Chapter 134: I Think, Therefore I Am

How… humiliating.

To think that I, The Knight Beyond Men, Mordred, would not only be bested so easily but… would even be enslaved by that monstrous conjurer. I was even denied eternal slumber… not that I desire one but that might've been better than being reduced into his undead pawn. With the spell he placed upon my soul, I was powerless to resist his commands. But that doesn't mean I won't try though.

Naturally I could not think of anything but revenge. But… looking at the destruction that his black orbs does in the distance… Now I can only think that he's the second coming of Diablos… no, even worse than Diablos… Because at least Diablos was a simple mindless beast after succumbing to her powers and we need only create pawns to face her. Necromancer on the other hand, is not only powerful but also a cunning schemer and possesses various unique magic to boot. I doubt Olivier, Lili and Freya could hold a candle to what he's capable of. Though that is to be expected of a monster who came from another realm I suppose.

Watching the destruction he brought upon the wilderness beside me are the masked person who is the rumoured Acolyte, Necromancer's apprentice and the only one who possesses his magical knowledge, and a filthy beastkin. Both of them are part of his elite units. The Seven Wraiths if I recall. I was contemplating on how to sway both of them to my side but I doubt they'll listen to me after witnessing the power of their master.

But several minutes after that I saw my chance… though said chance surprised me greatly as well. The Black Rose was activated and Ragnarok was summoned. But Ragnarok was an utter disappointment. It could not even match Shadow properly, let alone that monster Necromancer. And to think I used to consider that creature a trump card. But what surprised us isn't Ragnarok's weakness… it's what comes after it.

It was an unbelievably powerful eldritch creature whose form primarily consists of flesh, skulls, scythes and bones. Its ring of light alone possess an unbelievable amount of magic that can be felt kilometres away. This creature is powerful beyond imagination. But I suppose I should've seen this coming considering what I know.

Few months ago, during the night of the Red Moon, I received reports from my subordinates whose duty is to monitor the dimensions and keep records of the constantly orbiting realms as part of our otherworld research. It is how I know that we are currently crossing paths with the 4th realm where Ragnarok ruled as its king.

He said someone opened a gate to the First Realm in order to enhance the effects of the Red Moon. The Red Moon phenomenon is linked to the First Realm where the being that became the basis for Diablos' creation came from, which is why vampires, who were created from Diablos' blood, reacted to it. It is a realm full of mysteries and dangerous monsters that capturing a sample that eventually became Diablos was a miraculous accomplishment. And said subordinate also said that ever since then, an unknown entity from that realm has taken notice and made its move to approach this world.

I am convinced that the one who opened the gate that night was Necromancer… and what he did attracted this creature we see before us. This is an opportunity to sway them to my side. With my knowledge… and my newfound immortality, I shall rule this world without needing to worry about death like the rest of the Rounds.

"Wonderful sight, is it not, Acolyte? The sight of your master reaping what he has sown." I addressed the masked person who reacted to my words with anger.

"What do you mean by reaping what he sown, Mordred?" The beastkin asked curiously.

"That monster was brought here by your master and he's going to be killed by it. A fitting end for such a reckless fool. Heh heh heh." I chuckled in satisfaction whilst observing the agitated Acolyte.

"Say, Acolyte. Would you like to serve under me? As you can see, your master is doomed and he will drag this entire world sown with him."

"And you're saying you have a solution to… that?" Instead of the Acolyte replying, the beastkin replied with a question of his own.

"Naturally. The Cult possesses a vast library of knowledge, the likes your master could not even think of. We encountered similar situation in the past. During the first Black Rose Incident, we aided Oriana in closing off the gate. I know how to solve this problem. Does your master know?" I try to entice the both of them by bragging about the Cult's past accomplishment but they seem to be more interested in observing the battle between Shadow, Necromancer and that creature.

"Still thinking your master has any hope? No matter how powerful he is, he can't possibly-" My words are cut when I saw Shadow and Necromancer destroying that monster's body and close the gate where it came from, leaving only its head behind.

"You were saying about closing the gate?" The Acolyte smugly remarked while I can only grit my teeth and frown. Shadow and Necromancer. What a bunch of monsters. How did they acquire such powers? How can I gain such power for myself?

As I was contemplating what to do next, the person we are waiting for finally arrive.

"You…! Adra…! Acolyte and… Mordred!?" The would be queen of this ruined kingdom, Rose Oriana, exclaimed in surprise as she saw the three of us.

And now comes the time where the Acolyte would tempt her to join us. Well, I don't have to do anything besides being here, for I am merely here to shock the queen, and perhaps scare her into submission if necessary. Such is the role given to me, a former member of the Rounds.

How… humiliating.

Whoa. This thing is persistent. Even though we already separated its head from its body, the head is still alive. Its magic power is still huge but only miniscule compared to before though. The Necromancer closing the portal made sure of that. I suppose this is gonna be eas—

"Aghh…!"

