similar mindset and personality, but fantasized about him.

Normally Vaskul hated Gods and Goddesses who ruled over light, and a primal element was usually incapable of granting any powers or spells, but if Ilias had an entire world worshipping her and she could draw power from that, and she was hopelessly in love with Vaskul? She could have potentially gained enough worshippers become a quasi-deity, maybe even a demigod after the Great Monster Wars had taken her rival out of the picture.

I do need to brush up on my priestly and clerical skills... And I always wanted to try out all of the Domains... Vaskul snapped out of his inane musings as he saw what he thought to be a leech girl eating some traveller... Why? Why was every monster and animal he knew of anthropomorphized into (somewhat) attractive sex-machines? Why was everything so damn confusing in this world?

Gah! Why did this world have to throw so many variables and confusing things at me! Why do the Light Elementals claim to be Angels? Why did Lucifina not trust me and wasn't surprised by my origins and demands? Did she not believe me at all? What will Luka even become? Does Ilias remember who I am? AND WHERE THE FUCK IS ESTARK!? Vaskul mentally raged as he scouted out a nearby city.

... Why did Estark have to land here of all places? And why do the locals have to be so hard to understand? Do they just simply think on a fundamentally different level than Faerunic People? Vaskul thought lastly as he landed near the city's main entrance.

"Welcome to San Ilia, Capitial of The Natalia Region," Vaskul read off the sign. He sighed. "Ilias, a Goddess that has had thousands to millions of years to think and learn, yet she could only take off the 'S' in her name when naming a Capital?... More importantly, why is everything so far named after her? Ilias Village, Iliasburg, Iliasport, San Ilias, Ilias-This, Ilias-That! Damn it, it's fucking annoying having to repeat her name so much! Especially when I know the origin behind her name..."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Vaskul walked into the city and took in his surroundings. There were thankfully no monsters as the guards seemed to be doing their jobs fairly well, and various townsfolk were calmly and peacefully going about their day. It was tempting to summon a Beholder and see the inevitable death and carnage, but Vaskul held it off for now... He could save that for towns that are actually populated by those disgusting monsters.

"What to do, what to do, what to do..." Vaskul muttered as he passed through an allyway. When he did however, a thugish crook came out, hands in his pockets. And great, an idiot comes out.

"Hey mate. You got any money for me?" The Crook grinned, showing off his dirty and broken teeth. "It'd be in your best interests if you give it quietly too at that!"

"What you are going to use it for? Hire someone to fix your teeth?" Vaskul jabbed, still walking away.

"Don't you walk away from me! I'm talking to you damn it!" The Crook grabbed Vaskul by the shoulder, stopping him, "I said, give me your money you bitch-...!"

The Crook gasped and fell over from the sudden hole where his heart used to be. Flexing his left hand, Vaskul sighed. "I need to work on my accuracy with this hand sometime soon, it's getting inaccurate." Taking a glance at the crook's spasming body, Vaskul scoffed and left him to die.

...

After cleaning off the blood on his hand, Vaskul managed to find the plaza of the city. He looked around and eventually saw a wooden bulletin covered in various work papers and notices held up by thumbtacks. Vaskul reasoned that he might be able to learn something from this, so he looked at the various jobs and bounties.

* [Looking for someone with a strong work arm and three months of guard work. Interview required.]

Vaskul didn't feel like having to do menial work at the moment...

* [Looking for a skilled blacksmith.]

Vaskul knew he was a very skilled and accomplished swordsman before he turned to Necromancy and Kyous, but he was hardly a good craftsman unless he could use magic to make what he wanted.

* [Looking to buy North Sentoran Grass. My house is in between Shady's and Torch Three.]

Vaskul sighed. Why couldn't this person go to North Sentora and get grass there? Who even buys grass anyways?

* [I want a cute puppy.]

Vaskul's illusionary eyes bulged at this. Holy crap! There's actual animals here in this world? I thought they were all monsters!

After looking through a few requests and job offers, Vaskul finally found and took a notice that caught his attention.

* [To any and all brave heroes, there are rumors of a Haunted Mansion to the North-East of San Illia supposedly ran by a nevarious Necromancer. Please go there and root out the sources so that everyone may sleep well at night.]

A fellow Necromancer? How interesting. Perhaps he or she can provide some entertainment while I delve deeper into my studies, Vaskul then briefly considered the "rumors" part, and dismissed it, Even if there isn't a Necromancer, I suppose a Haunted Mansion would attract quite a bit of this world's ghosts... So I benefit either way! Vaskul rationalized as he ran off to the specified place.

---

*At the Haunted Manor*

...

"Hm... Rather delightful place if I do say so myself. A bit too rotten and unstable though," Vaskul murmured as he came across the Haunted Manor. It was quite creepy and ominous for an average person, but for someone as sick and twisted as Vaskul, it was wonderful! "I can sense the death and corpses... So many! This will make for an excellent base of operations..." He cackled as he got closer, noting the small graveyard nearby. It seemed that there were thousands of bodies left there, perhaps this was once a place they sent criminals to be executed and buried?

Out of the corner of his eye, he quickly saw a small girl on the second floor looking at him curiously through a window. Then as soon as he made eye contact, she was gone, "Strange. Perhaps it was a local ghost?" He guessed as he wandered inside.

As soon as he went inside, he was assaulted by a mixture of blood, rot, and decay. It was quite refreshing for him, but the area did need to be cleaned up. Most of the paintings were torn and the wooden flooring seemed to be worn down and dusty while the stone walls were beginning to erode and crack along the corners. The stairs to the second floor were just before him, and there seemed to be some moaning and squeaks from somewhere. Overall, it wasn't anything like his old Crypt, but it would suffice for now.

"Rather boring foyer though, absolutely no chairs or tables what-so-ever!" Vaskul noted as he began to explore the area. There wasn't anything too out of the ordinary. Maybe there was an occasional doll or skeleton, but there was hardly any undead creatures in the area.

"Dear oh dear, were the rumors of a Necromancer wrong?" He sighed and came across what seemed to have once been a library. Vaskul was initially excited at the prospect of getting to read some of the local books again, but he found out quickly that most of the books had decayed or were ruined for some reason or another.

While he was wandering, Vaskul eventually heard some groans and saw a vague figure shamble towards him, "Aha! So there was some truth to those rumors!" Vaskul eagerly waited to see what sort of undead he would see. Would it be a Wight? A Ghoul? A Mummy? A Mohrg?

"Uuoo... Human... Fresh meat?" It was a fucking zombie. Out of all the potentially useful constructs, the local necromancer choose zombies. But Vaskul digressed. Maybe this one could provide a challenge though. She relatively fresh skin, so maybe this one wasn't too decayed to be only useful for cannon fodder? She even had equipment resembling that of an adventurer, so she could do something. Hopefully.

"Hm hm hm... I think I will let you have the first strike," Vaskul said as he unknowingly excluded an overpoweringly negative aura.

"Not... Human?" The Zombie cowered as if awed by Vaskul.

"Wait... What?" Vaskul blinked. "...Oh. I forgot my negative aura affects the undead more than living creatures... Damn you Kyous for not teaching me restraint!" He cursed his old master, remembering that the old bastard loved to toy with his victims and make them cower in fear and awe. It seemed those bad habits had been passed onto his student as well.

"Well you're of no use. Might as well go see if there's anything else..." Vaskul glared at the zombified heroine as he stalked off to see more of the household. Eventually he came across even more zombies, but just like the former heroine, they were automatically turned.

"Damn. Well with all of these zombies acting as a sort of guard, no none will want to come here. At least I have a new home," Vaskul decided. After all, no self-respecting necromancer would actually allow such weaklings in their lair, right?... Well, it could be a Pale Master, but those tended to have entire armies at their heels.

Maybe the Necromancer decided to bail after rumors of this place spread out? Vaskul hypothesized. It could be true, after all, there weren't that many undead creatures here, and if it was a new novice starting off, there would at least be a ghoul or an occasional wight for the more talented ones, and it obviously couldn't be a Master or Epic-level Necromancer, because then there would be stronger undead, and Vaskul would sense the presence of a fellow Lich, as most Necromancers usually became Liches at one point or another when they reached that level.

Pretty soon he found a room with three zombies that surprisingly did not get turned immediately. There's hope for this place yet... Vaskul gleefully thought as he motioned for the zombies to try and get him.

Immediately the silver-haired one on the left charged in and tried to tackle Vaskul. Reacting almost instantly, Vaskul dodged and casted Blaze at the sluggish corpse. She did not, to Vaskul's surprise, turn instantly to ashes, and countered by kicking wildly at him while the other two tried to grab and restrain him.

Of course, this hardly affected Vaskul at all, but it did help him figure out these zombies were meant to be durable tanks and not much else, as he could observe when slipping past the three's efforts. Clearly the local Necromancer was a novice if they haven't considered making their constructs more skilled and lethal.

This theory was only solidified when Vaskul saw the zombies get tangled up and accidently hit each other instead of him... Vaskul chanted Blazemore and watched as the zombies turned to ashes.

"Ah! My experiments!" Cried out a nearby childish voice. Vaskul turned to see a purple-skinned girl with dark and almost clerical or priestly-esque clothing with two violet-red crystals sticking out of her twin-tailed black hair. She looked to be around 12 or 13, but looks could be deceiving.

"Who are you?" Vaskul asked curiously.

"Wawawa!?" The girl ran away immediately after Vaskul saw her.

"Ugh..." Vaskul could tell that this girl was probably the local necromancer he heard about. Rolling his eyes, he began to follow the girl, until he eventually found her in the main foyer with yet another zombie sitting beside her, though this one was lanky and much bigger than the ones he saw earlier. With this Zombie by her side, the girl wasn't quite as scared as she was when she was alone. Perhaps this Zombie had some sort of special ability or had been enhanced with magical buffs?

"What's with you?" The Girl demanded, "Why are you going crazy in my laboratory?"

"Oh, just heard some rumors. Thought I might drop by to see if I could find something of use. Who are you?" Vaskul answered casually, having his attention focused on the large zombie. It seemed that the zombie had also managed to resist his passive aura... Were the ones he saw earlier just beginning experiments?

"My name is Chrome Artiste. I'm a Necromancer," The Girl, Chrome, smirked. "What did you expect to find here though? A bunch of rotten books or paintings?"

"Oh no. I was interested in the thought of meeting a fellow Necromancer. I must say that you should devote more time to fixing your lair though, it's falling apart," Vaskul said, surprising Chrome.

"You're... Also a Necromancer?" Chrome eyed him curiously, "I've never met a Human Wizard until now, but I most certainly have never heard of a Human Necromancer before..." She pursed her lips as she thought back to him pacifying her early creations in awe, "Prove it!" She challenged, obviously doubting his claims.

