Chapter 31: An Ancient Evil
"… And the second weakness of the Tears is how limited the production is. How many each year…?" Alpha said.
"Only t-twelve…!" Nelson continued. His hand and his head help by Epsilon's strong grip as the group beheld the memory of Olivier within the Sanctuary and uncovered the truth of the Three Heroes, Demonic Possession, the Cult and the Sanctuary itself.
Alexia and Rose gasped at learning the Cult's secrets while Beta, still acting as Natsume, just observed. Delta merely watched over the Archbishop as other members of Shadow Garden also observed the memory while occasionally taking pictures with their Rolapoid.
They now stood in a lab, beholding the sealed arm of Diablos and a fat scientist who consumed a Tear of Diablos, whose face resembled the acting Archbishop.
"By the way. The number of the Cult's top executives, the Knights of Rounds, is also twelve. Is it a coincidence?" Alpha stated with a mischievous smile.
"Knights of Rounds…." Alexia muttered as she recalled that name being mentioned by Zenon.
"Until now you couldn't perfect the Tears of Diablos. The key to improving it lies in the sealed flesh of Diablos and the blood of heroes… the descendants of Olivier like me. Isn't it? Mr. 11th Seat of the Rounds."
"… Tch. Indeed… But that won't be for long. We have a new talent. With his expertise, we shall perfect the Tears in no time!" Nelson said as he grinned.
"That's what I want to know as well. You will explain everything you know about that pervert Necromancer." Alpha said.
"Pervert….?" Alexia muttered confusedly.
"Tch! If you want to know about him so much, why don't you ask him yourself!?" Nelson shouted. The scenery immediately changed after a shattering sound.
"Wh-What is it this time!?" Exclaimed Alexia as they now beheld another battlefield littered with corpses. Only this is not the battlefield they saw before.
On the distance they saw an army of undead lead by the familiar robed figure of the Necromancer. He was unmasked but his face is nothing but a skull and he's holding an ominous green tinted metal staff. On the other side a lone black armoured man wielding a great sword stood in his way. They realized this is not the battle where the left hand of Diablos was cut by Olivier… but another battle entirely.
"This is… not Olivier's memory!" Alpha exclaimed.
"Heh! It seems that he has answered your question! Though… This is not supposed to happen!" Exclaimed Nelson.
"Explain." Alpha ordered while pointing her sword at him.
"This Sanctuary contains only the memory of people who are present during the battle against Diablos here a long time ago! People like Olivier. But this…"
The Necromancer ordered his undead army to attack the black armoured man, who retaliated by hacking the undead warriors to pieces with his great sword. The Necromancer summoned lightning from the sky to strike the black armoured man as he kept killing the undead hordes unfazed by the lightning whether they hit him or not.
"This is… Necromancer and… Shadow…!?" Alexia exclaimed.
"But… how…?" Rose said in disbelief.
"Heh… He he he ha ha ha ha!" Nelson laughed as he had a revelation.
"What's so funny, baldy?" Asked Epsilon threateningly.
"That explains all the ancient magic and knowledge he possessed! Don't you fools see!? Don't you see why he was summoned by Shadow in the Goddess' Trial!?" Nelson shouted excitedly.
"You mean he's… an ancient spirit…?" Alexia said.
"Indeed! There's no other explanation than that! Perhaps he was present in this land long before Diablos even came to power! That's why we, the Cult of Diablos, never learned of his existence despite our long history! That's also why his memory was mixed in the Sanctuary and was only revealed now because he has been revived!" Nelson further explained.
"An ancient evil…" Alexia muttered.
"Even older than Diablos…!?" Rose continued. The implication that the Necromancer is an ancient evil that predates even the demon Diablos is not a good sign for them.
"Heh heh heh. And you're now going against such an evil. You're doomed!"
"I wonder about that. If he's as undefeatable as you think, then why are we here having this conversation?" Alpha said as she watched the gallant figure of the black knight who finally reached the Necromancer after running through the undead horde and attacked with his black greatsword, which the Necromancer blocked with his staff, the clash generated a huge shockwave that caused pieces of the ground to fly off along with dust.
"Go, Boss man! Go!" Shouted Delta excitedly.
"The fact that we're here fully ignorant of this event instead of being extinct means that the ancient evil Necromancer has been defeated a long time ago and all records of his existence erased completely by the victor, namely our leader, Shadow, his fated enemy." Alpha explained with a triumphant smile on her face.
"Bah! Such hubris! I will put you in your place as the 11th Seat of the Knights of Rounds, descendants of Guinea Pigs! I'll show you the power of Nelson the Avaricious!"
"Heeh. So this is the setting we're going with." I said as I watched the new scene unfolding before me, the battle between the Necromancer and a black knight representing me. This setting is so cool so I should roll with it.