Oops… I let my guard down and had the monster shoot through my stomach with its eye laser beam. It was so fast and the monster didn't even need to build up its magic power to do that. And my underestimating it ultimately backfired on me. Now I have a big hole in my stomach. Is this payback for the I Am Atomic Arrow from earlier?

"Don't let your guard down, nemesis. This is actually going to be harder than before." The Necromancer said. The laser beam was aimed at him too but the only damage he suffered was on his cloak. He didn't underestimate the monster and managed to dodge the ultra fast laser beam. How embarrassing.

I used my healing magic to heal my wound, closing the hole in my stomach easily. But I guess having healing factor like the Necromancer does is better? Or does it consume more energy than healing spell? Questions for later.

After I finished healing my wound, I understand why the Necromancer said this is going to be harder than before despite the monster having much less magic power than before… It's because it has gained the ability to move! That alone is a significant advantage.

I move to slice it but it floats away before my attack could land. It's pretty fast and it knows that its ring of light won't be enough to defend it from my attack this time.

Its eye sockets flashes again and I dodged the laser beam it shoots in retaliation. As I approach it again, its ring of light flashes and instantly shoots out several magic bullets to all directions. I dodged the bullets as I did the Necromancer's bootleg Hellzone Grenade from our earlier battles, though this one is much faster and didn't change direction to follow me. The Necromancer dodged the bullets easily by teleporting.

Then the Necromancer casts some kind of curse to break its magic control again but it didn't seem to work anymore. The thing is immune to it by now. As the Necromancer was about to cast another spell, the skull head dashed towards him quickly and rams him with the force of its ring of light, blasting the Necromancer away. Then it ignores me complete and went to chase after him. Hey. I will not have you escape me. I wanna play too, you know!

I intercept the skull head before it can reach the Necromancer, who's lying on the ground he crashed in, and knocks the skull away with my sword. Looks like the ring of light's defense is still hard enough that it's not cut when I slash it with my blade. I'll need to put more strength to it in order to—

Oh? The Necromancer crashed near Alpha and the others. It seems that even though I told them to go, they still remained nearby. Well… I suppose it's fine. An Eminence in Shadow needs an audience when he shows off his power after all.

But I see Alpha approaching the Necromancer. What is she doing?

"Whoa!" I exclaim as I dodge another laser beam. It seems that I can't listen to their conversation because I need to concentrate fully on this monster. Well… at least this fight is becoming much more fun than I imagined it to be.

I lay on the ground and watched as Thanatos was knocked away by Shadow. My focus was disturbed by his whispers, which wasn't muffled even though his main body is another dimension away from here. I can also sense that he's trying to breach the barrier between dimensions again, using the Black Rose's opening as an anchor… a coordinate to let him know which dimension he needs to breach.

As I was about to stand up and close the Black Rose, which is still open, No. 001 walked towards me and points her sword on my throat.

"And here I thought you would obey your master like an obedient dog and escape the battlefield like a coward. To think that you would look for a chance to kill me in the middle of the battle…"

"That monster. That thing was your doing, wasn't it?" She asked with an angry face.

"You… could say that. Technically his doing was and is my doing. Heh heh heh."

"What do you mean?" She frowns.

"I'll leave that up to your imagination. Heh heh heh." I said as I pushed her sword off my throat and stood up by floating with magic.

I raised both my hands to the sky and prepared to close the Black Rose when I feel the tip of No. 001's sword poking my back, aiming straight for my heart.

"You might want to stay away from this."

"Why should I listen to you?"

"Heh heh heh. Because you're going to make things worse than they already are with your meddling." I said as I cancelled the spell and allowed the Black Rose to remain, which also allowed Thanatos's main body to once again breach the barrier between dimensions, this time through multiple places. Several holes were formed in the air from the breach and through them several skeletal hands and scythes emerges, attacking everything that moves, which happens to include the Seven Shades.

"Look at what you've done, deadweight. Heh heh heh." I taunted.

Why I allowed this to happen? The look on her face says it all. Heh heh heh.

Thanatos' bony hands and scythes emerges from the portals, though of course he's not focusing on them, which is why the Seven Shades could survive the attacks even if some of them were harmed by the scythes, which would normally vaporize anything they touch.

Several portals appeared around me and Thanatos' bone hands emerge from them, fully intent on capturing me rather than vaporizing me outright. It seems that he's hungry for me just as I am hungry for him. Heh heh heh.

I created a barrier that also generates force that blew the hands away, forcing them to go back into the portals where I would proceed to close them save for one that I left open because I captured one of the hands with a magic chain.

"Let me have a taste." I said as I reach out to the captured hand and activate the brand new Artifact I wore on my hands, the Gloves of the Reaper, which is a pair of metal gloves enchanted to steal souls. With the glove, I start the process of ripping Thanatos' soul out of his body. The process obviously takes time because of how big he is in both body and soul but I anticipated that. I didn't even intend on gulping his soul all in one sitting, and thus I stopped immediately when he resists and breaks my chains holding his hand. But that attempt wasn't futile, for I have took a chunk of his soul out of his body and devoured it.