"As you wish," Vaskul pointed his finger at a particular place and casted Create Undead, causing that spot to flood with a black goop. The resulting abomination that formed out of the black goop that seeped there was a Ghoul. This particular one had mottled gray skin thinly covering clearly visible bones, and it seemed to be trying to chew on a bone it probably picked up as it travelled there, "See? I'm clearly a Necromancer."

"That's a bit..." Chrome looked at the horrific beast, and compared it to her zombies, which were at least a bit attractive and had almost normal skin and flesh while this thing had none, "Disgusting, don't you think?"

"What do you expect? It's a Ghoul. Every Ghoul looks like a starved homeless beggar... Because they're often created from such bodies," Vaskul gave her a blank look, "Why are you even living here anyways? This place is crumbling and falling apart."

"This place used to be a execution site, then a graveyard," Chrome replied, "The many corpses here give me many chances to reanimate the dead into something even more powerful than a monster!"

Vaskul wanted to order the Ghoul to tear her apart for the pathetic milestone she set for her creations' overall power, but held off the urge. She could still prove useful yet, "If you wouldn't mind, what level of Necromancer are you?" He then asked, curious as to how competent she was in magic.

"Level? What are you talking about?" Chrome looked at him strangely, why was he saying something about levels?

"You know... Levels. The system that helps determine how skilled and powerful a magic user is... And the same system that helps determine just about everything else as well," Vaskul said plainly.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Chrome gave him a weirded out look, as if she was both lost and interested as to what Vaskul was doing here and what he was talking about.

"Can you create undead like I just did?" Vaskul said a bit more vaguely. If she said yes, then he would know she was at least 6th Level or higher, if not, then she was either lower in skill or just simply had no idea how to properly use magic.

"Um... No. How did you do that anyways?" She inquired.

"I used Create Undead. It's a simple Necromancy spell. Haven't you heard of it before?" Vaskul began to think of various ways this girl could be of use. She could be a proxy... She could be an assistant... But how could he get this girl to help him? She didn't seem like the type to just go and help someone unless there was something in it for her.

"I've never heard of it. Even during my time in the Maou's Castle, when my family wasn't disgraced by that insufferable queen, I've never heard of a way to just make like that out of pure magic." Chrome looked a bit distressed at the way this was turning out. She was supposed to be the one in control here! How could this man possibly make something like that thing and so casually call it a simple spell!

"Really?" Vaskul felt a twinge of pity for her. His dick of a master Kyous didn't teach him about that spell either, telling him that "He was supposed to learn about it in independent studies." Damn, Kyous was a excellent teacher overall and I had so much fun with him, but he was certainly a dick when it came to actually teaching me spells, he bitterly thought. Suddenly, as if the memory of his bastard teacher had inspired him, Vaskul came up with how he could lure this girl into his service.

"Perhaps I might teach you the spell..." Vaskul subtly offered.

"Really?" Chrome perked up at the offer.

"Yes... But for a price, obviously," Vaskul mentally laughed in triumph when he saw the girl's eyes. She had that look that said she would do anything for knowledge... Ohoho, quite an inquisitive child. She could make for an excellent necromancer if she gets the right resources. Perhaps even replace me once I ascend up with the Secret of Evolution and become an Overdeity, He thought.

"Name it!" She shouted.

"Well, I have been needing a new house to rest in with a large source of corpses nearby ... And there's plenty of room in this house. I presume you know what I'm getting at?" He offered.

"... You'll need something more than that to just suddenly move in you know," she deadpanned, "Maybe something more?" she bargained.

Gotcha! Vaskul thought in triumph.

"Hm... Yes, I suppose I could adopt an apprentice to pass some of my skills and knowledge to. But I will warn you the time and patience required to learn all of the common Necromancy trade is more than 'difficult' to say the least," Vaskul stated.

Chrome for a moment seemed to take offense to the thought of being called an "Apprentice," but quickly shrugged it off as she realized just how much she could learn from this man... She just needed one last prove of his so-called "Skill."

"Alright... Prove to me that you are better than me. Better enough that I really should be called an 'apprentice.'"

In response, Vaskul tore off his face, revealing his jeweled skull, "Isn't the fact that I'm a lich more than enough to persuade you that I am better than you?" He teased.

"Eeek!" Chrome flinched at how easily he tore off his own face, but regained her composure soon after. She thought intensely at his statement. Lich... Wasn't that the legendary pinnacle of Necromancy? Lichdom was supposedly a lost art that allowed the user to store their soul somewhere safe, and walk the earth as an undead wizard. She and her sister Shirome had for the most part dismissed the thought of such a spell... But this man right here had shattered several fundamental rules to what Necromancy should be... She got a vicious glint in her eyes. Her pride could take some damage... Learning something her sister never could was worth anything.

"Hehe... I suppose I will let you stay her for now in exchange for what you know..." She said, accepting the offer.

"Good, good," Vaskul recasted Create Undead several times, creating about five differing skeletons, "You five, get some supplies and repair this place before it falls apart," He ordered, sending the five off.

"Why did you just create a bunch of skeletons and order them to get materials and repair this place?" Chrome questioned.

"Because this place will eventually fall apart if someone doesn't fix it," Vaskul answered, "Moving on, I would like to know what you can do Chrome, and what your best creation is."

At this Chrome gleamed with pride, "My best creation is right in front of you!" She excitedly said, motioning at the large zombie. "This girl, the daughter of the previous landowner, is an extraordinarily good subject."

"Okay... But why is she sitting on the ground? I thought most zombies just stand around when idle," Vaskul asked, coming closer to inspect the zombie.

"I don't know actually. No matter what I do, Frederika always seems to prefer sitting on the ground unless she has to stand up and actively do something." Chrome admitted while Vaskul traced various bones and wrappings on the large zombie. [1]

"Hm... Good preservation. The various wrappings help keep the flesh from decomposing and getting loose... Arms appear to be fairly intact and strong. Skull is not fractured, and her neck isn't broken... Though she is severely underweight for a flesh golem or patchwork zombie," Vaskul pondered as to why this zombie seemed to prefer sitting down. Eventually however, he poked her hip bone and found the place he prodded caved in rather easily.

"I see her problem. Her pelvis is unstable and most likely broken, and seeing how large she is, I suspect the pressure her legs put on her subpar hips would inevitably cripple her unless she sits down and places her legs somewhere where they don't constantly grind against her hip bone. Perhaps replacing the pelvis and placing some new cartilage will allow her to stand up constantly," Vaskul noted, "Overall, she is an excellent zombie, but ultimately she's nothing compared to higher levels of undead."

"Really? I've never considered the possibility of her needing a new bone, and even then I don't have a pelvis that could fit her..." Chrome mused.

"Why do you need a natural bone when you can just make operate on her and get a basic idea of how many bones you need to melt in order to make a proportionately sized hip, or just make one from other materials?" Vaskul asked.

"... Oh." Chrome looked at Frederika, "Come along, we need to operate on you."

"Understood... Master," The Zombie slowly acknowledged as she got up and shambled along with her master.

...

"I presume this is where you operate on your test subjects?" Vaskul inquired as the three came to a room with an operating table and several tools, including a saw, a hypodermic needle, a small sickle, and various other medical supplies.

"Yes. I mostly use it to make it easier to preserve bodies for future experiments," Chrome responded as she led Frederika onto the table.

Due to Frederika's freakishly large form, she could only rest the lower half of her body on the table while the upper half of her dangled off the side of the table. "Eh. She'll be fine," Chrome reasoned as she got her incision knife out.

"I'll be watching. If you need any help extracting the hip bone, just say so. Or don't. I'll help anyways," Vaskul said as he leaned on the wall, watching.

The procedure was relatively simple. Chrome cut open Frederika, and pushed Frederika's reproductive and urinary glands and organs away. "Not like she can use them anyway," Chrome said as she began to tug on Frederika's pelvis.

Confused as to why it wasn't just coming off, Chrome jerked on it until Vaskul stopped her. "It's probably her sacrum. It might still be connected," he warned. Nodding in understanding, Chrome gently turned Frederika onto her side and began to cut open the small of her back. When she was done adjusting the base of her spine, Chrome just pulled ever lightly on Frederika's spine and the Sacrum came off of her hips easily. [2]

"... Is anatomy going to be a part of the lessons?" Chrome asked hesitantly.

"Obviously. What kind of Necromancer would you be if you can't tell the difference between a ulna and a radius?" Vaskul deadpanned. [3]

Chrome groaned. Vaskul had a short flashback to how Luka acted a bit similarly whenever Vaskul taught him psychology and underhanded fighting. I guess there's always that one thing every student hates... Vaskul dismissed it, eventually his new student will learn how even a little bit of knowledge in basic anatomy can go far for repairing or constructing various undead beings.

After a bit more of pulling, Chrome managed to safely remove Frederika's pelvis. "Huh. You were right, it is horribly damaged!" Chrome noted, seeing parts had been fractured or outright broken in various places. "Why didn't you say anything Frederika?"

"Master... Never... Asked." Frederika answered.

A small silence passed, with Vaskul silently snickering at Chrome and Frederika.

"You might want to consider spending more time on giving your creations common sense," Vaskul commented, secretly laughing at the flustered Chrome while he ripped open a portal to his Genesis world to get a replacement. Maybe an Ogre pelvis would work? It might be too thick. Or perhaps a Troll? Those seemed to be fairly stable.

"Ugh... Idiot." Chrome gave up on punishing Frederika and looked at Vaskul, who was currently randomly pulling out various Hip Bones from a rip in reality, "What are you even doing?"

"Trying to find something that would be able to support her. This isn't my first time making a Flesh Golem you know," Vaskul replied, eventually managing to pull out an Ogre's Pelvis. It was almost like Frederika's, though it was in much better condition. "Here," Vaskul tossed the cartilaged bone to Chrome, who caught it with ease. "Since this is technically your first lesson as my student, I'll be kind and give you something to make both of our lives easier. I'll be in the Foyer supervising the skeletons if you need me again," He said as he began to walk off, slightly concerned about the fact he hadn't heard a single crash the entire time he watched his new apprentice operate on the Flesh Golem.

"Oh! Thanks, I guess?" Chrome still felt a bit conflicted about being called a "Student," or an "Apprentice." It just didn't sit well with her pride as an Artiste Necromancer. She managed to place the pelvis in place and reattach the sacrum, and decided to put the Urinary and Reproductive organs back in their original place as well.

"Now to stitch you up..." Chrome grabbed her sewing needle and easily stitched Frederika up. "Now... Get up," She commanded.

"I... Obey," Frederika got up without a single hitch.

"Do you feel different?" Chrome questioned.

"I... Feel... Better?" Frederika answered.

"Do you feel like you can always stand up?" Chrome said a bit more sharply.

"Yes," Came the simple answer.