"You know of this?" Violet-san asked while watching the battle beside me. She looks bewildered because of the change in scenery.
"Well… I suppose this is my… our memory. Our fated battle that spans across lifetimes." I answered her while embellishing the story for the cool factor. The surprised face she makes is priceless.
"I see… to think that you're a descendant of a great hero. No wonder why you were able to defeat both of us with ease back in the arena." She said.
"Hmph. That was a mere spectre… a facsimile. The real one is still out there."
"What!? That mage… He's still alive!?"
"I fought him some time ago. He was much stronger than that phantom. We both retreated after the battle and will surely meet again."
"I see… So the world is threatened by more than just me…" Violet muttered.
The scenery soon changed into a huge circular room with a huge sealed gate at the other end of the room and a sword stuck on stone in front of the gate. I tried to pull the sword off but it didn't budge so I decided to wait for the main character to show up and pull the sword out so we can continue the plot. Eventually a baldy came out and sent an army of elves, who resembled Alpha, after me.
At that moment I managed to compress my magic enough to be able to use it within the Sanctuary and I ended up blowing the whole place with I am the All Range Atomic. I later bid farewell to Violet-san who fades away after declaring that she wants to help me in my quest against the Necromancer.
"Well… I look forward to it then." I replied to nobody in particular.
The revelation at the Sanctuary shocked me. I learned a lot about the Cult's inner workings thanks to Shadow Garden… but what shocked us all the most was Necromancer's true identity. It was the shock of a lifetime to me. To think that such an ancient evil exists today… and the world's fate depends on the whims of him and his rival Shadow. He's more dangerous than the Cult and I'm gonna have a headache. I can't face this alone. Midgar can't face this alone. I need allies. Badly.
In order to keep ourselves informed on these affairs, I formed an alliance with Rose and that Natsume Kafka. I'd hate to involve that slutty writer into this but she has proven herself to be very well informed and I'd be damned if I didn't use her information network.
Speaking of another infuriating person I'd like to have as an ally… I suppose I could use Claude Normann as an ally. Despite how insufferable he is, he's at least genuine towards me, not a liar or a sycophant. Not to mention he's strong, brave and already has a bone to pick with Necromancer.
Pooch is out if the question, not because he's useless but because… I don't want to involve him in this entire affair. Not that he would like to. In fact, I'm certain he would avoid this entire business like the plague no matter how much I pay him. How I envy that carefree Pooch.
Anyway, I must inform my sister and father about this. I hope we can get more allies to help us weather the storm that is currently brewing.
I left for a little bit and a lot has happened. I watched the recording of the Lindwurm incident and it seems that Shadow Garden infiltrated the Sanctuary after Shadow left the scene. I hope they stumbled across the fake memories I planted in the Sanctuary years ago. I put that show just for them… well, people like them.
Still, a huge coincidence that I chose a black knight figure to be the hero that rivals me in that memory years ago. That black knight ended up representing Shadow as my fated enemy. Heh heh heh.
If only I was there. I could've watched their reactions towards the memory. Eventually there was a huge explosion on the place where the subspace of the Sanctuary is located. So Shadow was there. Luckily I have taken all the information I needed from the Sanctuary years ago, including how to create my own Sanctuary-like subspace, so this is not a loss for me. The left arm of Diablos that they sealed there though…
No matter. I probably can get a pure sample of Diablos flesh somewhere else. And who knows… with Nelson likely to be dead, I would probably be promoted to 11th Seat of Rounds instead of 12th. Heh heh heh.
"My lord. A message from Lord Fenrir has arrived." Gilfried said as he entered my study.
Speak of the devil.
Author's Note:
Goddess Trial arc done. It is short due to how minimal Claude's involvement in it is. Many scenes remain the same as canon so I didn't bother repeating most of them. Just the parts that are changed due to the Necromancer's influence. Now the Necromancer and Cid managed to gaslight everyone into believing in their made-up lore.
Lifedies: So is claude planning on using that whole rot magic in the future to attempt to kill cid cause if so i think i have a pretty good idea when hes using it my guess is when shadow pretends to use i am atomic in the city
Answer: You will see.
BetweenIandGirl: Yeah, true... Cid is a prodigy if it's combat knowledge and wisdom(stat wise, he is min max on really high str, spd, mp, and lck but only have enough to spend on int for his bs to work around) but Claude I feel like is more all rounder party(stat wise, his min max on high int, mp, and spd but have some to spare for other stat)
Answer: Yeah sort of. Cid is a min max build that specializes in physical combat while Claude, while focused on magic, has to learn the sword too, which make him suffer a bit compared to Cid in terms of combat strength.
Wholesome07: So, Necromancer gonna go in to the dimension or still bussy training Sherry?
Answer: He'll be busy with Sherry.