"SCREEEEECHH!" He screeches like a Nazgul again from beyond the portal. It's painful, isn't it? I know how painful it is to have your soul damaged. I felt it before.

"Sluurp. Delicious!" I taunted as Thanatos opens more portals and send more hands to capture me. No sign of change in his strategy besides creating way more portals and resist harder when I capture the hands with my chains. And here I thought you'd be smarter. Heh heh heh.

Where am I? What is this place? There's nothing here but darkness and… alien landscape… filled with dangerous eldritch creatures… If I am to survive… I need MORE POWER…!

Huh? What was that…? Thanatos' memories? How… interesting.

"Aghh!" While I was distracted by the memories, one of the hands broke my barrier and captured me. Then a portal opened before me, revealing a huge skull, as big as the one that Shadow is currently fighting. It opens its jaw and… I can feel my soul being sucked out.

"Arggh…! It will not be me who will be devoured!" I shouted as I feel the tug on my soul. I struggled to resist by tugging my soul back. The tug of war is painful for me but I'm not going to give in! Especially since his side is winning due to overwhelming difference in power!

"That power will be mine!" I shouted as I remotely activated the auto-combat function of my staff, Valdamir, causing it to shoot elemental spells at the skull and the hand that captured me, freeing me from Thanatos' clutches and breaking the tug of war on my soul, though Thanatos still managed to devour a piece of my soul, resulting in my soul, which I have painstakingly fixed by devouring the souls of others, to be damaged once again.

"Agh…. Arrrghhhh…..!" I screamed painfully as the pain that comes from my soul being damaged strikes again, just like that time in Yukime's village, making me srop to my knees as I lose my magic control again. I could've sworn I saw No. 001 enjoying my suffering from afar.

Several portals opened again, with several skeletal hands trying to capture me again. The same strategy again. Heh.

I allowed one of the hands to capture me again but I made sure both my hands are free so when the skull appears again to suck my soul out, I am ready to fight back with my gloves.

The tug of war starts again. Even with the gloves assisting me, his tug is still stronger than mine… but I am not only defending my soul… I am also sucking his soul out. And as expected, his focus is breaking the moment my magic touch his soul again, making him falter and allowing me to not only win the tug of war for my soul but also to suck more pieces of his soul away.

"Heh heh heh. You are indeed powerful, my dear Thanatos… but I am still better than you, for I haven't lost myself into the void like you have. I think, therefore I am."

Author's Note:

One would think that the fight is going to get easier because the boss gets weaker but this is a second phase, of course it's going to be harder, Cid. I used that as an excuse to make Cid get harmed at least once because Thanatos is still at his core, a mindless monster… for now.

Generalliam0529: jist a thought, but i seem to rember having a conversation about how this fic wasnt going to go to crazy in powrscaling.

now ook were at, were fighting the an interdimensional eldritch abomination.

on a similar but diffrent note, is this mayhaps the being that let dear necromancer reincarnate?

Answer: The eldritch abomination is not a random thing. You will see why. He is not the one responsible for Claude's reincarnation… though he is kinda… involved. Also, about the power level thing, it will be reversed and you will see how soon.

TheAbyssWatcher: What is this eldritch abomination actually? An interdimensional being that allows the demons to go through in the original world of Necro and Shad? Or... a vision of Necro's future?

Answer: You will see soon. Ohhh the mystery.

DerTrap: I'm absolutely hyped for the second phase. I'm also interested in Necromancers future science projects. For example will he maybe use the clone technique that was used to clone rose? Imagine he uses it to create evil clones of for example the seven shades that are completely loyal to him, just imagine the reactions of the actual shades when they see their doppelgangers. Another character that could become an interesting subject to Necromancer could be Aurora/Claire, as it would be interesting if he captures Claire in an attempt to get Aurora inside of Claire under his control.

Answer: The event that is currently running in the Master of Garden game, Requiem of Scattered Shadows, makes me think of him creating the ancient heroes instead.

borregodillon9: Round 2 fight

Answer: I read that in Shao Kahn's voice.

Dhestrya: Nice

Answer: Thanks.

A-Yellow-Lizard: Thank you for the chapter! They're actually using a frontline and a backline lol

Answer: Yeah. Maybe this is what the call "Switch" in SAO?

Zero: So Shadow and Necromancer are teaming up against the eldritch horror is going epic like Dante and Vergil vs Arkham hope you add boss music like Undefeatable from sonic frontiers for battle or correction jumping this boss.

Answer: I did pick ORT's Theme from FGO for the boss theme.

Guest: Seeing Necromancer and Shadow telling Alpha to leave, inspired me to make this meme reference:

"Alpha, go! You're just dead weight."

Answer: This comment made me add the deadweight taunt in this chapter.