"Good, good," Chrome silently screamed in frustration. Obviously this "Vaskul" was far more experienced and patient than her, and even had the guts to offer her a place as his apprentice for something as simple as staying here! In a place she didn't even (legally) own!

I wonder what Shirome would think of him... She mused as she began to walk out to the foyer to talk to Vaskul.

There, the two continued to talk and exchange their experiences and knowledge on Necromancy, and solidified Chrome's place as Vaskul's apprentice.

"So... I guess I'm your student now?" Chrome said uncertainly.

"Yes. While you learn from me, I will provide books and spells for you to learn Necromancy while you help me in minor things, such as collecting bones or telling me certain things about this world I might not know of," Vaskul stated. He left off the part about how he might sneak in other schools of magic or force her to actually train and condition herself physically to ensure she didn't become too reliant on Necromancy, as that might be her downfall.

"Okay..." Chrome didn't seem too happy about the thought, but went along with it to learn how to make undead creatures like the Ghoul she saw earlier, "Oh, and by the way..."

"Yes?" Vaskul said.

"Where did your Ghoul go? I swear it was just sitting here when we left..." She questioned, looking around for the freak.

"Um..." Vaskul looked around as well.

Shit, did that thing wander off? I probably should've told it to specifically stay... Vaskul's train of thought was interrupted by the five skeletons he ordered to repair the place earlier being led by said Ghoul to stabilize and repair the building. "There it is. I guess it might've thought I was ordering it to fix this place as well somehow." He told Chrome, who sighed in relief.

...

It was relatively easy getting Chrome to understand how to cast Level 3 Faerunic Spells and Basic Zenithian Magic. [4]

The Magical theory and equations of this world were thankfully near identical to Faerun's, and Chrome had an abnormally large desire to learn more about magic and how to use it like Vaskul did. Soon enough she'll be well-versed enough in magic to try out that Create Undead she so dearly wanted to cast for some reason.

The Skeletons and Ghoul had also managed to rebuild the house as well, so now everyone could walk around without having to risk falling though the floor. It seemed that the windows were fixed as well, so now Vaskul could sleep easier knowing someone wouldn't just jump in through there. Inevitably, Vaskul decided to begin teaching Chrome about Satanic Magic as well, and made sure to supervise her whenever she tried to bargain for a secret with a devil or demon.

Eventually, a Ghost Girl had randomly moved in and just stayed there for some reason. Chrome didn't exactly like the Ghost, but Vaskul simply dismissed it as another undead wandering the halls of the Manor. Not a big deal.

Years passed, and Vaskul decided to revisit San Ilia to see if anything had occurred while he was stuck teaching his student and failing to find the Secret of Evolution. "Chrome? I'll be visiting San Ilia for a few days. Try not to burn down the Mansion or attempt something stupid while I'm gone," Vaskul told Chrome as he prepared for his trip.

"Okay. But what would you even need at San Ilia though?" Chrome questioned, not looking up once from her book.

"Not much. I'm just going to see if any interesting rumors or events have happened while we were practicing. It's very easy to miss something major, such as a war or genocide if we get too involved in our studies," Vaskul answered as he finished packing trivial items he could probably sell during his trip, "I'll see you later!"

"See you later!" Chrome said.

---

*Luka & Alice POV; San Ilia*

...

Luka and Alice had recently made it to Sentora and were just now arriving to San Ilia. Luka, being (blindly) faithful to Ilias, was determined to meet the San Ilian King Peter the 14th and see if the King had any advice for his journey despite Alice pointing out the obvious error in that Luka was not baptized. Nonetheless, Luka wanted to at least try to meet the King and learn something.

The two easily found the massive cathedral/castle hybrid and received the form from one of the guards required to meet the King. Luka sighed in relief as he found there was no checkbox asking if he was baptized or not, and filled out the rest of paper with no issue and handed it back to the guard.

"Thank you. The King wants to meet all brave heroes, but since there are so many it may take almost three days for you to be able to have an audience with him. So please, take your time and stay at the castle. You can stay here as long as you need and you can sleep here for free, and feel free to explore the places that are not off-limits." The Guard said kindly.

"Thanks!" Luka said, "Come on Alice, we should get inside."

"...Hmph..." Alice didn't seem too enthusiastic about going inside the Temple, and for good reason.

Luka was amazed by the architecture inside the castle. It was amazing! There were various ancient artworks depicting Ilias and her angels, and the various quotes and historic events that had transpired over the years were written on golden tablets.

Alice on the other hand was a bit bored and annoyed at how big Ilias' ego was.

The two were traveling through the halls with Luka boring Alice with a speech about Ilias' Faith until they came to the Golden Statue of Ilias, where Luka saw a somewhat familiar shape standing near it.

"Vaskul?... Is that you?" Luka blinked, almost startled by seeing his old instructor standing around, taking notes of various things. He hasn't changed a bit!

"Hm?... Oh! Luka! How wonderful to see you again! How long has it been?... Eight years? Ten? More? I don't know, but it's certainly nice to see you again!" The Old Wizard chuckled with amusement at seeing his old student. "And who's this? A friend of yours?" He asked, looking at Alice with an amused grin, as if he recognized her from somewhere...

"Yeah, she is. I've been training everyday since you left, and eventually I set out to become a Hero, just like you!" Luka proudly stated.

"Hero? Ohohoho! You flatter me!" He laughed, "I'm only a wandering Wizard, looking to learn and maybe do a bit of good here and there. But enough of this boring old man's antics! How have you been doing?"

"I've been great! I managed to do so much within Ilias Continent!" Luka said, "I brought some bandits to justice, drove away the cause of the storms between Ilias Continent and Sentora, I even managed to bring two villages together, just like my dream of coexistence!"

"Mind you that the bandits were kids, and Alma was just screwing around with you," Alice snipped, being mindful to remind Luka of how his "Achievements" weren't that great in the grand scheme of things.

"Hoho... Quite quick to stomp on your companion's throat, aren't you Alice?" Vaskul dismissed her truth, "Start small, and then get bigger and bigger until you reach your goal, just like I taught you, eh?"

"Yep! Just like you taught me!" Luka nodded.

"What? You taught him?" Alice lost her cocky attitude from surprise.

"Indeed I did! Taught the boy everything he knows, so he wouldn't flail around like a fish on land!" Vaskul said, not even giving off a single hint of a lie.

So that's why Luka was so unnaturally skilled for his age, yet lack real power or special techniques... I'll have to be careful around this one, Alice noted mentally, somewhat uneased by this man's presence for some reason, "Huh, nice. You saved me a lot of work teaching him. Why are you here though?" She said aloud.

"Yeah, why are you here? You never really struck me as the person to be devoted to Ilias," Luka agreed.

"Ah, I'm just here to learn more about the Primal Elem- Goddess' Faith. I spent most of my life learning about magic you see, and I heard this place had a large library," Vaskul excused, stuttering when he almost said "Elemental." Alice took note of this choice in wording, hardly anyone, even Alice the First, would actually be brave enough to provoke Ilias like that... And why did he say "Primal" before that?

"Oh. I see, that's nice. You're gonna have to wait a while though, because even the staff around here have to wait about a week at best to get access there from what I've heard," Luka didn't seem too surprised by this excuse. Vaskul was always interested in learning about certain things.

"Really? Feh, I can wait. It's not that big of a deal," Vaskul shrugged as he saw a figure come near.

A Guard Captain with a red ornament came up to the three, "Hey, is a Mr. Luka here?" He asked, "A Luka that applied to have an audience with the King?"

"Yes... I'm Luka," Luka said, a bit scared that they may have found out he wasn't baptized.

"Hmm... So it's you? The King will meet you right away," The Captain informed.

Luka's answer was only a simple "Eh?" as he was pushed quickly into the Audience Hall with Alice, "I- I guess we'll catch up later?" He hestitantly said to Vaskul.

"See you later Luka!" Vaskul chuckled lightly and turned away to study more on Ilias and her faith.

When he arrived, Luka saw the King. The King quite frankly looked more like a Wise Sage than a Sovereign.

"I've brought him sir," The Captain stated as he presented Luka to the King.

"I see. Thank you, you're dismissed, we shall have a private talk," The King said kindly to the Captain and had him leave. "Traveler that calls himself Luka... I wish to ask you a question."

"Eh? Um- Of course, please ask," Luka fumbled in confusion. Why did the King want him here so early?

"You... Are not baptized, are you?" The King said.

"Erm... No. I'm afraid I'm not," Luka honestly said, at this truth, the King's eyes widen. "I'm sorry!" Luka quickly said.

"Oh! So it really is as Ilias revealed to me in my dreams!" The San Ilian King excitedly said, confusing Luka even more. Deciding to ease Luka, the King began to explain, "Last night, Ilias came to me in a dream in all of her glory and gave me a revelation. A revelation that claimed an unbaptized hero named Luka would come before me, and that Hero was destined to slay the Maou."

"I will?" Luka was certain that he could defeat the Monster Lord if he trained hard enough, Vaskul certainly made sure to hammer in the fact that anyone can be killed, but he wasn't sure if it was outright fated for him to beat Alice one-on-one...

"Yes, and now I shall play my part in your journey and give you the next part in your quest," The King said, "There are three wise men on this continent. You will need to find them and demonstrate your power, skill, and mind to all of them and receive their blessings. Then, I will be allowed to bestow upon you the full power of this blade..." The King walks over to a display nearby his throne case and brings out a magnificent sword. Dazzlingly brilliant, the Sword gave off a radiant light.

"The Sword of a True Hero... The same sword fabled to have banished the Dark Drium Nokturnus from Sabasa... A Sword made from the fabled material Orichalcum, bestowed upon us by Ilias herself!... The Goddess's Sword! If you wield this sword at its full potential... Then even the Maou will be unable to stop you and will be forced to bow before you," The King prophetically said, though Luka doubted this. Alice seemed calm enough. Maybe it was because the sword wasn't fully powered? Maybe Vaskul knew something about it. He knew all sorts of things no one should know.

"Now, begin your quest to get proof from the wise men, then I can bestow this primordial weapon upon you," The King finished.

"What a stupid quest," Alice says as she walks up to the sword and the King.

"Alice! What are you doing!" Luka protests.

"Fah!" With a large amount of effort, Alice breaks the Goddess's Sword into two pieces!

"H- How can this be! Ilias herself told me that this weapon..." The King stares in horror as he looks at the broken blade.

"As you can clearly see Luka, your blade is still better for you now... The sword may have once been unbelievably powerful, but now it's just a shiny piece of junk," Alice lectured, "Three Wise Men? Proof of your power? What a load of crap from this 'King.'"

"A- Ah... The Blade that banished Nokturnus itself... The blade that was passed down for generations-..." The King's face gets unusually pale and he begins to twitch as his mouth stays agape while he stares blankly at the blade.

"I'll show you the Hero's Way instead of this worthless King. Instead of seeking out these three 'Wise' Men, go to the Four Spirits instead, and ask for their blessing," Alice said normally, as if she was simply correcting a child.

"Four Spirits?" Luka said with uncertainty.

"They're Salamander, Sylph, Undine, and Gnome. They should all be somewhere on this continent. Go to them and ask for their blessing," Alice elaborated, "And no, I don't know where they are."

"Wh- What happens if I ask for their blessing?" Luka asked.

"You get a mighty power and technique from each of them," Alice smiled warmly, glad that Luka wasn't currently focused on the fact she just broke the sword.

"...Really?... And why are you telling me this?" Luka further asked, even more confused now that he remembered that Alice was the Monster Lord, and it struck him as "weird" that the Maou herself would guide a Hero to either Kill or just generally beat her up.

"If you're doubtful, then I suppose you can do what this puppet asked you and look for these 'Wise' Men, even though you can quite clearly see that the Goddess's Sword is broken," Alice sarcastically replies.

"Err..." Luka sighed, "You're right. I'll go and look for these Spirits instead," When Luka finished that sentence, strange laughter started to ring out.

"Fehehehhaahaha! Ilias! Look what happened! Heeheheheheha!" The King raved.

"... Did you just snap?" Alice questioned, oblivious to the fact that her rash action of breaking the blade caused immense psychological damage to him.

Apparently hearing the commotion, the Captain of the Guards ran in to see what was going on. "My Lord! What happened to you!? What happened here!? Oh god, the Goddess's Sword is shattered!" The Captain leaped to assist his mad King, "Luka, what the hell happened here!?"

"Uhm... The Monster Lord suddenly appeared and attacked. She went away, but uh... She broke the sword." Luka mumbled, ignoring Alice's scoff at his attempt to twist the truth.

"The Monster Lord did!? Indeed, no other being would be able to shatter that sword..." The Captain said.

---

*... Somewhere...*

The Ghost of Zoma was drifting around doing nothing when he suddenly sneezed for no reason...

"Hm. Someone must be talking about me... Maybe it's that brat Rubiss denying the fact I broke the Sword of Kings when she couldn't? Probably... Damn, that Orichalcum was hard to break..." Zoma mused as he drifted around. "God, this is boring... But for now, supervising Baramos' descendent will do just fine..."

---

*Luka POV; San Ilia*

...

"We need to increase Castle Defenses immediately!" The Captain announced as the place quickly devolves into a chaotic scene. Luka and Alice quickly ran off amidst the chaos while shouts of the Maou attacking or demands for reinforcements were being sent left and right.

"Alice, did you really have to break the sword? Because of that I think you broke the King too..." Luka complained when the two were far away from the commotion.

"Hrm. He was speaking such gibberish that I had to wake him up," Alice answered with a calm face.

"Ugh... We'll have to get out soon if this keeps up," Luka groaned as the place got more and more chaotic.

"Luka! Alice! What in Death's Name is going on here!?" A familiar voice rang out.

"Oh great... Vaskul!" Luka didn't want Vaskul to figure out Alice was the Monster Lord yet... That could have some very bad consequences, "I was just meeting the King when the Maou attacked and shattered the Goddess' Sword!" He said vaguely.

"Really now? That would explain this situation..." Vaskul's eyebrows furrowed, "Is she still here?"

"No... She left once she was done," Technically that wasn't a lie, Luka reasoned, he and Alice did leave once she broke the sword.

"Did you get a good look at her? Maybe a feel for how strong she was?" Vaskul further interrogated.

"She did resemble a lamia... And the presence she had was intensely powerful, like the ground around her was shaking," Luka ignored Alice's scoff.

"Damn. I was hoping for something interesting... Oh well. This'll all pass by soon enough," Vaskul shrugged as he gave up when Luka said the final details, "Well, no need for me to get all worked up! I suppose I'll see ya around sometime! Keep in touch! Try not to get raped!" He cheerfully said as he began to walk away.

He only got a few steps before a loud crash resonated around the area...

---

*Vaskul POV; Nearby Alice & Luka...*

...

Oh God damn it... He cursed mentally as he turned to see what was going on. He saw the guards cry out something about a "Granberia," and "Heavenly Knight" before they all began to faint. He began to see clearly along with Luka and Alice, and saw a Dragonkin standing there, arms crossed. She had red hair, yellow eyes, and wore well-forged armor with a long blue cape. She had a rather basic, but sturdy, Greatsword by her side.

"Granberia!" Luka cried out from behind Vaskul, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh? You've certainly changed since we've met. Good, I had hoped you wouldn't lose any hope or get lazy after our first fight in Iliasburg," Granberia smirked. Her presence was still as powerful as before to Luka, though to Vaskul, she seemed to just be a very strong warrior... for this world.

"So you came to attack San Ilia this time?" Luka guessed as he thought of a strategy to approach Granberia with, he couldn't just attack her as he is now.

"Don't joke around, what use is there in attacking a castle in the middle of nowhere?" Granberia said.

"Getting cash? Killing? Getting experience? Practice? Shits and giggles?" Vaskul offered, but no one listened, or really cared for that matter.

"I came here to cross swords with you!" She roared, pointing at Luka.

"M-me!? You want to fight me!?" Luka and Vaskul looked dumbstruck.

Why would she want to fight someone as weak as him? Vaskul thought idly. Sure, he trained Luka and knew that Luka was skilled in swordsmanship, perhaps bordering on being one of the best in this world, but he quite frankly didn't have the power to back it up at all. He had the reflexes, the accuracy, the cool temper, and smarts to outmaneuver beings much stronger than him, and of course, he could always slit the enemy's throat or stab through their eyes to kill them that way, but in a straight-up, one-on-one fight, he had no chance. He was simply too slow and physically weak right now.

"I wanted to see if the others were exaggerating your abilities... I'll confirm it with my sword," she stated, "Though... That one seems to be unnaturally stronger as well... Is he a friend of yours?" She looked at Vaskul.

"Oh, him? He's my old teacher," Luka said.

"Your teacher? That would explain why you're so skilled for your age... Now then, let's have a match!" she shouted, raising her greatsword.

Luka drew Angel Halo and began to reluctantly advance onto her for a hopeless fight before being stopped by Vaskul.

"Hold up there, my disciple. She seems strong... I want to fight her first!" Vaskul excitedly said. So this little trip of his did pay off afterall... He was practically dying of boredom during the years he spent teaching Chrome!

"But she's way stronger than you! You'll lose!" Luka protested, trying to get his teacher to reconsider.

"Of all people to doubt, you underestimate your old master? You should know better than anyone else how strong I can be..." Vaskul shot back at Luka, continuing to walk to Granberia.

"Hm? You want to fight first? Fine then, I was curious who was skilled and strong enough to get Luka to where he was. Let us fight!" Granberia lunged at Vaskul.

Vaskul dodged and casted Blazemore. The flames proved to be ineffective though, as they just faded against Granberia.

"A Wizard?... How strange. I expected you to be a swordsman," Granberia duly noted as she brushed aside the flames.

"Yes, I used to be a swordsman... But those days have long since passed," Vaskul chanted Kazapple and a large stream of lightning came forth at Granberia! "I've found magic to be far more... Wondrous. Though, I do still possess skills and techniques from my days a knight, distant as they may be..."

"Gah!" Granberia flinched from the high amounts of lightning and clenched her teeth. "I've heard from Tamamo that Wizards were hard bastards to beat, but I didn't think it'd be this difficult!" she choose to stay at a distance for now and breathed a large stream of flames.

Thinking quickly, Vaskul casted Insulate and braced himself for the flames. When they passed, Vaskul was suffering from a few second-degree burns, but nothing more too serious.

"Impressive... Truly impressive. No wonder why so many monsters are afraid of fighting any type of Magician with that kind of defense," Granberia muttered as she jumped from side to side to avoid the icicles Vaskul was throwing at her. "But they should be weak in close quarters if Tamamo was right..." Granberia glanced at her assailant and saw that he was probably blind from the fog and mist he created from those icicles... She took a chance and jumped high to perform Demon Skull Beheading on her blinded foe.

Vaskul was trying to land a hit on Granberia again when he saw her outline vanish... "What? Where'd she..." He heard something heavy falling quite close by, and turned to look to see the Dragonkin with her sword posed to cleave him in half. "SHI-!..." Vaskul was cut off by the Knight evenly chopping him on the collarbone.

It, surprisingly to Granberia and anyone watching, only knocked him down, though he silently admitted to himself it did hurt quite a bit. "Daughter of a..." Vaskul gritted his teeth as he looked around for Granberia.

"Looking for me?" said the Dragonkin behind him.

"Yes." Vaskul wasted no time in delivering a simple back kick to her and leaping away. "I must say... You're quite strong. You certainly lasted longer than the Dragon I met years ago..." He prepared Kaswoosh and watched as she skillfully weaved her way through the tornados.

"You've met a Dragon before and lived?" Granberia questioned, interested to see where he was going.

"Indeed. She fought long and hard, but alas! She, like many before her and many after, was not ready to face me. She died slowly and painfully as she wept for some berry-looking brat... I threw the brat down a pit into the Gold Volcano and went on my way... I don't know if the little berry survived or not. Can't say the Mother didn't deserve it though. Bitch tried to fucking rape and then devour me!" Vaskul recalled.

Wait... Gold Volcano? Dragoness... Berry? Threw a child into- Granberia was overwhelmed by sudden memories... She remembered now, very vaguely... She recalled someone quite similar to Vaskul in appearance long ago, though he was mostly skeletal at that point... And she recalled him gleefully dropping her down Gold Volcano as well, and the scar that ran from the base of her neck all the way up to her scalp, even if it was usually covered up with her hair.

And... if he was honest in that her mother tried to murder him... Then, she couldn't fault him... What disgusted and outraged her was how much he didn't care about throwing a child to their death... It just served her to remind her of what she usually saw in the "heroes" of Ilias, and-...

One memory led to another, and fairly soon Granberia was far too furious to think straight at the moment, and lunged at the Wizard in a fury.

"Whoa!" Vaskul managed to sidestep her sudden move, "Nearly got me that time! That could've actually hurt a lot more than... Oh, you seem a little bit angry. Are you okay?"

"You... Don't remember me?" Granberia hissed, "Perhaps when you're about to die you'll put one and two together..." she hissed at him while she tried to slice him at every angle possible... But he would always be a bit off, just a few inches away, or she would stab a loose piece of fabric.

"Is that so?... Just like a dragon to boast about things they can't possibly hope to pull off. Nice to see the mental retardation dragons suffer from isn't exclusive to Faerun and Nadiria!" Vaskul joked, recalling that most Dragons he met had some sort of stupidity to them in some way, shape, or form. It was commonly either a bad sense of humor, idiocy, a massive amount of pride and ego, or a mix of all three. He didn't seem too bothered by the furious Granberia either, as her being blinded by rage made it easier to dodge her attacks, no matter how frequent they might've been.

Suddenly the Dragonkin's Greatsword's hilt cracked from sheer pressure, and flames began to course all over it. She appeared to be seething as she summoned Salamander. "I will make sure you die here today..."

"You'll die trying," came the snarky response.

Losing her patience, Granberia used Purgatory Flames and Vaporizing Rebellion Sword!

"Aw, how flashy, the overgrown lizard can play with fire-... OH SHIT!" Vaskul shrieked as she unexpectedly began to use her flames to burn him and slice at him at the same time. Lacerations and Third-Degree Burns began to appear all over his puppet body, until he raised both of his pointer and middle fingers to emit an Icy Pulse! [5]

The Pulse managed to dispel all magic in the nearby area, even Alice's disguise!

Alice yelped in brief shock, before quickly recasting her polymorph and watching the fight with renewed interest.

"Wh- What?... Salamander's power... It's gone?" Granberia blinked in confusion, Salamander left far too early! "What did you do!?" She demanded from Vaskul.

"Ju- Just... Dispelled all the magic in the area... It seems I was right. Your sudden power was magical in nature." Vaskul scoffed as he casted Fullheal, recovering from all of the damage Granberia had done. "Even then, you were lucky. Not many catch me by surprise... And fewer still beat me in combat. Had I not been caught by surprise with your little power-boost, that pathetic sword and the equally meager strength swinging it around would not have injured and burned me as easily. I'll admit though, compared to most of this world's warriors I've face, you may be powerful... But!..." Vaskul lifted his Ivory Staff, and slammed it on the ground.

"You are not ready." With that bold threat, Vaskul raised his right arm and threw a ball of condensed energy and chanted Kaboom! The resulting chain of explosions rocked the castle and threw Granberia far off into the rubble. Not letting up, Vaskul chanted Kazapple and Kacrackle, watching in satisfaction as he heard a faint outcry of pain among the loud crashes and crackles of thunder and ice.

Granberia managed to get up with some effort, she was gasping for breath. "So you were holding back..." She hissed in between breaths. Her mind was rapidly trying to come up with a plan, and thought about what she saw so far.

She couldn't do much to him with her flame breath, for he seemed to be capable of shrugging off and recovering from most attacks, and even when she managed to nearly kill or at least subdue him with the Four Spirits, he managed to dispel them and then use magic to recover yet again... This felt like the time when she couldn't fight Tamamo because of the kitsune's sheer durability and brute force... But this time it was against the man who ruined her childhood, and someone she could definitely assume was a killer.

Fuelled by anger for the wizard, she managed to take one last leap and tried to tackle him, but he was quick enough to move out of the way. How? It's as if he has Undine or Sylph with him at all times! She thought, using the last of her physical strength to use Death Sword Chaos Star, but he just jumped back out of range.

How can I possibly attack him...? I was at my strongest when I inflicted those wounds, yet he still had the strength to dispel the Four Spirits, and then he still managed to heal himself! Granberia grit her teeth in hatred towards the Wizard. He's right. I'm not ready to face him yet... Maybe Tamamo will have a clue as to how to fight a wizard... For now, it'd be best to retreat and live to fight another day.

"We'll fight later, Luka," she simply warned Luka before teleporting away.

"W- Wow... You managed to beat Granberia!" Luka said in awe. Apparently neither he nor Alice were close enough to see or hear about Granberia's hatred towards his mentor.

"Indeed I have Luka! I told you not to underestimate me!" Vaskul heartily laughed, using his false voice once more as he dusted some rubble and dirt off of his robes.

"I have to admit, you have some guts, and even more power, to fight a Heavenly Knight one-on-one and still manage to outright beat them," Alice conceded. She wouldn't antagonize him too much yet. She was lucky he nor anyone else saw her true form when he unleashed that disruptive wave. "I didn't think a Wizard could be so strong."

"Ho ho... You should not underestimate Wizards, Alice. Back where I'm from, some wizards were strong enough to rain meteors from the sky, and rip reality itself asunder!" Vaskul jested, knowing fully that he could've done the exact same thing to swiftly crush Granberia and anyone else nearby... But where's the fun in that?

"Really now? I'm sure that's quite a sight!" Alice laughed, but was secretly a bit frightened by the thought of someone being that ridiculously strong... Certainly a good thing Wizards were a rarity in the world... But where did this man come from? About the most obscure place Alice could name right now was Yamatai, and even then there were no rumors or tales of human wizards or magicians being in abundance there...

"Uuu... Wha- What happened? Did the Hero chase the Heavenly Knight away?" The Guards now seemed to be waking up... How convenient.

"Yes, the Heavenly Knight Granberia has fled! Now, she was holding back a bit as some of you might've been able to see... And if she was a mere servant to the Maou, then our Hero here needs to learn how to defeat her easily so that he can have a chance at facing the Maou! So I ask, may we be let into the Library so that our noble Hero can continue his quest? Especially since the Pope is... Preoccupied." Vaskul asked nicely, deciding to shove the responsibility of having to deal with the fame and idiot challengers that would surely come after he beat this "Heavenly Knight" off onto Luka to handle and perhaps get some practice off of.

"Oh, erm... Yes? I mean, Yes! Of course, we'll make an exception for you three this time to get into the Library..." The drowsy Captain said slowly.

"Um..." Luka seemed at a loss for words, why did Vaskul suddenly pin the deed of beating Granberia on him? "Thanks?" He said uncertainly as Vaskul dragged him and Alice to the Library.

...

"Uwah! It's massive!" Luka gasped as he looked at the huge expanse of books the stretched as far as the eye can see.

"... Meh. Nowhere near the size of an Aboleth or Beholder's library..." Vaskul muttered under his breath. "Hm? Alice, why are you acting like there's something putrid here?" He questioned, looking at Alice sniffing the area around them.

"I smell some monsters here... No, not monsters as in the ones that actively wander around, you idiot." Alice cut Luka off before he could ask, "I mean ones that possess something... Like a book or something," She added when Vaskul gave her a questioning look.

"Hmm... A sharp sense of smell that can sniff out Monsters hiding in books? A curious trait for a human..." Vaskul stared at Alice, but then promptly dismissed it. It didn't really matter to him at the moment. "Well! I've done my part, now you two can go on and do yours!" He cheerfully waved goodbye as he wandered off to read some books.

Vaskul was deep into some various tactics and history on the Monster Wars when he faintly heard a "Wah! A Monster came out!" In the distance...Eh... He'll be fine. Vaskul dismissed it and carried on studying and reading.

Later, Alice came up to him with a... potato? "Hm? What is it?" he asked.

"I was wondering if you could just cook this with some of your magic." Alice shrugged as Vaskul gave another weird look, "Would you rather me use the books to make a bonfire?" she then said.

... An awkward moment of silence passed as Vaskul just stared at her, wondering why the hell she was eating in a place people read at...

"... Oh fine. Hold still." Vaskul pointed his finger and chanted Blaze. Soon the potato was cooked enough for Alice's liking.

"Thank you!" she cheerfully said as she wandered off, probably to eat the potato.

"Where did she even get a potato from?..." Vaskul idly thought as he went back to his book.

Later on, Vaskul smelled smoke for some reason... The Hell? Curious, Vaskul wandered to the source to see Alice, Luka, and the Captain panicking over some large flames raging across the library. It seems that the potatoes caught on fire... somehow.

I'm not in the mood to deal with this shit... Vaskul used Wish and hoped for the flames to die out. Thankfully, instead of suddenly spawning several tons of water or making the fire rage faster, the fires instead died down fairly rapidly and stopped burning the library and its precious books. "Alright, who had the bright idea to burn this place down!?" He shouted at the three while giving a very intimidating stare.

"Um... Oh look, a book about Esturk..." Luka meekly said, pointing behind Vaskul. Vaskul, being blind when it came to matters like that, took the schmuck bait and turned around.

"What do you mean a book about Est- Damn it Luka!" Vaskul turned around and saw Alice and Luka slip out in the confusion. Bah, no use chasing them down now... Oh well. I should probably get back to Chrome and see how she's doing anyways. Vaskul was a bit miffed, but dismissed it. He silently casted Wraith Form and flew out back to the Haunted Manor in the confusion.

---

*Haunted Mansion*

...

"Hey Chrome! I'm baaaaack! Anything happened while I was gone?" Vaskul cheerily shouted as he walked into the foyer.

"Not much. I got a random shipment of body parts from some red-headed scientist a few days ago though..." Chrome said, "I don't know why, but she insisted it was meant to be delivered here. Not that I'm complaining. The materials were top-grade!"

"Neat. Does she come by often or was this the first time?" Vaskul questioned.

"She came by often. I guess she might be interested in our experiments, as she offered us a place in some 'Truth Seekers' or some group like that." Chrome mentioned, "I think she might be an Angel. She had that 'Outsider' feeling you told me about a few months ago."

"An Angel?" Vaskul stroked his chin, "Quite fascinating. Why would an Angel be interested in us? We hardly do anything big or infamous, not yet anyways." He was secretly happy about this though, as this 'Angel' might lead him directly to Ilias, who could tell him the location of Estark directly, and then he could really get his plans rolling into motion. "I think I will accept this invitation once I get to know her." He decided.

"Taking chances? That's not like you Master..." Chrome stared at him with a doubtful face. Why was he so out-of-character? He never takes chances until he knows what was going on...

"Come now, Chrome. Don't be so 'impy' about it!" he joked, deciding to try telling Chrome the same jokes Kyous used to say to piss him off to deflect her suspicions.

"Don't you mean 'grumpy?...' Wait, since when did you start making half-assed jokes!?" Chrome demanded.

"Since now, for the low price of my pupil's sanity!" Vaskul grinned even more when Chrome groaned in disgust. So this was how Kyous felt back then! No wonder why he always managed to be happy, even when Vaskul tried to sic a Balor on him!

"Please tell me that's the only joke you have." Chrome questioned.

"Nope! I have a ton of jokes left... A Skele-ton!" Vaskul ducked to avoid the Magic Missile Chrome threw at him. "Oh come on, don't you have a funny 'bone' for these sorts of things?"

"Why are you doing this? It's even worse than the time you had a Wight give me a bear-hug!" Chrome whined.

"Because why not? I feel extraordinarily happy for some reason... It's like certain plans of mine are going to come to fruition very soon!" Vaskul said.

"Please go back to you normal self soon..." Chrome prayed quietly, though she silently died inside knowing that no god would bother answering her hopes.

...

While he was in the middle of his sleep, Vaskul heard a particularly loud crash near his coffin. "God damn it Chrome... What did you summon from Nadiria or Hell this time?" He cursed as he kicked off the lid on the sarcophagus and looked around to see what was going on. He could almost immediately see a purple-skinned lamia strangely dressed like that Alice-girl he saw a few weeks back shivering behind a coffin in fear. "Who are you and what the hell are you doing in my house?" He hissed as he came up to the Lamia.

"Wah!" The Lamia suddenly ran away in fear once she saw Vaskul's corpse-like face. "I'M SORRY! DARK GODDESS! DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE WITH THESE FREAKS!" She cried out to something or someone as she ran.

"Ugh... Not this crap again. I'm tired of dealing with home-invaders... The Dark Elves back in Ilias Continent were enough trouble for me." Vaskul rolled his eyes and began to follow the lamia to another part in the basement, almost considering the thought of just killing her, dragging her corpse well away from the mansion and its lawn, and resurrecting or reanimating her from there.

"I'll give an Injection- Gah! Impudent Brat!" then, to add onto his list of problems and sleep disturbances, Vaskul faintly heard Chrome attacking something in one of the rooms.

"Ora!" He came in to see Luka perform Demon Decapitation on his pupil, and the consequent damage it did. It would take his skeleton crew weeks to fix that...

"Oi. Luka, Chrome. What are you two doing? You're going to cause the house to collapse." Vaskul interrupted the fight and caused both of his old students to look at him in confusion. He simply gave a deadpan expression in response to their confusion.

"Vaskul? Why do you look like... What did you do to him!?" Luka turned and nearly attacked Chrome in fury, immediately coming to the conclusion that Chrome must've killed and reanimated his teacher.

"... No Luka. I always looked like this. You were just stupid enough to fall for the minor magic I used, even after I taught you about illusions and how to notice and look past them," Vaskul face-palmed. Was this really the time for the wannabe hero to go and cause havoc in his house? He was just getting to sleep!

"Wh- What?... Then you were a Necromancer this whole time?" Luka had a look of betrayal of his face. "That would explain all of those freakish things I had to kill here... I didn't think you'd use something so evil."

"Hmph. Necromancy is only a type of magic, you dolt. And magic is a tool. And like normal tools, Necromancy can be used for good and evil. Think of it as a rock. Are rocks evil just because you can throw one and kill somebody?" Vaskul lectured. Didn't he already drill this into Luka's brain when he was a kid? He swore he did that, hell, even Lucifina even backed him up a few times! And she probably hated him teaching and passing his philosophies and outlooks on life to Luka!

"But- But all of those souls that are trapped! And you along with her would just desecrate the dead like that?" Luka protested, still overwhelmed by the sudden appearance and apparent lack of morality his teacher had.

"Luka, think. It's not very hard to see why me and her would practice our arts here. This place was an execution ground, and then it was a graveyard. What do you do with criminals on a death sentence?" Vaskul pinched the bridge of his nose. Even though he had one of the most persuasive voices known to Faerun, it still wasn't enough to get paladins like Luka off his tail!... Sort of how like he was when he first met Kyous all those years ago. Huh. So this is how my master must've felt when we first had our debate on magic and morality... Vaskul idly thought from this entire situation.

"We- we execute and cremate them... Or use their corpses for fertilizer if Ilias demands it... I mean, we used to bury their bodies... Oh." Luka recalled what happened, and his voice fell flat.

"Exactly. Does it really matter if criminals are used to be reanimated and tested? No. Who cares about a murderer's corpse? Not me. In fact, I'd say they'd be contributing to society more than ever by having their bodies used in experiments!" Vaskul reasoned, slowly influencing Luka, "I've been a Necromancer far longer than you've been alive Luka. I know for a fact that there are many good wizards that use Necromancy out there to do what's right. Would you still beat them up and kill their willing constructs just because of that? Or what about Necromancers that can fully revive people? Would you crucify one because he or she revived your mother or father?" Vaskul began to get onto a personal level.

"Oh... Um... Uhh..." Luka looked at a lost for words.

"Exactly. You are but a child compared to me and others like me... You don't understand what true magical evil is like. You haven't seen the evil magic can really do." He darkly threatened. "There are things that will drive you mad if you ever gaze upon them Luka. There are things sleeping in the darkest and deepest parts of the void... They must be fought off, no matter the cost. You do not know what is out there... I do."

Luka seemed to have given up completely, having no words to try and argue Vaskul's points.

"I do hope that I can assume you understand now?" Vaskul inquired.

Luka sighed, "Yes, I guess you're right... I see your point now. I suppose I should probably get going now, huh? Probably leave you to do what you need to do. You have your problems and things to solve, and I have my own problems to deal with."

"That would be best." Vaskul agreed.

"Yeah... Sorry about this whole thing, Master Vaskul. Hey! Alice! We're going now!" He called out for his companion.

"AIIIEEE!" The lamia from earlier, which Vaskul now knew to be Alice, quickly coiled around Luka in fright. Looking at this, Vaskul then began to faintly remember traumatizing this particular lamia when she was a baby during his raid on the Maou's Library... Yes, this "Alice" was the same child he threw that Wight on, and the same Alice he met at San Ilia. Perhaps Luka could make up for his intrusion by letting him get some joy off of his companion's fears...

Slowly Vaskul's displeased frown turned into a playful smirk.

"Eheheheh... Ooohhh Alllliiicccee... I have a present for you!~" Vaskul called out sweetly.

"A P- Pr- Present?..." Shivering, Alice turned around to see her childhood nightmare, torn lips, glowing eyes and all.

"Indeed! If you thought a normal HUMAN Wight was terrifying enough... Wait 'til you get a load of this~!" Vaskul cackled as he casted Create Undead and formed a fat, rotting, and generally speaking a disgusting patchworked Orog of a Wight. "Wight, go and give your old friend Alice a little 'Hug'... She looks so cold~!" He motioned at Alice who was shivering at the mere mention of her worst nightmares.

"Org? Hurgh? Allie?" The Orog didn't hesitate to charge at Alice.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Alice sprang off Luka and slithered quickly to try and avoid the Orog... But history decided to repeat itself as the Wight grabbed her tail and pulled her into a bear-hug. She would always deny it after that, but if you were to look closely, you could've seen her piss herself yet again when she was hugged by the Wight.

"Grrr... Urg?" The Wight suddenly puffed up and exploded into a pile of puss, dust, and blood all over Alice.

"Gah... Ack... Aaugh..." Alice fainted!

"HA! GOT HER! HAHA!" Vaskul collapsed in laughter.

"Oh, ha HA. Very funny..." Luka grumbled as he began to drag the unconscious Alice by her tail to get out of the Manor. "Seems like you still get off of pulling pranks and scaring people. Now I know for certain you're still the same Wizard, even if you look like a corpse and seemed to have lost most of your morality."

Weeks later, Vaskul heard a loud knocking on the door, and opened it to find a red-haired scientist there. He noted she carried a distinct aura of an Outsider, but dismissed it, not really caring to ask about that at the moment.

"Oh. Hello. Can I help you?" he asked.

"Um... Yes, I have a package for Chrome Artiste. Is she here?" The woman questioned.

"Uh, yeah. She is. Let me go wake her up." Vaskul turned around and went off to Chrome's room, gesturing to the scientist that she could go and make herself comfortable while he got his disciple.

"Hey, Chrome, wake up! There's a package here for you." Vaskul poked Chrome's head for a bit until she began to stir.

"Mmph... Just a few more minutes Shirome..." She whined, still half-asleep.

In response, Vaskul casted Blaze on her hair.

"GAH! What the hell Vaskul!?" She screeched at him while she put the fires out, glaring at him.

"I said there was someone with a package for you. Learn to wake up fast, will you?" Vaskul repeated impatiently.

"Ugh, really? Fine, let me get dressed." Chrome got out of bed and began to get dressed while Vaskul left to go give her some privacy.

"So... When did Chrome start ordering out for surgical equipment?" Vaskul asked idly to the scientist upon returning to her in the Foyer.

"She started to request specific equipment not too long ago. She gives us experiment results and we give her this technology in return. I didn't know she lived with a human Necromancer." The Scientist said, a bit interested in who Vaskul actually was.

"Ah, I'm just her Teacher. In exchange helping her learn the Necromancer's Trade I get to stay here." Vaskul answered.

"Really? I didn't know she had a teacher." The Scientist seemed to be interested in this as well.

"She does. It's just that she's too embarrassed to admit it to anyone." Vaskul simply answered, getting a small snicker from the scientist.

"I'm not!" Chrome denied as she came into the room. "Oh, and uh.. Hey Promestein." She then greeted the Scientist awkwardly.

"Hello Chrome. I didn't know you were just an apprentice to someone else..." Promestein smirked when she saw Chrome's irritated look.

"I am not just an apprentice!... Anyways, I guess you're here to deliver the last of the shipments right?" Chrome inquired.

"Correct," Promestein affirmed "Oh, and did you consider the offer I made to you a while back?"

"Oh, right! To join the 'Truth Seekers' right?" Chrome recalled.

"Seekers of Truth," Promestein corrected, slightly annoyed by Chrome's bad memory.

"Yes, yes... Hm... What do you think Vaskul?" Chrome looked to him for advice.

"Maybe. What is the goal of this group?" Vaskul considered the thought. He was interested in this group when Chrome mentioned it a while back, but he didn't think they would come to him first. Though the idea of working with others like him interested him, even if their ultimate goals may differ from his. And it couldn't possibly be worse than working with a Beholder (Of the Ultimate Eye Tyrant variant) and Ulitharid Paragon at the same time.

"Our goal? It's quite simple, really. We seek to learn more about the secrets of the universe and the reason for existence." Promestein answered.

"It is a fascinating thought. I've spent many years learning and tracing the past behind that exact goal..." Vaskul mused, recalling that he used to research it, before he became obsessed with the Secret of Evolution, "It was only recently that I've decided to actively move around and do things physically."

"But will you join us? I assure you that we would be hardly a hindrance to your goals, after all, we seek only to assist each other." Promestein waited for his answer.

Vaskul thought about this group. It couldn't possibly be worse than working with a Xenophobic Eyeball and an overly Arrogant Squid-Man rip-off of Cthulhu. And the end goal did appeal to him... He always did toy with the thought of where Life, Hopes, and Dreams came from, and where they went. Of course, the Secret of Evolution was more important to him... But this Promestein was obviously one of Ilias' creations, and if Vaskul could get close to Ilias, then he could discover the resting place of Estark much faster than if he went and spent the time needed to scry the entire world.

"Heh, well, I don't see why I shouldn't join!" Vaskul decided to take the chance. And, did it really matter? He knew he wouldn't spend much time or effort around these people anyways unless they did show to have knowledge that he didn't already know.

Promestein smirked, "I do believe you will make for an excellent addition to our ranks..."

"Oh you have no idea..." Vaskul suspected they would be very keen on learning what he knows... And they will know, but not without providing some form of entertainment first... "Might I be able to learn about my new allies?" he inquired.

"Oh, you can actually go and meet with them if you would like. We should be having a meeting soon enough." Promestein mentioned. "I presume you can teleport to some degree?"

"I can. I just need to know where the place is." Vaskul did master teleportation when he was exploring the Astral Planes after all. It was sort of a neccessity to avoid angry Eldritch Abominations and Gods.

"Good, good. It's called Drain Lab, underneath Fairy Island to the west of the Safina region." Promestein informed. "And with that, I should get going soon. I'll see you there!" With that said, she vanished.

"Uoo... Why did you accept?" Chrome groaned at last, now regretting letting him decide with the meeting location being so far away.

"Because I'm bored." came the simple "answer."

"Figures." Chrome rolled her eyes. "Does that mean I have to tag along?"

"Well you can stay here, but I probably won't be able to give you the source materials needed to learn proper 9th level magic if I get preoccupied with something." Vaskul said.

"Damn it." Chrome sighed. "Frederika! Keep an eye on this place while we're gone, alright?"

Pouting angrily after asserting Fredirka had heard and obeyed the order, Chrome came up to Vaskul. "I guess we're teleporting there?"

"Obviously. I'm not about to spend weeks walking on burning desert sands just to get there. What do you think I am, crazy?" Vaskul sarcastically replied as Chrome grabbed his hand to tag along in the teleportation.

"Sometimes I think you are."

Vaskul just shrugged light-heartedly as he casted Greater Teleport and warped the two to where Promestein said.

...

"Um, Vaskul? I don't think this is Fairy Island..." Chrome said as they landed in some jungle area.

"Hm. Let me try again," Vaskul chanted Greater Teleport and tried again.

...

"Okay, what are you doing?" Chrome was slightly miffed at the second failure. Now the two were in an Elvish Village of sorts. Vaskul noted an aura similar to Lucifina's here, oddly enough.

"Yes, yes. I know this is not the Island, I'm trying to make it work!" Vaskul recasted the spell.

...

"Okay, this is definitely not an Island!" Chrome glared at Vaskul. The two were in a strange dark and gloomy castle, with three vampires, two of them looking to be aides to one that appeared to be a Queen, looking at them in shock.

"Shut up Chrome! I'm trying to cast it properly!" Vaskul teleported the two again.

...

"God damn it, how'd you get us in the Maou's Castle!?" Chrome borderlined shrieked at him. The two were in the Maou's Castle, with the Four Heavenly Knights looking at them weirdly.

"Damn it, this is going to be one of those trips again, isn't it?" Vaskul muttered while he re-did the incantation.

"Um... Have I seen you before?" Tamamo questioned slowly, still processing why two magicians had just randomly teleported into one of the hallways.

"Wait a second!" Granberia instantly recognized the male magician... It was that bastard Vaskul! "I'll kill you!" She screamed, lunging at the two wizards.

Then Vaskul snapped his fingers and the two were gone.

"Hm. That Male Wizard smelled absolutely delightful! I wonder if I'll meet him again..." Alma Elma giggled a bit at Granberia face-planting herself into one of the pillars.

"... Idiots..." Erubetie shook her head. Now humans were abusing magic as well?

...

"... Huh? This is the ruins of the Old Maou's Castle, from Black Alice's time. How are we here?" Chrome asked, looking around the ruins of a forgone tyrant.

"Don't know, don't care." Vaskul didn't care as he recasted the spell, and vanished.

"... Hey! What about me!?" Chrome protested as she was left behind, "I don't want to go through the local swamp and mountain range-!" she would've kept whining and cursing Vaskul, before the delayed teleportation took effect, and she was finally transported along with Vaskul.

...

"HOW IN THE SIX ANCESTORS' NAMES DID YOU GET US THIS HIGH IN THE AIR!?" Chrome screamed at him while the two were rapidly falling towards the ground.

"I'M WORKING ON IT!" Vaskul shouted back as he quickly recasted the spell, "HOLD ON!" He grabbed Chrome by her hair and warped away.

...

"Ugh... Where are we? When are we?" Chrome looked around to see a strange and large bug-man with two intimidating scimatars fighting a demonic elf man.

"Probably in the past, when Psaro fought Estark. Don't do anything, we don't want to interfere with time. Doing such things carry some bad side-effects even I don't fuck with..." Vaskul warned as he tried again. Well at least he now knew for sure Estark was here, and maybe Psaro as well. Too bad they couldn't just be active and actually make a name for themselves in the present so the Secret would be much easier to obtain.

...

"Are we in fucking space?" Chrome looked around to see the continents of Hellgondo, Sentora, and Ilias far below her, with strange gray rocks surrounding them. "We got on the moon?"

"Apparently. Don't worry, this isn't my first time getting stuck in outer space either. I've even piloted a spaceship before as well. It's much harder than it looks; Liches were not meant for commanding ships..." Vaskul recasted the teleport spell. [6]

...

"Why the hell are we in an arena?" Chrome paled once she realized where they were. This was the Grand Noah Colosseum. "Vaskul. Get us out now."

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Vaskul agreed and panicked as well before he performed the spell again, getting out of that awful place.

...

"What!? We're back home already!?" Chrome turned around and confirmed that this was in fact the Haunted Manor.

"Huh. The teleport seems to be flipping me off today. Let me-" Vaskul was cut off by Chrome.

"NO! I'm trying it this time!" Chrome firmly said as she chanted a basic Teleport spell.

"Um Chrome, I don't think you can-" before Vaskul could voice his objections, Chrome finished the spell.

---

*At Drain Labs*

...

"Laplace, La Croix, Lily, we have a new member today," Promestein informed her gathered colleagues.

"Really? Who is she?" Laplace droned, curious as to who the new member was.

"He, not her. I'm quite sure he would be very aggravated if we referred to him as a 'her,'" Promestein corrected.

"He? So a human... How interesting. What does he specialize in?" La Croix questioned, also interested in the new member.

"I believe he specializes in Alchemy and some form of Necromancy, as well as other types of magic," Promestein said.

"Magic? How strong is he?" Laplace whirred as she processed the information.

"He was strong enough to easily beat Granberia in one-on-one combat, in addition, as according to Chrome, when they first met, he had the ability to inspire some sort of awe or terror in the undead, though it would not work on stronger constructs," Promestein answered.

"Fascinating. I'm quite eager to meet this new wizard..." Lily said.

"Yes, in fact, I'm sure he'll be here soon..." Promestein and the others waited.

... A small silence passed.

"Any minute now..."

... The silence got longer. Laplace seemed to be checking her clock systems to see the time.

"Maybe I should've given him better directions..." Promestein thought aloud.

"You think?" La Croix rolled her eyes under her mask.

... Eventually, in a puff of smoke, Vaskul and Chrome teleported into the room.

"See? I told you I would do better!" she taunted him, appearing to be the one who won the small spat of who'd be the one to succeed in teleporting to Drain Labs first.

"After about three dozen tries, half of those being nearly fatal..." he grumbled, then cleared his voice. "Hello! I am Vaskul, your new member, and this is my apprentice Chrome."

"Don't introduce me as 'Apprentice!'" she hissed at him silently, but Vaskul just waved her off.

"Ah, Vaskul! We were waiting for you." Promestein motioned for her subordinates to introduce themselves.

"I am Laplace. Pleased to meet you," the machine said.

"I am La Croix. I'm sure we'll get along very well," She said, her voice slightly muffled by the plague doctor mask she wore. Chrome widened her eyes at the sight of her, but La Croix brought a finger to where her mouth was in a "Shhh" fashion.

"And I am Lily. I hope we get along well," Vaskul noted that this one was the only human here... Unless you could still somehow call him a human as well.

"All of us make up the Seekers of Truth," Promestein finished.

"Ah, very pleasant to meet you all!" Vaskul smiled widely, "But I am sure all of us would not have been called here just to meet me... I presume that there is something else?" He inquired.

"Quite accurate. You're a lot more sharper than I suspected," Promestein admitted, "I simply wished to learn more about you... You see, we've been watching you for the last few months since we heard of Granberia's defeat, and I learned there is something off about you... You seem human, and can act like one as we can see now, but I've seen a few things that indicate otherwise."

"Really? And what would that be?" Vaskul's smile twitched a little. He didn't expect them to be prepared for his true nature yet... And he certainly didn't think they would be interested in him lecturing Chrome about the Dark Arts for several years on end. He just hoped that they didn't already report this to Ilias to make him look bad...

"Your voice. Until now it sounded normal, like Lily's or La Croix or even me, but just now all of us could hear what you sound like when you lose patience or just don't feel like acting. Another thing is how you acted towards Alice and Luka a few weeks back. When you confronted Luka, you already knew him on a personal level, so you decided to influence and twist his perspective on the morals of your practices, while with Alice you only saw her fit to toy around with and scare," Laplace answered, "Also, there's the fact that you emit an unnaturally strange form of darkness and your skin's too leathery and course for any normal person to have."

Vaskul frowned.

"What? You didn't expect us to be so prepared?" Promestein waited to see his answer.

Vaskul opted to burn his face away and reveal his jeweled skull. "Hm. You lot may be more intriguing than I intially hoped," His skin and muscles quickly shrivelled up until it was grossly pale and wrinkled, and the bones started to make up most of his body. In other words, he looked like a normal lich. "It's been a while since someone saw me for what I could be."

At this point La Croix seemed to be devoting more attention than even Promestein when Vaskul began to resemble an undead.

"I assume you have some questions?" he rasped.

Promestein and Lily seemed a little freaked out at his casual tone despite looking like that.

"Yes. Why do you actually look like that?" La Croix calmly asked.

"I'm a Lich. A wizard who stored his soul in a phylactery and can from that point onwards exist forever. It is natural for our bodies to crumble and fade over time as we get more and more magical in nature and less attached to physical existence."

"A lich? I thought the secrets to such practices were lost long ago..." La Croix leaned back and contemplated this. Could this be a solution to her "issue?"

"It's exaggerated really. The process to lichdom is more of a badly kept secret. Anyone could learn it if they looked in the right places," Vaskul didn't seem to bothered by the thought of giving away Faerunic Secrets. "Anything else?"

"Yes." Laplace whirred, "What is that energy you emit? And why do you have gems in your skull?"

"Oh, that? It's called Negative Energy. Where I come from, Undead usually use this as their sort of... 'Life' Force, if you will... It empowers them, makes them stronger, faster, and smarter. It reacts horribly with normal life force, as if it was Matter meeting Anti-Matter... Such events can have effects such as Entropy and Necrosis, so most Necromantic Attack Spells use this to their advantage," Vaskul answered, "The Jewels are just decoration. My old teeth and eyes rotted out long ago, so I decided to make use of some of the gems I came across to use for once," He lied about that topic. He didn't want them knowing he could also revive himself through these gems as well nor did he want them knowing he could literally devour souls with them as well...

"Interesting... Is this 'Negative Energy' useable in other means?" Laplace started to run scans to see the potential uses of this new form of darkness.

"Probably. As long as the user is undead or non-living, then there's no risk of back-lash when dealing with this energy," Vaskul thought, "And if the user is living, then they must take proper precautions and perform the incantation of the spell accurately. Is that all?"

"Yes." Laplace was keen on learning more about this 'Negative' Energy. It could make for a good mass-destruction weapon if used like a gas and spread out among large populations...

"Y- Yes..." Promestein and Lily said, still a bit disturbed at just how much more horrific Vaskul's existence was than they initially thought... A Wizard that tore out his own soul and shoved it in some object, gets empowered by the very thing that kills and destroys life as they knew it, and looks like a dessicated epidemic victim when Ilias was having a bad day.

"Good, good... Now, shall we begin the meeting?" Vaskul said calmly as he took a seat.

"Oh, right. Now then..." Vaskul was mostly listening in, and was surprised at the secrets these four had obtained... Though he did already know these things.

Eventually in the meeting, Vaskul took notice of a faint aura of an outsider... A spy? He made a note to track this spy down once he was done here.

"Is there anything else anyone would like to add?" Promestein questioned, looking over her fellow scientists who had nothing else to say or put in, "Then this meeting is adjourned. You may all go back to your normal duties."

"I will take my leave now... I believe some runty Hero is stirring up trouble in my village anyways, and I can't have him ruining my experiments!" Lily teleported away.

"I must go and analyze this 'Negative' Energy..." Laplace moved her core to a place where she could properly conduct research on this.

"Hm. Chrome?" La Croix beckoned to Chrome, "May I have a word with you in private?" She asked. Chrome went on over.

At this point Vaskul had fully reverted to his human disguise, though his voice still gave away his true nature. "... Chrome, I trust you can teleport back on your own, right?" Vaskul questioned, still flexing out his fingers and getting used to the tight skin.

"Yes, I can teleport by myself." Chrome responded, still focused on La Croix for whatever reason.

"Then I too, will take my leave," Vaskul lied. Instead of teleporting like he said, he instead casted Invisibility and Wraith Form to follow the little spy he detected earlier.

---

Curiously, the spy was some sort of Cupid. A rather clumsy and ditzy one at that.

Who would want such a klutz to relay information for them? He thought as he looked at her, but remained silent. That could wait. For now he needed to see who this spy served...

He followed the spy until she arrived at where Vaskul thought to be the center of Sentora... "The Navel of The World," if he remembered correctly. It was quite attractive and scenic despite its name. There were countless gardens with Ivory Statues all over the place... Though some had men stuck on them for some reason. There was an Ivory Tower as well, looming high above the small plazas that dotted the landscape below them.

Eventually, the Cupid stopped and flew down to a large gateway on the large plaza. The Gate had large vines and ivory carvings decorating it. Two of the gate's eye-like carvings centered on the Cupid, and a woman's upper body formed on the top.

"I assume you're back on orders from Master Eden?" The Gate asked.

"Yep~!" The Cupid smiled widely, "I've got so much to tell her!"

"Hm hm, go on in. Do not keep Master Eden waiting!" The Gate opened the... gate, to reveal some sort of portal. The Cupid didn't hesitate to go in, and the Gate began to close.

Oh shit! Vaskul flew in quickly just before the Gate closed in on him.

... *In Heaven* ...

Vaskul nearly hissed aloud in pain, but he managed to hold it back before he gave himself away. If he had to guess what this was from the Cupid and the painfully golden-white clouds and sky around him, it was probably this world's iteration of Heaven. He saw some Angels fly around, but they didn't seem to notice him yet. He continued following the Cupid until she eventually came to a tall, green-haired angel with six golden wings on her back and two smaller ones coming out of her hair. She had a large halo over her head, and was dressed in an intricate toga... Most definitely a high-ranking angel.

"Master Eeeeeden! I have a repooooort!~" The Cupid announced loudly.

"Yes, yes. I can see that. Did you learn anything from Promestein and her subordinates?" Eden listened closely.

"I sure did! They said a lot of stuff I don't understand, but I do know they got a new member!" The Cupid cheerily said.

"Another one!?" Eden shouted, but then recollected herself, "What do you know about her?"

"Well, um..." The Cupid got a bit scared by Eden's temporary rage, "It's actually a he..."

"A Human? What is he like?" Eden interrogated. She would have to adjust her plans if there was another one in Promestein's little group...

"He had um... Weird skin, like, really weird skin. It was all pale and shrivelled up, and it looked really leathery and coarse. He didn't have a real face, only a skull... And he had jewels and gems placed where his eyes and teeth should've been. He claimed to be a wiz-ard and a lich... But then later on he used magic to look normal again somehow!" The Cupid recalled.

"What the hell...? Is there anything else about him?" Eden was disturbed at the implications of what this wizard might've gone through to look like what the Cupid just said.

"Oh yeah! He had a rrreeaally creepy voice after he turned into that thing and rasped something about 'Nega-Tive' Energy! I don't what it is, but I think it's that weird darkness I felt from him... It felt as if he wasn't alive at all!"

Eden clenched her fists. That definitely pointed to some sort of Necromantic origin for this new magician... He must've casted those illusions to cover up his true appearance and voice, "Anything else?" She then asked.

"Yeah, he took a glance at where I was cause he seemed a bit bored and gave up on correcting the others about the really complicated stuff, and smiled really weirdly! But when someone asked him, he just said: 'Oh, I thought I heard something, but it's probably nothing...' or something along those lines! But if that was the case then I think he didn't actually see me!" The Cupid quickly added upon seeing Eden's glare.

"A Corpse-like Necromancer that noticed your presence but didn't warn Promestein... Cupid, I don't think he was interested in whatever Promestein offered him if he was outright correcting and ignoring her of all people; He must have another goal. There must be something other than whatever Promestein and her lackeys want that he specifically desires, but what could that possibly be?..." Eden sighed in exasperation of yet another problem surfacing to annoy and stress her out, "Did you at least make sure he didn't follow you?"

"Yep! He chanted some weird magic thing about invisi-something when they were done talking and said he was teleporting away... Though I did feel that weird darkness thing he emitted when I was coming back," The Cupid answered.

Eden's eyes widened. "He did follow you here somehow... He must be at Heaven's Gates!" she whipped around and flew rapidly towards the Gates.

"Hey! Wait for meeee!" The Cupid cried out as she followed.

Meanwhile said Necromancer was giggling like a complete moron at their idiocy. Morons didn't even think to check the area around them... It was pretty obvious to him that he couldn't go back the way he came... But Greater Teleportation could get him out, and Wish could as well, so there was really no reason to be concerned.

Vaskul dismissed that minor issue and decided to explore the surroundings. If this really was Heaven, then surely there would be something to indicate the location of Estark or Psaro?

With that in mind, he flew around, searching for some sort of archive or record of various things that the Angels might record to remember long-term plans. Eventually he heard outcries of alarm from the Heavenly Host, it was probably them learning about his little "visit" due to the Negative Energy he left behind... It was probable that where ever he goes in this purely holy and light plane of reality, he would leave behind an obvious trace of his presence. Still not a major issue as long as he was quick enough though.

Vaskul continued to explore the area, and found it got quieter as he got further away from the place... Did they really think he would actually still be there, at the front gates, and thus sent all of their angels to search the area? Who's in charge of them? That Eden person? If so, she must be very bad at her job and foresight. Maybe she's new to the job or something... Maybe the old commander died, or retired, or otherwise wasn't there to properly manage the forces and spread them out to be more annoying.

Soon he found himself near the limit of the skies, and saw a tall angel with two large white wings and long blond hair that reached to her ankles. She wore a gold tiara with a similarly golden simple dress... She was seemingly gazing out into the horizon in deep thought, so she didn't notice him yet.

I could use her to find out if they actually do have an archive or library, Vaskul reasoned as he landed behind her.

"Hello..." He began, but he was cut off when she turned around. She took a step back and her eyes widened in shock as she turned to see who he was, and Vaskul did likewise...

This "Angel" was not an Angel, it was Ilias herself!... Or at least he assumed she was Ilias from the statues and artwork he saw in San Ilia. Recovering from shock, Vaskul put on a confident mask and said what he thought would be best for the situation.

"So. We meet again, Primal Element..." Vaskul grinned in amusement.

"Vaskul?..." Ilias smiled weakly, "Y-You finally came back..."

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Notes and Things:

[1]: Frederika's art shows her sitting down (or at least it seems to indicate that), so I decided to use that for story purposes.

[2]: The Sacrum is where the spine and pelvis meet.

[3]: The Radius and Ulna are bones in your forearms, the Radius is the big one, while the Ulna is the smaller one.

[4]: The Inworld terms for D&D Magic and Dragon Quest Magic is Faerunic Magic and Zenithian Magic respectively.

[5]: The Icy Pulse is the same thing Zoma and others do to void all magic effects, like Granberia (And later Luka's) Ability to use the Four Spirits. It goes both ways however, and any negative effects the user casts in the area (Like Sap or Stopspell), will be voided as well. It's a bit like a Beholder's Anti-Magic Eye.

[6]: Vaskul's been in multiple campaign settings and in Alefgard (During Zoma's Reign) and Nadiria (DQIV's Version of Hell). What he's referring to when they're stuck on the moon is that he once got trapped in the Spelljammer Campaign Setting for quite some time. (It's also why he's not surprised by the technology in Promestein's Lab.)

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Author's Notes:

To be continued!... Or whatever people say for these cliff-hangers.

Anyways, here we see Vaskul go back to his magical practices and become more active during the main events of Monster Girl Quest! He even meets the daughter of that one dragon he killed (and skinned) a while back, and accidently muses about orphaning Granberia right as they're fighting (At that time Granberia suffered form slight amnesia and couldn't recognize Vaskul due to landing on her head when Vaskul threw her)...

You can bet there's major changes to come with the events of San Ilia and the Haunted Manor, from Alice struggling to break the Goddess's Sword (Because in this story, Ilias had it made out of Orichalcum, though the sword is now nowhere near its prime, so Alice could still break it) to Luka seeing his mentor's true nature. (Also we see The Ghost of Zoma for a bit... He's not just a small cameo or joke. And yes, he actually can break a sword made of Orichalcum, that's what the Sword of Kings is made of.)

Oh, and I decided to use Eden's Paradox Art for this story. I just felt it was a bit weird that one of the top creations (and right now the Supreme Commander) of Ilias' Angels would just go around streaking all the time.

I've also noticed I somehow managed to get 10 reviews... And I'd like to thank you guys for it! It helps motivate me a lot! (Hence why this chapter is nearly twice as long as a normal chapter) Please keep sending your thoughts here so I know how I'm doing when writing these things.

So! With all of that said and done, I will see you all later!